Jump to content

Importing a vehicle from usa


chris r

Recommended Posts

Pickup was a piece of piss. When the money cleared I received the receipt documents. Printed them off, turned up they got the vehicle out and I drove it home. The title and bill of sale were in their office and I had them couriered out so all is well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Hey @chris r can you please give me a run down of the process after getting the car into the country?

I've been doing some reading and it looks like I need to put my car through an entry certifier (VINZ or VTNZ) and they'll assess whether the car needs any repair work/what the repair work needs to be (which it does), then it goes to a repair certifier? Is that about right mate?

My flatmate is a certified welder and I'm wanting him to do the repairs on the car so where does he fit in on the whole process?

cheers

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's part of the repair cert. All structural repairs must be performed by a ticketed welder. 

But yeah get it in, send it to compliance, get repair certifier, complete repair works. And then back to vtnz with repair paper work. 

Don't do any repair work other than mechanical , ie replacement of worn parts till repair cert processes has started. They want to co trol the processes from start to finish. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, Mr Vapour said:

That's part of the repair cert. All structural repairs must be performed by a ticketed welder. 

I'm not sure that is required, particularly for older vehicles. The repair certifier I saw recently about my imported rust bucket was happy for me to do the work myself.

With this one, someone else imported it and it was rust flagged at the border (hardly surprising). I have had a VIN assigned at VTNZ and then had it looked at by the repair certifier.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, j.e.d. said:

Hey @chris r can you please give me a run down of the process after getting the car into the country?

I've been doing some reading and it looks like I need to put my car through an entry certifier (VINZ or VTNZ) and they'll assess whether the car needs any repair work/what the repair work needs to be (which it does), then it goes to a repair certifier? Is that about right mate?

My flatmate is a certified welder and I'm wanting him to do the repairs on the car so where does he fit in on the whole process?

cheers

 

Yes that's correct for when I went through the process. The engineer will tell you what needs repairing and will sign the repairs off when they are happy with what's done. Flatmate welder will be after repair certifier (engineer) has told you what needs to be done 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sweet.. thanks guys :-)

The chassis has had some patches added over time which I know will be an issue so I've picked up a replacement chassis (thankfully LHD like mine). I was tempted to transfer everything over on to that one before getting the car checked just to make one less thing for them to have an issue with.. you reckon there is merit in that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you recommend a particular testing station to put it through? I remember when I took my softail custom through certification a few years ago VINZ in Sylvia Park was really good to deal with.

Also, any repair certifiers anyone can recommend? South Auckland ways that like old chevs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Mr Vapour said:

That's part of the repair cert. All structural repairs must be performed by a ticketed welder. 

But yeah get it in, send it to compliance, get repair certifier, complete repair works. And then back to vtnz with repair paper work. 

Don't do any repair work other than mechanical , ie replacement of worn parts till repair cert processes has started. They want to co trol the processes from start to finish. 

Just re-read your post man.. so not a good idea to just go ahead & change the chassis over without them seeing it and telling me I need to replace it. I'm not interested in doing anything dodgy but I'd like to save some time/money if I can

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Mr Vapour said:

That's part of the repair cert. All structural repairs must be performed by a ticketed welder. 

 

 

15 hours ago, Nominal said:

I'm not sure that is required, particularly for older vehicles. The repair certifier I saw recently about my imported rust bucket was happy for me to do the work myself.

 

 

Yeah ticketed welder for rust repairs is a wives tale, I don't think there are any tickets for such work. the closest would some kind of panelbeating/sheetmetal qualification? doesn't mean a ticketed welder is bad at rust repairs, but it doesnt mean theyre good at it either - it is a somewhat different type of welding.

welding tickets are typically for structual steel, pressure equipment and airplane stuff, maybe other safety critical applications.

and even then there is not actually anything called a welding ticket. You have weld procedure specifications (WPS) and welders can then be qualified to the WPS and gain a procedure qualification record (PQR) is the correct terminology.

The PQR is completely specific to what is on the WPS, e.g if it is pipe welding it might be carbon steel, in a certain position, tig root run and  SMAW (stick) cap. the type of tig wire and stick electrodes will be specified, the range of allowable welding settings, sheilding gas type, the piping will have fitup dimensions and bevels specified, minimum temperatures, allowable interpass temperatures, a range of diameter and thickness above and below the tested qualifying weld that the WPS can be used for. Then if you need to weld structual steel sections, or stainless steel, or significantly larger or smaller pipes you then need another WPS and PQR appropriate for the application. then for each PQR you need to have tested qualifying welds on a regular basis - it is not an indefinite qualification.

tl:dr

welding qualifications (tickets) for industrial welding have almost no application to most automotive repair work.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yea pretty sure what you're saying is what my flatmate is doing. He works for a steel fab shop in Drury & works on all sorts of industrial jobs. He mentioned the other day he's got his certification now & is real keen to work on my car (he's a young guy who is positive & self motivated so I'm happy to encourage that)

He really enjoys his job, so what he lacks in automotive welding I'm sure he will make up for it with better skill than me haha.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

oh yeah I don't mean someone with a ticket is bad choice at all, esp if they are keen on doing the work that is excellent. someone qualified should very well know how to drive an arc and not dip tungstens etc. just whether they have experience working with thin and rusty stuff is the question really, while the basics are the same there are alot of technique things that are different. much more to do with not burning holes and minimising warpage vs on thicker stuff where the important parts are getting penetration and preventing any inclusions etc. to ensure passing NDT.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shout him a rusted door and some sheetmetal to practice on. Cut some holes in it and cut some panels to be welded in. That way when he gets to the actual car, he has it dialed in. Same theory for everyone really, you don't start on the actual job. 2c

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry my use of terms may have been off. Just passing on information I recently accuired 

I'm August I had several conversations with a repair certifier. He was very specific that all structural repairs need to be performed by a qualified welder and proof had to be provided of the qualifications and of them performing the work. A d he pretty much told me that most of my car was structural work. 

I asked if I could do it my self if I provided evedence of being a competant welder and was in no way possible. I questions if this was a recent thing as I thought that I was able to do it my self. He said things changed acouple of years ago. 

He even said he could point me in the direction of courses that would provide the minimum stranded required. 

I did not ask any more questions after this as to the exact details of the qualifications needed. I started doing maths in my head and quickly worked out my she'll was not going to worth fixing for a road car. 

There must be unit standards or something simple that must be held 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/11/2019 at 14:43, Bling said:

Shout him a rusted door and some sheetmetal to practice on. Cut some holes in it and cut some panels to be welded in. That way when he gets to the actual car, he has it dialed in. Same theory for everyone really, you don't start on the actual job. 2c

Good call.. I have a spare door which needs repair work to it so he can practice on that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...