Importing classic from the USA

lindopski_2

has anyone had any experience of importing a classic from the USA at all ?
I keep finding gorgeous cars in the Nevada desert etc up for grabs, all very sunburnt but generally a dry rusty look and not overly rotten.
Obviously when they get here its probably ground up rebuild time but even so a rain soaked UK classic will no doubt require similar at some point anyway.

I have seen E-type Jags going in tatty but running nick for daft money, old fifties and sixties classics for under 5k in reasonable condition.

the thing that I wonder about is the getting them here, the registration side of things as well and how to protect yourself from a dishonest Yank after a quick buck from a dozy Brit.

Anyone ever done it and how did it go.

Lum

I have imported from Japan. It is probably best that you find an import agent to help arrange things as the process isn't exactly easy the first time.

The basic process is that the car will be de-registered in it's home country and loaded onto a boat for you. If you're buying from a place that specialises in exports they will list the price as "FOB" "Free On Board", which is the cost of the car, de-registration and taking it to the docks for you.

You'll then need to pay for the shipping and landing at a dock of your choice and clear it through customs, and again you'll definitely need an agent for this part as it's a PITA, but basically you pay.

For shipping you have two options "ro/ro" or "container". "ro/ro" means roll on, roll off. They basically have a minimum wage docker drive your car onto the deck of a boat and it spends two months being exposed to salty sea air, then another minimum wage docker drives your car off the ramp, does a few doughnuts and leaves it at the dock for all the chavs to come and nick parts of your car. "Container" means they lock your car in a shipping container.

Obviously ro/ro is cheaper, but higher risk. Also any insurance you take out on the shipping will be invalid as soon as you leave the docks so you will need to inspect the car thoroughly when you go to collect it.

Duty - 20% of the combined FOB and shipping costs
VAT - 20% of the combined FOB, shipping and Duty costs.

Yes that is a tax on a tax.

As the car is over 10 years old you will be registering it under the "10 year exemption", which means that all you need to register it is a valid MOT certificate, valid insurance certificate, a form and £55 + road tax.

You can insure a car on it's VIN number with most insurers, even mainstream insurers like Direct Line and as with any car with no MOT you can only drive it on the road to and from a pre booked MOT test.

To pass the UK MOT you will possibly need to make some alterations to the car. For Japanese imports this is usually just a rear fog light. For US cars you may need to do a little more, for example if it flashes the brakes lights instead of having proper indicators then you will need to fit proper indicators. A common way I've seen this done which doesn't look too awful is to fit a fog and reverse light under the number plate frame and then convert the existing reverse lights into indicators by fitting orange bulbs.

Since you are importing a British car the lighting may not be an issue.

Once you have an MOT, you just need to take this, your insurance certificate and the American de-registration/export certificate, the completed form, the £55 and the fee for your road tax to your nearest DVLA local office.

It takes about a week and you will receive your road tax and a certificate entitling you to have a number plate made.

Get the plate made. Depending on the design of the car you may not be able to get a UK sized number plate to fit. In this case you can legally fit a smaller plate, providing the font you use is no less than 64mm tall with a 10mm stroke width, basically the motorbike font. A standard USA number plate is 12"x6". You may need to order this online as the likes of Halfords won't do them.

Once you have fitted the plates and put your tax disc in you can legally drive.

A few weeks later your V5/logbook will arrive, check it carefully for errors as the DVLA have been known to screw this up, for example my car came back with the correct manufacturer (Nissan) but no model listed at all.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Watch the new series of Wheeler Dealers on Discovery Channel.

They're doing importing cars from the USA to Britain at the moment. They've already done a Chevvy pickup and a Karmann Ghia.

Hintza

Good post Lum.

Hintza

OP if I were you I would book a holiday and go viewing. Before leaving do some work on finding shipping companies and sound them out.

I brought a car back from South Africa and it wasn't difficult. Still to this day don't know how I got away with a speedo in kph not mph. Only problem I had was fitting a fog light.

Lum

@Hintza, If the car is over 10 years old then you just need to pass an MOT. The speedo is not checked as part of the MOT.

When the MOT is done, the tester should report the odometer reading as, say, 14876 km as opposed to 14876 miles but they often forget to do this as they are so used to doing everything as miles.

If it says km on the MOT, the DVLA will ask for evidence that it has been converted into miles this could be, for example, a receipt for a sticker to go over the speedo, or a receipt for fitting a second speedo.

In my case I left the speedo in KM and fitted a heads up display that could read in miles. I took the manual with me to prove the conversion (Even though I had not fitted it at this point) but the DVLA never asked for it as my MOT cert stated miles.


None of this matters to the OP, however, as they are importing from the USA.

lindopski_2

Wonderful info Lum many thanks
Its going to be a while till I can afford it anyway but at least I have an idea on the rigmarole involved and if it will be worth it balanced against an extra few thousand for a UK model.
some of them I have seen though would still be a bargain with 10k on top.

some of the yank classics are also gorgeous and a lot are surprisingly cheap.
Oh god I have just seen a lovely E-Type for 11k - must stay away from bank lol

Or this one eek
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C180999

Lum

The rigmarole is a lot easier if you use an agent and if you get the right one it doesn't actually cost much extra.

The company I used is no good for you as they deal with Japan, but they charge a £350 flat fee to arrange everything and then just forward you the bills to pay at each stage of the process. They promised me that their fee would be lower than what they would save me on the shipping and this turned out to be true. Compared to the cheapest quote I could get, they negotiated a price £500 cheaper. I think my car shared a full size container with another customer's car(s) to achieve that price, however.

A decent import agent can also arrange things like sending someone out to inspect the car on your behalf, which is always worth it unless you plan to budget for a restoration.

Only other thing I'd worry about buying a British car from the states is many of them have awful front bumpers to comply with US safety regulations which are different to the rest of the world. You end up with things like big black foam blocks bolted onto the front of the stock bumper, and other silliness like that.

lil.smartie

We used Schumacher Cargo in Long Beach when we brought our 06 Mustang back earlier this year, they were great.

Kate

worried_jim

Lum wrote: »

For shipping you have two options "ro/ro" or "container". "ro/ro" means roll on, roll off. They basically have a minimum wage docker drive your car onto the deck of a boat and it spends two months being exposed to salty sea air, then another minimum wage docker drives your car off the ramp, does a few doughnuts and leaves it at the dock for all the chavs to come and nick parts of your car. "Container" means they lock your car in a shipping container.

Brilliant! pmsl.:rotfl:

agrinnall

If it's a pre-1973 you should be exempt from road tax too as it's a 'historic vehicle' http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/TaxationClasses/DG_4022042