How to import cars?? (FAO Gibbo?)

Ex-RoNiN

Ex-RoNiN

Ex-RoNiN

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I just played around with the vehicle configurator on the Ford website and managed to build myself a decent spec V6 Mustang for just $22000, which is round about £11000 :eek: Is there any way I can get the car over for roughly that kind of money? What would be involved in getting it over? Obviously I am exempt from their State Tax, but shipping would be an issue, and would I have to pay UK VAT at the port also? How much would all this add to the price and how long would it take to get here?

Many thanks! :)
 
Hi there


First of all don't pay US Dealer sticker prices. They love to deal, you can normally get an additional $1000-$2000 off sticker price. Also the cheapest state to buy from is Texas, but its not the nicest place to visit due to high crime and been more central US it takes longer to fly out there and shipping will cost more.

Your best bet is to play off dealers along the East coast, once you get the best deal make sure they can export the vehicle. You should ideally fly out and test drive the vehicle your planning on and also enquire if they will still help you with warranty issues once the car is across the pond.

As your exporting the car you don't have to pay any US taxes.
You then need to get the vehicle shipped, make sure you do this from US side, again cheaper. If you ship the car by RoRo basically the car is just on the deck of the ship or a level it will cost circa $750-$1000. This is generally fine but not great for security and things do tend to get stolen off cars shipped vai RoRo. The other option is container, much better security and expect to pay $1500-$2000. Then you need shipping insurance this generally tends to be 1-3% of the cars value.

Once the vehicle arrives into the UK you need to collect it. There will be a 10% Duty charge and then on top of this you pay 17.5% VAT, yes you really do pay taxes on top of taxes but that is UK government for you.

Then you need to get the SVA done, on the Mustang its relatively cheap and easy to do, expect to pay circa £500, however car such as the Corvette is more expensive mainly due to the headlights.

The best formula to cover all your cost is to just add 30% onto the US Dealer price to give you an idea.

Also you won't get the exact exchange rate as shown on XE/BBC unless you have an actual dollar account setup. Generally expect to get upto 5 cents lower than the exchange rate, again to be on the safe side.


Oh and regarding a Mustang V6, don't do it, they really are terrible cars and you would very soon get bored of it. Its gotta be V8 all the way, don't worry about insurance or mpg as they are better than most people think. :)

Basically a $22,000 Mustang in the US will cost you approx £16,000, yes you gotta hate our government. Your best of buying a V8 GT second hand in the UK, search, wait and you will eventually come across one for 15-16k which is a bargain for that kind of car. :)
 
No, its not possible to get a brand new one for £11k. You have to pay VAT, Import duty, shipping, etc etc. It'll come in at at least £20k and that, for a base model American lardmobile, is naff value.
 
[TW]Fox said:
No, its not possible to get a brand new one for £11k. You have to pay VAT, Import duty, shipping, etc etc. It'll come in at at least £20k and that, for a base model American lardmobile, is naff value.
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Hi there

You should have read my post, I've just given him detailed costing, it comes nowhere near 20k. :)

If you can get the US dealer down to $20,000 which is possible if they need sales at end of the month or clear room for new registration etc.

Then add-on shipping and insurance via RoRo, possible for less than $1500.

So call it $22,000 shipped to UK.

Lets base this on having a dollar account, so $22,000 divided by 1.98 that equals £11,111

Add 10% Duty = £12,222
Add 17.5% VAT = £14,360
Add SVA Cost = Under £15,000

So yes you could import one for less than £15,000 on the V6 model with all the extras. Cut some of those extras back, get a good end of month clearance offer from a dealer and you might do it for £13,000




Still better to import a V8 Premium GT, much better car and doable for about £20,000 brand new. If your willing to give LHD a go they are great cars for the money and LHD is very easy to get the hang off. :)
Like Fox says the V6 is underpowered and very lardy, its a boat and its dampers just don't work on our roads. The V8 however even in standard form is far from lardy, it is in fact rather good even completely standard. As I've demonstrated turning them into something rather special and more than capable is very easy to do for little money.

Another option is the fact the Corvette C6 Z51 can be had for $45,000 brand new in the states and even UK dealers are been reasonably at £36999 with all the extras. The C6 Z51 is an awsome car, its a precise sublime handling vehicle out the box with bags of power and sheer class. Only downsides is LHD and sub Audi/BMW quality interior but the rest of the car well the Corvette C6 Z51 is unbeatable value for money even at UK prices. :)
 
Gibbo, your post was most informative and very extensive, thank you very much! I make this about £16k if I go with container and keep a small reserve for extra paperwork etc., which is still amazing value I think, esp. comparing to what sort of new car you can get for that price in the UK.

As for lardy, what do you mean by that? I can see it wouldn't be anywhere near as quick as a V8 or a 'vette, however, for a daily runner it should be sufficient (can't see myself breaking the speed limit very often, I'm a nice driver :p ) and definitely more powerful than a 4cyl Cougar for instance, or in fact any car I can get new in the UK for the same price.

I hear what you're saying about the V8, but I am not sure I can afford (or be let to afford ;) )stretching the money to get the V8...you mentioned dodgy suspensions, I guess it is wobbly/rolls a lot? That's putting me off a bit, esp. for a daily runner. Is there anywhere in the UK I could test drive that model V6? American Car Imports only do the V8 :(

Many thanks again, all the info is very much appreciated :)
 
Ex-RoNiN said:
Gibbo, your post was most informative and very extensive, thank you very much! I make this about £16k if I go with container and keep a small reserve for extra paperwork etc., which is still amazing value I think, esp. comparing to what sort of new car you can get for that price in the UK.

As for lardy, what do you mean by that? I can see it wouldn't be anywhere near as quick as a V8 or a 'vette, however, for a daily runner it should be sufficient (can't see myself breaking the speed limit very often, I'm a nice driver :p ) and definitely more powerful than a 4cyl Cougar for instance, or in fact any car I can get new in the UK for the same price.

I hear what you're saying about the V8, but I am not sure I can afford (or be let to afford ;) )stretching the money to get the V8...you mentioned dodgy suspensions, I guess it is wobbly/rolls a lot? That's putting me off a bit, esp. for a daily runner. Is there anywhere in the UK I could test drive that model V6? American Car Imports only do the V8 :(

Many thanks again, all the info is very much appreciated :)
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Hi m8

The V6 users different dampers/shocks compared to the V8 model and has poor brakes. The V6 will is just a cruiser for travelling up and down interstates, which makes it rather bad for our roads.

You might find the V6 fine, it still has a far more rigid body than my 525i SE but is damped similar its just very soft so wheras it will get you from A-B and will little to no fuss you will have little fun in doing so. Also I believe the V6 is only slightly better on fuel than the V8 but is nowhere near as good. Remember the V8 has been in the top 10 best engines for the last 3 years, the V8 3V modular unit might be simple but it does a great job, especially for how little it cost. It can achieve over 30MPG, has low emmissions output for CA, has 300BHP and 320Lb-Ft in its low state of tune but can be tuned on standard internals to more or less double its output and still hold over 20MPG.

Also if you ring around different shippers you will get a V6 in this country for less than 15k specc'd up. :)
There are lots of V6 Mustang for sale on Autotrader and Pistonheads, so just test drive one of those and try to drive a couple because believe you me you will soon find its rather boring and lethargic.
 
scousegit said:
Gibbo - how much was your car imported by the original UK owner do you know? or did he buy it from a import specialist
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The original owner imported it himself, got it direct of a Ford dealer that sells Saleen cars. I have the invoice at home but at the time believe he paid $49,000 with the extras. The dollar rate was not so good back then, but his shipping and insurance bill was only £850.00 not to bad and the SVA cost him less than £200. The landed price in the UK at the time was £36,000 and I got the car from him at £26,000 the guy was truly bonkers but clearly money was not an issue for him which was evident by his driveway, house and land. Guess I was in the right place at the right time. :)
 
Hi there


To the original poster, you can get a Mustang GT Deluxe for $25,000 brand new from US dealers if you search around. This car has most the extras as standard that you specc'd on the V6. Accept it sounds much better, goes a damn site quicker and looks far better.

$25,000 / 1.98 = £12,626
Duty Added = £13,888
VAT Added = £16,318
Shipping = £1000
SVA = £300
TOTAL = £17,000-£18,000

You can get basically get the V8 landed in the UK for less than £17,000 if you do your homework. You could get a V8 Premium with all extras, Shaker 1000 etc. for less than £20,000 landed into this country.

Don't buy the V6 when for £1000 more you can get yourself the V8. Insurance is peanuts and fuel is not too bad if you drive it sensible or use cruise control.
 
Sone said:
what about importing second hand? Do you still have to pay duty?
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Hi there

Yes you do.

Only way you can avoid the import duty is if you have owned the car for 6 months yourself and prove you have been using it in the USA. With this method you can save a further 5-10% of duty tax. Also you are not allowed to sell the car on for at least 12 months I believe.
 
Hi, I have another question - from reading around it seems as if the new Mustang is set to run on 86 octane fuel. However, seeing how we have 95 octane fuel here in the UK, does this require an ICU remap after importing, or can the engine/ICU cope with the higher octane fuel without much hassle?
 
Ex-RoNiN said:
Hi, I have another question - from reading around it seems as if the new Mustang is set to run on 86 octane fuel. However, seeing how we have 95 octane fuel here in the UK, does this require an ICU remap after importing, or can the engine/ICU cope with the higher octane fuel without much hassle?
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HI there

Mustang can accept 87 Octane fuel which is below anything you can buy in the UK.

Octane 93 = RON 97 (Super Unleaded, V-Power etc.)
Octane 91 = RON 95 (Unleaded)
Octane 87 = RON 91/92 (Don't think you can get that in UK)


So on a Mustang the best modification is to get a C&L CAI from www.bamachips.com along with an SCT Xcal2 programmer and request an Octane 93 tune if your willing to fuel the car only on decent stuff. This will result in circa 350BHP from this simple modification. The cost is circa $600-$800 shipped, so about £300-£400. So you gain a good 40BHP area plus far improved throttle response etc. for very little money. :)
 
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