InfoMo – Importing 101

We receive many inquiries asking for a cost to import a bike from somewhere in the world.  Sounds like a simple enough question I guess, but it’s a bit like asking “how long’s a piece of string?”   Many people get importing a bike confused with shipping a bike; getting a price for shipping is simple, and it’s usually the figure you find banded about by ’experts’ in various forums who are ever-so-eager to tell someone they’re being, or have been, ripped off in paying two or three thousand to ship their bike.  Shipping is the CHEAPEST component of importing a bike, and it’s the only figure you’ll receive when you ask for a quote from almost any shipping company or specialist bike mover.  What you’ll receive is a price and a list of all the things they’ll do for you, and at the bottom there’s usually words to the effect, “This is a full and total price”, and then somewhere else there’ll be a discreet disclaimer about excluding ‘arrival fees’ or ‘origin costs’.  We know because we learnt the hard way!

Many years ago we looked at importing a single bike from the UK.  In doing our due diligence we sourced several quotes which ranged from £1,150 (British Pounds) down to £750, which at the time was around $2,300 to $1,600 AUD.  All quotes offered the same level of service so we took the lower and considered the bike would arrive home owing us in the region of $6k (6,000) below market value here, so feeling very chuffed with ourselves we ‘did the business’ and parted with our hard-earned cash.  We’re funny creatures we humans, we like to envisage events as we would rather see them, while at the same time blocking that which might take the shine off our perfect scenario.  Safe to say that our $1,500 soon started to creep a few bucks here and there as we had to pay others to take care of the unavoidable ‘incidentals’ involved in exporting, and by the time we finally rolled our clever purchase out of Bond, it had cost us close on $5,000!!

Unlike us Aussie’s, who’ll give a bloke in need a hand, people in other parts of the world aren’t as benevolent, and whilst they might infer they’ll help with exporting should you buy their bike, what that can mean is they’ll push it out onto the footpath when your carrier arrives; my carrier I hear you ask??   This is the situation we found ourselves in, and it’s the same for the many that arrive in our in-box week-in and week-out.  You’ve bought a bike, you’re on the opposite side of the globe, you’ve got a quote from some shipping company that tells you getting the bike to them is not their responsibility, despite you first telling them where you’re buying it from, and they also inform you that as it’s a motorcycle it’s considered ‘Dangerous Goods’, and has to be prepared for shipping in accordance with’ international standards’.  They’ll also tell you that the bike has to be crated and that you need to be sure the timber is approved by Australian Quarantine, otherwise it may not be unloaded.  It’s around this time you discover departments like Customs (Aust. Customs & Boarder Control),  AQIS (Aust. Quarantine) and DOTARS (Federal Dept. of Transport), who control and regulate what vehicles can and can’t be imported, and there are lots & lots of bikes that can’t be imported, and many more that can provided they undergo particular processes, all of which are costly and some cost prohibited (we’ll cover this and more in InfoMo – Importing 102), but for now here’s a check list of the obstacles you’ll need to address should you want to buy o/s.

1. Freight Forwarder – The field of business that handles international shipping.  Freight Forwarders (FF) have, and are, agents for other FF’s all over the world, and they work together to ship goods from port to port.
2. Inland transport – Collection of the bike from the seller and transporting it to a place that can prepare the bike for Dangerous Goods export.
3. Crating – The cheapest shipping quotes are based upon LCL (in a container with other property) and therefore the bike will have to be crated.  Australia has the world’s toughest quarantine laws and crates must be constructed from ISPM 15 (a timber standard for international trade) and a certificate of compliance must be provided to AQIS by the consignee.
4. Export Documentation – Not all Freight Forwarders include preparation of export doc’s in their quotes; they will do it of course, but will charge around $200.  You usually find out about this when the shipment is ready to load, and if the container is delayed due to you, you will be forced to pay demurrage, which can vary between $80 and $200 per day until such time as your papers are prepared and filed with the Customs Department of the country of departure.
5. Import Approval – Every vehicle, including trailer and electric scooters, entering Australia requires an approval which is issued by DOTARS.  As the importer you have to apply to DOTARS and provide all necessary information of ownership, full details of the bike, including BOS (Bill Of Sale) and a recent photograph.  There are strict guidelines and you must not ship your bike until you have been granted approval.  There are very serious fines for not following these guidelines and most result in the bike having to be exported back out of the Australian waters, or destroyed, at your cost.
6. Arrival Papers – All arriving shipments have to be entered into various federal department logs.  You also have to file papers with customs who will issue tax (GST) and duty.  Duty is payable upon the category of vehicle, and GST is paid upon the total of the purchase price + shipping cost + arrival fees.
7. Bond – All shipments into Australia must pass through Bond, aka Bonded Warehouse.  You must have an authorised agent, usually a Freight Forwarder, present to inspect the bike at unloading.  His responsibility is to physically inspect and check the bike with Customs and AQIS to confirm the bike is the same bike you made application with DOTARS to import, and that it has been properly prepared in accordance with Australian Import standards as to cleanliness and the use of AQIS approved timber in packing and dunnage.

None of the items and tasks listed above are included in your shipping quote, and none can be performed by you as an individual.  To most, the mention of arrival fees doesn’t actually raise concern or give ride to substantial expense, but you will find very quickly that they will make your shipping quote pale into insignificance by comparison.

Arriving shipments are subject to two bites at the apple so far as fees go; once at the port, the other under Bond, so even if you ask your FF to include arrival charges (most refuse as there’s simply too many to know for every country) they can really only supply statutory charges at the Port of Arrival, for the actual port and services therein are independently owned.  Similarly, most Bonded Warehouses are privately owned and they are free to charge as they choose.  As your agent, FF’s apply 50% to all costs incurred, so the more charged at the dock and under bond means the more income for the FF.  The shipping invoice below was the eventual charge for two bikes.  The original quote for shipping was roughly $1,100 USD, and the myriad of charges outlined became applicable before the bikes went to Bond, where a further $1,400 in costs and fees were applied.

This invoice (below) is indicative of fees & charges incurred after your bike passes through Bond. These were two brand new bikes imported from Japan, and while new bikes can also be impounded, those from Japan are sometimes allowed in without washing due to Japan’s very high quarantine standards, and little history of disease.

You will note that there are a number of charges that seem duplicated, but they’re not.  Customs and AQIS (Aust. Quarantine) get to charge you for the same thing at least twice, with AQIS getting several opportunities.  Almost every second-hand bike is declared insufficiently clean, and ever since the Mad Cows epidemic, anything from Europe and the UK is automatically impounded by AQIS, even if only to examine for cleanliness.  Impounded bikes can incur additional charges for transporting to an AQIS washing facility, and cleaning is charged by 15 minute blocks with re-inspection charges applicable every time an AQIS officer inspects the bike for cleanliness.  There is of course times that bikes get through without additional charges, especially those that are in concourse condition, or when the economy is really bubbling and the priority is to clear imported goods ASAP.

Ultimately, once you’ve paid for shipping and all your arrival fees it’s usually around $1,800 to $2,500 from the UK, $2,800 to $3,200 from most of western Europe, $800 to $1,600 from Japan & Asia, and $1,200 to $1,800 from the US (west coast).   These prices exclude GST as that is relative to the declared value of your bike.   Shipping from more remote countries, or those not in regular trade routes, will have higher costs. Because we ship our own containers we can include anything, bike related or not.  We regularly ship personal effects to help reduce overall container costs, which helps everyone achieve savings.

• We specialise in finding rare and exotic motorcycles.
• We regularly source bikes specific to a customer’s needs.
• We regularly ship bikes to and from any corner of the globe.
• We organise on-site inspections of bikes in other countries.
• We can & do design, build, & customise bikes to any specification.
• We’re one of the only genuine builders of Cafe racer’s, Bobber’s, and Tracker’s.
• We supply bikes to dealers at very competitive rates.
• We perform concourse restoration services on any bike.
• We perform performance upgrades and supply specialist components

www.betterbikes.com.au