Importing a classic car from Europe

[A993LAD]

I'm thinking of buying another classic car for my small collection and some of the best examples I see are in Europe.

If I buy a car over there can I just drive it straight back to the UK and bring it across the channel myself?

Also what is involved in getting it registered in the UK and do I have to pay any extra taxes etc?

[A993LAD]

Turbobanana said:

Is this actually your first line of enquiry or have you started with the obvious?

Yes it is my first line of enquiry. I guess you're asking why I don't just Google it.

But I often find there are really helpful people on PH with first hand experience they are happy to share and hot tips that I might not discover until it's too late.

[A993LAD]

Thanks, much appreciated.

I clicked the link above but it seemed lacking in detail on the hmrc tax arrangements. Is it definitely 5% and how long do you have before you need to declare/pay. The link seemed to suggest you declare on entry and they don't release the car until it's paid with no explanation of how that happens apart from " your agent can organise this".

I'd like to view a car, buy it on the day and drive it home. Then register it and pay taxes etc.

Also, how do they assess the value. The cars I'm interested in can range from £10k to £75k for a specific model depending on condition so are you taxed on the actual amount you pay? If I buy a £50k car how much tax do I pay?

[A993LAD]

butch_ said:

Wondering if you've found a car and what formalities did you go through, did you manage to drive it home yourself?

No it never happened in the end which is down to the hassle of the import difficulties.

It was a bit disappointing as I had found a Citroën SM at a dealership in Switzerland that I wanted to buy. I agreed the price with the dealer but as mentioned in the op I really wanted to fly into Geneva go to the dealers pay for the car and drive it home.

The hassle around importing it meant it really wasn't that simple. They told me that you can only drive a car on Swiss plates if you are a Swiss National so to start with I couldn't drive the car in Switzerland I had to get somebody to take it to the French border. There also seem to be a question mark around whether I could simply drive it off the Eurotunnel into the UK or whether it would be impounded at UK customs because I hadn't registered it or paid the tax.

I contacted HMRC to check on how they calculate the figure ie how do they assess the value of the car. And the guy I spoke to there wouldn't tell me what the price would be and said they don't deal with private individuals they only deal with import agents.

Obviously I could have overcome all this and dealt with it by appointing an agent and paying for the car to be delivered but I really didn't want the car so much that I could be bothered.

Edited by A993LAD on Tuesday 28th May 09:29