Importing Car Stuff

[Alias218]

I'm scouting for some Enkei RPF1s and am weighing up the potential savings to be had versus buying them in the UK. My question is: can anyone vouch for/recommend any foreign sellers who ship to the UK? Has anyone any firsthand experience in importing goods?

I have been looking on perfectrun.jp if anyone has any comments regarding them. As an example, 4 x staggered fitment from these guys versus a UK supplier yields a £150-200 saving per wheel before shipping. Obviously a 20% levy would be placed on them plus any relevant import charges but there would still be substantial savings to be had.

[Alias218]

Bumpity bump.

[Nersha]

Alias218 said:

I'm scouting for some Enkei RPF1s and am weighing up the potential savings to be had versus buying them in the UK. My question is: can anyone vouch for/recommend any foreign sellers who ship to the UK? Has anyone any firsthand experience in importing goods?

I have been looking on perfectrun.jp if anyone has any comments regarding them. As an example, 4 x staggered fitment from these guys versus a UK supplier yields a £150-200 saving per wheel before shipping. Obviously a 20% levy would be placed on them plus any relevant import charges but there would still be substantial savings to be had.

Remember the 20% VAT gets charged on the shipping cost as well. Could be substantial for wheels?

I've ordered a few items from ihearthonda when they matched the RHDJapan price. Worked out well but it takes a while to arrive.

[InitialDave]

If it's £200 less per wheel, take a brief holiday in Japan and bring them back yourself.

[Alias218]

InitialDave said:

If it's £200 less per wheel, take a brief holiday in Japan and bring them back yourself.

It's quite significant, although it must be reiterated that these prices are before all shipping costs and taxes. Example:

PerformanceAlloys.com

18x8.5 £392.15p/w
18x9.5 £428.21p/w

PerfectRun.jp

18x8.5 ¥30600/£219.03p/w
18x9.5 ¥31800/£227.62p/w

As you can see a saving of £170-£200 per wheel. Wheel sizes specifically are 18x8.5/9.5 5x114.3 +30/+15.

Nersha said:

Remember the 20% VAT gets charged on the shipping cost as well. Could be substantial for wheels?

I've ordered a few items from ihearthonda when they matched the RHDJapan price. Worked out well but it takes a while to arrive.

Thanks. Have you encountered any issues with bringing stuff in from overseas? I'd be prepared to wait - the potential savings would cover the cost of tyres and then some.

If anyone has any other reputable suppliers they'd like to mention, please feel free.

[Nickyboy]

Do you have a shipping cost?

If you factor in maybe £50 a wheel, by the time you add the import duty and vat you're saving barely £100 or so

Edited by Nickyboy on Sunday 2nd April 10:52

[pits]

Try using this, but make sure you add each wheel individually and calculate shipping and insurance costs properly as you only get one go at the calculator, it then tries to charge you for more uses
https://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and...

[InitialDave]

Alias218 said:

It's quite significant, although it must be reiterated that these prices are before all shipping costs and taxes. Example:

PerformanceAlloys.com

18x8.5 £392.15p/w
18x9.5 £428.21p/w

PerfectRun.jp

18x8.5 ¥30600/£219.03p/w
18x9.5 ¥31800/£227.62p/w

If you can get that down to £195 a wheel (is there a way to get them without paying the ~10% Japanese equivalent of VAT, seeing as you're taking them out the country?), then a set of four would scrape under the £390 per person allowance for you and your wife/girlfriend/best mate to bring back two each in your luggage, so no duty to pay, all completely legal, and you get a good excuse for a holiday.

EDIT: Even if you go over, it's still only 2.5% duty and the VAT on the bit(s) that send you over:

https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods/arrivals-from-o...

Edited by InitialDave on Sunday 2nd April 12:42

[mizx]

Check Tegiwa, they seem to be £20 cheaper per wheel than the prices you've listed from PerformanceAlloys.

I'll post the numbers from my experience of importing to give you an idea. I imported Weds TC105Ns through Nengun. I don't believe they've ever been available directly over here and I think that's still the case, so it's a bit different to buying Enkei (though perhaps those listed on UK sites are also imported, once made to order).

x4 TC105N 17x9 £851.25
x4 centre caps £108.06

card payment fee £54.38

DHL Express Worldwide £249.12
Carrier insurance inc.

DHL fees before release £339.46

So all in £1602, the fees came to more than I'd calculated. DHL's own fees seem to add a fair bit to the duty; I bought a phone from Gearbest a few months ago, value listed as $50 (cheeky buggers) but I still had to pay £17.

I couldn't fault Nengun in the process, they keep you updated on everything. Production took around 2 weeks, my release payment request from DHL came 4 days after dispatch. Land transport inside Japan took a few days if I remember right. I also got a quote from Ravspec, the US supplier you see on a lot of US forums, which worked out more than my initial calculations from Japan.

Also, I'd recommend in case it's something you've not thought of; get some Gtechniq C5 and give them a coat straight out the box, it's an ideal time to do it.

Edited by mizx on Sunday 2nd April 13:18

[Alias218]

Nickyboy said:

Do you have a shipping cost?

If you factor in maybe £50 a wheel, by the time you add the import duty and vat you're saving barely £100 or so

Edited by Nickyboy on Sunday 2nd April 10:52

Shipping was quoted as ¥35000 (£250) for the lot. Adding 20% yields ca. £1350 for purchase and shipment inc. VAT. According to the Internet, a 4.5% duty is levied against wheels so that'll be around £1410 once that is taken into account. Plus this DHL release fee that I've only just learnt about (perfectrun.jp deal with DHL to the UK) it may well erode any savings to be had.

Hmmm.

Edited by Alias218 on Sunday 2nd April 14:13

Edited by Alias218 on Sunday 2nd April 14:14

[Alias218]

mizx said:

Check Tegiwa, they seem to be £20 cheaper per wheel than the prices you've listed from PerformanceAlloys.

I'll post the numbers from my experience of importing to give you an idea. I imported Weds TC105Ns through Nengun. I don't believe they've ever been available directly over here and I think that's still the case, so it's a bit different to buying Enkei (though perhaps those listed on UK sites are also imported, once made to order).

x4 TC105N 17x9 £851.25
x4 centre caps £108.06

card payment fee £54.38

DHL Express Worldwide £249.12
Carrier insurance inc.

DHL fees before release £339.46

So all in £1602, the fees came to more than I'd calculated. DHL's own fees seem to add a fair bit to the duty; I bought a phone from Gearbest a few months ago, value listed as $50 (cheeky buggers) but I still had to pay £17.

I couldn't fault Nengun in the process, they keep you updated on everything. Production took around 2 weeks, my release payment request from DHL came 4 days after dispatch. Land transport inside Japan took a few days if I remember right. I also got a quote from Ravspec, the US supplier you see on a lot of US forums, which worked out more than my initial calculations from Japan.

Also, I'd recommend in case it's something you've not thought of; get some Gtechniq C5 and give them a coat straight out the box, it's an ideal time to do it.

Edited by mizx on Sunday 2nd April 13:18

I'll give Tegiwa a look. I've heard Nengun are a bit slow. Good, but slow. Although I'm not that fussed by super fast shipping in this instance, Nengun are apparently something else.

Edit: when you say DHL release fees, do you mean excise? Or this an extra charge in top of this? Excuse my noobishness, only I've not brought anything through customs before.

Edited by Alias218 on Sunday 2nd April 14:14

[Crafty_]

Alias218 said:

Shipping was quoted as ¥35000 (£250) for the lot. Adding 20% yields ca. £1350 for purchase and shipment inc. VAT. According to the Internet, a 4.5% duty is levied against wheels so that'll be around £1410 once that is taken into account. Plus this DHL release fee that I've only just learnt about (perfectrun.jp deal with DHL to the UK) it may well erode any savings to be had.

Hmmm.

Edited by Alias218 on Sunday 2nd April 14:13

Edited by Alias218 on Sunday 2nd April 14:14

Keep in mind you pay import duty and then VAT, so

£1350 + 4.5% = 1410.75
+20% VAT = 1692

plus whatever the courier charges for customer clearance.

[pits]

pits said:

Try using this, but make sure you add each wheel individually and calculate shipping and insurance costs properly as you only get one go at the calculator, it then tries to charge you for more uses
https://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and...

You could all just use this calculator here, it does everything for you and gives you the costs without having to work it out.

[StickBreitling]

I've purchased from foreign stores more so because of lack of availability of parts in the UK. Items include ceramic coated headers from the US. Carbon fibre spoiler from Netherlands and LED DRLs from Switzerland.

I will buy from a UK agent wherever possible to save on FX variation, shipping costs and customs tax. Also easier to sort if something does go wrong.

[anonymous-user]

Get a quote from Newera -

http://www.neweraparts.com/Default.aspx?tabid=68&a...

[Alias218]

pits said:

pits said:

Try using this, but make sure you add each wheel individually and calculate shipping and insurance costs properly as you only get one go at the calculator, it then tries to charge you for more uses
https://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and...

You could all just use this calculator here, it does everything for you and gives you the costs without having to work it out.

Thanks pits, just done that. Based on goods value of £950 and shipping costs of £250 total landed costs are £1504. This is versus a UK supplier cost of £1650. Some savings to be had but not as great as it would first appear.

[Alias218]

MDMA . said:

Get a quote from Newera -

http://www.neweraparts.com/Default.aspx?tabid=68&a...

Just shy of £1500. Looks like we have a winner! I didn't know Newera dealt in parts too.

Thanks everyone for your help and insights. I think I have everything I need to make an informed decision.

[anonymous-user]

A lad my mate knows brings quite a few cars in from Japan. The boots are always full of parts when they land Handy knowing someone over there. Never any VAT or import duty on his "spares".

[mizx]

Alias218 said:

Edit: when you say DHL release fees, do you mean excise? Or this an extra charge in top of this? Excuse my noobishness, only I've not brought anything through customs before.

Yes, duty, plus their own charges.

Once it arrives at their centre at Heathrow, you're contacted asking to make payment before it is released.