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Cost of building RV-12 in Australia

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Platyius

Member
The cost of building RV-12 in Australia has gone through the roof and I have been forced to cancel my fuselage kit days before it was to leave the US due to the worst exchange rate for five years. I consider myself very lucky as Van's only kept $500 and returned the rest of the deposit. The $500 they kept will go towards the kit when I re-order if it is within 12 months. Hopefully when all the kits are available I will re-order, then I will know the total cost and will try and save on freight, maybe the exchange rate will improve
These are worrying times, I find it strange there has been no posts talking about financial maters on Vansairforce.

Tony Earle
 
Platyius said:
...These are worrying times, I find it strange there has been no posts talking about financial maters on Vansairforce.

Tony Earle
Click to expand...
Tony,

I think we are all still in shock over what has happened the the last few weeks.
 
Tony, I feel your pain. I was hoping to order the RV-8 empennage kit over xmas.
With the exchange rate adding near 50% to the costs compared to a few months ago, I am now wondering which xmas because it surely ain't gonna be this one!
 
Euro/Dollar

A flip side to this is that the dollar is 1.37 to the Euro instead of $1.59. I wish Van's would let us buy our Rotaxes now while they are $4000 cheaper. We could buy the prop and oil cooler later. Or am I nuts, and is this going to be a permanent situation ? Or is inflation coming soon?

In todays economic climate, the difference between a $50k and a $60k kit may matter to some people.
 
I've also been well caught in this.

Im still getting the wings over cause I want to start, but am going to slow down on the rest again.

From what I understand this will not resolve it self in the next year or so. What annoys me is that Australia is so strong at the moment yet our dollar has suffered!!!! Anyway best of luck all in Aus.

Jim Tatlock
Geelong Vic.
 
Cost of RV12 to import.

Hi Jim,Im glad you are getting the wings as i thought you cancelled the whole kit.Yes i cannot understand how our dollar has dropped so much.Its a pain.
 
Come visit Aus, and bring a bit of the US with you...

Another good thing about this is that now there is less excuse for you Americans to come and visit us Aussies, whilst it's cheap ......

And if enough of you visit bringing large suitcases, maybe we can save on freight. I mean, how many suitcases would it need to bring a wing kit out?:D:D
 
I was hoping to get my finish kit for my RV7A, but thats not going to happen just now. I do hope it picks up soon, I guess I could work on my panel. Does anyone in Australia have a pre-punched 7or 9 slider panel that they want to sell, I have a blank 7 panel to swap.
 
Same here in Canada.

I was about to start a RV9 Project (buying empennage + tools) but in the past 2 week, there was a 10% increase.

2 months ago, our money was almost on par with USD. Today, we'worth $0.86. Only one good side : pump gaz went from $1.50/L to $1.04/L in the past 2 months!
(for the imperial users here, that's from $5.67 to $3.93 a gallon. gaz is heavily taxed here in Quebec...)
 
Platyius said:
I have been forced to cancel my fuselage kit days before it was to leave the US due to the worst exchange rate for five years.
Click to expand...

So when doing budget for you project, you didn't think that the exchange rates would change?

I ordered QB fuse and finishing kit a while ago... if I'd have paid them right away, (compared to the exchange rate now) I'd have saved like ~$2500. It's just money, which you get when you work so have to work a harder (or longer) to pay the plane.

The only problem I see in your decision is that you don't know tomorrows exchange rate. I mean that it can get even worse. Are you waiting for better times, which easily can take years or decades in worst case... so are you really willing to wait that long?

Pay - build - fly!


Also pretty similar subject is fuel price: My assumption that it will only rise in a long run, so better fly today than tomorrow.
 
Cost of RV12 to import.

Tony,Who did you airfreight your wings with?Fedex said it would cost 3500 to airfreight to Brisbane. Regards Brian.
 
Brian Howard said:
Tony,Who did you airfreight your wings with?Fedex said it would cost 3500 to airfreight to Brisbane. Regards Brian.
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:D Airfreight WOW ;) it will cost you almost the same as the kit :) put it on the water and wait 1 to 2 months much cheaper. use the 1-2 months to get your garage in order...that is what I am doing. :D Now where's my kit I can't wait no more!:p
 
airfreight rv12

Hi Rudy, I heard someone here and i thought it was tony, airfreighted his wings for 1400 all up. Yes as you say its a no brainer but to send it by sea for what fedex are charging.Yours must be expensive as well. Regards Brian.
 
Those shipping charges doesn't make any sense at all... in most cases. I probably posted these somewhere earlier but I needed quote to Finland/My door:

QB Fuse + Finishing kit via air: $11000
QB Fuse + Finishing kit via sea: $4100


QB Fuse + Finishing kit to Finland/Helsinki: $2800
QB Fuse + Finishing kit to Finland/My door: $4100
Difference ~$1300.

From Google earth the distance from Oregon to Helsinki is 4938 miles (straight path goes from Van's buildings via Portland city to Finland). While from Helsinki to my door is about 100 miles... How the first 5000 miles can cost only $0.56 per mile while quote for last 100 miles is $13 per mile?! :mad: I'll take care of the delivery for last 100 miles myself.

Advice: don't use truck for delivery (the last miles are done with that). :D
 
Hi Pirkka,

Some of the RV guys here in South Africa had the same problem.
Shipping from the Harbour to their doors accross land was EXTREMELY expensive.The 3rd party middle men handling this portion of the trip knew you're a one time customer, they have something valuable, you want it, so they charge something ridiculous. If you don't pay it goes in storage with storage cost until you cough up. What you're ganno do??? They don't care cause your a one time business deal, they got you but the short and curlies :D

Anycase we in SA have since made arrangements with another shipping agent that buys 2nd hand airplanes in USA for SA customers then containers them and send them to SA. There is always space alongside these and hence our kits goes in the same container and cost much less. We just have to fetch our crates where they deliver the container to, ussually an airport close to a big Metro City.

Bottom line try and get into a complete container that goes to your own city, so that they don't split the container at the harbour! OR you need to fetch it from the harbour depot where they split it.

Regards
Rudi
 
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Brian Howard said:
Hi Rudy, I heard someone here and i thought it was tony, airfreighted his wings for 1400 all up. Yes as you say its a no brainer but to send it by sea for what fedex are charging.Yours must be expensive as well. Regards Brian.
Click to expand...

Hi Brian,
Yip very expensive, 1/2 way across the globe to South Africa.
If I could get kit airfreight at $ 1,400 I would jump at it.
Rudi
 
Rv-12 wings to brisbane

Hi Brian,
I imported my wing kit by sea. I have a spreadsheet of the costs . I will flick it to you if you're interested. 0266857191

Cheers, Rod
 
Rotax

So when it comes time to buy the engine...will you have to buy it from Van's or will you get the break of buying it a better exchange rate overseas?

Pete

as you know...we're kinda screwed
 
The prices that you people are saying for airfrieght seem more that Vans said. Im getting my wings air over so will tell you soon.

As to the exchange rate I think you can confidently say it will not be returning for a long time. With that in mind I don't want to put off the project for months and months and then pay anyway.

The official interest rates in Australia are tipped to drop and drop to assist with the recovery. Im using this as some justification to continue. If the mortgage rates fall a few percent then so will my repayments on my house. That will offset the extra Im paying for the kit.

If that makes sense.

Jim
Geelong Australia
 
freight to aussie

for those aussies looking for a reasonable frt deal to australia....try phil newell....503 866 5995..[email protected] shipped a number of kits and engines out to builders in the brisbane/southern Qld. area...he.s close to vans ..and will pick your a/c up ...and containarise it...with other kits...a/c or cars etc....he.s just recently brought my fw/forwd..and finish kit ...along with an rv7 and a rv 9 kit ..plus some engines ...a good bloke to deal with....stanman
 
stanman said:
for those aussies looking for a reasonable frt deal to australia....try phil newell....503 866 5995..[email protected] shipped a number of kits and engines out to builders in the brisbane/southern Qld. area...he.s close to vans ..and will pick your a/c up ...and containarise it...with other kits...a/c or cars etc....he.s just recently brought my fw/forwd..and finish kit ...along with an rv7 and a rv 9 kit ..plus some engines ...a good bloke to deal with....stanman
Click to expand...

Hi Stanman,

Agreed, that is exactly what we do in South Africa as well. Go into a container with other people's airplanes and kits and cars enroute to SA.

Regards,
Rudi
 
Australian shipping

Thanks Stan I am glad we could help you out. The email address is [email protected] actually.

I have spoken to Barb and the crew at Vans many times now and I have to say that due to how busy they are, they are not in a position to really look after overseas buyers. Their room is limited and they are not willing to stockpile or combine shipments in order to serve the customer better. They will pack a single kit into a container taking up half of the available space and ship it off with no thought on consolidating to save money. They have a broker in place that they "have used forever" that I don't think offers the best rates from the outset.

We offered to take all their Australia bound shipments but they are not interested, they have a system in place that works for them and they are not willing to change even if it means the end cost is cheaper to the customer, meaning that their product becomes more attractive. I pitched this angle and they said they were too busy to worry about it. Must be nice!

Anyway we would like to make it a goal that we will beat VAN?s shipping price on all Australia bound shipments. We will let them concentrate on doing what they do best ? building kit aircraft and we will do the shipping however this has to be client driven.

The factory is a round trip of 100 miles from our location.

- We will pick up your kit order in a pickup truck or rented pantec depending on the size of the kit and weather conditions

- We will supply 6 months free storage if you want to purchase in chunks and ship together

- If you have an existing shipment or are a past client you can have items from other suppliers sent to us and we will pack them all together (like ebay purchases etc). If shipping to us is over $100 we would be interested in supplying a competitive quote for North American shipping as well. We have accounts will most major carriers that offer us discounts.

- We will consolidate your kit with other clients shipments. This saves you on both ends as some of the Australian costs can be shared among other shippers.


We regularly ship to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. We have a new client that should also establish a regular Adelaide schedule. Perth is a more occasional destination.

We would also consider offering the same service/s to other countries if there was a demand for it.

Drop us an email we would love to help you out.
 
Phil,
One issue is what happens at this end, both in terms of costs. Also physical handling of the imported items if a container is shared. A lot of reports of crates pierced by forlift tynes this end when a container is unloaded for customs if more than one person have goods in it. Also GST if container shared Ive heard can be an issue (not sure about this).
I will want to accumulate some tools and other items, and in the future will want to ship other large stuff that are much cheaper in USA even if shipped by sea.
I imported a 20ft container with a helicopter, ride on mower and other stuff 18 months ago. The surprise was the costs at this end.
Can you let me know what happens this end if a container comes in with various items for a number of different customers.

A quote from some one else at a local RV site in Australia:

"My strongest recommendation to those who wish to share a container is
to pay a broker to set it all up properly.

For instance a broker will ensure that the container is set up to
come FCX Shipment (full container with multiple consignees) as
opposed to LCL Shipment (Less than Container Load). The difference
being that while both consignments contain (strictly speaking)
consolidated goods, if the goods come LCL it is 100% certain that
they will be unloaded from the container before local delivery. That
means that someone will probably be
unloading your aircraft parts from the container with a gigantic fork
lift at the docks or at a bond warehouse."

I think you will be onto a winner if you can set this up,
Regards
John Russell
Melbourne
 
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Wow that was fast John!

First off let me state clearly here and now ? Australian costs are horrendous! I don?t know how they can get away with it but they charge like a wounded bull and unfortunately there isn?t much you can do about it apart from try and spread the cost over a number greater than one!

When a container is shipped, each item in the container needs to be assigned to a Commercial Invoice. If there are five parties owning goods in the container we draw up five Commercial Invoices. Our broker then clears them through Customs and Quarantine and invoices us for the costs. Usually we will receive a general invoice for costs that can be shared and then individual invoices per consignee. We then divide the general costs among the parties and invoice each one. There is no way that you can be charged GST for another parties GST.

The costs associated with shipping a 20? is generally about 80% of the cost of a 40?. If you can share a 40? with two people you will be far in front than shipping two 20?.

With AQIS being as nervous as they are now days, the chances of a container NOT being unloaded prior to you collecting your goods is very unlikely even if you are the sole consignee on the Commercial Invoice. If you have a few bob stashed away and are looking for an opportunity I would be opening a Quarantine cleaning company near your local port, they are making bank right now!

We have shipped dozens and dozens of containers. It started with automobiles and automobile parts but we were approached by a great bloke in QLD that needed a Yak 52 engine shipped. One thing led to another and the engine turned into a 40? container with a complete Yak 52 and a Corvette! From there word spread to the VANS FANS and we have shipped about a half dozen kits to date. We have never had a crate damaged in loading, unloading or during shipping. As I advise all clients, I would encourage that you take insurance to protect against these unfortunate occurrences.

Phil
 
Cost of Building. Freight Wings Aus

Hiya all. just thought i would keep people in the loop as to costs. The first good thing is that I go my wing kit today.

I airfeighted them with a full tool kit from planetools. Total cost for shipping was $3660. A lot but I wanted them here so I could start.

My next shipping might be with Aussie imports depending on prices.

I have also ordered the Emp and will ship them together. That should keep me busy for 6+ months Im sure.

PS Im in Melbourne.

Chat later.

Jim
 
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