importing a classic from Europe

importing a classic from Europe

Author
Discussion

AA121

Original Poster:

244 posts

197 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
Hi,
Has anyone imported a classic Ferrari from Europe who can give me some advice on the potential costs and hassle associated with doing this??
Grateful for any information even if it just points me to some web site link!
Cheers

yellowtr

1,188 posts

225 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
Depends where it is in Europe?

AA121

Original Poster:

244 posts

197 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
Apologies......Italy and the car's value would potentially be between 100k and 150k euros.

TISPKJ

3,648 posts

206 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
Its very straight forward, buy the car, insure on chassis number, bring home and MOT, and then take all paperwork to a local DVLA or post and wait for docs to come back.
Think you can even download the forms online nowadays.

elms

1,926 posts

251 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
The simplest problem you will have is the Logistics of getting the car back to the UK. The most secure option is using some like www.carseurope.net , not cheap but very experienced.

You will need to check that the car is all taxes paid, otherwise you could have a nasty surprise from HMRC when you bring the car here.

Apart from that, when the car is here in the UK, get it MOT'd (on the VIN number) then go down to your local DVLA office with that a V55 form and your credit card and within 3 weeks you will have a UK log book back

clorenzen

3,668 posts

234 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
It not quite that easy as the previous posters say. There is a certain amount of bureaucracy involved. I have just gone through it and here are the steps:

Go on the DVLA website and download a leaflet "How to import a foreign vehicle into the UK"
First step is to get it into the UK. Car transport as suggested or you drive it yourself. You have to make sure it is VAT paid status. If it comes from another EU country and has been taxed you are in the clear. Otherwise you have to contact HM Customs and Excise in Dover. Fill in the sheet and pay the VAT in the invoiced value (in pounds). They will confirm your payment which you will then need when going to the DVLA.

You now need to get insurance for the car. Most insurance companies will not insure against chassis number so you need to buy a period registration number which you then insure against in order to show the certificate to the DVLA.

Now comes the tricky bit. The vehicle needs to conform to UK standards. This involves declaring that you have changed the headlights, rear fog light and changed the speedo from km to miles. You need a garage to certify all this and send the proof to Vehicle Approval Agency. They will then send you a confirmation which you need to include in the pack to the DVLA. Once you have all that together you follow the instructions in the leaflet from the DVLA. If you are lucky they will not demand to inspect the vehicle.

The whole process is cumbersome but not complicated and takes about 1 month. Good luck.

JazzyO

1,125 posts

180 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
@clorenzen - are you saying you would need to change a speedometer like this one? That would be practically impossible.


Onno


TISPKJ

3,648 posts

206 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
clorenzen said:
It not quite that easy as the previous posters say. There is a certain amount of bureaucracy involved. I have just gone through it and here are the steps:

Go on the DVLA website and download a leaflet "How to import a foreign vehicle into the UK"
First step is to get it into the UK. Car transport as suggested or you drive it yourself. You have to make sure it is VAT paid status. If it comes from another EU country and has been taxed you are in the clear. Otherwise you have to contact HM Customs and Excise in Dover. Fill in the sheet and pay the VAT in the invoiced value (in pounds). They will confirm your payment which you will then need when going to the DVLA.

You now need to get insurance for the car. Most insurance companies will not insure against chassis number so you need to buy a period registration number which you then insure against in order to show the certificate to the DVLA.

Now comes the tricky bit. The vehicle needs to conform to UK standards. This involves declaring that you have changed the headlights, rear fog light and changed the speedo from km to miles. You need a garage to certify all this and send the proof to Vehicle Approval Agency. They will then send you a confirmation which you need to include in the pack to the DVLA. Once you have all that together you follow the instructions in the leaflet from the DVLA. If you are lucky they will not demand to inspect the vehicle.

The whole process is cumbersome but not complicated and takes about 1 month. Good luck.
My advice was on several we did a few years ago, mostly new but some used.

Its a classic, as in old, not new so unless the car came from swissy tax would have been paid in another EU country if it was registered there as the log book will confirm.

I have never had a problem insuring on chassis number, however if you are going to trailor home this is irrelevant, first stop should be to get an MOT, you are correct in that you may need to buy some RHD lights or adjust, stickers on the glass of the speedo were always accepted, once all paperwork submitted DVLA will issue you with a period registration.

I only ever had inspections on new vehicles to check that they were in fact new and worthy of a new ie the latest reg number.

You can take paperwork in person and if lucky get tax disc and reg number issued there and then.

as with anything that involves the goverment or DVLA they can be a pain at times, but please dont be put off it's not rocket science

clorenzen

3,668 posts

234 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
I agree, its not rocket science just cumbersome and I have done this a couple of times in my capacity as a private person and my experience is that the process has gotten much more bureaucratic over the years (what hasn't). The issue with the numberplate is actually a catch 22. You can only get your registration at the DVLA if you have a cover note from the insurance company - however you can only get a cover note if you have a reg number (unless they are happy to insure against the chassis number). The easy way around this is simply to buy the cheapest reg number and than use that for insurance purposes. What you need for the approval is to contact VOSA for a "single vehicle approval" and then take it form there.

TISPKJ

3,648 posts

206 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
It was a while back but as I say I used to do on chassis number, telling them reg number would follow in a couple of days or so, Most of mine were new bikes or cars but a couple of used ones so an MOT needed before the DVLA visit.
It would not suprise me that you have more hassle now, just dont want to put the OP off doing it.

AA121

Original Poster:

244 posts

197 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
Thanks all for the advice. I must admit that I had visions of having to pay 20% in tax upon importation so it's reassuring to know that this probably wouldn't be the case on a car already registered in Italy.
Thanks again

tbid

48 posts

148 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
I've been involved in Importing and registering many classic & vintage cars from europe to the UK, The DVLA have never thrown up any problems, the only thing they ever check is the chassis plate.

yellowtr

1,188 posts

225 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
Don't worry about changing headlights/speedo's, that isn't required. The only major issue importing from Italy is you need to get a local notary involved as you will need export plates from Italy unless you get an understanding owner who will let you "borrow" his plates. It can vary from region to region, which region is the car coming from?

JazzyO

1,125 posts

180 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
AA121 said:
Thanks all for the advice. I must admit that I had visions of having to pay 20% in tax upon importation
That should definitely not be the case.


Onno

Caruso

7,422 posts

255 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
TISPKJ said:
Its very straight forward, buy the car, insure on chassis number, bring home and MOT, and then take all paperwork to a local DVLA or post and wait for docs to come back.
Think you can even download the forms online nowadays.
This pretty much sums it up. I found that Footman James were happy to insure on the chassis number alone.

575MF103

1 posts

160 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
You must be getting confused with the range of advice on this. I hesitate to add to the confusion, but my experience from importing a 575 from the EU (Holland) a couple of months ago is as follows. You need proof that VAT has been paid on the car at some stage in its life in EU to avoid being liable in UK. Insurance on VIN is OK with Ferrari Owners Club insurers (Locktons). You might need export plates from Italy - I don't know the rules there; if so they are easily arranged. You do need to have the headlights changed to UK dipping - masking is not permitted. If it proves impossible, there is a potential way round it - see below. You do need the speedo calibrated in mph - simple stick-on markers are not permitted. Lockwood International (www.lockwoodinternational.co.uk) carry a stock of replacement faces for Ferraris, and will make one to order if they don't stock it - cost a max of about £200.
The possible way round the headlight problem is to put the car through the IVA test (normally used for kit cars and other one-offs), which does not require the MoT station to certify that new headlights have been fitted - just compliant ones. You can save yourself all the trouble by getting a company like VDS Automotive (www.vdsautomotive.co.uk) to do it all for you. They will do any part of the process including transporting the car, testing it, registering it, sorting customs if necessary.
Stick with it - it sounds worse than it is, and I saved about £20K overall.

AndrewD

7,527 posts

283 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
My experience importing my 599GTO and 16M from Switzerland to UK was the dvla are a pain in the proverbial. Both cars needed certificates of conformity (550 quid each from Ferrari). DVLA accepted this for the 16M but required the gto have an additional piece of paper from the Vehicle Standards Agency. And even then they wanted to do a "random" check at the licensing office.

The headlights needed to be replaced for driving on the left, that was in excess of 10k for the cars. Speedo on 16m wasn't dual calibrated so another 3k for a new unit.

Worth it in the end but it took weeks and weeks. Good luck

Caruso

7,422 posts

255 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
AndrewD said:
And even then they wanted to do a "random" check at the licensing office.
I wonder what proportion of Ferraris are "randomly" checked compared to other more boring cars?

clorenzen

3,668 posts

234 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
AndrewD said:
My experience importing my 599GTO and 16M from Switzerland to UK was the dvla are a pain in the proverbial. Both cars needed certificates of conformity (550 quid each from Ferrari). DVLA accepted this for the 16M but required the gto have an additional piece of paper from the Vehicle Standards Agency. And even then they wanted to do a "random" check at the licensing office.

The headlights needed to be replaced for driving on the left, that was in excess of 10k for the cars. Speedo on 16m wasn't dual calibrated so another 3k for a new unit.

Worth it in the end but it took weeks and weeks. Good luck
Andrew

Your story of events is exactly the same as i just went through when importing my Porsche 997 GT3 RS 4.0 from Denmark. Luckily enough the Porsche has a way to dip the existing headlight units for UK road use. Also the speedo was accepted as the digital read-out could be changed to miles. I only had to change the rear light cluster (not cheap) to switch the fog light from one side to the other. This was all done without the car having any plates (obviously) so if OPC West London had not been as helpful as they turned out to be i would have had to transport the car on a trailer to the different addresses. A real time consuming pain - but it was worth it in the end but if you have a day job it is pretty cumbersome to deal with these lazy public employees. The worst thing was, that when the DVLA was presented with the receipt from HM Customs & Excise they did not accept it because Customer and Excise had made a typing error in the chassis number and they tried to tell me that it was my fault that they hadn't copied the document that i had provided them properly. ---rant over---

So this is not to discourage the OP but just be prepared to go through the motions - it will all come good at the end.

yellowtr

1,188 posts

225 months

Thursday 12th April 2012
quotequote all
Poster said that they are importing a classic, so if its over 10yrs old its much easier than cars less than that. Cars from Switzerland (like mine was) are slightly tricker as VAT/Import duty has to be paid (unless the car has been previously registered in the EU) and if its under 10yrs old a certificate of conformity. Its all doable however and isn't that hard.