Have
you ever worked on a vehicle in your driveway when it was – 18 degrees
Fahrenheit [that’s -28 degrees Celsius]? Well I hadn’t until now! The lead
up to shipping the Discovery Short Ass to
Luckily
the shipping company I was using were happy to push out the shipping date by a
week. I still had to contend with this blizzard? Work on was our only solution.
Sitting in the snow changing front axle assemblies, lying on ice under the
Discovery tightening everything up again, and I couldn’t even stop for a beer,
Bugger! Well we just made the deadline with me working up until the hour before
it shipped.
With
the Australian Outback Challenge being on the other side of the world one of my
biggest costs and hassles was to ship the Discovery.
Having
never done anything like this before I spoke with friends and contacts to find
out the cheapest way to ship the Discovery. I found that I had to contact lots
of different shipping companies in order to get a good price. The amount they
wanted to charge varied by over 100%. Also the services they would provide
varied significantly with many splitting costs and charges up minutely to try
and confuse ones ability to compare one from another. In the end I opted for a
20” container arranged by Allison Shipping International out of
Most
people taking a vehicle overseas intend to make it a two way trip. Given that I
am an Australian and moving back home this year I opted to get customs approval
to permanently import the vehicle. All others need what is called a Carnet
de Passage which is in essence a temporary permit to import a vehicle and
avoid customs duties. In particular to take a vehicle to
Australian
Quarantine can be difficult.
Loading
the Truck was fun! The truck arrives with a container on the back, it is then my
responsibility to load the truck some 4 foot above the ground. Now the Discovery
can climb high ledges but not 4 foot high. I arranged for a local tow company to
bring its flat bed with the view to drive onto the tow truck then back into the
container. Even with this assistance the flat bed was still lower than the
container requiring some gentle reversing to get up and into the container.
Now
have you ever been in a 20 foot container? Have you ever measured the internal
dimensions then compared it to the external dimensions of a Discovery. I had
not. To my horror those containers are dam narrow. To get out of the driver’s
seat I had to climb out the window and drop down the side, even after we
maneuvered the truck as far over to the passenger side as possible. Now I am not
a thin person and when I dropped out the window I was almost stuck between
Discovery and container wall. There is no way on earth I will be able to get
back in the window to drive the car out and will need to enlist the assistance
of a very skinny friend. Because of the narrowness how do I get to the back to
affix the tie downs? Bugger! Yes you guessed it I had to crawl underneath the
car on my stomach to the rear to attach to the tie downs, then crawl all the way
back out again. Not a pretty sight. Luckily the truck driver and tow truck
driver were having way to much fun laughing at my expense to pick up my camera
and take any incriminating shots.
Once
the container closed I relaxed, sort of. Now all I have to worry about is the
container getting there in one piece [to those on www.pirate4x4.com
thanks for the pictures of containers falling off ships, it really boosted my
confidence] and getting the vehicle through
Next
stop the event in may 2006.
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![]() | Name and address of owner/driver
![]() Vehicle registration number. The vehicle must have a current registration
in the country of origin for the duration, so provide date of expiry
| ![]() Vehicle engine number
| ![]() If available the vehicle VIN number
| ![]() Make and colour
| ![]() Body Type: station wagon, utility, car
| ![]() Start and end dates of cover required. | |
On your arrival you take these prepared forms to the local office and sign
up. The car is not required to have a road worthy certificate but must be
roadworthy.
For more details go to the Australian Automobile Association website:
www.aaa.asn.au/pages/import.htm