DDL

We're wondering if - to save having to buy a second car when we move to the US - we should ship our UK vehicle (a Rover) to the US? (We will be living in Charleston, SC which has a huge port.)

Is that allowed? What would it cost?

sibsie

You're joking aren't you!

DDL

Ah, no ... what am I missing here?

sibsie

Well cars here are so cheap compared to the UK that I'm amazed anyone would want to ship a Rover here. Is it a left or Right drive? Unless it's a real classic that's worth fortunes I can't se the point at all. It'd be expensive to re-register and get serviced and repaired.

DDL

It's a right-hand drive Rover - a small car, not the SUV.

Even if it cost $1,000 to ship it, we would still be saving at least several thousands of dollars from having to buy a second (used) car. At least we know ours is in excellent condition, etc.

I do not see that servicing it would cost any more than servicing any other foreign car (Volvo, etc.). I once owned a Volvo in the states and it cost no more to service/maintain it than the Ford that I also owned - they're all expensive to maintain, aren't they?

Duncan Roberts

Difference being is you cant buy Rovers here. I would say that if something went wrong it would be very costly to fix.

You would probably save money if you sold it and got a car here, you are starting to be able to pick up new cars for less than $8000 now.

Pulaski

Not only that, but you'd have to get your car through an inspection to prove that it meets US car safety and environmental standards - which firstly is quite expensive (about $1,000, I think), and secondly there is absolutely no guarantee that your car would pass (as Rovers are not built to meet US standards), and thirdly, if it needed modifications to meet US standards it would be very expensive (or just may be plain impossible, .... and fourthly you would never be able to sell it, unless you found a collector of unusual cars.

joto

If your car needed a repair that required new parts I think the parts would be very difficult or near impossible to come by over here. If they needed to be imported it would be expensive and take quite a while to arrive. Would the mechanic be able to deal with a British car? The reason that you were able to get the Volvo repaired is that those cars are sold over here. It would be better to sell the Rover in the UK and put that money to a car over here.

TimFountain

Whilst were at it, let's think about insurance on a car that has the steering wheel on the wrong side, does not meet US regulations and is not sold over here. I think you would be crazy to consider this, sell it in the UK and put the money into a car here.

- Tim

Manc

You'd probably have to pay import tax too.
forget it. sell the car in UK for as much as you can and buy a car once you are here.

Pulaski

No you wouldn't, you don't pay import tax on any personal chattels that you bring with you as an immigrant, so long as you have owned them for a minimum of six months.

Manc

ok didn't know

BritGuyTN

it would probably cost more in the region of $5k+ to get it inspected etc

the problem being that it is not sold in the USA at all

if you have a VW, BMW etc - you can get a letter from the manufacturer saying the model is the same as the US spec version - you will still have to pay about 4-5k but the process will be easier

if you're coming over temporarily you can have the car for 1 year without haveing to have it inspected - but at the end of the year you have to export it or destroy it

effi

We did this a few years back. We were ostensibly here on a 4 year posting with the military and we intended to take the car back to UK. We then decided to stay in the US, so used the car here. The savings on buying the car this way were big. We got a deal thru the british embassy to buy a right hand drive subaru. It did not cost any more for inspections, repairs etc than a normal US made car. There are specialist garages which deal with repairs to foreign cars should you need them if the ordinary garages here cannot do the repair required, but I think they may be a bit pricey.

The only problem we had with a right hand drive was overtaking, going thru toll booths etc. It is ok if there are 2 of you in the car, but if you are on your own then it gets a bit tricky. Our subaru was quite a novelty, we met a lot of people because of it. We eventually sold it for the book price to a guy who just wanted it for the novelty value. It had no ac cause we figured if we took it back to the UK we would not need it, but in the middle of a typical US summer it killed us.

Don't know if this will help, like someone else said, unless it is an 'antique' then I would not bother if I were you, too expensive. Use the shipping costs etc to put down on a new or used car, very cheap over here.

cathy22w

I think it would be a real hassle, start to finish.
Not to mention costly - like everyone has said, you can get brand new cars quite cheap here and pay much less on maintaining them.