Importing cars to the UK

Importing cars to the UK

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Discussion

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

122 months

Saturday 27th December 2014
quotequote all
I'm wondering how easy it would be to import muscle cars to the UK. I'm an expat living in the states and have family in the Uk, so it shouldn't be that difficult. What exactly is required to make US vehicles road legal.

croyde

23,946 posts

237 months

Saturday 27th December 2014
quotequote all
No expert but I did look into this myself. The rule of thumb is that the cost is in pounds what you paid in dollars.

Car to be transported to docks.

Shipping.

Collected from UK Dock and taken by transporter to someone that can prep it for the IVA test. Mainly lights and electrics. Around a grand.

The test itself.

Registration and road tax.

10% Import Duty then 20% VAT on the total.

Done the maths a few times on different cars and the $ to £ is about right.


5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

122 months

Monday 29th December 2014
quotequote all
Does this apply to any kind of import, even from Europe. I was wondering if I drove my mustang from Germany to the UK to sell. Vehicle would be a shipped pov via military.

willisit

2,146 posts

238 months

Monday 29th December 2014
quotequote all
All of that is correct. Shipping + insurance should be added there too.

IVA for a recent car - easily failed too.

Go old, and it's much easier. My DeLorean is 33 so I paid only 5% on her value (total) and needs only an MOT to register it.

I'll be looking at Camaros come the summer so hoping to learn a bit more in the meantime.

Roo

11,503 posts

214 months

Monday 29th December 2014
quotequote all
5ohmustang said:
Does this apply to any kind of import, even from Europe. I was wondering if I drove my mustang from Germany to the UK to sell. Vehicle would be a shipped pov via military.
You'll be liable for duty and VAT in either EU country.

I won't buy a car from service personnel unless they've got clearance from their base commander.

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

122 months

Monday 29th December 2014
quotequote all
Good luck with getting a base commander to sign off on that.

NNH

1,543 posts

139 months

Monday 29th December 2014
quotequote all
Not incredibly hard, but lots of little things to organise. I imported my Cayman from the US when I came home to the UK, and I got American Car Centre to help me with the conversions and paperwork. Because I was importing the car for personal use, and had owned it for more then 6 months in the US, I didn't have to pay any duty which made the whole thing a lot cheaper.

The main legal requirements were making the lights compliant. The Porsche has European orange indicators so that didn't need fixing, so it was just making the foglights symmetrical and making sure the headlights wouldn't blind anyone by pointing the wrong way.

Good luck with the process.

Saleen836

11,455 posts

216 months

Tuesday 30th December 2014
quotequote all
NNH said:
Not incredibly hard, but lots of little things to organise. I imported my Cayman from the US when I came home to the UK, and I got American Car Centre to help me with the conversions and paperwork. Because I was importing the car for personal use, and had owned it for more then 6 months in the US, I didn't have to pay any duty which made the whole thing a lot cheaper.

The main legal requirements were making the lights compliant. The Porsche has European orange indicators so that didn't need fixing, so it was just making the foglights symmetrical and making sure the headlights wouldn't blind anyone by pointing the wrong way.

Good luck with the process.
Don't forget any duty/tax becomes liable if sold within 12 months.

NNH

1,543 posts

139 months

Tuesday 30th December 2014
quotequote all
Saleen836 said:
NNH said:
Not incredibly hard, but lots of little things to organise. I imported my Cayman from the US when I came home to the UK, and I got American Car Centre to help me with the conversions and paperwork. Because I was importing the car for personal use, and had owned it for more then 6 months in the US, I didn't have to pay any duty which made the whole thing a lot cheaper.

The main legal requirements were making the lights compliant. The Porsche has European orange indicators so that didn't need fixing, so it was just making the foglights symmetrical and making sure the headlights wouldn't blind anyone by pointing the wrong way.

Good luck with the process.
Don't forget any duty/tax becomes liable if sold within 12 months.
Good point, and it's even printed on the V5.

bernhund

3,777 posts

200 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
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How would the figures work out on a 55 Thunderbird from The States for about £20k? By the time it's in the UK & street legal, would we be looking at £30k?