Importing a car from the States? Any tips?

VAT on a used car ?

Just had a look at the customs site and it's a bit baffling there, I'll try to make head and tail of it tomorrow - things like :





Think I might ring them and ask

40ft container from the states used to be £800 IIRC. Get a few motors in if your not scared to strap them from the roof of the container into a "domino" configuration. Last person I saw do this totalled a jetta and a P reg BMW 5 series. No idea what they arrived like!

Looks awesome ;D - and that'd be appreciated.

1k seems very reasonable, would be interested to know what it was

One thing I've been told is to make sure the interior is covered with plastic - otherwise you can occasionally end up with the interior covered with oil!

Magnette, cheers...I'd definitely be doing it via an agent (and preferably a reputable one ) so hopefully it'd go OK and not be too much hassle. Don't want to overdo myself!

The 442 is quite cool, isn't it...



Bit plain from the rear though!

...but it is a manual - yee-haw!



Nice building, too!

cost of car
cost of shipping
duty = 10% of the car
VAT = 17.5% of the car, the shipping and the duty.

Yup, a tax on a tax.

SVA is not required for a car over 10 years old, only an MOT.

Don;t forget to include the cost of getting the car from where the seller is to a port.

Do a search mate, I did a long post a.l about sourcing a car in the US and the various things bringing it in.

The old 5% duty loophole has been well and truely closed now.

Pickups and vans are either 22.5% VAT or 22.5% duty, I can't remember which.

$800 might get you a container but you'll possibly have to pay another $700 in additional fees - they charge extra for loading, unloading, customs clearance, paperwork handling, etc. so get a full quote up front rather than get surprised later.

Bank on $1200 - $1500 for shipping. Theres little difference in the cost of RO-RO and container and both have their pro's and cons. non-runners cannot be sent RO-RO.

The idea of packing a load of stuff in a container is fine so long as you are there to do it or else you will be paying a docking company $50 per hour loading on putting your stuff in the container as well as the $150 they charge you for putting the container on the boat.... And don't imagine they pack these things at all carefully. I knew a chap who's '49 Chevy came over with both front wings bashed to bits because it has been sliding side to side in the container against a bunchof loose parts. And no, your insurance does not cover this. Maritime insurance only covers the total loss of the cargo due to the ship sinking. I have heard some guys get a container to themselves not so they can pack it with stuff but to make sure thier car travels without a dozen loose engine blocks sliding round in there with it...

Thats one advantage of RO-RO as well.

Next thing is to get a professional independant appraisal of you potential purchase. This will cost $200-$400 but would you spend £4K+ on a car you haven't even seen?

There are a few specialists in the UK who will source a car in the US for you and you pay a price based on it arriving here as described - so any damage in transit they pay for. I had a service shipping on my Fury and the screen was cracked when it arrived so they coughed the £450 for a new screen for me! Nice one. If that was in my own container I'd be paying for the screen.

ANd TBH, I looked at a few nice cars in the US and it would be cheaper to buy them here because of the higher values these cars have in the US. A 4-4-2 might be $25K for a really nice one (before you add shipping and taxes) but over here you'd get £7500 - £9K for it. I've heard of a lot of nice muscle cars being sold abroad because they are so cheap here compared to USA or Scandanavia, Germany etc.

So buyer beware.

If what you want is something special or unusual then you have to ship it and bear the extra cost. But you do that becuase thats the only way you'll get that 1965 Belvedere Wagon.

With real big ticket cars and the newer stuff you can make a good saving cashwise but generally my ready reckoner says cheaper cars are poor value.

A $1200 car I was looking at in Az was going to have cost me £2600 by the time it was on my drive.

speak to my mate Greg, he locates & finds & imports cars from the states for a living.

tell him what your after, he'll sort out the rest.

outlaw427@aol.com or 07900272691

did you drive a properly sorted one, or one with 40 years of bodging, dubious mods, wear and tear, etc? And which Mustang, they are all quite different...

Muscle and Classic Ford did a feature on first generation Mustang front ends a while back I read and was quite an eye opener on how they wear and fail with age and use and abuse.

A properly sorted 'Stang is a great car, even a Mustang II can be made great if you do the mods. Any old car is subject to being curse word if its not in good order mechanically. And sadly a lot of the yank cars in the UK have been maintained by idiots, meanig they drive awful. Thats why I got the Plymouth in direct from the US...

Its normally between £800-£1300 for the container (depending on size) inc all relevant dock/shipping fees at both ends. (from the states)

Taxes:

VAT @ 17.5% is applicable on whole cars - used or new
5% on parts (i think)
If its a 'commercial' vehicle (pick-up, van etc) the VAT + 10% Duty is payable

Also, fill up any space in the vehicle with 'stuff'. Normally get completely overlooked.

Or buy 2 cars, strip them down, spread the mixture of panels + parts across 2 containers and reassemble here = save 12.5% of the VAT LOL

The best thing you can do is get a reciept for LESS than you paid for it. Not too much less...they aint stupid....but a $10K car can be written up as $7K easy enough