RvT

We bought a soda blaster for work and that is the best media for stripping paint or anything for that matter. I would suggest looking up soda blasters in your area

I am not an electrician but I have some practical experience. If the board is fitted with an RCD fuse, it is possible that the fuse has popped due to something on the same circuit, earthing out and popping the fuse. If it was me, I would replace the RCD circuit breaker (CB) with a normal CB. They are a simple turn off the mains, replace the circuit breaker and wire back in. Cost is $20 for a 16 Amp CB

My in-law works for a Toyota dealership and the individual dealership makes its money primarily from the service depot. New car sales brings in the customers but it is the service department that gets the repeat business servicing them. Audi dealership service department charges $110 per hour plus at least 50 to 100% margin on parts.On the other side, UK dealerships selling at 73,000 pounds will also be making a margin of profit on the sale at that price. If they made say 15% profit, this would mean the buy in price for an M5 would be 62k or $NZ 124k. UK prices have the VAT incl = NZ GST. Only other difference is the freight to NZ of say $5k. Bottom line is that they are protecting the brand image by keeping the retail price high which means they keep the S/Hand dealership prices high too. Thank goodness we are allowed to parallel import into NZ to keep the dealerships honest.

What I can't understand is why in the UK it costs 73,000 Pounds = $NZ 146,000 and when I asked at the dealership last week, they stated $230,000 It will be cheaper to import a new one than buy one local which is stupid

Firstly welcome to the forum !!! I am trying to understand why you are doing this ... if it is to make money, then there are easier options rather than new BMWs. If you intend to buy a car, hold it for 12 months there then hold it for a further 18 months in NZ then sell for a profit ??? It is the same as me looking right now at 2 1/2 year old cars in UK and importing them to sell straight away. I can guarantee my buy price of the same car you have in 2 1/2 years will be a lot less than the money you are about to pay now. As others have commented, you will take the first hit on it being a new car. Why not buy a 1 year old car in a years time and bring it back with you then to sell it ???

Hey Jonathon Thanks for chiming in and helping paint the picture. My next project may be a Lambo ex UK and was thinking that a container is the safest form of transport where it doesn't get flogged on the wharf or taken for multiple spins by bored wharfies. If the company you are working for is using Roll On ferries, have you found any issues with this transport method as the bespoke cars will attract attention. Also interested in the company you use to transport the cars if you don't mind sharing that? If sensitive, you could PM the info

Thanks for updating ... I use Elite ... http://www.elitewheelcompany.co.nz/ here in Chc to tidy up my rims. They do a great job but are Chc based.

The McCullough price is very sharp and their web site looks good. I would like to talk to someone who has used them as a testimonial is important than just words on a web page. I pay 2500 Euros to get a refrigerated 20fter from Belgium with ingredients for work so $3600 almost looks too cheap. They may be fitting 3 cars into a 40fter to get that price ... With VAT, I am unsure but here is my line of thought. If you look at NZ for instance and you bought a car from a dealer and exported it to Oz for example, you can only claim the GST if you can get a GST receipt from the seller. Most Trademe sellers are not registered so you wouldn't be able to claim. Likewise you have to be registered for GST to be able to claim it back. Taking that logic, I am assuming you have to be registered for VAT to be able to claim it back ??? Not sure if secondhand cars have a VAT component in them or maybe only registered car yards have this ability ??? My last import from UK was in 2005 so not sure if the deregistering is important now; McCullough may be able to answer that and the VAT question? Re BMW dealerships, one car I inspected at a BMW dealership was not as good as the Autotrader suggested in its photos. BMW approved cars should be OK but like NZ, you are paying a premium for a car off a yard compared to a private seller where the price will always be cheaper and the saving should equal the air fares to UK. If you use McCullough, please let me know your experience. I am looking at my next car coming from UK once the M5 is sold ...

Which part of NZ are you? If you update your profile, then we can help ...

Just bought one of these in acid Green on eBay US so should have a stablemate for the Beast in a month's time ... just need to sort out my life insurance now ...

Which part of NZ are you in as you haven't added it to your page like the rest of us have ??? If you are in Canterbury, you are more than welcome to drop in and try what I have etc. My car is not Bluetooth set up which is why I tried the BTUM kit. The BTUM dongle which is shaped like a cell phone is actually a Bluetooth transmitter that is supposed to sync with your car. My car has BMW option ... #646 Japan Telephone system

My car came with a charging cradle for an old model motorola. There is also a telephone button on the steering wheel plus it comes up on the iDrive display. I changed over the cradle to another motorola phone that also took the BTUM dongle thinking it would sync in with the BTUM and create a Bluetooth enviroment like it does in the 7 series. http://www.bcdonline.com/BMW/CPT9000.html I use Nokia phones so Bluetooth would have been my preferred interface.

Hi I have spent about $300 on importing a snap in cradle and BMW Bluetooth Module CPT 9000 Dongle that fits into the cradle off eBay but couldn't get it to work. The connections are beneath the bin and access from the rear air grills and they connected up fine. I gave up and am looking to resell the gear on eBay again. I am not an expert on this but my investigations pointed to the fact that the Jap telephone system is not compatible with NZ so I tried to used just the connections to use the speakers only. I don't think the iPhone will connect up thru the Jap Phone module.

The e60 M5 was selling new for around $250k when it came out so likely the F10 is selling for the same. The RS6 should be the same coin so surprised that you feel it is out of budget ??? The jump from a e46 to the F10 will cost you about $220k so that is some jump in anyone's car budget but hey, you may have won lotto ... When the e60 M5 came out, there were SMG pump issues that caused a lot of gearboxes to implode and needed to be replaced. It took them a year to find the issue and roll out the fixes at factory. Although it is always nice to have the latest toy, my suggestion is to wait a year for the tweaks to be ironed out especially as it is a new platform and then buy one in 12 months time. In the meantime, I would seriously suggest buying a e60 M5 to tie you over and then trade it in when the F10 arrives. A shameless plug but I am selling my beast on TradeMe in case you want a superb example with low kms ...

I am under the understanding that the employer has to still pay for the certificate. This is taken from the Dept of Labour site which we use to clarify grey areas ... http://www.dol.govt.nz/er/holidaysandleave...-of-illness.asp Special rules apply if the employer requests proof within three consecutive calendar days of the employee taking sick leave. The employer must inform the employee as early as possible that the proof is required, and pay the reasonable expenses in getting proof.

I have imported heaps ex China without any issues at all. Really simple to do ... - Find out the MOQ (minimum order quantity) - Find out the closest port for them to send it to. - Get a price per unit delivered to that port & also ask the Chinese company to get a price for the goods to the nearest port for you - Ask for a cm3 volume and weight - Ring Mainfeight International and get a price quote based on the size, weight and whether they can "LCL' it from that port or what is the closest port for them to work from - compare prices - Ask for a pro forma invoice with their bank details - Send the money through your bank - Wait for the goods to arrive - Get a local customs agent to clear the goods - All done in usually 6 to 8 weeks

Would suggest using someone with a Hi-ab at both ends to load / unload as you don't want to use a forklift on freezer panels. Mainfreight would be an answer. Depending where it is located but around Canterbury, I use Frew's a bit.

Meet a private freight guy working out of West Coast who was quoting me $100 approx to get a 1m3 pallet from Chc to Akl. He travels the length of the country so long as it is not urgent. Happy to pass on his contact details if you PM me.

Happy to email you a spreadsheet. Just PM me your email address. I could be wrong but I don't believe there is a roll on / roll off service happening ex UK or Europe so that means the cars are shipped in Shipping containers. Unless you can get multiple cars into a 40ft container, then 1 car = a 20ft container which is what I usually use. A container ex Belgium to Lyttleton costs me 2600 Euros for the transport then more costs at this end to get it emptied at designated facilities and I bring in a few per year with my business (not cars). Not sure how Jon got his for $4000 as this is cheaper than anything I have ever found .... maybe they are back loading other things into a 40fter ??? To answer your question on common shipping company, there are many players in NZ that can organize this. Mainfrieght would be a good starting point. I, however, have always been wary of the UK guys as I have heard some bad press about them in the past. I usually drive my car across the channel to Holland to a company there that specialises in furniture removals. They pack it into a container and rope it down to the container using wood and strops as you never know how badly a container can be loaded at wharf. So far every car has turned up in perfect condition which is why I use them. A 1500kg car needs to be securely anchored inside a container or it will a mess inside it it moves around. You just can't drive it into a container then turn on the hand brake and close the container door.

Time to chime in ... I have imported 3 cars ex UK over the years. I have a spreadsheet that will work it out for you but in general, allow $6500 shipping from UK or Europe to NZ and then $1000 for compliance over here. Example ... a 10,000 pound car will be on the road here for $33,500 based on .45c conversion. A 15,000 pound car will be on the road here for $46,000. You will also have to budget in the cost to travel to UK to buy it as you have to de-register it person (I believe is still the case) to allow the car to leave the country as they are concerned about cars being stolen then shipped off shore. I used the autotrader to find the cars then haggled a better price subject to me arriving in UK so when it came to buying it over there, I had a shortlist of 5 cars to look at. In the end, you need to look at them in person as 3 of the cars I had short listed last time were not in good condition as they appeared online. Hope this helps

A friend of mine in my industry was trying to get me to join a couple of years ago but I resisted at the time as you end up with lots of Barter dollars and limited places to spend them. Recently he has hinted that my move was the correct one as he ends up spending the Barter dollars on things he doesn't really need. The question to ask yourself is if you don't join, will your customer shop elsewhere or is he trying to get you to join so he can use up some of his Barter dollars ??? With cash, you can buy your goods anywhere. With Barter dollars, you are restricted. Just my 5c worth

I have shipped tires and wheels ex US with no issues at all. On eBay, I get the seller to ship to Carson CA. After that Kiwi Shipping packs them in their next container to NZ. Easy as ... http://www.kiwishipping.co.nz/kiwi-shipping/DEFAULT.ASP

Will get you to Christchurch but after that to Dunedin is another step ... http://www.kiwicar.com/

There has been a few discussions on this board so check out this thread ... http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....mp;hl=importing You will see my comments in it

I imported about 6 x V1 some time ago for friends and a Bimmersport person a couple of years ago. It is interesting to note that 3 of them ended up getting stolen out of the people's cars which does say a bit about the risk associated. Because my beast has a factory option of windscreen heat reflectors, the V1 didn't work and its sensitivity dropped by 50% = bad news for me. I shopped around and bought the Escort 9500ci on ebay US & did an install. I was an avid V1 fan until I tried this. It has equalling response to the V1 BUT it has GPS as well which means the false signals are learnt by the machine after 3 successive hits so less false signals long term. What I do love is the STEALTH feeling and that fact I don't have to remove the detector every time I park the car. After 2 years I haven't had a ticket yet which is the ultimate test.