Importing a used car from the USA into the UK

[adamt]

I think it could be done with some serious savings. Considering a Porsche or another european built car at this stage. With the recent $US dollar exchange rate movements it looks a an evermore attractive proposition.

Does anyone know what is involved? Any ideas or comments greatly received

all the best
adam

[dazren]

At a guess I would say Vat at 17.5% on top of your purchase price and your transport costs.

If the car was built outside of the EEC I think you would have to pay import duty as well onto your costs, prior to adding Vat on the whole amount.

DAZ

Ignoring my guess does anyone know the specifics?

[singlecoil]

Will depend on the age of the car. If it's old enough to qualify as a classic then I think it's just the 5% duty.

[Plotloss]

Costs about $1000 to get it on a boat and ship it to the UK.

You then pay 17.5% VAT on the purchase price at landing.

There are safety issues as well, on classics their glass standard was different to ours so best check the glass conforms or it will need to be reglazed before registration.

[Dick Dastardly]

MikeyT recently imported his Mustang from California. Might be worth you dropping him a line

[gt5s_1985]

I shipped my '72 Pantera from NJ to Le Havre France a couple of years ago, total cost including all fees, taxes, was $750. 3 years later I sent it to California and the total fee was around $1100.

I didn't import it, as I drove for 3 years with US plates (and didn't have any real problem with it, despite it being blatantly illegal).

The big shipping companies won't deal directly with individuals, so you are required to go through a broker. Their $200 or $300 fee is included in the prices I mentioned, and they made the process so simple and quick that it was well worth it.

I didn't re-register the car so I can't help you there, but if you want more information on the physical shipping process, I've done it twice so drop me an e-mail...

Edited because I had a later thought... I've believed for a long time that the premium for US cars in Europe is due mainly to someone taking handsome profits during the sale of these cars because there are so few available in Europe. My strong suspicion is that if you look into it, ESPECIALLY with the weak dollar, you can get yourself a much better deal by buying in the US yourself and shipping it over.

>> Edited by gt5s_1985 on Tuesday 13th January 11:24

[yiw1393]

Pretty much there except you will also need to MOT the vehicle before you register it (even if brand new)unless it comes with European Type Approval (i.e. EU Spec). Needless to say it will need to comply with UK vehicle regs (as covered by MOT/Type Approval)

Reckon on about £2k shipping costs, VAT on purchase price and import duty as well. Also consider the registration costs (£80 quid) and the vehicle will be a left hooker - not such a good deal

[hedders]

I thought that you have to pay shipping costs (plus tax),tax on the purchase price /import tax/ and a percentage of the value of the car in this country when it lands, but i could be wrong...

If it helps, I know the guy that owns this company: www.shippers.dircon.co.uk/

And will vouch for him.

[Scooby Boy]

I lived in the US during 1998 and bought a Mitsubishi 3000GT. It was a great car and I wanted to bring it back over here with me, but after looking into the cost of it (including VAT, import tax etc) I decided that it just wasn't worth it. It would have ended up being close to the price of a grey import, but with left hand drive, and as such would have been difficult to sell.

[v8guinness]

I think you need SVA here, and some cars like Prowlers won't pass that... US have different regs on many things, and cars are built differently to suit the different markets... its not just addition of autobox's and toys... US cars have different engine callibration for emissions, often different airbags, thats ignoring the basics like lights... really will be a lot of hassle if you do it yourself... there are companies who specialise in this, give them a shout they may already have a few of what you want, or know how easy it will be... sorry no links of the top of my head.

What do you want to import?

[Kinky]

You'll get tons of info here too: www.import-car.info/

Focused mostly on US -> UK imports.

K

[mikef]

I'm also looking at doing this (again), given the weak dollar.

You should allow the costs associated with selecting the car, for instance, going over to do a test drive and inspection

Shipping runs anything from $1000 upwards depending on how it's containered, shipping insurance is typically 2 or 3% of the value, then import agent's fees should be a couple of hundred quid.

Next there's import duty (typically 10% on cars, 22% on commercial vehicles like pickup trucks) - a good link to import duty figures is at www.sloanefox.freeserve.co.uk/importukduty.htm - then you pay VAT on the vehicle cost, on the import duty (tax on tax...) and on the shipping costs

Depending on vehicle age, you'll probably have to allow for preparation for the SVT test (a couple of hundred, less if you do most of the work youself), then about £150 for the SVA test itself - typical wait is about 4 weeks for that, during which time you have to keep the vehicle off the road

edited to add that, contrary to some comments here, US vehicles have no problem with single vehicle approval after sorting out the lights, they just won't pass type approval which you don't need

At current exchange rates, it still looks worthwhile for both new and used vehicles - especially as the commercial importers are carrying stock that now looks very expensive

>> Edited by mikef on Tuesday 13th January 12:55

[Kinky]

Taken from my link posted above ....

If you are bringing in a new car then you will probably be liable to 17.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) and around 10% duty. You can avoid both of these things if you have owned the car in the US for 6 months and will keep the car for a year after arriving in the UK.

K

[MikeyT]

As Mr Dastardly so kindly mentioned, I've just imported a Mustang from Long Beach and the rules are different for 'historic' cars (over 30 years old).

I bought from a dealer in CA, then paid $400 to get the car transported to the shippers in Long Beach all the paperwork done Stateside (title presented to Customs etc) and the thing booked on a ship and
actually put on it. Considering it was 270 miles to Long Beach from the dealers I thought that was a good price. I dealt with all the Stateside stuff by email and found it worked OK.

If your car is being imported as 'historic' you can apply for a 'Binding Tariff Order' through HM Customs (this guarantees that the goods you bring in (ie the car) will be charged at only 5% VAT. This helps when you import the thing and there are no unexpected charges levied if some argument breaks out over the age of the car,

This certificate you then send to your shippers (or receiving agents) on this side of the pond and they present this to Customs for you. You can do this yourself but for the money they charge it is simply not worth the hassle.

I was told beforehand it is important to treat the thing as two deals though. 1) the shippers from the States as one deal and the Receiving Agents here as another deal. I paid it 'Freight Collect' which meant I settled up over here on collection of the car and didn't have to worry about paying the US shipping company before the car arrived. All I had to pay them was the $400 prior to the car being put on the boat - which I did by wire transfer - quick and easy.

I paid just under 6k for my car from the CA dealer.

Then I paid $400 as already mentioned.

Then I paid a further £1044 for ALL the shipping and the document presentation on this side of the pond. This also included the insurance for the sailing and ]included the 5% VAT. The VAT part was £320 roughly.

So the car cost me just over 7k all in. Bargain I think. And better still, because of it's age (1965), I didn't have to make any modifications to the lights so the sidelights at the front are orange and the rear lights just get much brighter and flash when you indicate (so no orange lamps req) again

I'm getting it MOT'd this week and then it will be registered with a 1965 C plate hopefully.

With a new or secondhand car, as has been mentioned, you pay the car's price, PLUS the shipping. Then you pay 10% of that total as import duty. Then you add it all up and pay a further 17.5 VAT on top of that.

There are plenty of dealers around selling new/nearly new cars - the choice is yours.

You could try www.boatwright.co.uk - based in Braintree, Essex. They import new US cars and sell those and secondhand US cars too and also handle personally imported cars (only from the US East Coast though). Very helpful site and staff.

Shipping co was Wallenius Wilhelmsen www.2wglobal.com

Edited to check the links and one or twenty typos


>> Edited by MikeyT on Tuesday 13th January 13:18

[mikef]

You can avoid both of these things if you have owned the car in the US for 6 months and will keep the car for a year after arriving in the UK

... and can prove to HM Customs satisfaction that you are a returning resident who has lived in the US for at least 12 month - they ask for payslips and utility bills

[adamt]

Wow thank you all for this information, very very useful!

I dont like the idea of paying 10% and then 17.5 % tax on a car... very very harsh, i dont think because of that any major savings would be had, what a shame, its just 01 996 tt go for 43-45k..too good to be true, when everything is done and the car is here in uk probably end up costing 55k, when a 00 rhd car is 63k oh well and thank you again

all the best
adam