Yes Jack, the tyres were new. I'm pretty sure that the first Quarantine officer I spoke to was not going to call for an inspection but when I returned with the required paperwork completed, I got a bloke who said the tyres may contain water and therefore possibly mosquito larvae and so had to be inspected. Although the inspection only took a few minutes, the earliest appointment I could get was the following day.
I considered bringing in the tyres by surface freight and was quoted $60 ea by Cheetah. I would also have had the cost of getting them from Texas to where the containers are packed. Going by previous experience with other items, I figured that I could get the tyres by air for less than double that cost and have them in days instead of weeks. The total cost per tyre would have been comparable to the cheapest price I could get here and I would have had American tyres.
As it was, the airport charges at this end added almost another $100 per tyre. The only consolation is that they were still cheaper than Vintage Tyres could do them for and they didn't have them on hand anyway.
You learn as you go and I am posting all this so as others can make informed choices.
David
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Hell no! I'm not that old!
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