If anyone has any experience with this, I was wondering how much it costs to import a late bay from the US, South Africa, and Australia. And are the customs fees the same as the 20% VAT rate? Thanks for any insight. alex
You'll be looking at £1500-£2500 for shipping and taxes. I believe. There is a site out there that'll work out the costings for you. I'm sure someone will advise better tomorrow.
google kingstown shipping if doing u.s. vat is only 5% on a classic vehicle. i paid £1395 to ship with all fees from los angeles to felixstowe.
You have to justify the 5% lower VAT rate by historical significance. I got it, not sure that everyone does. My van cost USD 5,000 and by the time I'd paid shipping to the docks, shipping to UK, customs costs, VAT and shipping to my door it came out at £5,600. That was over a year ago, not sure on freight rates now but ask Kingstown and don't forget the extras (getting it to the docks in the US and from the docks here).
yep true owen, i paid an extra $400 to get it to the port in the u.s. and £200 for the trip home from the u.k. port, i also put a case for historic to get the 5% and was told on vw's they couldn't remember the last time the 20% was applied. as said before i paid $7500 plus $400 plus £1395 plus £200 total was £7900gbp on my drive
Great information, thanks very much. One more question... How do I justify the 5% lower VAT rate by historical significance? Is it something I would fill in with the importers? Or the government? What kind of proofs would I need? Thanks again. alex
the shippers will send/e-mail a form to fill in, it's all on there, trust me, it's easy and no daft questions to answer about the lower vat, it's usually just given on an old vw - i actually got my customs form - think it was called c&e 386? back before i'd actually filled the application in! therefore i didn't even have to apply cos they had given it as a matter if course! shame really as i'd printed a load of info off about how rare the champagne is!
the value of the purchase price at 5% or 20% if you're unlucky. of course, if you can get a reciept from the seller for a lower price...........
Good to hear that it's easy getting the lower VAT. ^-^ Another thing has popped into my head in regard to importing. Do things like the headlights and taillights (and other things) need to be brought up to UK spec? Cheers, alex
headlights need to be changed to point the other way, you can use beam deflectors or buy new lights cheap, you need to wire front side lights (white) as the u.s late bay have amber ones in the indicators (you can leave the amber as well if you like) rear lights on a late are ok for u.k spec' if you have an early that has red rear lights incorperating the indicator you can buy a split red/amber light (looks gash) or do what the early guys do and fit the indicator to the reverse light
yep that's it you don't need a rear foglight as they were built before the law required one in the u.k, other than the light modification i mention above it's just standard mot stuff.
