DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Hi there people.. A liitle advice is needed once again..

Due to the lack of early 911's for sale in england and such high costs for sometimes ruff abused cars i have obviously looked at importing!! I have been unable to find much info about importing/shipping and costs when bringing a vehicle from overseas...

Has any one imported a vehicle recently?
Is it cost effective?
I have seen many cars on pelican parts web site and U.S ebay where many cars seem very resonably priced and in excellent rust free condition..

please could any of you shed some light on importing vehicles and recommend any web sites to visit for more info and obviously highlight potential hazards of importing 911's..

thanks people

I'm not into importing/exporting...so I have no clue about what Brit customs would charge you over and above the shipping costs themselves. All that said, the word is out over here, in rebellion against the Crown country, that "urpeens" seem to snapping up our nice collectable cars because of recent decline in the value of the greenback dollar.

PM 912UK on here, he has just imported a car

I understand that the best cars are actually from italy
rather than the US.

my 2.4S is an Italian car :D

There is a leaflet from the DVLA or something like... and I believe the principal is dead easy for classic cars. I believe there is no import duty for car over a certain age. My car was imported from Italy a year ago (not by me) and I have spoken to a guy who imports maserati Biturbo's. Looking at the paperwork, I think it is just a case of presenting the DVLA with the documents from the cars origin and getting an MOT. You may have to have the car inspected by a DVLA person. in fact my old MOT had the original Italian reg no on it, which caused a problem when I came to re-tax the car !!
Dig around the DVLA website and see what you can find.

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/exptimp ... %20VEHICLE

try this

I understand that the best cars are actually from italy
rather than the US.

Mine's italian too!

There appear to be plenty of nice cars ripe for the picking in the states, just make sure you have someone look it over before you buy, as what a seller might call "rust free" a buyer may call "rust box"

I was stung, myself. The importer turned out to be a bit of a crook and I ended up paying an extra 27.5% on the original cost - 17.5% vat & 10% import duty - that I am convinced that the importer pocketed himself. He went "out of business" a year later, never to be seen again. However I was one of the lucky ones - I have my car, whereas some others ended up losing all their money and no car. So, be warned.

On the other hand despite being a bit of a crook he was quite genuine about the condition of the car and it really was superb. However I am going to have to put it up for sale shortly, so if you don't want the hassle of going through an import....she's a 2.4E in white, non-sunroof coupe. As far as I can tell (never done a numbers check) totally original.

Duty should never be paid on a car from a European maker. All you need is a letter from porsche to say that the car is made from duty paid parts and shipped to xxxxxx.

You have a claim for your 10% still now. Contact customs and excise they will have your paper work on file. It's worth a chase for a few letters. As they C&E can claim from you up to I think 6 years later.

As for shipping back very easy use a good shipper and send the money to them. not the seller. Cost of a container does vary but over haul about $400-500 ish. Takes about 3 weeks to turn up. The killer is the costs here and the paper work .you got to remember that the country of origin don't care weather the car is 100%legit they just ship it. It's once it's here it gets interesting. De vanning as they call it (unloading) £250-300 insurance even thought that's rubbish if you try to claim £30 then other costs to the customs £100 max

then to get it road legal you got to get it insured but alot of companies hate no reg number ,but you need an MOT to get a number plate. Once you have it insured and an MOT you still need a date letter then you need to get all your forms to the DVLA (Dept of Very Lazy A******s) who endever to really try your pataints and tell you all sorts of C**p

You will as ALL vehicals will need to be checked by the DVLA in person.

You must not drive the car other than to the MOT pre Booked or to the DLVA centre for inspection

You must have MOT insurance and date letter and drivers liecence and ID and a utillity bill for address.

The rules have been very much tightened. Now for what reason OK to check that the car is not stolen in the place of origin but why check what the MOT man has just done the Chassis number ( so are they calling all licenced MOT men / ladies lie'rs????) And do you think the crim is going to do any of what your supossed to do ,no!!!.

I have been dealing with getting my car sorted now or 3 weeks I still have no number plates on the car cos the very nice people at the DVLA will not press a button on their silly computer to say that they have issued a plate for me. So I go to get a plate made up they are linked to the DVLA and they still say they have not issued my plate D?heads. So I got some illigal plates for less money.

So if you want to go though all that Sh*t for a car I am happy to show you what you all need to do.

Sorry for the spelling I just only good at fixing things not spelling

I'm kind of reluctant to raise the subject...I just don't know what monies were paid by this company or not. I think I'll just let sleeping dogs lie.

Chicken, eh?

I have imported 2 cars from the US.

I paid no VAT, but I did pay a reduced rate of Duty (5% after filling in a BTI - Binding Tariff Information). As Mark pointed out, there are other costs such as shipping, de-vanning, registration etc.

Mark - How did you get away with paying no Duty at all? What form did you supply to C&E so that you paid no Duty? I'm keen to reclaim my 2x5% back!

Steve - you have to pay VAT ! The Binding Tarif (BTI) gets you the reduced rate of VAT at 5% as a historical vehicle. It's the import duty that you should not pay as the car is of European origin.

Previously posted this reply on the other (identical) thread before I saw this one so have copied it here:

The actual importation process is pretty easy once you get a reliable shipping agent (there are plenty around).

What can be the difficult part is finding an honestly-described, relatively rust-free (they're all described as 'rust free' & more often than not aren't!) car without being able to inspect it personally.

I don't know how much you know about Porsches & 911's in particular, but you need to get any potential purchase thoroughly checked out by an expert on 911's. There are plenty out there who will check out a car for you but it makes sense to do your homework & ask lots of questions first so that you are fairly sure that a particular car you have in mind is worth paying to be inspected.

Thanks Andy

I was sure there was some sort of tax to pay. 5% was the lowest I could get after researching.

Still, some of these importing costs pale into insignificance when you take into account the potential costs of restoration. I agree - Beware of rust!