# Australian Government ditches parallel imports plan for cars



## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

https://www.google.com.au/amp/www.d...rnment-drops-parallel-imports-plan-64931.html

Extract (first paragraph):

The Federal Government has abandoned plans to introduce a parallel import scheme in Australia, overturning a decision to allow people to import cars from Japan and the UK.

Additional comment by Jack Malarkey:

There is also an article about this matter on page 3 of the Financial Review for Friday 18 August 2017 by Jacob Greber ('Coalition U-turn on car imports'). This article is behind a paywall so I haven't included a link to it.

However, if you have access to today's Financial Review, I commend this article to you.

New Zealand has long had such parallel import arrangements and has given consumers access to cheaper cars.

Jason Greber's article points out that 'Australian drivers continue to pay up to twice as much as New Zealanders for many high-end cars'.

The Greber article also states:

'By now denying consumers the option to buy directly from overseas, the government has gone against the advice of the Productivity Commission, the Harper Competition inquiry, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission'.


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## huxtee (Mar 1, 2017)

Makes no sense, we don't have car manufacturing to protect anymore.

Lots of quality 2nd hand cars that would of made great uber cars.


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## fields (Jul 11, 2016)

I didn't think I would ever say this, but I am beginning to miss Julia. This really is the worst government in at least 40 years. They do absolutely nothing which could be considered beneficial to the average Australian. 

Fortunately we do have a reasonably good state government in NSW but other states aren't that fortunate.


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## UberDriverAU (Nov 4, 2015)

huxtee said:


> we don't have car manufacturing to protect anymore.


Correct, but we do have consumers to protect. If you import a cheap car yourself, what happens if a warranty issue arises? Where do you go in Australia to sort the issue out?


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

UberDriverAU said:


> Correct, but we do have consumers to protect. If you import a cheap car yourself, what happens if a warranty issue arises? Where do you go in Australia to sort the issue out?


I suspect if you imported a car under such arrangements, you'd need to accept that there was no Australian-based warranty or perhaps no warranty at all.

This is the case if you buy a computer or other equipment from a supplier abroad. I don't see why cars need be different.

In any event, those buying cars at auctions don't benefit from warranties so many Australians are prepared to take the risk of not having a warranty.

This kind of scheme appears to work satisfactorily in New Zealand.


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## UberDriverAU (Nov 4, 2015)

Jack Malarkey said:


> I suspect if you imported a car under such arrangements, you'd need to accept that there was no Australian-based warranty or perhaps no warranty at all.
> 
> This is the case if you buy a computer or other equipment from a supplier abroad. I don't see why cars need be different.
> 
> ...


I'm not convinced it would save consumers money in the long run. Safety recalls are another issue. Would you need to send your car overseas at your expense if a critical safety issue needed to be rectified? The recent airbag dramas are a good example. Some will need a replacement airbag for a second time. An imported phone or computer is expensive enough to send back overseas for a warranty issue, sending a car roundtrip would be prohibitively expensive for average consumers.


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

UberDriverAU said:


> I'm not convinced it would save consumers money in the long run. Safety recalls are another issue. Would you need to send your car overseas at your expense if a critical safety issue needed to be rectified? The recent airbag dramas are a good example. Some will need a replacement airbag for a second time.


You would run a risk in that type of case of having to pay the cost of the rectification yourself.


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