Great buy... But how much will it really cost?

[Pepscobra]

http://australianmusclecarsales.com.au/muscle/147275

This has to be a bargin, especially with the strong AUD... A late model Mustang GT V8 for $20,000! The US is most certainly spoilt when it comes to cars.

What would something like this cost in total if imported to Australia and then converted to RHD?

[Feathers]

http://www.mustangmotorsport.com.au/vehicles/used.php

Pretty much what these ones cost...

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by Feathers

http://www.mustangmotorsport.com.au/vehicles/used.php

Pretty much what these ones cost...

except those ones have the importers (sometimes significant) profit into the price.

you could import and legalise a mustang significantly cheaper yourself.

someone on here said approx 30k to convert a late model mustang.

[MR.BA.GT.332]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

except those ones have the importers (sometimes significant) profit into the price.

you could import and legalise a mustang significantly cheaper yourself.

someone on here said approx 30k to convert a late model mustang.

beat me to it.... by the time its landed here, then converted to RHD, rego, onroads etc etc.... might not be such the bargain in the end unfortunatly...

[Smoke Pursuit]

I just financed a 2012 GT500 for a guy. 60k for the car, 10k to import, 60k to convert! So assuming you got it for 20k, landed here with rhd it would potentially cost 90 Kay. I'd be waiting for the UK to get the RHD ones.

[nstg8a]

60k to convert!!

my uncle imports corvettes into nz, but sticks to the older models, easy to sell, and freight/conversion and on roads combined is around the 10k mark.

easy money.

[Pepscobra]

Sheesh... $60k just on the RHD conversion!!
That's what I was fearing, what is a cheap buy in the US becomes a $90k investment to get it on the road here. Not so cheap anymore.

[Valid8]

Buy something 30 years old or more and keep it LHD.

[Franco Cozzo]

I was looking at a new base model F150, it was around $25,000 for the car, $10,000 for insured shipping to Australia, I was in with a chance here, I thought maybe $15,000 for conversion and compliance.

Then I approached a company who specialises in converting to RHD and compliance on F series.

$40K for conversion and compliance.

But it had to be certain models, with certain options and only certain engines, they didn't do the full range.

So effectively you have a $25,000 ute, which ends up costing around $85K.

[nstg8a]

id love to see a breakdown of the conversion costs.

while i fully understand a modern car would be a hell mission to convert, i struggle to see where 6ok goes... especially if theyre not one off conversions.

a one off, never done before conversion, yeah i could see that costing heaps, but when you look at the likes of a mustang, something which is converted in many other countries other than aus, well, i dunno, hard to fathom i guess.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

id love to see a breakdown of the conversion costs.

while i fully understand a modern car would be a hell mission to convert, i struggle to see where 6ok goes... especially if theyre not one off conversions.

a one off, never done before conversion, yeah i could see that costing heaps, but when you look at the likes of a mustang, something which is converted in many other countries other than aus, well, i dunno, hard to fathom i guess.

Yes it seems expensive but theres alot of engineering involved, for the one I Financed it even had to have the seats certified as they had not done one with this particular recaro in it before. I seen pictures of the car through the process and they basically striped it back to a bare shell and rebuilt it from the ground up. New dash plastics, firewall, new steering components, changes in wiring to suit ADR, ceritification and compliance. Plus for the 60 kay you get an Australia wide warranty for 3 years / 100,000 kms (bumper to bumper same as the Ford warranty) so I guess that would not be cheap for them!

The car is mint too, its a great car!

[Iggypoppin']

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I was looking at a new base model F150, it was around $25,000 for the car, $10,000 for insured shipping to Australia, I was in with a chance here, I thought maybe $15,000 for conversion and compliance.

Then I approached a company who specialises in converting to RHD and compliance on F series.

$40K for conversion and compliance.

But it had to be certain models, with certain options and only certain engines, they didn't do the full range.

So effectively you have a $25,000 ute, which ends up costing around $85K.

When I worked in the timber yard, we had a customer who imported an F350 new. I nearly fell over when he told me how much he paid for it....

[Feathers]

Engineer's certification isn't cheap. While the conversion kits may have already been certified, the work has to be inspected as well.

We've had to do it on two of our coaches, when we converted them to seatbelted seats. The engineer had to come out a few times and check the extra reinforcing bars welded in to the frame, they had to be welded in a certain way, depth, distance apart... to the correct thickness of tubing...etc.
We could only do so much before having to wait for the guy to come out and look at it each time.
It was a royal PITA.

[flappist]

The extreme cost is the ADR compliance not just the RHD conversion.