UPDATE! This book is now for sale. You can buy it in print from a New Zealand store here.
This version has more pages and is cheaper than buying the print version from Amazon.
If you want the book as a Kindle eBook from Amazon, click on this link.
When you go to the USA to buy a car or RV with the intention of shipping it home to New Zealand, there are many complex rules around having to convert it to right hand drive (or not), frontal impact standards, emissions rules, registration in the US, titles, customs, shipping, sales tax, GST, duty…the list goes on and on. I used to have black hair until I imported a pickup truck and 5th wheel RV. It was a complex and stressful process!
One key question is, who will insure you, as a non-resident? Some companies will, but not if your car is older than 20 years. In the Land of Getting Sued, car insurance is absolutely vital and a legal requirement in the USA. This book will help you through that minefield.
How do you get (for example) $20,000 to the USA to buy a car? How do you actually buy it, as a non-resident?
If you want to buy say a 2010 Chevy Camaro, what are the rules around converting it to RHD? Can you get a permit so you don’t have to? (the answer is yes and no, by the way!)
Want to buy an RV? How can you transfer US$80,000 to the USA to buy an RV there? What are the rules and regulations around importing an RV – will it be too wide? What sort of pickup truck will you need to tow that new caravan or 5th wheel? What’s involved with converting a motorhome to RHD and what will it cost? What’s the story with the electrical cabling and gas lines in an American RV – are they legal here?
What happens when your car/RV gets back to New Zealand – how do you get it on the road?
These are questions this book will answer, and so many more.
This book contains lots of general information about travelling by car around the US, so once you are there and hit the road, you will be a bit more prepared.
We started out catering to people who wanted to travel to the USA, buy a classic American car (a ‘Yank Tank’, if you will), drive it around and then ship it home for use on car club runs, or just a sunny Sunday cruise. But then I got to thinking – we had already been to the US and purchased an RV and shipped that home to New Zealand, so knew how to do that. So why not cater to those travelers too?
And let’s not forget those who want to go to the US to buy a newer car, like a 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T, or 2010 Ford Mustang GT or even a brand new American sports car.
Perhaps the question is, why listen to our advice? Well, so far as a family we’ve covered 80,000km in the USA in five separate trips and by the time this book hits the digital shelves, we would have touched almost every state in the continental USA (that’s just fancy talk for not including places like Hawaii or Alaska). I (Fred) am a motoring journalist for Drive Life – a web motoring publication, and Tracey writes novels as Tracey Alvarez, so writing and motoring are both in our blood.
So in July 2016, we embarked on another journey to the USA, this time buying a classic American car and road tripping it. Well, we planned to buy a classic muscle car, but ended up buying a new Dodge Challenger R/T.
USA2NZ: Buy It, Drive It, Ship It and help others to do the same thing we have done – but more easily! You may as well learn from our mistakes.
Check us out on Facebook, www.facebook.com/usa2nz
USA2NZ: Buy It, Drive It, Ship It is available in both digital and print formats.
Our hope is that by using this book, you will be enthused enough to do the same as us. Driving across the US is an amazing experience!
Fred and Tracey Alvrez