Importing a car from Europe- My experience as requested
Discussion
I have been asked by a few members to write a few words on my experience of importing a Ferrari 550 / any car for that matter from Europe as I did recently. Sorry for war and peace !!
I will point out early on that I am no writer !! I had a fair bit of advice from members on here / my specialist when buying mine but to be honest there are so many myths and rumors I thought I would help to dispel some of them.
I was looking for a LHD car specifically as I want to do some European touring in 2015.
I guess there are a few things I didn’t know the answers to which were:
Is there import duty and what is it ?
What forms do you need ?
How do you actually buy the car and what paperwork do you need from the dealer ?
What forms do you need to drive across Europe ?
What forms do you need to get across the tunnel ?
What forms do you need to register the car in the UK ? (actually the forms were the hardest part !!)
No I was probably lucky !! But was given a bit of advice that played out in my case, just to be clear this is not racist just my experience.
I was advised to just deal with either the Dutch or the Germans as they were straightforward and easy to deal with.
I lived in Paris and worked there so that was my first start point as I thought it would be the easiest …. It wasn’t !!
Now its hard enough dealing with a dealer a few miles away in the UK, let alone in a different country.
I found four cars that I was interested in, one in Paris, one in Germany, one in Italy and finally one in the Netherlands. The Italian one seemed like the best one but the dealer was flakey, the one in Paris had been crashed in a previous life, the German one was good but had a suspicious amount of odd (non service) parts fitted which left the Netherlands one. I couldn’t find an equivalent of the HPI so I had to check with previous owners / pervious dealers.
I knew that I needed to make sure it was EEC registered, hadn’t been crashed, clocked and was as described.
I started dealing with the dealer in the Netherlands who turned out to be the ex MD of Ferrari Netherlands totally great guy.
He sent me loads of photo’s, copies of the Netherlands registration documents, the Netherlands MOT and full service history (I think I probably drove him a bit mad)
So I bit the bullet and booked the, Taxi, Plane and Train. I wanted to do it in one day so had to leave Gatwick at 5am, take trains to get to the dealer at 10am look at the car, transfer the money (which they cant guarantee to do on the same day) check all the paperwork, get the transfer plates and then drive 462 back across three countries listening to every bang and knock praying your new purchase doesn’t blow up !!!
The above isn’t that wise !!! Give your self more time in case any of the above goes wrong !! Fortunately my day didn’t.
The journey was knackering and stressful trying to make all the transfers but I got there by 10am, I checked over the car and it was just as described, the only thing that didn’t work was the air con which the dealer got re-gassed there and then.
The dealer had agreed to have all the paperwork ready so that we could take the old plates (in the Netherlands the plates belong to the car and need to be retained when de-registered) we needed my passport, driving license, proof of address, the MOT (APK) and registration document.
I agreed to the transfer and headed off to the local RDW office to do the de-registration and get the transport plates (basically white plates that allow you to move the car all over Europe for 7 or 14 days which ever you choose) you can also add insurance and breakdown cover to this, both of which I did.
Regarding insurance I had also insured the car on the chassis number via Chubb in the UK, they were one of very few companies that would do it.
I couldn’t have done the registration without a translator (the dealer) once you have paid your money you get two metal plates, some stick on letters and an export document.
This took about an hour and we were then back off to the dealer. Very luckily by the time we got back to the garage the money had arrived in his bank.
The car arrived back, I stuck the letters on the plates and were almost ready to go, in addition to all the normal paperwork you also need an invoice from the dealer showing that VAT / Tax was originally paid on the car (I had the original invoice for c. 215,000 euros !!! and any supporting documentation you can find to prove the car was made in Europe !! Just saying it’s a Ferrari and they only make them in Europe doesn’t work and the DVLA don’t believe you.
So ready to go at about 1.30pm, we had the following in the car which we needed for traveling across several countries, two hi vis jackets (must be in the car), two breathalyzers again must be in the car, spare bulbs, warning triangle, sat nav and then cable ties and nerves of steel … optional !!!
So just the 462 miles to go, we had all the paperwork, insurance etc in the car just incase were stopped (we weren’t !!)
The car was brimmed to the top with fuel and off we went, now we may have been traveling quite quickly as I think the sat Nav said it would be 7hrs 34mins and we had 5 hrs until our euro tunnel slot ended.
We made the slot on two tanks of fuel, we did however develop a bad banging from the back somewhere in Belgium which got worse through France …. I then convinced myself the rear end of the car, axle, gearbox … body was going to fall off …. It didn’t and it turned out to be a £20 exhaust hanger that had failed, we didn’t however know this until we got back to the UK !!!
We made the tunnel, showed booking, passport and drove across, no paperwork for the car was shown and we drove home !!!
Simply one of the best drives of my life …. If not a bit butt clenching
I then registered the car with the DVLA to say I had imported it on the NOVA system (fairly easy) which gave you a number to quote agreeing that there was no import duty to pay ( it came within 24hours) then apply for a registration pack.
As my car was over 10 years old it was simple, I had to fill out the forms, send off the Netherlands registration documents, the invoice from the dealer, the original invoice and the payment of the road tax and the registration fee (from memory £300 ish)
I got the forms wrong once as I don’t have a degree from mensa !! But got it back correct on the second attempt with the V5C.
And that was it pretty simple !!!
I was convinced that we needed more paperwork to cross the borders but in reality we didn’t have to provide any which felt a bit weird but hey that was the situation.
I paid a fairly strong price for mine but that gave me a pretty perfect car and a great dealer to deal with, I did look at main dealer cars but they were really poor in comparison.
I had it checked out and serviced by my specialist on return who gave it a clean bill of health and inverted the lights to get it from LHD to RHD, you can do this with a 550 (one hours work) but not with a 575.
So basically its pretty simple, if I can do it then anyone can. All I would do differently is not try and do it in a day !!!
If I have missed stuff I will add it as I remember but I hope this answers some of the questions people have and helps a little …. But excuse the poor writing!!!
Phib
I will point out early on that I am no writer !! I had a fair bit of advice from members on here / my specialist when buying mine but to be honest there are so many myths and rumors I thought I would help to dispel some of them.
I was looking for a LHD car specifically as I want to do some European touring in 2015.
I guess there are a few things I didn’t know the answers to which were:
Is there import duty and what is it ?
What forms do you need ?
How do you actually buy the car and what paperwork do you need from the dealer ?
What forms do you need to drive across Europe ?
What forms do you need to get across the tunnel ?
What forms do you need to register the car in the UK ? (actually the forms were the hardest part !!)
No I was probably lucky !! But was given a bit of advice that played out in my case, just to be clear this is not racist just my experience.
I was advised to just deal with either the Dutch or the Germans as they were straightforward and easy to deal with.
I lived in Paris and worked there so that was my first start point as I thought it would be the easiest …. It wasn’t !!
Now its hard enough dealing with a dealer a few miles away in the UK, let alone in a different country.
I found four cars that I was interested in, one in Paris, one in Germany, one in Italy and finally one in the Netherlands. The Italian one seemed like the best one but the dealer was flakey, the one in Paris had been crashed in a previous life, the German one was good but had a suspicious amount of odd (non service) parts fitted which left the Netherlands one. I couldn’t find an equivalent of the HPI so I had to check with previous owners / pervious dealers.
I knew that I needed to make sure it was EEC registered, hadn’t been crashed, clocked and was as described.
I started dealing with the dealer in the Netherlands who turned out to be the ex MD of Ferrari Netherlands totally great guy.
He sent me loads of photo’s, copies of the Netherlands registration documents, the Netherlands MOT and full service history (I think I probably drove him a bit mad)
So I bit the bullet and booked the, Taxi, Plane and Train. I wanted to do it in one day so had to leave Gatwick at 5am, take trains to get to the dealer at 10am look at the car, transfer the money (which they cant guarantee to do on the same day) check all the paperwork, get the transfer plates and then drive 462 back across three countries listening to every bang and knock praying your new purchase doesn’t blow up !!!
The above isn’t that wise !!! Give your self more time in case any of the above goes wrong !! Fortunately my day didn’t.
The journey was knackering and stressful trying to make all the transfers but I got there by 10am, I checked over the car and it was just as described, the only thing that didn’t work was the air con which the dealer got re-gassed there and then.
The dealer had agreed to have all the paperwork ready so that we could take the old plates (in the Netherlands the plates belong to the car and need to be retained when de-registered) we needed my passport, driving license, proof of address, the MOT (APK) and registration document.
I agreed to the transfer and headed off to the local RDW office to do the de-registration and get the transport plates (basically white plates that allow you to move the car all over Europe for 7 or 14 days which ever you choose) you can also add insurance and breakdown cover to this, both of which I did.
Regarding insurance I had also insured the car on the chassis number via Chubb in the UK, they were one of very few companies that would do it.
I couldn’t have done the registration without a translator (the dealer) once you have paid your money you get two metal plates, some stick on letters and an export document.
This took about an hour and we were then back off to the dealer. Very luckily by the time we got back to the garage the money had arrived in his bank.
The car arrived back, I stuck the letters on the plates and were almost ready to go, in addition to all the normal paperwork you also need an invoice from the dealer showing that VAT / Tax was originally paid on the car (I had the original invoice for c. 215,000 euros !!! and any supporting documentation you can find to prove the car was made in Europe !! Just saying it’s a Ferrari and they only make them in Europe doesn’t work and the DVLA don’t believe you.
So ready to go at about 1.30pm, we had the following in the car which we needed for traveling across several countries, two hi vis jackets (must be in the car), two breathalyzers again must be in the car, spare bulbs, warning triangle, sat nav and then cable ties and nerves of steel … optional !!!
So just the 462 miles to go, we had all the paperwork, insurance etc in the car just incase were stopped (we weren’t !!)
The car was brimmed to the top with fuel and off we went, now we may have been traveling quite quickly as I think the sat Nav said it would be 7hrs 34mins and we had 5 hrs until our euro tunnel slot ended.
We made the slot on two tanks of fuel, we did however develop a bad banging from the back somewhere in Belgium which got worse through France …. I then convinced myself the rear end of the car, axle, gearbox … body was going to fall off …. It didn’t and it turned out to be a £20 exhaust hanger that had failed, we didn’t however know this until we got back to the UK !!!
We made the tunnel, showed booking, passport and drove across, no paperwork for the car was shown and we drove home !!!
Simply one of the best drives of my life …. If not a bit butt clenching
I then registered the car with the DVLA to say I had imported it on the NOVA system (fairly easy) which gave you a number to quote agreeing that there was no import duty to pay ( it came within 24hours) then apply for a registration pack.
As my car was over 10 years old it was simple, I had to fill out the forms, send off the Netherlands registration documents, the invoice from the dealer, the original invoice and the payment of the road tax and the registration fee (from memory £300 ish)
I got the forms wrong once as I don’t have a degree from mensa !! But got it back correct on the second attempt with the V5C.
And that was it pretty simple !!!
I was convinced that we needed more paperwork to cross the borders but in reality we didn’t have to provide any which felt a bit weird but hey that was the situation.
I paid a fairly strong price for mine but that gave me a pretty perfect car and a great dealer to deal with, I did look at main dealer cars but they were really poor in comparison.
I had it checked out and serviced by my specialist on return who gave it a clean bill of health and inverted the lights to get it from LHD to RHD, you can do this with a 550 (one hours work) but not with a 575.
So basically its pretty simple, if I can do it then anyone can. All I would do differently is not try and do it in a day !!!
If I have missed stuff I will add it as I remember but I hope this answers some of the questions people have and helps a little …. But excuse the poor writing!!!
Phib
Edited by phib on Sunday 16th November 13:36
kapiteinlangzaam said:
Nice write up, but that's wrong....
plates in NL stay with the car for life unless:
-the plates are stolen/lost >3 times.
-its exported and reimported, in which case it will receive a new one.
Thanks you are quite right, I knew i couldn't take the plates with me hence why it went on transport plates. plates in NL stay with the car for life unless:
-the plates are stolen/lost >3 times.
-its exported and reimported, in which case it will receive a new one.
I was told at the time that the plates were returned to the owner, I guess so he didn't get my speeding fines !!
Thanks
Phib
T4NG0 said:
Thanks for sharing !!!
Can you share the details of the dealer as they sound good to deal with ?
Hi this was the guy Can you share the details of the dealer as they sound good to deal with ?
http://www.wiggersmastercars.nl/home/
All stock was A1 and I would buy from him again without doubt
Phib
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