Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Seeing Badhuis' photo of his Stag, started me off wondering who else here has taken the plunge, and imported a car (or cars) from overseas? And if so, what was the experience like?

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[norustplease]

I imported and registered the PV444 from Sweden. It was at the time that the NOVA declaration had just been inaugurated, and that part went extremely smoothly, but trying to get an age related registration from DVLA was a nightmare. They were pedantic in the extreme and even refused to accept the declaration from Volvo's own history department (obtained by the VOC on my behalf,) at face value and made me trailer the car to a HGV inpection station some 30 miles away, just so that someone could write down the chassis number from the ID plate on the bulkhead. The DVLA default position at that time was that all classics received a Q plate, which obviously is unsatisfactory from the owners point of view and denies the car its historic status.

The Citroen Traction came from South Africa, and although the registration was undertaken by the seller of the car, I am aware that it was similarly fraught, even though the car came complete with all of its RSA registration documents.

I think that it is necessary to get a recognised club involved and simply saturate DVLA with information, history, photographs etc. to get anywhere fast, since this may well go to someone in Swansea who hasn't the foggiest idea what your car is.

I am, however, aware of a couple of people who have imported classic cars who say that the process was totally painless and received an age related registration in a couple of weeks.

At the time of my importing, there was no duty payable on older cars imported fro the EU, I think that is still the case, although cars from outside, over 30 years old, do pay VAT at 5% of the car's value, so it is necessary to obtain a valuation as well as authentication. Presumably after Brexit, that will apply to all imports.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[mikeC]

Yes, I've imported three cars over the years.

Eighteen years ago I bought this Lancia from a dealer in Italy:



Then ten years ago my Saxon from the USA:



And then six years ago another Lancia from Italy:



The first transaction was the easiest, the seller arranged transport to Felixstowe, from where I collected it. Customs clearance and DVLA registration was straightforward, and the car was very much as described.

I arranged transport for the Saxon through a UK shipping agent, and again all went smoothly although the car was not exactly as described! A 'good runner' turned out to have never turned a wheel in twenty years!

The third car was bought from a small-time dealer who delivered it to the door within the purchase price. DVLA were a real pain this time, and it took over six months of hassle to get a registration number issued even though the initial application complied with all their requirements. Again the car turned out to be not quite as described - less than 80k kms from new looks to be more likely 300 or 400k!

But on the whole I have been quite satisfied with my deals; in each case I knew I was taking a gamble, I was buying cars which were not available in the UK, and the cars were bought at prices which I considered allowed a margin for unexpected work.

Would I do it again? Probably, although the DVLA's current attitude would certainly make me think long and hard ...
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in the garage: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
Recently departed: 1953 Lancia Appia, 1931 Austin Seven, 1967 Singer Chamois, 1914 Saxon, 1930 Morris Cowley, 1936 BSA Scout, 1958 Lancia Appia coupe, 1922 Star 11.9 ... the list goes on!

[52classic]

Just one, I imported my Checker Taxi from USA. The license plate on my wall says it was 1996 but it feels like only yesterday.

Flew over to collect the car, Insured it for a fortnight and 'taxed' for the minimum period using the vendors home address.

Drove around for about a week including a visit to New York (a must, surely)
where the car was given an amazing reception because by that time there were NONE left in NY.

Then on to Baltimore for shipping. I was advised that the port would be cheaper and more informal than elsewhere. Couldn't have been easier. Paid my money at the booth, parked up in a compound where it would have to stay for 14 days (in case of any challenge to the title) They showed me a 3 part NCR (remember that stuff) set. One piece for me, one locked in the car and one on a clip board.

"They'll send you a postcard when it reaches Southampton. Go there with your piece of NCR and if it matches the one in the car you can take it away."

Who needs computers eh? In those days the rules were that If I could prove that I had driven the car in the country of origin then there was no import duty to pay but VAT was payable on the cost of shipping.

So I just drove home, and kept it on the American plates for months on end before MOTing and Taxing in the UK.

Good to hear from others how it is now. Much stricter, I'll bet.

[Rick]

The only time I did it was in 2006, for three old Bedford utes that I bought from Oz.

It started out as just one purchase, possibly fuelled by a glass of something combined with late-night perusing of overseas ebays. I spotted this Bedford PC ute at a good price, and a contact I had over there agreed to pick it up for me and deposit it at the docks in Sydney, so the deal was done and wheels set in motion.



Within a week of the auction ending, I spotted a slightly earlier, floor change, JC ute, in pieces but looking quite solid in the photos. It was cheap, so that was added to the collection.



There was a slight delay in proceedings for some reason or another. My contact emailed me to say he'd spotted a two-line ad for a Bedford ute in a local paper, did I want him to check it out? Of course. So he did. It turned out that this was the nicest of the lot, very original and solid too, so that was added to the purchase.



The shipper squeezed all three into one container, and shipped them to Chatham where a group of us went down with three trailers, and hauled them back. Had I seen the third one first, I'd have just bought that, but things are never that simple.

In the end, the plan was to keep the grey one and sell the other two. I kept the grey one for quite a while. Unfortunately while in transit, the perfect straight grille had been damaged by someone unknown. This took the wind out of my sails a bit. At the time I was fettling an A40 Pickup. A friend of mine had been after the grey one ever since he first saw pictures of it, so I sold it to him with the idea of keeping the A40 as my classic pickup runaround, given that it needed far less work. He sold on the ute not long afterwards, where it is now I'm not sure, wish I'd hung onto it now.

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[alastairq]

I repatriated my Dellow from the USA some 6 or 7 years ago now.

It was in a reasonable state, but by having Ford running gear, I wasn't too bothered about mechanical condition....everything could be obtained, or [for Dellow-specific parts] overhauled for modest sums.

Snapped it up before it was properly advertised...as getting a Dellow for a reasonable sum, in reasonable condition, was probably beyond my normal means.

Got a Kent-based shipping firm to deal with everything....door to door, including insurance, paperwork, etc..all pretty painless really...DVLA no probs, as the car still retained its UK registration [and hadn't been used on the road in the USA]...so it got 'historic' status from HMRC..with but 5% duty.
[HAs anybody bothered to read the restrictions HMRC place on ''historic '' vehicles on entering the country? I was surprised].
In fact, I got impatient to see it, so drove down to Southampton with a trailer for the unlocking-of-containers ritual. It sat there in splendid company..all sorts of exotica...yet noted by the office personnel to be the only car that day with brakes that still worked. They still managed to get it to exit the container by missing the ramps.....so it did an 18 inch drop straight down to ground[being pushed]...with no damage...only a dislodged rear spring, which popped back home nicely. They then found the outside handbrake..which worked. [Which was more than could be said for a Ferrari it was parked next to?}

Total cost to the shipping firm was around 1800 quids....with a shared container. Loads of spares strapped into the car too...

The car has a lot of history behind it....being one of the 4 cars sold as company cars to Fords engineers of Bedford, for their reps....the company made the machines that put foil tops on milk bottles,in farm dairies....the boss thought that, given Dellows pedigree with trials, a Dellow would be a better bet tramping up & down farm tracks, than anything else new at the time?
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
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Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Rootes75]

We were very tempted once, back about 5 years ago. We saw a barn fresh 1936 Reo Flying Cloud in the US.

The car sold for $2000 but we didnt go for it in the end.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[V8 Nutter]

I have not imported myself, but I know several people who have. When bringing a car from America you must have the title document (log book). Some states don't have titles on older cars, in that case you must have a notary draw up the correct papers. After the floods in Texas a great many cars, mostly later models were written off as contaminated. If the title says that you won't get it registered. The DVLA will insist it's scrapped you won't even be able to save any parts. Use a decent shipping agent, some have people in America who will make sure the car is what it is supposed to be. Be wary of buying an American car from the Baltic country's, I have heard some nasty stories. Make sure your NOVA documents are all correct. You may need an owners club to help with age related registrations. Extensively modified cars have their own problems when it comes to registration

[mikeC]

From my most recent experience the last thing you need for DVLA registration is a title document. After months of communications supplying the DVLA with original title documents, export documents and even a certificate of authenticity from the manufacturer, in the end the only thing they accepted as evidence of date was a letter from the owners' club!
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in the garage: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
Recently departed: 1953 Lancia Appia, 1931 Austin Seven, 1967 Singer Chamois, 1914 Saxon, 1930 Morris Cowley, 1936 BSA Scout, 1958 Lancia Appia coupe, 1922 Star 11.9 ... the list goes on!