captainbligh

Hi,

I'm leaving the UK in about 3 weeks and would like to export my vehicle. Have any of you done this before? Ideally the shipping harbor would be the closest one to San Franciso, California.

Please share your experiences or advice.

tom169

It's possible, but there may be a lot of adjustments that need to be made. For example, in the US it's common to have a brake light as a indicator light. That doesn't fly in the UK.

Also, the size difference.

captainbligh

I've been given this quote, about £3100 in total, including full modifications, MOT, 12 months tax, etc, does it sound reasonable?:

Insured Delivery to US Port (on open transporter) (Oakland)£245.00
US Customs and Loading Fees£165.00
Port-to-Port Shipping (consolidated container)£895.00
Fully Comprehensive Marine Insurance£96.38
Total Shipping Costs£1401.38
Destination Charges
Unloading Fees at UK Port and UK Customs Clearance£175.00
UK Transport to our workshop from port£245.00
Full Modifications for UK Homologation£745.00
MOT Test Fee£54.85
12 Months Road Tax£245.00
DVLA Registration Fee£55.00
ShipMyCar Administration Fee£195.00
Offer - FREE Amazon Fire Tablet Computer£0.00
Total Destination Costs£1714.85

This is through www.shipmycar.co.uk

I have other quotes for shipping only, from Oakland, CA to Southampton, UK. For about $1800. Wondering if I'm better of just paying for shipping only and dealing with all the paperwork and MOT/Modifications privately or just use the all in one service?

TheKingOfHearts

It's possible and not all that complex. However expect 2 things straight off the bat.

1) TAX! Unless you've owned the vehicle more than 6 months, and you commit to owning it a minimum of 1 year after import (and they do link HMRC and DVLA systems for this) then expect to pay 30% tax. I also forgot to mention, tax is also on the value of the vehicle AND shipping combined.

2) Unless it's a UK spec vehicle, it'll need an IVA. This can be a fairly costly process, so I'd budget around $1200-1500 for this conversion and certification. See https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-approval/...hicle-approval

May I ask the vehicle model? I own a vehicle remarketing business in the UK that I (obviously) don't interact with whilst over here (for obvious legal reasons) but I'm very familiar with both US imports and UK exports. Put simply unless it's a select set of vehicles, it's not worth it financially. That being said if it has some level of emotional value, then fair enough.

TheKingOfHearts

This seems high to me and is of course exclusive of the tax I mentioned above. This should be do-able for ~$3k excluding tax. So I wouldn't want to be paying the same in £ for the privilege of someone else organising a few things.

md95065

From your previous post, it does seem that you are probably in an extremely good position to know exactly what those "few things" are and precisely how to organize them which suggests that, for you, the risk and potential hassle associated with the DIY approach would be minimal - the same might not be true for the OP.

uk_grenada

Also, as a non standard lhd model, it will cost more to insure, and will potentially depreciate like a stone.

Tax and duty is on the value plus shipping plus marine insurance, plus i think theres an hmrc fee too.

Surprised they let you off the duty just cause you keep the car, but ok, is vat on value payable too? [NB they calculate value, your valuation or receipts Are not just accepted, its what they think its worth in the uk in theory, as you might imagine, dodgy valuations from abroad are not unheard of.]

uk_grenada

Apparently youmight escape vat and duty - start here https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-the-uk-on-tor

uk_grenada

However i think you have to read several docs, that page says you can bring in personal vehicles then later says vehicles are excluded from parts of the scheme but other sections may apply [how like hmrc...]

uk_grenada

As a previous poster has said - do make sure its a workable option - that someone can service it, that it isnt available cheaper already in the eu, and that its a good long term option, as you cant sell it shortly after arrival.

I did it the other way, nice to buy a japanese car at lots less than available locally, straight into bonded storage, cheap shipping and low duty elsewhere due too their returning scheme.

TheKingOfHearts

Honestly it's really not all that complex. The OP already has a shipment quote, that's half the hassle right there. The only other thing you need to do is find a specialist garage that does US conversions and takes the vehicle for it's IVA. I'd argue arranging both of those things separately you'll save about a grand.

TheKingOfHearts

From experience, you absolutely can - so long as you can demonstrate you've owned it more than 6 months and commit to the minimum of 1 year ownership following import. It's actually an excellent scheme.

Nutek

Both of my Oldsmobiles had red rear light/brake/turn lights. Never came up as a problem.

(Regs may have changed, ymmv, etc).

captainbligh

I've owned the vehicle for 1 year now and I'm a returning resident so should be exempt from the taxes and any duty I think.

captainbligh

The cheapest "shipping only" quote I received is $1800, so if it costs another $2000 to do the IVA, DLVLA reg, tax reg, etc etc then surely the quote I received of about £3100 is cheaper than shipping for only $1800 and then spending another $2000 registering, tax disc, IVA, homologation, MOT etc because £3100 GBP to USD = $4072.

So the quote I received is actually a bargain of bargains considering the time I'll save myself from searching for a mechanic, dealing with HMRC/DVLA/MOT test center, etc. The stress and time alone of searching for and arranging all these things would be worth a grand.

The quote I was given of £3100 allows me to just insure the car as soon as they register it, and then pick it up and drive it to my house. Do you know how much it costs to tow a car? A LOT, if I get the car towed from the port of entry to a specialist that alone could run in the hundreds of dollars, I had a car towed from Ely to Cambridge back in 2014 and it cost £200 so by having the shipment company handle all these things themselves I'll save about a grand after everything in time, effort, stress, extra transportation costs etc.

The vehicle is a 1989 C4 Corvette. 6 Speed manual transmission, the reasons I'm considering shipping it are:
1) Sentimental value
2) I'm a petrol head and finding a 5.7litre V8 naturally aspirated car in the UK is still very hard, I also like American muscle.
3) I spent nearly $7k buying the car and $2.5k tuning, fixing and maintaining the car to make it into a super reliable daily driver, it has 130k on the odometer but I have done the major investment and expect to get another 100k out of it during my lifetime.
4) It's a car that I can learn to modify cars on and it is easy to boost the power, it is rust free as a California car with a fully fiber glass body.
5) As I said in point 1, I've spent nearly 10k on it so selling it on for $3k here would be a loss in some ways, I think I'm better off spending another £4k on it by exporting it to the UK and holding on to it because I can enjoy the car and even sell it off for around £8k after a year or two, I know there is a market because I speak to other enthusiasts of this type of vehicle who are middle aged men with some income and would be ready to buy. I also keep a eye on autotrader.co.uk for prices and am pretty certain that when I'd like to sell the car I'd be able to get a good price even though this kind of car can take a few months to sell.

Cars are my hobby that keeps me sane lol and just being able to do a sunday morning drive on an A road for about an hour gives me a lot of joy.

Off course I have thought about whether my spending that £3100 would be a wise choice or not because it obviously eats into the savings I accumulated while in the states so even if I sold my car here for say $2000 I could use that as deposit for a second hand Jaguar XKR or something like that in the UK when I return which would a be a newer car with it's own thrills and a few advantages like an air-bag