Compliance Workshop Brisbane

[cowabunga438]

Am having trouble finding a compliance workshop in Brisbane. No one seems to want to answer their phone.

have tried RJD, Carmen, Shamond and have been told to steer away from Shogun, RCN and River City.

Any ideas for a good workshop.

 

[BuzzPuppy]

Speaking of which, does anyone have the email address for shogun?

Google skills have failed me,

 

[trounced]

showgun/rivercity is closed and YES as you said stay away they dont seem to be able to keep up with the car flow and cars get held up waiting for plates :-( i know it took nearly 6mths for mine.

why does it have to be brisbane ?
it only cost 380 for me to get my car trucked from brisbane to Leeton (south west NSW) with that sort of low cost you could get it complied anywhere.

dont limit yourself just to local companies

LOL PS i see your current drive is a cordia lol GO the cordia, im just selling mine after getting my leggy on the road, cordia's were a beast for their age nothing beats them in that age group.

 

[gtodave]

go the cordia, iv'e had 4 or 5 or cordias,they are great cars in their day
great power good economy many upgrades available.
i to have seen the light and bought zr4 6th generation, galant v6 2lt drive car, waiting for legnum to be complied 2.5lt twin turbo goodness.mitsi
performace cars are the go stuff the nissans

 

[BuzzPuppy]

Closed? (re: Shogun)

If you mean closed-closed... I don't think I'll see my 17" SSR rims which are still there!

 

[cowabunga438]

I'm trying to decide between RJD on the Sunshine Coast and Carmen here in Brisbane. The car is being shipped to Brissy.

Both seemed to know their stuff though Carmen seemed a better one stop shop. RJD was a bit cheaper though.

The cordia has been a very good car. Been in the family since new back in 1984. Parts are becoming a problem and it is starting to get some rust, the paint and body is in pretty poor shape -so tis time to upgrade.

When it was new it was just fantastic and has been the most reliable of any car my family has had.

 

[Dr_Josh001]

I had a mighty Cordia for a couple of years, & then parts for it became scarcer & more expensive... so I went out & bought a 6G VR4.

Now I'm waiting on a 1997 Vr-4!!

Go the Mitsi's!!!

 

[cowabunga438]

Once I get the Galant the cordia will most likely end up at the wreckers. I can't even give it to my nephew as p platers are not allowed to drive turbos.

It will be a sad day.

 

[Guest]

Pardon my ignorance, how can you import the car wothout going through a RAWS workshop to do so? I thought only RAWS could apply for import approval?????

P.S. I would avoid Shogun which also trades as River City if at all possible. They seem to have seriously cashed in on their initial monopoly on VR-4 compliance and brought in as many cars as possible when they had to know they wouldn't have enough plates for them. And if they honestly didn't know that they had more cars than plates then they must be incompetent and I would avoid them on that basis. Carmen seem really nice and professional to deal with if you can afford $300-500 extra for compliance. At least you will see your car inside of 6 months.

 

[gtodave]

yes you can get your car here without going through a raws w/shop.
mine is in customs bond store till the raws wshop gets his approval to do
galants/legnums.
he will then apply for import approval while he does the work on the car.
david

 

[Guest]

It's the government regulations not a companies fault if they reach their 100 plate quota. You just need to make sure they have plates available before sending your car to them. Carmen definately know what they are doing.

Believe me they would comply as many as they could if the business wasn't capped. Just think they can only comply 100 cars of each category ma mb and mc in any given twelve month period. Hence their business can only make that much money, and the public servants at Dotars just do things in the order they arrive and are so far detached from you that they don't give a rats arse.

 

[cowabunga438]

Thanks for the replies. Have organised for Carmen to undertake the import approval/compliance.

 

[Guest]

Thanks David I did not know that. Are you getting charged storage fees while customs hold your car?

Aaron, I can't see how it is the government's fault if Shogun can't, or choose not to, count to 100. Or 200 in their case as they use the River City name to get another 100 plates.

 

[Guest]

it's 100 plates for each category so every skyline, civic type R, stagea, galant etc... they do is one plate. It is the government because they cap the amount of cars any company can comply in a twelve month period. If you ran a business wouldn't you do as many as you could when you can? They should be telling you that they have reached their quota and that is on them but if there wasn't a quota there to begin with they would have complied every vehicle they can and not hold anyone up. They would do it ASAP if they could. more money for them, they are running a business.

 

[Kristian]

Just to clarify about plate quotas, it might sound simple to count to 100, but DoTaRS don't make it that easy - the workshop I know was told, at one point, by DoTaRS that they had reached their quota (despite protesting about it) and turned down a number of jobs, only to later be told there had been a clerical error and still had another 23 plates...

Because it takes 2 months plus import a car and get it complied, it's a guessing game, as the workshops have to work out if more plates will be allocated by roughly the time the car gets here and is complied. They can get as many import approvals as they like, but the limits are placed on the plates, which is why you end up with a bottleneck once cars are complied.

It's not as simple as it might sound...

 

[BuzzPuppy]

...which flows on to those like j-spec and iron chef, etc... and eventually to us. They've got home-grown industries to protect as well so the proverbial hoops of fire are set up.

Bearing in mind, it's a no-brainer between a $13,500 small car brand new or a $13,500 meccano set that you can rip apart to your heart's content (a-la Carsten, Mitchy et. al.) and share the experiences with other like-minded folk on here!

 

[cowabunga438]

Carmen did a top notch job. Quick and professional. The car goes to rego tomorrow. So we are talking well under a month from landing to rego.

Now however Suncorp are being right little bastards on the insurance. I rang them before I selected the final car - but knew the type, to get a ballpark quote. When I actually bought the car I got a final quote. I kept in contact with them to let them know how far away rego was etc.

Then today they say they won't insure it and that they cannot find the original quote!!!

The girl on the phone was actually quite nice and helpful. It seems it is Suncorp underwriting that is causing the problem. She is going to take up the fight again in the morning.

Hopefully just an admin stuff up. Otherwise they will be losing ALL my business, and maybe the rest of my families aswell.

 

[Guest]

I thought Carmen would be quick. Did they change oil and filter? ANy other fluids?

Your Suncorp story is interesting. They called their underwriters before even offering me a quote. JustCarInsurance is charging me almost half what Suncorp quoted.

 

[cowabunga438]

Carmen was brilliant with the compliance. Very helpful and easy to deal with. I can highly recommend them.


suncorp...

The original quote WAS from the underwriters. Originally in the 515-554 range (depending on options), then not at all, then 1200.

After a bit of discussion the price came down from 1200 to 900 dollars. I have put a complaint in through their customer service section so I'll see what happens. I am contemplating a call to the ombudsman. A quote shouldn't change by 220% in one week. The excess has also changed from $500 to $1500.

I have 22 days to change the insurance without penalty so will ring around to see I a better premium is available. I stopped ringing around because theoriginal quote from suncorp was quick and cheap and hassle free.





Picked up the car from Carmen today. It looks good and came with some extras.

A spare set of alloys (with jap tyres). I put the original mitsubishi alloys on the car but am thinking the others look a bit better. There was also a radar detector in the glovebox (illegal and now useless in the days of laser speed guns). Also a really bad pair of sunnies.

The car had an extra aerial - not sure what it was connected to. It now just lies in the boot. I might trace the cable tomorrow.

As far as know Carmen changed all fluids. The workshop description says they did. I shall email them and find out exactly what was done.



One thing I noticed on the way home. On an uneven road at about 55km/hr I could get a bit of a shudder in the whole car. Feels like a resonance thing. Hopefully just a function of the hard suspension and not an indication of anything worse. At speed, around corners etc it feels fine (great in fact).

 

[Guest]

Don't like the sound of "shudder" mentioned in connection with any car. Is it aftermarket suspension? Auto or manual? AYC or LSD? Aftermarket exhaust? My exhaust hits a resonant frequence at 1500rpm that annoys the shit out of me and only me. Could it be exhaust? Factory suspension is really good, firm but supple, no harshness, so it shouldn't shudder.