A year in San Francisco

A year in San Francisco

Author
Discussion

alan09

Original Poster:

10 posts

214 months

Tuesday 23rd January 2007
quotequote all
Hi,

I have a 2006 Elise Sports Racer and will be coming to work in San Francisco for the next twelve months or so... Can anyone give me advise on importing my Lotus to the USA?

Thanks

kf1

85 posts

211 months

Monday 11th June 2007
quotequote all
did you get anywhere with this? i am also looking to move to the bay area and have a lotus 190 motorsport which i dont want to leave behind!!!

PiB

1,199 posts

277 months

Tuesday 5th February 2008
quotequote all
HS-7 form if it hasn't changed recently. Be sure to have all your paper work carefully done ahead of time and planned out. You need to be a resident of another country and can import it for 12 months at a time I think.

There may be some info at this site http://tvrfreak.com/ and you may want to contact the owner for more specific help. He's imported Cereberas and Lotuses temporarily in the past.

dbroughton

304 posts

221 months

Thursday 3rd April 2008
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There is even a deal in San Francisco to service it!

bigfatnick

1,012 posts

209 months

Friday 3rd July 2009
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http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

this might help also. finding insurance for 12 months may be a tricky bit!

Also, you might have to do your us licence if your gonna be driving there more than 3 months, i know you have to do in canada!

Ive

211 posts

176 months

Sunday 28th March 2010
quotequote all
I suggest the following:

Go to the US (I have lived and worked for 3 years in Santa Barbara) and buy a US spec Elise or Exige. They are pretty cheap as used cars.
After owning it for min. of 6 Months you're eligible to move it back to Europe and register it as a moving good without paying import duties or VAT. Then sell the LHD car on the continent for top money.
As moving good, there are all kinfs of excempts to get a US spec car registered. Some folks managed in Germany even without being a moving good. You may request upfront, if Lotus is willing to give you a COC for Europe or reflash the ECU to European emmisions specs.

This way, you have less issues with insurance etc.. Get a broker to do the dealing with the insurances. Try to get as much liability coverage as possible. They like to sell foreigners the minimum cover of $25000!! :-O
There are plenty of $10000+ cars on the road in california.
Marko