Car Export AD to UK

Author
Discussion

jezzaaa

Original Poster:

1,890 posts

266 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
Hi guys,

I know this has probably been covered to death before, but processes and requirements tend to change frequently!

I'm thinking of buying a classic car over here...and then shipping it home. I don't want to drive it over here....it doesn't need to get registered except enough to prove ownership and allow me to ship it home.

Has anyone done this recently? Do you need to get the full gold reg card? Or can it be done just with the documents you get for a transfer of ownership? I'm an Abu Dhabi resident and I think someone told me before (possibly on here) that Abu Dhabi only let classic cars get registered by locals!

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Ta,
J.

K50 DEL

9,352 posts

235 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
There may be a slight difference as you are AUH and I did it from DXB but no, you don't need the gold registration card.
All you need is the export certificate.

To obtain one just go to RTA and tell them that you are buying the car to export, they will issue an export certificate in your name, take the original owner's gold card away and that's that.

One piece of advice that I cannot state strongly enough....

Make CERTAIN that your export certificate shows the exact first date of registration of the car, by default RTA will often just put the year... if they do that, then DVLA will use 01 Jan as the registration date.
In my case, that meant my car which was first registered on 31-10-01 became an X plate as the export cert only showed 2001.... a situation that has taken me 5 months and intervention on my behalf by Ferrari to sort out.

jezzaaa

Original Poster:

1,890 posts

266 months

Wednesday 25th November 2015
quotequote all
K50 DEL said:
There may be a slight difference as you are AUH and I did it from DXB but no, you don't need the gold registration card.
All you need is the export certificate.

To obtain one just go to RTA and tell them that you are buying the car to export, they will issue an export certificate in your name, take the original owner's gold card away and that's that.

One piece of advice that I cannot state strongly enough....

Make CERTAIN that your export certificate shows the exact first date of registration of the car, by default RTA will often just put the year... if they do that, then DVLA will use 01 Jan as the registration date.
In my case, that meant my car which was first registered on 31-10-01 became an X plate as the export cert only showed 2001.... a situation that has taken me 5 months and intervention on my behalf by Ferrari to sort out.
Many thanks dude...I will bear that in mind smile

dictys

914 posts

265 months

Thursday 26th November 2015
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Another point is to get a letter from the manufacturer saying the first registration date.

When I brought my car back the DVLA registered and MOT it for a 2004 car (the year it was imported into Dubai) rather than a 1990 car.

The issue was then it had to fit into 2004 emissions etc. A letter from the manufacture saying where and when it was first registered, had the DVLA retesting and registering the car for the correct year.

85Carrera

3,503 posts

244 months

Monday 30th November 2015
quotequote all
Bear in mind that there is a minimum period of ownership to avoid duty in the UK, so you may want to register and use it in Abu Dhabi before shipping it home

I've recently shopped home a classic owned d since 07 so pm me if you need any tips (including a recommendation as to who NOT to use to ship it home)

K50 DEL

9,352 posts

235 months

Tuesday 8th December 2015
quotequote all
dictys said:
Another point is to get a letter from the manufacturer saying the first registration date.

When I brought my car back the DVLA registered and MOT it for a 2004 car (the year it was imported into Dubai) rather than a 1990 car.

The issue was then it had to fit into 2004 emissions etc. A letter from the manufacture saying where and when it was first registered, had the DVLA retesting and registering the car for the correct year.
Yep... this is actually the same point as I made above, the DVLA will only accept 2 proofs of age when it comes to assigning an import its registration plate... the first is the export certificate from the country it was in immediately prior to being shipped to the UK, the second is a document from the manufacturer confirming date of first registration.

The latter can be awkward to obtain as many manufacturers don't actually keep records of registration date and a letter from a dealer is not enough for the DVLA... this was another issue I faced!

steano

70 posts

198 months

Wednesday 9th December 2015
quotequote all
Whats this about 'owning it for a certain period of time to avoid duty'

And how does that work in UK / Europe ?

I thought the cars were just subject to port fees and VAT ?

K50 DEL

9,352 posts

235 months

Thursday 10th December 2015
quotequote all
steano said:
Whats this about 'owning it for a certain period of time to avoid duty'

And how does that work in UK / Europe ?

I thought the cars were just subject to port fees and VAT ?
If you've not owned the car (outside of the UK) for a period of at least 6 months prior to import then you'll be charged VAT on the value of the car plus a 5% import duty.

It's also supposed to have been your car in your country of residence so you (theoretically) can't buy it, leave it abroad whilst you live in the UK then bring it back after 6 months... not sure how much they check but I did have to provide a couple of proofs of address and finances from the UAE when importing mine.

michael-bq068

1 posts

101 months

Wednesday 15th June 2016
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Interesting thread guys, I'm planning on shipping my Ferrari back home now that I'm moving back, can anyone recommend any shipping agents that they used ?

Cheers Mike.

samnorthy

288 posts

214 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
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How does this work if you want to ship a car back to the UK that has been owned here in the UAE for over 6 months, but you are not repatriating back to the UK i.e the car is going home but you are staying in the UAE?

dxbtiger

4,440 posts

180 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
quotequote all
michael-bq068 said:
Interesting thread guys, I'm planning on shipping my Ferrari back home now that I'm moving back, can anyone recommend any shipping agents that they used ?

Cheers Mike.
Calling Derek!

K50 DEL

9,352 posts

235 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
quotequote all
dxbtiger said:
michael-bq068 said:
Interesting thread guys, I'm planning on shipping my Ferrari back home now that I'm moving back, can anyone recommend any shipping agents that they used ?

Cheers Mike.
Calling Derek!
I'm subscribing to the theory of "if you can't say anything good then don't say anything at all!!"


K50 DEL

9,352 posts

235 months

Thursday 16th June 2016
quotequote all
samnorthy said:
How does this work if you want to ship a car back to the UK that has been owned here in the UAE for over 6 months, but you are not repatriating back to the UK i.e the car is going home but you are staying in the UAE?
I seem to remember that part of the import declaration that you sign for HMRC is that "the car has been owned by me for more than 6 months whilst living abroad and I am now repatriating to the UK and bringing it with me"

Let me check my paperwork at home tonight and I'll post back.

K50 DEL

9,352 posts

235 months

Wednesday 22nd June 2016
quotequote all
So I've gone back through my mails to find out exactly what I needed documentation wise:

For the shipper in Dubai:

RTA Export certificate (as previously noted, no tasjeel required, you simply tell the RTA that you're exporting the vehicle, they give you a cert and take the old owner's gold card.
Invoice showing the value of the vehicle - I have a very formal looking invoice template that you are welcome to use if it's a private purchase or you need to "create" one for a car you already own
Passport copy with valid visa page

For the UK registration:

Completed C104A document (downloadable from here: http://tinyurl.com/zjkapy6 )
2 proof of residency documents dated 12 months at least apart
copy of the export cert mentioned above (the wording states "vehicle registration document" but RTA take this so as I already owned the car, I sent a scanned copy of my existing gold card before RTA took it from me, I was told that the export cert is enough)