Importing an E Type

[Julian.P]

I have have purchased a 1968 Series 1.5 FHC it's currently in Austin Texas waiting to be shipped back to the UK
The car in question is a stalled restoration project it has been loosely assemble so it now rolls and steers however there's a lot of parts that haven't been fitted and have been boxed and stored within the vehicle, my only concern at the moment is the stored items and customs or am I worrying unduly, have any other forum members shipped vehicles with spare parts.
Regards, Julian

[Mich7920]

Hi Julian,
All the case are differents but you must expect to have missing parts, it's normal.
It's the "price" to pay when you buy a restoration project fall down by the first owner.
The first chalenge will be to identify all the puzzle parts.
Take your time and put them away by family : Dashboard - IRS - Engine etc...
All the parts must be identify, the nuts as the washers...You'll need patience and time!
Your help are the knowledge of the forum, the workshop book and the forum where you can ask "What's this part? "
After that and the parts restorated, the rebuilt will began and at this moment it will be the Nirvana.

Mich

[Julian.P]

Hi Mich thanks for the reply, I expect there will be some parts missing however I have been assured that there is nothing of any significance missing, my main concern at the moment is how customs will view the parts that will travel inside the car.

Julian.

[cactusman]

No idea but customs are looking for fags,booze and narcotics. Providing you car does not contain any of these I can't imagine they will be interested in chrome bits, brake bits and vast numbers of widgets . Of more concern would be the bits "going missing" in transit as some bits like boot floor runners fetch large sums on fleabay.

[Julian.P]

Hi Julian, yes there is that risk I have marine insurance and it will be shipped via a shared container.

[christopher storey]

Sharing a container increases the risk materially. I would advise strongly that the extra costs of sole occupancy are well worthwhile where there are numerous loose parts involved . Quite apart from any other consideration, at one time missing parts could easily be replaced at spares days etc. , but such parts are becoming rarer and the inconvenience of their loss increases commensurately

[Nickleback]

The real risk here is parts of value going missing which are hard to replace. When my car was imported small high value items were nicked like the original jack, tool kit, manuals, wallet, load bay strips, interior mirror and spare OEM spinners etc.
Can you get an inventory agreed and logged, plus get item in a secure package so it remains unopened & un touched ? - and go for single container if you can afford it !

[cactusman]

Why not bring the irreplaceable stuff like documentation, brochures, the Jack, trim bits back in a suitcase? A return flight won't be cheap....but neither is a Jack, tool kit or boot runners...

[neil4444]

Hi Julian, I imported a s1.5 FHC last year which had been raced & hence had been significantly stripped down. All the stripped parts came with it including original engine, bonnet, boot, etc. I had a list from the seller of all the major parts but there was also a ton of other bits & bobs which were impossible to list. I included everything within 1 overall valuation. Customs viewed all the parts as belonging to the same car hence were all placed under the same Commodity Code as the car - 9705000090. Customs only concern was the race engine in the car as they wanted assurance it was from a similar era & thus was acceptable under the same code.
I had it all shipped in a single container. A shipping agent packed it all & delivered to the departure port and I used an agent in Southampton to bring the sealed container into a warehouse where I helped unpack & load into trucks.
Nothing was damaged or lost
Have you (or your agent) done the HMRC BTI Tariff Classification submission to ensure it gets imported under correct commodity code ?

Regards,

[Julian.P]

Thanks every one for your replies and advice, Neil good to hear you had no issues with your car and spares, I have a shipping company that specialises with importing cars from the US to the UK they are taking care of all the paperwork, transportation to Houston, loading into container, and unloading at Southampton, all I need to deal with is 5% Tax and collect my car from the port.

Julian.

[nefematic]

Julian,

definitly don't send any documents (and also anything else you don't want to be lost on the the way home) with the car. Use Fedex or UPS or the like and insure that package accordingly. Any documents needed by the agents will be handled by them, anything extra goes direct via courier - not in the car.

Have the documents scanned up front, just in case. Imagine loosing a car with original documents included!

Just my 2 cents.

Martin (who imported from US to germany)

[heathcot]

I recently imported (private buyer not trade!) a S2 from southern California

Like you I was concerned re Customs. I completed all documentation honestly and the VAT was calculated in line with what I paid for the car

It had boxes of spares and all original documentation within the car. It was a shared container, I was assured this was the safest was to transport although more expensive than RoRo. ( mine was a runner)

The transport guy who picked the car up commented on how tight security was at the docks.

The car was delivered with everything including the Californian classic car club cap which I was sure would be stolen!

Inside the boxes was also 3 sticks which looked and smelt identical to dynamite! Turns out the are fusees which are flares used in the States in the event of a breakdown deep in the countryside. They were missed by customs.

My advice is be careful who delivers and picks up the car from and to the Ports

Good luck!