PJ Grady (Europe) Wrote:Pilot 20 is finally here - but not without some fun and games with customs.
The C384 customs import form has now changed to make the discounted duty rate a bit harder to get (they've actually removed the part of the form where you enter the origin of the vehicle).

A few calls, etc and I got the duty back down from thousands to just £50.

Anyone in the process of importing a Delorean to the UK - or about to in the near future - drop me a line and I'll tell you what to do. I couldn't believe the form had been changed that way! The difference is subtle - but if you weren't aware of how to get the reduced duty - it would never occur to you.

Darren

PJ Grady (Europe) Wrote:Yes - the £50 would apply to all DeLorean imports (to the UK)....providing you say the right things at the right time!
You still get whacked for the VAT though - that was painful! I have got a way around that too - but it involves registering the business under a specific scheme - and that's not something I was prepared to do this time around.

The car is currently in a holding compound at Chatham docks - it'll be collected later this week - then I'll get some pictures of it.

Darren

PJ Grady (Europe) Wrote:Yes - 17.5% VAT on the purchase price of the car AND the cost of shipping.

My eyes are still watering after paying the VAT on Pilot 20!

Darren

PJ Grady (Europe) Wrote:The cost of shipping Pilot 20 (from Pennsylvania to Chatham in Kent) was as follows (excluding VAT which is car specific):

Shipping Fees £835.00
UK Agency Fees £380.00
Admin Fee £35.00
Duty £50.00
TOTAL £1300.00 (excl VAT)

We use the same shipping agents for all of our cars - so they cut us a break on quite a few charges (e.g. no cost cor collecting the car from Pennsylvania and driving it to New Jersey port). And they give us interest free credit terms so they pay the port to get the cars through quicker - then I pay them.
The only other unlisted charge is the cost of getting the car transported from the dock to your house - which is roughly £2 a mile - but from Chatham to our workshop costs about £100.

There you go...it's really the VAT that hurts....it's essentially the cost of your car PLUS the £1300 shipping at 17.5%.

So a reasonable $20,000 car works out at about £10,000 + £1,300 shipping + VAT at £1977 + £150 transport = £13,427.

Then allow an absolute minimum of £100 to get the car to Euro spec - and some more to get it MOT'd. Then allow £50 DVLA registration fees, plus £99 for your first 6 months road tax - and £15 to get your plates made up!

After all that malarkey - there's not such a huge gulf between sourcing a UK car versus a US car.

We use the US purely as we have a large collection of cars in New York that we can access cheaply and ship at a moments notice. If the exchange rate evened out - the savings from importing would be eroded quite quickly.

Darren

PJ Grady (Europe) Wrote:Not yet.
Getting Rob Grady to go out into the lot and detail all of his cars for sale is not an easy task!
Chris or I will probably go out to NY later this year and catalogue what we have - but generally, we have examples of all types.
1981 and 1982 models are the in the majority - as are manual transmissions. We have some autos and one or two 1983 builds. Grey and black interiors (but they can be redyed if needs be).
We have a Saudi car with a red interior - and one with a carburettor fitted (hmm).

Most cars need some form of fixing up for sale - which we prefer, as you really know the car well - rather than relying on something you haven't worked on.

It's often easier to match a car to a person (e.g. a customer tells us their dream car is XYZ - and we select the most appropriate car to make that a reality).

Darren

PJ Grady (Europe) Wrote:The cost of shipping Pilot 20 (from Pennsylvania to Chatham in Kent) was as follows (excluding VAT which is car specific):

Shipping Fees £835.00
UK Agency Fees £380.00
Admin Fee £35.00
Duty £50.00
TOTAL £1300.00 (excl VAT)

We use the same shipping agents for all of our cars - so they cut us a break on quite a few charges (e.g. no cost cor collecting the car from Pennsylvania and driving it to New Jersey port). And they give us interest free credit terms so they pay the port to get the cars through quicker - then I pay them.
The only other unlisted charge is the cost of getting the car transported from the dock to your house - which is roughly £2 a mile - but from Chatham to our workshop costs about £100.

There you go...it's really the VAT that hurts....it's essentially the cost of your car PLUS the £1300 shipping at 17.5%.

So a reasonable $20,000 car works out at about £10,000 + £1,300 shipping + VAT at £1977 + £150 transport = £13,427.

Then allow an absolute minimum of £100 to get the car to Euro spec - and some more to get it MOT'd. Then allow £50 DVLA registration fees, plus £99 for your first 6 months road tax - and £15 to get your plates made up!

After all that malarkey - there's not such a huge gulf between sourcing a UK car versus a US car.

We use the US purely as we have a large collection of cars in New York that we can access cheaply and ship at a moments notice. If the exchange rate evened out - the savings from importing would be eroded quite quickly.

Darren