Importing Cars From England

[deeveus 81]

never mention caravans in a car forum

I understand this is the Antichrist on NZ roads, however if it's towed by a 330d or any M57 diesel it will still annihilate anything on the road even tho it's towing!

[Richard Mc 0]

I have just imported a car from the UK and all went really smoothl. I was really confused at first about which bits of paper I needed but I used the services of Beth at CarShopper.co.nz. She was brilliant, walked me through the process of buying in the UK, making sure the car was NZ Compliant and got me a great shipping rate. What was even better was that she got me a VAT refund ie 20% off the UK purchase price which was a real bonus. If you are thinking of importing/buying a car from the UK I recommend you give her a call.

[RvT 9]

Hi Richard and welcome to the forum !!!

What was the year and model of car you imported and what were the fees for shipping etc (excluding the GST you had to pay on the car) ? Did they source the car for you or could you pick of ebay / motorhead ?

Cheers

[e38king 1]

If you are after something new or ex-demo check out

http://www.nzeuro.com

The directors are family friends

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

^^Another car importer mis-leading the buying public.

"Be the first in NZ to drive the 4 door 6-series", yeah right, apart from the dozen plus cars that are already driving around our roads.

Might want to get them to update their web-site.

[kiwi535 538]

I understand this is the Antichrist on NZ roads,

thats enough

[Richard Mc 0]

RvT

Got a 2009 Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TDI, beautiful ride and increadibly fuel efficient. Told her the car I wanted and she found several for me to choose from. Paid $1000 fee that covered a full RAC check in England and she got a cheap rate on the shipping, using McCullough. So really it was no brainer, a couple of hundred dollars for the help of somebody who is doing it all the time and it was no issue getting the VAT back, she just sorted it.

Hope this helps.

[RvT 9]

RvT

Got a 2009 Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TDI, beautiful ride and increadibly fuel efficient. Told her the car I wanted and she found several for me to choose from. Paid $1000 fee that covered a full RAC check in England and she got a cheap rate on the shipping, using McCullough. So really it was no brainer, a couple of hundred dollars for the help of somebody who is doing it all the time and it was no issue getting the VAT back, she just sorted it.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. I was lead to believe that VAT was only able to be retrieved off demo or car less than one year old. When I imported a 07 car last year, VAT recovery was not possible ....

[mjh 26]

Thanks for the info. I was lead to believe that VAT was only able to be retrieved off demo or car less than one year old. When I imported a 07 car last year, VAT recovery was not possible ....

A VAT refund is only possible on a VAT Qualifying vehicle. This usually means the car is a demo or has been owned by a VAT registered company (lease cars etc). Essentially a car that has not been in private ownership.

The VAT has to be paid to the dealer then claimed from HMRC once exported.

If the vehicle is not VAT Qualifying you will not be able to recover it. The age of the vehicle is not relevant.

[Richard Mc 0]

Ron, Matthew is spot on as far as I was told.

I have been led to believe that.

To get the VAT back the car has to be VAT qualifying i.e. owned by a registered company in the UK. The cars available tend to come in two sorts the ex demo 6 months old and the ex company car three years old. The ex demo can be of all shapes and sizes, self explanatory. The ex company cars tend to be in two catergories the ex sales reps cars that have large milage and the ex perk (excutive) cars. It takes a bit of looking to find these cars but at a 20% discount it was worth it for me. Once you have found the car the paper work has be done exactly right because not all dealers in the UK are use to exporting cars and the UK Tax authorities don't just want to hand the VAT back to everyone.

Richard

[LMT UK 0]

As far as I am aware you can only claim VAT back if a, the car qualifies and b, you are a registered company in the UK. We have brought in quite a few cars for various clients and by far the best way of shipping is a Roll on Roll off system. The cars just get knocked around too much in containers.

VAT qualifying cars are in the minority here, vans and pickups more common but are a good buy when you can get them.

For out of EU export it will be VAT free, but a lot of dealers are unfamiliar/unwilling to do this. For uk customers, they would need to be VAT registered to reclaim it.

If you are looking for a uk car I'd definitely get a pre-shipping inspection and a history check. You really want any defects or servicing done before it is shipped, lotsof non main dealers will trade cars that don'rt sell within a couple of months so are reluctant to spend any money apart from a valet until it is sold.

Beware, a lot of export BMW are stolen to order. packed into a container with cloned identity from an accident write- off or previously exported car. Car thieves know about security vulnerabilities on recent BMWs and some wise owners are now disconnecting the OBD ports.

There is some nice high spec cars to be had here, also unlike the jap imports, with manual transmission and leather, also a favourable exchange rate plus high depreciation makes uk a good place to look right now.

If you look at the buying tips on my website there are is some info that might be useful, also if you need help I can inspect, test drive, negotiate and arrange shipping www.londonmotortraders.com

if you want some free uk vehicle export advice feel free to call me 10am-10pm uk time. If you want to book an inspection or shipping then I usually save more than I charge.

[Tristan 338]

I have just imported a car from the UK and all went really smoothl. I was really confused at first about which bits of paper I needed but I used the services of Beth at CarShopper.co.nz. She was brilliant, walked me through the process of buying in the UK, making sure the car was NZ Compliant and got me a great shipping rate. What was even better was that she got me a VAT refund ie 20% off the UK purchase price which was a real bonus. If you are thinking of importing/buying a car from the UK I recommend you give her a call.

My understanding was the VAT is the UK/EU equivalent of our GST. That's why if you buy the product to export from the UK, then VAT is deducted but you can expect to be slapped with your own countries tax i.e. GST