Hey all,

My other half is on her way to England as we speak - she specifically asked if I wanted her to grab any mini stuff while she was there (God I love her!)

Problem is, I couldn't really think of anything worthwhile - my short list is below, but the question is it worth the hassle, and will I actually save anything compared to buying locally or paying overseas postage?

4 pin diff
4 pot calipers
coil overs
4 x rubber cones
???

I don't actually own a functioning mini at the moment, and honestly when I get around to rebuilding one, it will be g13b powered, so I think this limits me to suspension and brake bits....

Can anyone else think of anything?

If you cant decide what you want, she can buy stuff for others and post it home

Not really worth it for a few reasons.

Stuff is cheaper over there, but only the bigger stuff, and I doubt shed even want to take calipers in her luggage.

If you are going to pay postage anyway just buy it on-line that way you don't pay the VAT.

Then you have the problems with customs and such, they may get suspicious depending on how much you bring back.

I agree, just buy online and get them to post, excess luggage weight would be more expensive.

As far as I'm aware you can bring in up to $1,000.00 worth of goods per week on personal import without attracting charges or GST.

I buy quite a bit of stuff from the UK and so far (fingers crossed) I've had no problems...

Mark.

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Mark T Boldry
1961 Austin Seven Mini
1964/5 Morris Mini Minor
1963 Austin Cooper S (project)
1964 Riley Elf Mk2
1965 Austin Cooper S (project)
1967 Morris Cooper S
1967 Morris Mini 850 Auto

You just claim the VAT back

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Do they still have unaccompanied baggage rates? Might be cheaper than postage for bulk but as mentioned claim back VAT

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

If you can sneak it through as cabin baggage go for it..... other wise ..... it recently cost me 32 Euro per kilo for excess baggage from Italyjavascript:emoticon(':shock:').

A few years ago I managed a bunch of heavy but not too voluminous stuff in my carry on. I manged to get it back to Oz from Heathrow even though I couldn't actually pick the bag up with one hand.....

Of course one might assume she'll want to bring back a few of her own goodies. javascript:emoticon(':D')

Cheers, Ian

Friend of mine moved from qld to sa bringing two bags of luggage with him. One filled with computer and such. In total the guy at the air port was going to charge him $250 in excess luggage.

After a brief conversation they got onto the topic as to why he was bringing his pc in his luggage. My friend explained that he was playing online gaming and was addicted and couldn't live without it. Funnily enough the guy at the air port also played the same online game as my mate and eventually said .. eh.. don't worry about the $250.

Moral of the story. Look for someone that loves mini's .. maybe excess won't cost you a dime:P

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Manda
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Madam Cheglair - 1970 Mini K

"worth buying stuff"???

Are you kiddin?! A$ is at 245 year high - man its the best time ever to buy your Mini stuff from the UK.

Give her five suitcases and tell her that Ausmini folks will send you their orders

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Regards,

Mike
"He who dies with the most toys wins."

the aus dollar is only doing well with the usa dollar
the aus dollar has actually fallen against the
uk dollar

http://markets.businessday.com.au/apps/mkt/forex.ac

That would be UK Pound. Obviously you mustn't remember buying stuff from the UK when the $A/UKPound exchange rate was at .29/.30 pence rather than the .60 pence it is now

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Steve

I was in London in Dec 2008 and I was nearly going to buy a Traveller wood kit. At the time it would have cost me $1200AU approx (after VAT claim back) and I would have had to check it into my luggage (Business class - no problem). I decided not to buy it. I bought some other stuff instead.

A few months back I bought the same wood kit from the same place and had it delivered to me in Aus for a shade under $1000.

To me, 20% sounds like a great saving! If I( was going there now I would be buying stuff.

Cheers,

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

Em...looking at my forex chart A$ to GBP for the past 5 years...the A$ is at an all time high. Where on earth did you get your analysis from?!

Currently sitting at 0.62.

In April it was 0.6 then dipped a little.

end 2009 0.55.

Then is steadily drops off to about 0.4 five years ago.

Only the facts m'lord, only the facts...

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Regards,

Mike
"He who dies with the most toys wins."

It was about 0.61 when I started planning my UK holiday.
It started to slide back when I started booking the holiday.
It kept sliding while I was on holiday.
It recovered as soon as I came home.

It was a lot better than ten years ago when it was 0.33.