Right then - dollar is rock bottom, it must be shopping time
Discussion
As the subject says, really, following on from comments on the Supercharger thread, or one of them anyway. With the dollar this low, is it worth looking at bits to buy in the States? Ot will they get slapped with so many import duties that it's not worth the bother? The Pontiac GTO boys must have loas of cool bits that would fit even an elderly VT2 GTS. Or am I completely wrong?
I have been watching their prices for a number of months now. I was looking at centrifugal type compressors (Procharger etc but have since decided that I am going to go twin screw).
Second hand, I have seen prochargers with low hours and in complete removed kit form, go for $600
There are a number of cheap air to air intercoolers going for silly money ($299) too, and a lot of companies will post to the UK.
I have bought a load of stuff and only been asked to pay duty by customs a couple of times. Some of the sellers put the words 'gift' on the outside of the package although I am not sure how effective this is.
At the moment the pound is really strong against the dollar. Most parts are available without the rip off Britain prices and if you use Paypal you are covered for upto £500. Have a good look at ebay.com, especially the tuning stuff. Last week I saw AFR heads going for £1000 a pair
Second hand, I have seen prochargers with low hours and in complete removed kit form, go for $600
There are a number of cheap air to air intercoolers going for silly money ($299) too, and a lot of companies will post to the UK.
I have bought a load of stuff and only been asked to pay duty by customs a couple of times. Some of the sellers put the words 'gift' on the outside of the package although I am not sure how effective this is.
At the moment the pound is really strong against the dollar. Most parts are available without the rip off Britain prices and if you use Paypal you are covered for upto £500. Have a good look at ebay.com, especially the tuning stuff. Last week I saw AFR heads going for £1000 a pair
I belive the rules changed with HMRC with regards to importing from outside the EU, last april.
For the USA the normal import tax on most goods is 13% + 17.5%VAT.
This is now aplicable to the invoivce price inc postage (any thing over £18)
It is the couriers responsibity to collect the Tax on behalf of HMRC so some peolpe are suprised when then get the goods, and are asked for payment on the door step. Some couriers have decided not to collect small amounts of tax due to the fact that it costs them more to collect and process, it than it is worth (a couple of CD's maybe).
The other thing that has changed is that if someone puts a value on the export form that HMRC do not agree with it is you 'the importer' who is done for fraud!-so carefull with the gift idea!
For the USA the normal import tax on most goods is 13% + 17.5%VAT.
This is now aplicable to the invoivce price inc postage (any thing over £18)
It is the couriers responsibity to collect the Tax on behalf of HMRC so some peolpe are suprised when then get the goods, and are asked for payment on the door step. Some couriers have decided not to collect small amounts of tax due to the fact that it costs them more to collect and process, it than it is worth (a couple of CD's maybe).
The other thing that has changed is that if someone puts a value on the export form that HMRC do not agree with it is you 'the importer' who is done for fraud!-so carefull with the gift idea!
featherfoot said:
I belive the rules changed with HMRC with regards to importing from outside the EU, last april.
For the USA the normal import tax on most goods is 13% + 17.5%VAT.
This is now aplicable to the invoivce price inc postage (any thing over £18)
It is the couriers responsibity to collect the Tax on behalf of HMRC so some peolpe are suprised when then get the goods, and are asked for payment on the door step. Some couriers have decided not to collect small amounts of tax due to the fact that it costs them more to collect and process, it than it is worth (a couple of CD's maybe).
The other thing that has changed is that if someone puts a value on the export form that HMRC do not agree with it is you 'the importer' who is done for fraud!-so carefull with the gift idea!
For the USA the normal import tax on most goods is 13% + 17.5%VAT.
This is now aplicable to the invoivce price inc postage (any thing over £18)
It is the couriers responsibity to collect the Tax on behalf of HMRC so some peolpe are suprised when then get the goods, and are asked for payment on the door step. Some couriers have decided not to collect small amounts of tax due to the fact that it costs them more to collect and process, it than it is worth (a couple of CD's maybe).
The other thing that has changed is that if someone puts a value on the export form that HMRC do not agree with it is you 'the importer' who is done for fraud!-so carefull with the gift idea!
So not really worth the bother then, unless very cheap? Oh, and would it make any difference if the goods were imported by a company, rather than a private person?
mackie1 said:
I'm guessing that a company would have to pay the duty but not the VAT, but then the importer would have to charge you VAT when reselling it.
Fair point, my idea was to have my own company import stuff for, er, demonstration purposes, that's all. In that case you wouldn't pay VAT, as you say, but if the company would still have to pay duty it's not really worth the bother and potential subsequent interesting discussions with the accountant
mackie1 said:
It's an utter joke that you pay VAT on top of the duty. Why can't they just calculate both based on the actual value and add them together?
The reason is if lets say you got them from Mexico (a developing country) then a 3% import duty would be due! Good luck with your Spanish lessons for searching the net, what is the cost (in Paso's) for an intercooler?
If you personally import something - ie fly out and put it in the suitcase - and absent mindly forget to delare it (remember that you are entilled to import $200 total without'extras'), do not try and reclaim the sales tax you paid in the USA as you WILL then be caught for smuggling, maybe go to a State with either 0% or very low sales tax.
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