Delorean buying / tuning advice

[frostrobo]

Congratulations! Great news that you are getting your car..! Hope it won't be too long before you can drive it!

I hope I can get mine sometime next year

[jerzybondov]

Thanks again for all the good wishes...! Still trying to arrange payment but should be able to get it sorted soon.

Am I right in thinking the title stays with the car during transport and the bill of sale just needs to be given to the clearance agents on this side of the pond (so can get posted over separately)?

[NickT]

Congratulations on your purchase and I hope you have many hours enjoyment on your D.

Brave man to tackle a car that has had a rusty chassis in Mud and was torn off !
I know I wouldn't bother with this as I don't have the time and space (even though I have a double garage).
If it is v bad ask people like Julian (aka Bandit on this forum) who have done a frame off conversion.
His particular restoration has been featured in the club mags.
Ask for back issues from Phil Peters or Chris Williams.

Good luck and keep us up to date on progress, or write an article for the club mag !

NickT

[jerzybondov]

Thanks Nick - I'm hoping the frame isn't too bad. I've spoken to the seller and he's talked me through the restoration he's already done to the frame (various grades of sanding and then enamelling), and the fix at the front involved cannibalising a parts car and stripping it right down to weld in the new bits. Sounds like he knew what he was doing but I guess we'll find out once I get the car over here!

Which brings me to another question actually - got a quote from TGAL and it's better than Schumachers (it's $986 sea shipping and $700 overland). It's RO/RO too so I think port fees are less at this end than with container travel(£100ish). My question is this - if my shipping invoice includes both these amounts then that's what I'll end up paying VAT on at this end.

The alternative is to arrange separate overland transport in the States (done plenty of research on the best companies, found Magic Carpet who have quoted $500), which not only will cost less in itself but should also mean that I don't have to pay the VAT on this separate invoice. Does it work this way, or do customs deliberately hunt out the information about how your car got to the port? Has anyone had any experience of this?

I appreciate that it's often wiser to use the same company for both services to keep it integrated, but Magic Carpet have an excellent reputation (check http://www.transportreviews.com/Directory/) and it might save £200+... Thoughts?

[PJ Grady (Europe)]

The VAT on the UK side will be for the cost of the car (i.e. the $9000 you paid) plus the cost of the shipping bill.

Technically the VAT should only be applied to the freight element - not the overland transport.
Generally, if you're paying for a managed service through Schumacher's or TGAL - they should declare the costs as excluding the overland component. Essentially the shipping company handles the to/from with Mr HMCE on your behalf.

Check with whichever shipping company you go with....it may be worth keeping it all with one provider - as it keeps things simple. I've tried splitting it before and had tow companies fail to show up, etc.

Best regards

Darren

[NickT]

I've heard that with roll on roll off type, sometimes parts get aquired from the cars as souvenirs, they are lifted/ moved using forklifts.
At least in a container you won't have that problem.

NickT

[PJ Grady (Europe)]

We've never used RORO - as Nick says, a sealed 20ft container is normally best....that way the car is only exposed to theiving mitts whilst it's sitting at the port - not throughout the entire journey.

I had the stereo stolen out of my car at the port - and I had to pay out £2500 to get the centre console trim redone (the stereo was only a $50 junker anyway!)

I hope they don't pick up DeLoreans with forklifts!

Darren

[Guinney1971]

Agreed Darren. Flopsy was in a 40ft container with 3 other cars - that meant that the
'devanning' charges were split between the three of us that shared the container and it worked
out cheaper then having a 20ft container all to myself so to speak.

[jerzybondov]

Aagh - nothing's ever simple is it?!

Found this thread on a Nissan GT-R forum from a few years back with people having the same problem. It seems that Southampton docks are the problem, but I don't know if they've improved the security since then: http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/23963-theft- ... docks.html

As for the fork-lift issue, I think someone mentions in that thread they use them to get cars onto the top level of a container, which makes sense. If the car is a runner, I can't see why they'd ever get used on a RO/RO...

As for the thieving - If you can hide/remove the stereo on a D, is there anything else that would be of interest to a thief? I can't imagine the wheels are that easy to shift...

Another question on a different tack - the seller of my car sent me an email saying he hasn't transferred the title of the vehicle into his name, so he's offering to either write the bill of sale out in the previous owners name (not a good idea I think) or get the title changed to his. Is it actually important to do this? Will it make any difference for the import process?

Thanks again everyone!

[PJ Grady (Europe)]

Hi Jez,

Check with youir shipping company - as ultimately they'll be the guys that present the documents to the US port authorities and they'll need to be comfortable that the docuentation is in order.

DO NOT accept a bill of sale made out in someone else's name - this is fraud, and although it would probably work - a quick check by the US port authorities will get you in no end of trouble!

Generally I don't think the US ports check the names against the title and the bill of sale anyway - they just use the title to confirm that (a) the car hasn't been registered stolen and (b) to strike the entry from the DMV database to mark the vehicle as 'exported'.

But do check with shipping company first....

As for thieving at the ports - it was from New Jersey port for my car - which is where I guess yours will be going too. Stereo is the obvious item - but any spare parts, paperwork, etc are all likely to go walkies.

Darren

[Guinney1971]

"if it aint nailed down.... " as the saying goes..... :roll:

I've heard that dock workers like ragging imported cars round the docks, they see it as a
'perk of the job'.

Having said that, the guys at Tilbury who I dealt with were great, and towed Flopsy out of
the yard with a forktruck as she was a non runner, and even helped winch the car up onto
Chrispy's trailer.

[Darren C]

Hi Jez,

Congrats on your purchase

I shipped my Car back from Long Beach last year with TGAL in to Southampton RORO. Not a problem at all.
The Guys at Southampton docks were great. Their supervisor is a delorean fan, kept me talking for ages, about how he wanted to import a car to go with his VW Scirroco!

There are pros and cons for every choice of shipping, (containers get dropped or fall over from time to time too)

Ultimately its what you feel comfortable with.

Good Luck
The adventure has just begun :wink:

Regards
D

[Guinney1971]

Hi Darren,

My car was shipped from Long Beach CA too with TGAL - my car came in on the
Singapore Express - any idea what ship yours was?

Actually, I found out that the Singapore Express was impounded once to do with a suspected
drugs bust or summat......... nothing to do with a DeLorean on board at the time tho!! lol

(how sad am I, I've even got pictures of the ship my car sailed over on!! lol :lol: )

[bozzzydmc]

Blimey Claire!... your car was shipped to the UK on a boat made of Lego ???

Claire Usher Wrote:Hi Darren,

My car was shipped from Long Beach CA too with TGAL - my car came in on the
Singapore Express - any idea what ship yours was?

Actually, I found out that the Singapore Express was impounded once to do with a suspected
drugs bust or summat......... nothing to do with a DeLorean on board at the time tho!! lol

(how sad am I, I've even got pictures of the ship my car sailed over on!! lol :lol: )

[Guinney1971]

hahaha, no more like Phill's was :wink: