Is that it?.What a bummer,thought it was something really juicy.Not that I gossip mind you.Heaven forbid.EricT
I know..... it is a bit boring. Mind, the vehicle in question was flown under an S-58 in Borneo which must've been interesting...
DaveB wrote:Tony was probably at Gatow during the Berlin Airlift so things may well have changed since then All the major car progs on TV in the UK spent a lot of time covering buying cars abroad when it was found that you could by what was intrinsically a brand new UK export on the continent for a lot less than it could be bought here. However, they didn't.. to the best of my knowledge.. cover used cars to which yours applies. I reckon the best thing to do would be to contact them direct rather than risk a shock in the UK ;-) At least VAT is lower now than it was 5 years ago so now would be as good a time as any to bring it back
LOL I think it has changed but I dont know by how much. The HMC&E website has lots of info but nothing that specifically applies to this scenario. The best I can find is that when a used vehicle is imported from an EU country no VAT is payable in the UK if its been paid in the EU. It doesn't differentiate between buying from a dealer (when you'd expect to pay VAT) and buying from an individual though. Also doesn't say if that VAT payment must have been made on initial importation to the other country, at any time in its export life or when the re-importer buys it.
Tried asking the question direct but they're not too hot on actually answering questions by email unfortunately.....
If they want VAT they'll have to have it I guess so I might just pitch up at Dover & see what happens ;-)
Cheers
Richard
Click here to view my aircraft photos at JetPhotos.Net!
I did this once, importing two cars to UK from the USA.
It was in 1991, so things may have changed, but the rule was pretty simple: if you had owned the car for more than 12 months, there was no duty or VAT - it was regarded in the same light as "household possessions". All that was needed was to produce proof of ownership for more than that period (bill of sale or equivalent - I had the regular US registration & insurance renewals as well) to convince UK Customs that it was legitimate.
The next stage was to take the Customs import document to the local vehicle registration office for them to issue a UK registration via the DVLA. Insurance can be issued against the VIN number until the registration is issued, but this probably won't be an issue for you as it's within the EU.
Funnily enough, I took the same two cars (MGB & Mercury Cougar) back to the US in 2001 and had to get them into the California "smog test" regime, but that's another story.
All the major car progs on TV in the UK spent a lot of time covering buying cars abroad when it was found that you could by what was intrinsically a brand new UK export on the continent for a lot less than it could be bought here. However, they didn't.. to the best of my knowledge.. cover used cars to which yours applies. I reckon the best thing to do would be to contact them direct rather than risk a shock in the UK ;-) At least VAT is lower now than it was 5 years ago so now would be as good a time as any to bring it back
