Importing from Germany - a blog!
Discussion
Figured following the excitement I’ve experienced today in respect of English bureaucracy (and I thought Germany was bad) that it’d be remiss of me not to share the excitement (read: frustration) of importing a German-built, French converted, German registered campervan to the UK! 
Many of you might remember that my girlfriend bought a brand new Westfalia KeplerOne campervan in February last year.
Although it’s not had the use we thought it would, we love it still and although we also have my Concorde Charisma, we decided that upon her getting a job in the UK, we would import the vehicle as we come over. How hard can it be, we thought......naively as it turns out!
The vehicle was bought new and registered at my partners’ home address in Frankfurt for the last 16months. Earlier this week it was de-registered and put on export plates and the requisite “gelbe Karte” insurance was purchased to cover the export.
Today I rang around to organise insurance in the UK which is to become active upon arrival at Dover next Wednesday. Easy enough you’d think, but with a vehicle needing to be insured on its VIN due to not being registered in the U.K. and a partner who has only resided officially in the UK for just one month, meant that either no one wanted to insure it/her or the quotes were >£2k.
Plan B - the vehicle is transferred into my ownership (I have no intention in leaving her! And she knows this!!) and I become the registered keeper and Policyholder.
Success - insurance procured for “just” £550 (thank you Adrian Flux) but only on the basis it has a Tracker fitted. That means a booking with Gary Hallwood at AudioFile (he’s done some audio work for me and trust him implicitly). But another £579 on top of the insurance.
Next job as of its arrival in the UK is to declare tax paid in Germany with HMRC via Novo online form (can only do it upon arrival in the country and not before). Once HMRC declare it free of duty, then the real fun begins......
Because it’s a LHD made for the EU market, the Certificate of Conformity is valid for EU and LHD markets, but not in the U.K. For us, the DVLA requires a certificate of Mutual Recognition which is only available after paying £100, replacing the LHD headlights with RHD ones, requiring the rear fog light and changing speedo to MPH (hoping that VW can reprogrammed the digital speedo to MPH).
So watch this space. I reckon it’s going to cost c £1k to get it UK ready and huge amounts of manhours and form filling.
I’ll blog it all here if anyone is interested or needs to do the same.
At this moment in time, I’d advise against it! :lol:
Many of you might remember that my girlfriend bought a brand new Westfalia KeplerOne campervan in February last year.
Although it’s not had the use we thought it would, we love it still and although we also have my Concorde Charisma, we decided that upon her getting a job in the UK, we would import the vehicle as we come over. How hard can it be, we thought......naively as it turns out!
The vehicle was bought new and registered at my partners’ home address in Frankfurt for the last 16months. Earlier this week it was de-registered and put on export plates and the requisite “gelbe Karte” insurance was purchased to cover the export.
Today I rang around to organise insurance in the UK which is to become active upon arrival at Dover next Wednesday. Easy enough you’d think, but with a vehicle needing to be insured on its VIN due to not being registered in the U.K. and a partner who has only resided officially in the UK for just one month, meant that either no one wanted to insure it/her or the quotes were >£2k.
Plan B - the vehicle is transferred into my ownership (I have no intention in leaving her! And she knows this!!) and I become the registered keeper and Policyholder.
Success - insurance procured for “just” £550 (thank you Adrian Flux) but only on the basis it has a Tracker fitted. That means a booking with Gary Hallwood at AudioFile (he’s done some audio work for me and trust him implicitly). But another £579 on top of the insurance.
Next job as of its arrival in the UK is to declare tax paid in Germany with HMRC via Novo online form (can only do it upon arrival in the country and not before). Once HMRC declare it free of duty, then the real fun begins......
Because it’s a LHD made for the EU market, the Certificate of Conformity is valid for EU and LHD markets, but not in the U.K. For us, the DVLA requires a certificate of Mutual Recognition which is only available after paying £100, replacing the LHD headlights with RHD ones, requiring the rear fog light and changing speedo to MPH (hoping that VW can reprogrammed the digital speedo to MPH).
So watch this space. I reckon it’s going to cost c £1k to get it UK ready and huge amounts of manhours and form filling.
I’ll blog it all here if anyone is interested or needs to do the same.
At this moment in time, I’d advise against it! :lol:
No, unfortunately not. You can drive it for six months on UK roads without re registering it but without an official residence in Germany, we can’t keep it on German plates either.
It’s on export plates now which are only valid as long as export insurance is valid (in our case 30days).
It’s on export plates now which are only valid as long as export insurance is valid (in our case 30days).
chasingracecars said:
cb31 said:
Can't you just leave it on German plates?
Very illegal!If you get pulled over in the uk and are found to be living in the uk and the car is on overseas plates and insurance they usually sieze the car. IFIRC you have six months max.
Edit..
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.driving.co.uk/n...
Edit..
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.driving.co.uk/n...
Edited by chasingracecars on Thursday 30th May 21:58
Sorry for the radio silence guys. Moving country has proved to be just as hectic as it sounds. Finally feeling like we have some normality remaining so able to put metaphorical pen to paper.....
SallyB is now indeed back in the UK. Journey back from Frankfurt via Le Touquet went without hitch. She covered the German stretch at 180kmh for large portions before settling into a 130kmh cruise for the remainder through Belgium and France and 70mph after getting off the ferry in Dover. Overall mpg - 37.8!
Once back home we had a nail biting week where she was technically uninsured for theft. Insurance was in place with AdrianFlux and the yellow card from Germany for third party only until the Tracker was fitted by AudioFile last week. A sigh of relief was given once that happened and now focus continues on doing the necessary to get her Certificate of Mutual Recognition to start the registration process.
After returning home I also typed all the necessary into the HMRC Nova (Notification of Vehicle Arrival) database to announce its arrival and within an hour had confirmation that no VAT is payable and the VIN has been cleared with the DVLA for registration.
In the meantime I ordered new RHD LED & project lense headlights. I had wanted to upgrade the woeful halogens previously anyway but struggled to justify the £500 outlay. But given RHD headlights are mandatory to get the Certificate of Mutual Recognition, they’re going in.
On top of my local garage fitting them tomorrow, they need to rewrite the rear fog light for the U.K. offside and confirm by way of letter & signing a form that the vehicle now satisfies requirements for U.K. road use (headlights, speedo and fog light).
I then send that form off together with £100 and the original Certificate of Conformity from Westfalia to get the Certificate of Mutual Recognition (takes 10days).
Once those bits are back then I complete an application form for a new V5c which involves transposing all the info from the current Fahrzeugbrief to the form, together with paying £50 registration fee and whatever VED is due for the year.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
I’m imagining we’ll also have chucked £1.5-2k out of the door by the time we are finished.
All of this meant that we were both lacking love for Sally over the last few weeks. And we had considered driving her back to Germany to trade her in. Thankfully yesterday, for Fathers Day, I wanted to do a picnic. It poured with rain so I suggested taking SallyB to a local fishing lake and using her as our undercover picnic shelter. We ran the gauntlet again with 3rd party cover only under the yellow card insurance, but with myself, girlfriend and daughter huddled together and enjoying the van, my girlfriend was in her element and thoughts of a wonderful summer of camping ahead spread across her face.
I can’t wait to get SallyB on her new U.K. plates and start enjoying her.
Will update again soon and hopefully get some pics up too.
SallyB is now indeed back in the UK. Journey back from Frankfurt via Le Touquet went without hitch. She covered the German stretch at 180kmh for large portions before settling into a 130kmh cruise for the remainder through Belgium and France and 70mph after getting off the ferry in Dover. Overall mpg - 37.8!
Once back home we had a nail biting week where she was technically uninsured for theft. Insurance was in place with AdrianFlux and the yellow card from Germany for third party only until the Tracker was fitted by AudioFile last week. A sigh of relief was given once that happened and now focus continues on doing the necessary to get her Certificate of Mutual Recognition to start the registration process.
After returning home I also typed all the necessary into the HMRC Nova (Notification of Vehicle Arrival) database to announce its arrival and within an hour had confirmation that no VAT is payable and the VIN has been cleared with the DVLA for registration.
In the meantime I ordered new RHD LED & project lense headlights. I had wanted to upgrade the woeful halogens previously anyway but struggled to justify the £500 outlay. But given RHD headlights are mandatory to get the Certificate of Mutual Recognition, they’re going in.
On top of my local garage fitting them tomorrow, they need to rewrite the rear fog light for the U.K. offside and confirm by way of letter & signing a form that the vehicle now satisfies requirements for U.K. road use (headlights, speedo and fog light).
I then send that form off together with £100 and the original Certificate of Conformity from Westfalia to get the Certificate of Mutual Recognition (takes 10days).
Once those bits are back then I complete an application form for a new V5c which involves transposing all the info from the current Fahrzeugbrief to the form, together with paying £50 registration fee and whatever VED is due for the year.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
I’m imagining we’ll also have chucked £1.5-2k out of the door by the time we are finished.
All of this meant that we were both lacking love for Sally over the last few weeks. And we had considered driving her back to Germany to trade her in. Thankfully yesterday, for Fathers Day, I wanted to do a picnic. It poured with rain so I suggested taking SallyB to a local fishing lake and using her as our undercover picnic shelter. We ran the gauntlet again with 3rd party cover only under the yellow card insurance, but with myself, girlfriend and daughter huddled together and enjoying the van, my girlfriend was in her element and thoughts of a wonderful summer of camping ahead spread across her face.
I can’t wait to get SallyB on her new U.K. plates and start enjoying her.
Will update again soon and hopefully get some pics up too.
Getting there.....
Just picked up SallyB from our local garage, who were a pleasure to deal with.
They had to replace the rear light clusters in the end and swap some wiring around but did that, swapped out the headlights and confirmed in a letter that all was in alignment with the requirements of the Mutual Recognition Certificate, so we’re good to go for the next stage.
Just going to have my girlfriend photocopy all the docs before I send them off but on Sat I will be sending the following to the Vehicle Certification Agency:
- Application for Mutual Recognition Certificate
- Payment of £100 for said certificate
- invoice from the garage for the remedial work
- letter from the garage confirming work
- Original Certificate of Conformity from Westfalia
Hopefully within 10days I will get the certificate I need and then it’s on to the application for V5c!
Nearly £1.5k down so far....!
Just picked up SallyB from our local garage, who were a pleasure to deal with.
They had to replace the rear light clusters in the end and swap some wiring around but did that, swapped out the headlights and confirmed in a letter that all was in alignment with the requirements of the Mutual Recognition Certificate, so we’re good to go for the next stage.
Just going to have my girlfriend photocopy all the docs before I send them off but on Sat I will be sending the following to the Vehicle Certification Agency:
- Application for Mutual Recognition Certificate
- Payment of £100 for said certificate
- invoice from the garage for the remedial work
- letter from the garage confirming work
- Original Certificate of Conformity from Westfalia
Hopefully within 10days I will get the certificate I need and then it’s on to the application for V5c!
Nearly £1.5k down so far....!
Spuffington said:
Getting there.....
Just picked up SallyB from our local garage, who were a pleasure to deal with.
They had to replace the rear light clusters in the end and swap some wiring around but did that, swapped out the headlights and confirmed in a letter that all was in alignment with the requirements of the Mutual Recognition Certificate, so we’re good to go for the next stage.
Just going to have my girlfriend photocopy all the docs before I send them off but on Sat I will be sending the following to the Vehicle Certification Agency:
- Application for Mutual Recognition Certificate
- Payment of £100 for said certificate
- invoice from the garage for the remedial work
- letter from the garage confirming work
- Original Certificate of Conformity from Westfalia
Hopefully within 10days I will get the certificate I need and then it’s on to the application for V5c!
Nearly £1.5k down so far....!
Just out of interest, are you still quids in with all the extra costs compared to selling the Kepler in Germany and buying a UK one instead?Just picked up SallyB from our local garage, who were a pleasure to deal with.
They had to replace the rear light clusters in the end and swap some wiring around but did that, swapped out the headlights and confirmed in a letter that all was in alignment with the requirements of the Mutual Recognition Certificate, so we’re good to go for the next stage.
Just going to have my girlfriend photocopy all the docs before I send them off but on Sat I will be sending the following to the Vehicle Certification Agency:
- Application for Mutual Recognition Certificate
- Payment of £100 for said certificate
- invoice from the garage for the remedial work
- letter from the garage confirming work
- Original Certificate of Conformity from Westfalia
Hopefully within 10days I will get the certificate I need and then it’s on to the application for V5c!
Nearly £1.5k down so far....!
I believe so. Obviously the proof is in the pudding and we'll only fully be able to tell once we actually sell, but for the time being, with the GBP depreciating against the EUR, the differential (as an original EUR buyer) is actually minimal. I think it'll still sting if we sell in the near-term since the impressively minimal depreciation figures on these come over a 3-4yr period and selling now after just 18months will be a big-ish hit.
But in order to answer the original question - do I think we'd get less here than in Germany after costs - in short, there's very little in it.
By way of an update, I've just received notification that I missed a Special Delivery today from the Vehicle Standards Agency which I can only presume is the Mutual Recognition Certificate (fingers crossed). Once I've got that in my hand (hopefully tomorrow), then the rest of it should be relatively straightforward................which is great since I have Adrian Flux breathing down my neck for providing them a UK registration number.
In other news, we've decided to press ahead with tinting the windows and fitting a detachable towbar. In light of all the costs we'd incurred with registration, we'd initially decided to put them on hold but after chatting about it, we decided that the windows are something we'd been wanting to do since day one and the towbar will make it much more usable over the summer with mountain bikes on board etc.
Will update the thread as things happen.
But in order to answer the original question - do I think we'd get less here than in Germany after costs - in short, there's very little in it.
By way of an update, I've just received notification that I missed a Special Delivery today from the Vehicle Standards Agency which I can only presume is the Mutual Recognition Certificate (fingers crossed). Once I've got that in my hand (hopefully tomorrow), then the rest of it should be relatively straightforward................which is great since I have Adrian Flux breathing down my neck for providing them a UK registration number.
In other news, we've decided to press ahead with tinting the windows and fitting a detachable towbar. In light of all the costs we'd incurred with registration, we'd initially decided to put them on hold but after chatting about it, we decided that the windows are something we'd been wanting to do since day one and the towbar will make it much more usable over the summer with mountain bikes on board etc.
Will update the thread as things happen.
So that’s it, you may have seen a separate thread on VED which has been moved over to this forum. Ideally I wanted it elsewhere to get a bit more exposure and answers but in the end I winged it!
I got the Mutual Recognition Certificate back on Friday and spent Saturday trying to transpose the info into the V5c application form (can’t remember what the form name was!).
It’s safe to say that it has been the hardest part of the process. The Mutual Recognition Certificate was a bit of a joke - hardly any info moved over from the Certificate of Compliance so it was hard to know whether the info for the V5c was surplus to requirements or not.
I was worried if i missed anything that the application form would be sent back to me unprocessed so I ended up trying to translate both the Fahrzeugbrief and the CoC and fill in everything.
Once that was done (WLTP aside! Eek), the next battle was what to do about the tax. I ended up plumping for PLG class and sending postal orders for £265 annual VED and £55 registration fee together with Mutual Recognition Certificate, Certificate of Insurance (based on VIN), Fahrzeugbrief I & II, proof of ID and stamp addressed envelope for original docs to be returned.
So, now the real waiting game begins. We’re keen on using the van over the summer but without a V5c and number plate, she’s not going anywhere. Adrian Flux have a hard deadline of 7th Aug for an index number to be provided so time is ticking.
Fingers crossed for a quick turnaround. Watch this space.....
I got the Mutual Recognition Certificate back on Friday and spent Saturday trying to transpose the info into the V5c application form (can’t remember what the form name was!).
It’s safe to say that it has been the hardest part of the process. The Mutual Recognition Certificate was a bit of a joke - hardly any info moved over from the Certificate of Compliance so it was hard to know whether the info for the V5c was surplus to requirements or not.
I was worried if i missed anything that the application form would be sent back to me unprocessed so I ended up trying to translate both the Fahrzeugbrief and the CoC and fill in everything.
Once that was done (WLTP aside! Eek), the next battle was what to do about the tax. I ended up plumping for PLG class and sending postal orders for £265 annual VED and £55 registration fee together with Mutual Recognition Certificate, Certificate of Insurance (based on VIN), Fahrzeugbrief I & II, proof of ID and stamp addressed envelope for original docs to be returned.
So, now the real waiting game begins. We’re keen on using the van over the summer but without a V5c and number plate, she’s not going anywhere. Adrian Flux have a hard deadline of 7th Aug for an index number to be provided so time is ticking.
Fingers crossed for a quick turnaround. Watch this space.....
All bets are off for a quick return of the V5c............
I cast an eye yesterday over the scan of the docs I'd sent over for the application. And there..........glaring at me..........was my omission of the Engine Number on the front page of the application form..........!!
Worst still, I've got noone to blame but myself!
I was so keen on getting the damn form into the system, that I forgot to go out to the vehicle to get the number off the engine. I'm hoping by some miracle that the VSA somehow had it from the Certificate of Compliance or one of the other docs I sent over before and it's lurking in a central government database somewhere.
But I doubt it. So I'm steeling myself for a large envelope to be waiting for me in my postbox when I return home from this weeks Business trip. So I can get the engine number and start the whole damn process all over again!
I cast an eye yesterday over the scan of the docs I'd sent over for the application. And there..........glaring at me..........was my omission of the Engine Number on the front page of the application form..........!!
Worst still, I've got noone to blame but myself!
I was so keen on getting the damn form into the system, that I forgot to go out to the vehicle to get the number off the engine. I'm hoping by some miracle that the VSA somehow had it from the Certificate of Compliance or one of the other docs I sent over before and it's lurking in a central government database somewhere.But I doubt it. So I'm steeling myself for a large envelope to be waiting for me in my postbox when I return home from this weeks Business trip. So I can get the engine number and start the whole damn process all over again!
Well - that's it..........all over............I returned home last night to find the V5c had arrived and the vehicle is now fully registered in the UK and can be found on the DVLA database!
Amazingly, the Engine Number has been entered as "not given". Not sure whether to update the V5c with that information or just leave it.
All that remains is for me to do the cherished plate transfer tomorrow once the DVLA systems are up and running and then give Adrian Flux the details of the registration plate, then we can drive her on the UK roads again.......this time fully comp rather than the 3rd party cover we had for the first couple of weeks.
Poor thing hasn't turned a wheel in the last fortnight. I'm looking forward to getting back behind the wheel, tidying her up a bit inside, giving her a detail and replacing her leisure batteries so we can actually use her this summer!
Thanks for reading. I know it's not the most common thing anyone does, but hopefully it might be of interest to anyone having to import a vehicle at some point in the future.
Amazingly, the Engine Number has been entered as "not given". Not sure whether to update the V5c with that information or just leave it.
All that remains is for me to do the cherished plate transfer tomorrow once the DVLA systems are up and running and then give Adrian Flux the details of the registration plate, then we can drive her on the UK roads again.......this time fully comp rather than the 3rd party cover we had for the first couple of weeks.
Poor thing hasn't turned a wheel in the last fortnight. I'm looking forward to getting back behind the wheel, tidying her up a bit inside, giving her a detail and replacing her leisure batteries so we can actually use her this summer!
Thanks for reading. I know it's not the most common thing anyone does, but hopefully it might be of interest to anyone having to import a vehicle at some point in the future.
TBH we haven’t done the numbers. Partly because I think we’d be a bit frightened but also because the whole purchase was done on a bit of a whim in the first place and the whole move to the U.K. happened a lot quicker than planned. On that basis we never thought about the economics of whether bringing over here was the right thing or not, it was about the path of least resistance.
On top of all that, we’re still not sure of its longterm future, so buying one here in RHD was never really an option.
Ultimately I reckon we could sell for c £55k maybe including all the bits (awning etc). We’ll see how this season goes and how much we want to have >£50k tied up in a vehicle vs saving or paying a chunk off the mortgage in due course.
I’m just relieved that it’s road legal here now. It’s coming into its own this afternoon since OH has taken the Porsche for the day so I’ll be barrelling around in the Kepler. Looking forward to it after it being stationary for 6wks.
On top of all that, we’re still not sure of its longterm future, so buying one here in RHD was never really an option.
Ultimately I reckon we could sell for c £55k maybe including all the bits (awning etc). We’ll see how this season goes and how much we want to have >£50k tied up in a vehicle vs saving or paying a chunk off the mortgage in due course.
I’m just relieved that it’s road legal here now. It’s coming into its own this afternoon since OH has taken the Porsche for the day so I’ll be barrelling around in the Kepler. Looking forward to it after it being stationary for 6wks.
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