2007 Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor

[WynO]

Hiya,

I'm new to this forum so please be gentle.

I'm starting this thread to share my experiences of buying a car in the US and then bringing it back to the UK. Please feel free to offer me any advice in the process.

Next summer (2016) I've signed up to do a 'banger' car rally across Europe to Monte Carlo. Getting a 20 year old Japanese car, whilst sensible, is not my style. Anyways, I was in Boston recently for work and to cut a long story short I bought a 2007 Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor for $600 for the road trip. The reason for the low price - it's done 300K miles, most as a taxi! Everything works including the aircon so things are looking good.

Currently the vehicle is between Massachusetts and Felixstowe. The pickup from MA and shipping has cost me $1200 so, so far I've spent $1800 (£1200). I know that when it arrives I have to pay 10% duty and 20% VAT so that will be another £120. Other expected expenses to come are:

• Transport from Felixstowe to Warwickshire.
• Changes to make the car road legal plus the IVA test.
• MOT
• Road tax.

Any questions or advice for me, aka an idiot for undertaking this process?

W

[WynO]

Roo said:

You bought it cheap enough.

You should've gone for one slightly older so that you didn't need to IVA it as the headlights are a nightmare.

I just received a photo of the VIN plate. It was manufactured in June 2006. If only it had been 6 months older.

[WynO]

Thanks for all the advice so far. Keep it coming.

So the latest update is that the car arrived last week at my home and it starts first time, every time :-D

My cost so far are:
Car £400
Collection from the vendor and shipping to Felixstowe: £800
Import duties and VAT: £400
Port Charges:£350
Port Storage costs:£30
Delivery from port to my place: £270

So that's £2250 so far.

Ordered Forms from the DVLA to register her.

The next job is to get her through the IVA... I've ordered new rear lamps with amber indicators from the US for $80 delivered. Any other parts I will get next month when I 'have' to go to Boston for some client meetings.

[WynO]

irocfan said:

[WynO]

Roo said:

Now you've got it home what's the manufactured date on the door plate sticker.

06/2006