Cerbera 25 year USA Import rule.
Discussion
https://www.hagerty.com/media/buying-and-selling/8...
With the 25 year rule kicking in, does anyone know if any Cerbera's have been exported to the US as road legal vehicles?
With the 25 year rule kicking in, does anyone know if any Cerbera's have been exported to the US as road legal vehicles?
The first problem is that there is not a single 1996 Cerbera for sale on here or Autotrader!
I think Corona restrictions will have dissuaded anyone to import at present and isn't it a bit early under the 25 year rule? The USA is strict and you have to prove when it was manufactured from the VIN which could be interesting with TVR! If you import the vehicle in January 2021, then it has to have been manufactured no later than January 1996.
It's a complicated, unreliable vehicle, with the steering wheel on the wrong side, there is a struggle to get certain parts in the UK, let alone the USA, and there are no specialists who understand the vehicle in the USA.
You are unlikely to find anything worth importing into the USA from the UK under $30,000 at current exchange rates, plus the shipping fees, import duty and the paperwork cost and hassle. You will be into the mid to high $30k after all that. That will buy you a Corvette that is 15 years younger, and is far easier and cheaper to keep on the American road.
I think Corona restrictions will have dissuaded anyone to import at present and isn't it a bit early under the 25 year rule? The USA is strict and you have to prove when it was manufactured from the VIN which could be interesting with TVR! If you import the vehicle in January 2021, then it has to have been manufactured no later than January 1996.
It's a complicated, unreliable vehicle, with the steering wheel on the wrong side, there is a struggle to get certain parts in the UK, let alone the USA, and there are no specialists who understand the vehicle in the USA.
You are unlikely to find anything worth importing into the USA from the UK under $30,000 at current exchange rates, plus the shipping fees, import duty and the paperwork cost and hassle. You will be into the mid to high $30k after all that. That will buy you a Corvette that is 15 years younger, and is far easier and cheaper to keep on the American road.
LucyP said:
The first problem is that there is not a single 1996 Cerbera for sale on here or Autotrader!
I think Corona restrictions will have dissuaded anyone to import at present and isn't it a bit early under the 25 year rule? The USA is strict and you have to prove when it was manufactured from the VIN which could be interesting with TVR! If you import the vehicle in January 2021, then it has to have been manufactured no later than January 1996.
It's a complicated, unreliable vehicle, with the steering wheel on the wrong side, there is a struggle to get certain parts in the UK, let alone the USA, and there are no specialists who understand the vehicle in the USA.
You are unlikely to find anything worth importing into the USA from the UK under $30,000 at current exchange rates, plus the shipping fees, import duty and the paperwork cost and hassle. You will be into the mid to high $30k after all that. That will buy you a Corvette that is 15 years younger, and is far easier and cheaper to keep on the American road.
But a Corvette is a Barge compared to the Sunseaker when comparing with a Cerbera;-)I think Corona restrictions will have dissuaded anyone to import at present and isn't it a bit early under the 25 year rule? The USA is strict and you have to prove when it was manufactured from the VIN which could be interesting with TVR! If you import the vehicle in January 2021, then it has to have been manufactured no later than January 1996.
It's a complicated, unreliable vehicle, with the steering wheel on the wrong side, there is a struggle to get certain parts in the UK, let alone the USA, and there are no specialists who understand the vehicle in the USA.
You are unlikely to find anything worth importing into the USA from the UK under $30,000 at current exchange rates, plus the shipping fees, import duty and the paperwork cost and hassle. You will be into the mid to high $30k after all that. That will buy you a Corvette that is 15 years younger, and is far easier and cheaper to keep on the American road.
Not sure where you get unreliable from, number of times my car has been on the back of a transporter in 11 or 12 years of ownership is twice, first caused by a broken lay shaft in the gearbox that let go on the Bentley straight at Snetterton and the second because a Belgian recovery contractor didn't want to fit a replacement clutch master cylinder seal because recovering the car to th eUK was worth a bucket load to him rather than half an hour with a spanner in his hand.
aide said:
https://www.hagerty.com/media/buying-and-selling/8...
With the 25 year rule kicking in, does anyone know if any Cerbera's have been exported to the US as road legal vehicles?
The article may be misleading. With the 25 year rule kicking in, does anyone know if any Cerbera's have been exported to the US as road legal vehicles?
The Cerbera cannot even be imported for show or display.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/sd...
NMNeil said:
aide said:
https://www.hagerty.com/media/buying-and-selling/8...
With the 25 year rule kicking in, does anyone know if any Cerbera's have been exported to the US as road legal vehicles?
The article may be misleading. With the 25 year rule kicking in, does anyone know if any Cerbera's have been exported to the US as road legal vehicles?
The Cerbera cannot even be imported for show or display.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/sd...
aide said:
Are you sure?
Page 6 seems to say so:TVR Sagaris, T350, Tuscan, Cerbera 1996-2006
A list of vehicles that can be imported.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/do...
And if you feel like digging through the records in case it was missed, here you go.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/search?c...
aide said:
NMNeil said:
aide said:
https://www.hagerty.com/media/buying-and-selling/8...
With the 25 year rule kicking in, does anyone know if any Cerbera's have been exported to the US as road legal vehicles?
The article may be misleading. With the 25 year rule kicking in, does anyone know if any Cerbera's have been exported to the US as road legal vehicles?
The Cerbera cannot even be imported for show or display.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/sd...
NMNeil said:
Page 6 seems to say so:
TVR Sagaris, T350, Tuscan, Cerbera 1996-2006
A list of vehicles that can be imported.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/do...
And if you feel like digging through the records in case it was missed, here you go.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/search?c...
Interesting the first doc - from October 2014 - says yes.TVR Sagaris, T350, Tuscan, Cerbera 1996-2006
A list of vehicles that can be imported.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/do...
And if you feel like digging through the records in case it was missed, here you go.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/search?c...
And the second doc - from December 2015 - says no.
I was thinking more along the lines of importing a road legal car, that was previously not allowed into the USA, once it's 25 years old.
Once a car exceeds 25 years old, and can be verified as such by build date, the rules related to show and display do not apply.
If you want to import a car before it is 25 and it isn't one of the 60 or so cars that currently qualify for show and display, you have to get the car to comply with relevant US regulations, which differ by state, before it can be used on the road as a US registered vehicle and in many practical senses it's not possible. If you buy one, use it and don't register it, it can be seized and crushed.
You could however use it over there for up to a year at a time as a holiday car (If you took it with you as a foreign citizen) without needing to register it as a US vehicle.
Once a car turns 25 you don't have to consider show or display rules, crash, lighting standards and emissions conformity etc, and the car can be registered for use on US roads as a vehicle of historic interest.
With regards to TVRs, before 25 pretty much forget it.
If you want to import a car before it is 25 and it isn't one of the 60 or so cars that currently qualify for show and display, you have to get the car to comply with relevant US regulations, which differ by state, before it can be used on the road as a US registered vehicle and in many practical senses it's not possible. If you buy one, use it and don't register it, it can be seized and crushed.
You could however use it over there for up to a year at a time as a holiday car (If you took it with you as a foreign citizen) without needing to register it as a US vehicle.
Once a car turns 25 you don't have to consider show or display rules, crash, lighting standards and emissions conformity etc, and the car can be registered for use on US roads as a vehicle of historic interest.
With regards to TVRs, before 25 pretty much forget it.
Faisal Khan (tvrfreak on here) had a Cerbera in San Francisco from the late 90's/early '00s.
It has a chequered history having been crashed in 2003, sent back to the UK for repair and then being involved in an insurance scam.
However, it looks like it came up for sale on BaT back in 2016
I have fond, if slightly surreal. memories of meeting up with Faisal and the Cerbera to go for a ride around the streets of San Francisco.
It has a chequered history having been crashed in 2003, sent back to the UK for repair and then being involved in an insurance scam.
However, it looks like it came up for sale on BaT back in 2016
I have fond, if slightly surreal. memories of meeting up with Faisal and the Cerbera to go for a ride around the streets of San Francisco.
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