The History of RAWS
The Early Days
The RAWS story begins back in the 1980's when the Full-Volume manufacturers supplying vehicles to the Australian market began cutting back the range of cars they supplied in order to reduce cost. Japanese manufacturers couldn't justify the costs of modifying the vehicles to the Australian Design Rules (ADRs) for such small numbers, and there was a very similar story for European manufacturers.
Low Volume Scheme Begins
Luckily for those who weren't satisfied with the choice offered in the Australian market, certain amendments were made to the Motor Vehicle Standards Act which allowed individual importers to alter foreign cars so they complied with the ADRs and then supply them to the Australian market. The first imports were mainly from America but in the early to mid 1990's importers started to turn their attention to Japanese vehicles. Japanese vehicles had several advantages: they were already right hand drive, they tended to be more recent models due to strict registration laws and the cars often had low kilometres and a good maintainance history. A further attraction of the Japanese models were their extra features that were rarely available on Australian vehicles.
Soon used car lots were filling up with Nissan, Mazda and Toyota brands and at very competitive prices in the luxury car market. The benefits of importing these cars were felt and the figures speak for themselves. In 1993 just over a thousand cars were imported through the low volume scheme but by 2002 more than 16000 for the year were imported. The total number of low-volume imports, however, was still under 100,000.
The Era of RAWS
A new chapter to the industry began on May 8th of 2003 when the Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme (SEVS) was implemented. Since the implementation of SEVS the number of imports has been slowed. The scheme came as a response to some loopholes in the low-volume import scheme which allowed a small number of unscrupulous operators to flaunt the law. Some importers took advantage of the scheme and a poor quality product for the consumer resulted. SEVS put an end to damaged or rusted cars being imported for any reason except parts, and additionally required all used imports now have to be certified by a Registered Automotive Workshop (RAW). Hence the Registered Automotive Workshop Scheme was born.
To be eligible under SEVS a vehicle is required to meet at least two of the four Specialist and Enthusiast criteria. It is then necessary for a RAW to hold documentary evidence that the vehicle meets the requirements of the ADRs, as required by the "Approval to Place Used Import Plates Determination" current at the time, and have the vehicle added to their schedule. Then the RAW is able to import up to 100 of these vehicles per annum (subject to a category limit of 100 vehicles per annum). It is worth noting that vehicles manufactured prior to 1 January 1989 fall outside the SEVS ruling, though these vehicles still require an engineer's certificate to be registered in Australia. Although the SEVS scheme has caused the price of imports to increase slightly it is committed to delivering a safer and higher quality product for the consumer and should keep Australian enthusiasts satisfied with affordable imports.