Trouty's fun and games with customs

[ilsautomotive]

G'day all,

I've been waiting for the day I reveal this happy tale. Last year I had to do a heap of research to get a new set of wheels (the Falcon and the Eunos use the same stud pattern so they will go on either), and of course the ones I wanted were not available in the country. Due to offset issues it seemed every style I liked was unavailable so I decided to go all-out and outsource from the US. Only one company that I found was readily willing to ship overseas. Since then, the timeline has been something like this:

* Dec 31, '04: payment of $don't-ask made

* February 9, '05: Customs makes me pay full GST on an unrelated item bought privately from a friend in the states, including the shipping amount.

* March 24, '05: Bill of lading for the wheels arrives by e-mail - a form of 100% shipping jargon with no instructions, so I printed it out and began waiting for customs to make contact with me.

* May 4, '05: I get desperate and ask the wheel seller for advice, and they simply resend the bill of lading. This time I go over it in great detail and see a reference to some logistics company. I do a search on the 'net but find no details for them, until I check the yellow pages.

* May 6: I spent the better part of a day driving to Tullamarine where I handed the bill of lading to the logistics company. They charged me $177.10 and gave me another form, advising me to go to the customs building down the road to collect the item. I went to customs but was then handed a new and very complex "Nature 10" form to fill out! I was also told there would be a 2 hour wait and a $50 fee when I have filled it out, which I knew wasn't going to happen that day.

* May 10: I got a quote from a customs broker for $130 plus GST to fill out the Nature 10 form for me. I later had a go at filling it out myself, but it was requiring too much research and time and I only got so far.

* May 24: I gave the customs broker the go ahead and have sent all documents collected so it is in their hands. So much time has passed I am fearing customs will auction off the wheels and I'll be left with nothing.

* May 26: I learn that in addition to the 10% GST, 15% duty, processing fee and whatever else they feel like charging, customs has accumlated $300 in storage fees, and will continue to charge me $20 per day for as long as this drags on! I was never sent any form of correspondance by them this time, and I have to pay, as the alternative is abandoning the whole thing and donating my wheels to them.

I estimate this stuff around will have cost me 6 months of stress and something like $1-2k in miscellaneous expenses seperate to the wheels and shipping. I am astounded that a simple international transaction can be made so complex and stressful in this day and age, and my only consolation is that when it's over, at least I can say I got the wheels I really wanted.

The moral of the story is to drive a white Corolla and leave it stock.

[EA2BA]

so do we at least get a pic of said wheels to look at

[Polyal]

holy crap....

OK you have to give us pics now, what wheels?

That amount of paper work is just crazy, and to be charged for every form is BS. But what can you do I guess.

[4.9 EF Futura]

Crazy. Pays to do customs research prior to laying down the hard earned....

[LTDHO]

Originally Posted by Trouty

The moral of the story is to drive a white Corolla and leave it stock.

Yeah, like thats going to happen...

Show us the pic's

[neb]

yikes they must be good wheels to go through so much trouble....... yeah where are the pics !!!

[ilsautomotive]

Well I bought numerous items from the states before, including a 50mm wastegate etc. Recently a set of Eibach springs arrived straight to my front door without any problems whatsoever. I still don't know exactly how they work but I've learned the hard way they aren't afraid to charge a lot of money and not even put in the effort to send off a piece of mail advising they are holding the item etc. :@

Anyhow, the wheels are BBS RX wheels (18x8.0, bolt pattern 5x114.3, offset 40, Chrome):
http://ilsa.alphalink.com.au/tmp/F6C82F3Ad01.jpg

We all know the cliche, it doesn't matter what others think but I have seen these on some cars in Australia like VX Commodores and I don't think there's a wheel I find more attractive on the market. That's just me.

For what it's worth, Herrod rebadge BBS wheels so their premium wheel looks quite similar.

[Damo]

geezus christ. That's insane. I hope you get the wheels in the end and you're happy with them.

[Polyal]

they are a beautiful wheel for sure!

but ah...it was alot of effort to go through when avanti do almost exactly the same rim. There is a thread in the wheel/tyre section.

Still, they look awesome and must of cost a shyte load.

[ilsautomotive]

Cheers Poly, I was looking at another 'look a like' wheel before that but they weren't available from the seller, so they gave me a good price on the real McCoy.

[EA2BA]

now you just need to IMPORT some cheap 18" tyres from the US and you will have them on the car by christmas ..... LOL

[ilsautomotive]

hehe actually tyre prices are pretty good in the US, and I could have got some with the wheels. But I felt bad for the Bob Jane guy who was trying to get the wheels for me so I'll give him my business.

Ironically I won't have them on the Eunos by Christmas because it would look stupid without lowering, and I can't lower it yet due to a steep driveway. So for the next several months, all I can do is put them on the EA now and then so I can look like a total retard who has put $4k wheels on a $200 CFI GL. Hell, it'll turn heads.

[Racecraft]

the ADvanti Chile wheels are almost the same...

Why didn't you go thru the BBS website Jack , they have an importer in Melbourne that could of probably got them for you cheaper and definately faster.

[neb]

very nice wheels... i love em :P

[Racecraft]

Edit: 'phillbie' is getting some for $650 a corner from a place in Richmond.

[ilsautomotive]

Cheers neb.

Racecraft, the issue is the Eunos' unusually high offset (ironically the Falcon has an abnormally low one, so I'll need a big adaptor ) - the Bob Jane guy didn't think he could get them at all, nor did any other tyre store. All would have been fine if not for customs deciding to get nasty, which I couldn't really predict.

[FRDXR6]

They'll look good, Now whatever dont scratch them!

[XRated]

Let's hope you never damage one of them!! *I'd hit it* :P

That's the main problem with getting cheaper products from the States, customs duty, GST, shipping & handling, non-flexible warranty etc. So how long have they actually been in the country for? Could the whole process have taken less than a month if you had of gone down to the logistics company earlier?

Can I also ask where you bought them from, a site? And what the actual shipping price was alone?

Sorry for all the questions They look horn regardless!

One more thing.. Would you have been better off seeing a broker at the beginning?

[DanXR6T]

As someone who is on the other end of the import/export chain Jack I feel your pain lol..

I deal with this crap all day, every day. You're just lucky you can't eat rims, if you can eat something the paperwork and red tape exponentially goes up with how quickly the stuff goes off lol..

At least they sent you the B/L. Next time ask for an express release B/L and get it faxed to you, because if they send you one in the mail half the time the goods beat the B/L and storage charges rack up heaps. At least then you can start to track the goods quicker.

Dan..

[Laminge]

I hope you will get a unique lock nut for every bolt on all wheels!

[LUXO_8]

damn jack that sucks...

hope everythnig works out mate

[FPVWEPN]

nice rims but for 4 grand??????
simmons om's look similar but ud probrably have to get em polished to be as shiny as those
ummmm ttf south melb can get those infact the whole bbs range u just gota ask the right people