Why are car prices in Australia so greater than the equivolent vehicle price overseas?? In Real Terms!

well you got to concider the down under shipping for 1 thing.cost of fuel for the ship,shipping paperwork ect.one thing about it your goverment is screwing you,not ours,they to busy screwing us.

Pure and simple.. Its the Geeatest Rip Off on the Australian people.. It must cost the same or less to ship a car to the USA rather than Australia.. I cant find one shred of evidence to support the massibly inflated proces being asked of the Australian Consumer... Somebody has to stand up and speak on our behalf!! Bob Rona

The "Politicians" are the legalised thief's and should be ashamed of their actions only money in their back pockets count. In Australia there is only a rip off society and honesty is gone out the window! David

This rort is not only with Vehicles but is rife with so many things. Same brand, same model hearing aids in Australia advertised at A$13,000 per pair are widely advertised by Boots ( a national pharmacy chain in the UK at Pounds 3,000 per pair (adjusted for exchange rate is A$6,000 , ie they are less than half the price in the UK. Price fixing within the country is supposed to be illegal in Australia and we even have a govt. department to oversee that it does not happen. However it seems that their remit does not extend to preventing price gouging of imported products. Tony Gilbert

Among other things (like shipping costs), you'll have to consider taxes (like GST) and custom duties. For example, there's a 33% tax on cars with value greater than A$60k. If the car is not new, say, under 30 years old, it'll be less (5% customs duty and 10% GST). And then there's compliance costs (US cars driver on the left, while Australia on the right), and those modifications can be costly. And then, of course there is competition where in US, consumers have a lot to choose from. With the US market being so big in size, all car manufacturers clammer to cater for US market. With the Australian market so much smaller, it's so out of way, and its systems requiring all the changes, it all adds up to a much higher price tag. Sorry, mate, you luck out.