Compliance

The basics you need to know...

Compliance is required for all cars which are intended for road use in Australia. It is the process by which cars are made to meet Australian Design Rules (ADR's) such that they conform to all of the necessary laws governing what makes a car safe and sufficiently environmentally friendly, as decided by the Australian government.

There are two common types of compliance for vehicles imported into Australia

Special Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme (SEVS)

This is by far the most common form of compliance needed for imported cars into Australia as this SEVS compliance is necessary for any car newer than 1988. SEVS compliance work can only be done by a Registered Automotive Workshop (RAW) and only some cars are eligible for import and compliance under SEVS.

Click for more SEVS compliance info

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1988 or older vehicles

Under this import scheme most cars built in 1988 or earlier can be imported and complied for road use.

Click for more 1988 or older info

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There are also two other means by which cars can be imported which are less common:

Race/Rally use vehicles

These are cars which can never be complied or registered for road use and are for race/rally use only.

Click for more race/rally import info

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Personal Imports

This is applicable only to people who have been living overseas for more than 12 months and have owned and registered a vehicle during that time, and are now moving to Australia permanently. They are permitted to bring their car with them regardless of model.

Click for more Personal Import info

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