Costs of importing a car from US into the UK?
Discussion
If the car was produced within the EU, I believe that you can have the import duty waived for a £50 documentation fee.
If it was originally owned and used within the EU and has since been exported to the USA, there should not be any VAT to pay either...
You will need a letter of confirmation that the car was EU-built and has EU-sourced parts with regards to the import duty and certainly in the case of older Lamborghinis both these matters can be 'resolved' with a letter from LCUK.
A chap has saved some £thousands of import duty very recently on a 1968 Lamborghini. The car was sold in Switzerland originally (so, outside the EU) and has been in the USA and also Canada since then. He's had to pay 15% VAT but not that 10% import duty.
In recent years, the VAT (then 17.5%) for an original spec. LP400 Countach that had only ever been in the USA was restricted to the 'old' rate of 4% after a letter from the owner and LCUK to HMC&E was accepted as sufficient evidence that the car was near-unique and of great historical importance. (The small matter that the Countach in question has now gone back to the USA again is not really relevant, even if there was a far greater £$£$£$ value in the car heading back to the USA than there was when it came here!)
This is just a nudge to say "asking to pay less import duty and VAT" may possibly make you a very useful saving. If the chap with the 1968 Lamborghini had asked to pay less VAT, he might have caught the desk-bound rubber stamp operator in a good mood and got the car into the EU for only 4%. It is still an area where an element of discretion applies, I believe...
In any case, what's this very underpriced car? If it's a Lamborghini, especially an older one, please get in touch and we'll see what we can do to help you!
If it was originally owned and used within the EU and has since been exported to the USA, there should not be any VAT to pay either...
You will need a letter of confirmation that the car was EU-built and has EU-sourced parts with regards to the import duty and certainly in the case of older Lamborghinis both these matters can be 'resolved' with a letter from LCUK.
A chap has saved some £thousands of import duty very recently on a 1968 Lamborghini. The car was sold in Switzerland originally (so, outside the EU) and has been in the USA and also Canada since then. He's had to pay 15% VAT but not that 10% import duty.
In recent years, the VAT (then 17.5%) for an original spec. LP400 Countach that had only ever been in the USA was restricted to the 'old' rate of 4% after a letter from the owner and LCUK to HMC&E was accepted as sufficient evidence that the car was near-unique and of great historical importance. (The small matter that the Countach in question has now gone back to the USA again is not really relevant, even if there was a far greater £$£$£$ value in the car heading back to the USA than there was when it came here!)
This is just a nudge to say "asking to pay less import duty and VAT" may possibly make you a very useful saving. If the chap with the 1968 Lamborghini had asked to pay less VAT, he might have caught the desk-bound rubber stamp operator in a good mood and got the car into the EU for only 4%. It is still an area where an element of discretion applies, I believe...
In any case, what's this very underpriced car? If it's a Lamborghini, especially an older one, please get in touch and we'll see what we can do to help you!
XXVIII said:
If the car was produced within the EU, I believe that you can have the import duty waived for a £50 documentation fee.
If it was originally owned and used within the EU and has since been exported to the USA, there should not be any VAT to pay either...
You will need a letter of confirmation that the car was EU-built and has EU-sourced parts with regards to the import duty and certainly in the case of older Lamborghinis both these matters can be 'resolved' with a letter from LCUK.
A chap has saved some £thousands of import duty very recently on a 1968 Lamborghini. The car was sold in Switzerland originally (so, outside the EU) and has been in the USA and also Canada since then. He's had to pay 15% VAT but not that 10% import duty.
In recent years, the VAT (then 17.5%) for an original spec. LP400 Countach that had only ever been in the USA was restricted to the 'old' rate of 4% after a letter from the owner and LCUK to HMC&E was accepted as sufficient evidence that the car was near-unique and of great historical importance. (The small matter that the Countach in question has now gone back to the USA again is not really relevant, even if there was a far greater £$£$£$ value in the car heading back to the USA than there was when it came here!)
This is just a nudge to say "asking to pay less import duty and VAT" may possibly make you a very useful saving. If the chap with the 1968 Lamborghini had asked to pay less VAT, he might have caught the desk-bound rubber stamp operator in a good mood and got the car into the EU for only 4%. It is still an area where an element of discretion applies, I believe...
In any case, what's this very underpriced car? If it's a Lamborghini, especially an older one, please get in touch and we'll see what we can do to help you!
Thanks, that's very useful. It is a Porsche, so obviously built in the EU -- I will definitely look further into this -- thanks again!If it was originally owned and used within the EU and has since been exported to the USA, there should not be any VAT to pay either...
You will need a letter of confirmation that the car was EU-built and has EU-sourced parts with regards to the import duty and certainly in the case of older Lamborghinis both these matters can be 'resolved' with a letter from LCUK.
A chap has saved some £thousands of import duty very recently on a 1968 Lamborghini. The car was sold in Switzerland originally (so, outside the EU) and has been in the USA and also Canada since then. He's had to pay 15% VAT but not that 10% import duty.
In recent years, the VAT (then 17.5%) for an original spec. LP400 Countach that had only ever been in the USA was restricted to the 'old' rate of 4% after a letter from the owner and LCUK to HMC&E was accepted as sufficient evidence that the car was near-unique and of great historical importance. (The small matter that the Countach in question has now gone back to the USA again is not really relevant, even if there was a far greater £$£$£$ value in the car heading back to the USA than there was when it came here!)
This is just a nudge to say "asking to pay less import duty and VAT" may possibly make you a very useful saving. If the chap with the 1968 Lamborghini had asked to pay less VAT, he might have caught the desk-bound rubber stamp operator in a good mood and got the car into the EU for only 4%. It is still an area where an element of discretion applies, I believe...
In any case, what's this very underpriced car? If it's a Lamborghini, especially an older one, please get in touch and we'll see what we can do to help you!
polar8 said:
XXVIII said:
some stuff
Thanks, that's very useful. It is a Porsche, so obviously built in the EU -- I will definitely look further into this -- thanks again!Never overestimate how utterly obtuse and willfully obstructive a civil servant can be given the opportunity although, equally, when given the chance to offer a straightforward solution, they can be extremely helpful and may save you some funds! So, I'd make sure you have at least as much documentation as seems reasonable and then add some more from somewhere if you can - Porsche AG might be able to help on that front, even if it's just official paperwork from the service records of the car that will be with the car already.
With so much of the relevant paperwork to hand, the chance to help an importer save a few bob is made easier for civil servants and then the cheap-suited biro-fiddler can get on with swinging the 'low/no bill' rubber stamp with gusto, deleting whole sections of dull form work with a few dramatic swoops of the pen and so getting a (probably) infrequent but doubtless very welcome sensation of 'job satisfaction' from a word or two of thanks and perhaps, if a member of the required gender, some genial banter over dinner with some decent wine to drink, perhaps to then retire to a well-appointed suite with a fine view from the window the following morning and then...
...oops, I've gone too far again, haven't I?...
Edited by XXVIII on Thursday 11th June 15:23
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