Importing a car from the UK

[79sunrunner]

Has anyone here done it? What issues did you have, how long did it take, and would you do it again? When I was in the Fiat dealer when I got my car, I asked if the TwinAir engine was coming to America. They said no. Now I here it could make it, however, I really like driving right hand drive cars, and I found this http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201401020766048/sort/default/usedcars/postcode/w1a1aa/page/1/maximum-mileage/up_to_25000_miles/maximum-age/up_to_4_years_old/make/fiat/engine-size-cars/less_than_1l/colour/blue/model/500/radius/1500/price-from/500/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/fuel-type/petrol/price-to/9000?logcode=p

Something like that interests me. However I'm not sure how DOT will like it, and how difficult it will be to do it at all.

Thanks

 

[79sunrunner]

Another thing that popped up is:
Could a US Fiat dealer service these in case I fell like I didn't want to (I'll email one today) and if I remember correctly, in England, they run a different octane rating than over here. We have 87, 89, 93 plus or minus a point. I think over there the stations over higher octanes. Not sure what this blue one recommends.

And I understand it will not have a warrentee

 

[silverrat]

Your looking at $2000-3000 for shipping and 30% duties taxes etc at a minimum. Plus any compliance mods

 

[Spazdog]

I do not know anybody that did it from the UK.

I know a few servicemen that brought cars back from Germany. Usually Mercedes Benz diesels but an occasional Porsche. There were hoops to jump through and registration varies from state to state. Helps that the government pays to ship cars to certain duty stations overseas.

Might be easier to import it to Canada, register it in Canada, and then import it here. The GST will eat you up but a friend of mine imported his GMC Tracker and got it registered and inspected. Speedo in km/h and all.

 

[Garak]

I can't answer about the warranty or duties, of course. I believe Europe uses a different octane rating system than North America, rather than different quality/different anti-knock gas (sulfur content aside).

 

[Corvette Owner]

From the UK, isn't the steering wheel on the wrong side? That would be a big cost to change.

Read this:

http://www.examiner.com/article/consider...read-this-first

Here is an excerpt:

"A person looking to import a car under 25 years old must bring the vehicle up to U.S. emission and safety standards set for the original model year of the vehicle. This means the vehicle must be equipped with U.S.-specification airbags, knee bolsters, lights & lenses, seat belt buzzers, door reinforcement crash beams, and more. Then it must pass separate emissions cleanliness tests.

If the manufacturer of the vehicle you’re looking to import originally crash certified and sold the same model in the United States, the DOT will usually accept that as prior precedent that your vehicle (now modified to U.S. standards) would be equally safe in an accident.

But if the model of car you want to import was never certified for sale in the U.S., then you will bear the responsibility of proving crashworthiness. Translated, this means you will need to provide three modified subjects for crash testing, and bear agency testing costs (typically $200-$400 thousand). Not practical for an individual at all."


Note: These are Federal Requirements, States can have additional requirements.

 

[Chris142]

Sounds not worth the effort

 

[79sunrunner]

Originally Posted By: Corvette Owner
From the UK, isn't the steering wheel on the wrong side? That would be a big cost to change.

Read this:

http://www.examiner.com/article/consider...read-this-first

Here is an excerpt:

"A person looking to import a car under 25 years old must bring the vehicle up to U.S. emission and safety standards set for the original model year of the vehicle. This means the vehicle must be equipped with U.S.-specification airbags, knee bolsters, lights & lenses, seat belt buzzers, door reinforcement crash beams, and more. Then it must pass separate emissions cleanliness tests.

If the manufacturer of the vehicle you’re looking to import originally crash certified and sold the same model in the United States, the DOT will usually accept that as prior precedent that your vehicle (now modified to U.S. standards) would be equally safe in an accident.

But if the model of car you want to import was never certified for sale in the U.S., then you will bear the responsibility of proving crashworthiness. Translated, this means you will need to provide three modified subjects for crash testing, and bear agency testing costs (typically $200-$400 thousand). Not practical for an individual at all."


Note: These are Federal Requirements, States can have additional requirements.


One of the reasons I'll trying to get one of these is for the right hand drive. But these cars are sold here in the states, so maybe the safety standards may match up for the Mexican made and Polish made cars. This idea looks quite bleak already.

 

[eljefino]

Mercedes USA (the licensed importer) lobbied and won in the mid 1980s to make it a hassle to bring in grey market cars.

This was mostly because of the huge cachet the brand has in the US, which meant money out of MBUSA's pockets.

Apparently one way around is to buy a "clip", from the firewall forward, of the engine, computer, harness, and hopefully all you need. This is done with diesel toyota hilux trucks, for example.

You'd then have to find an enthusiast to splice the two together.

Not sure about the "serviceman loophole".

 

[fdcg27]

Grey market Benzes were common back in the 'eighties.
This allowed for powertrain choices not offered to US buyers through MBNA.
This also typically brought pricing down to a level reflecting Euro market retail markups.
You could bring in a crash tested model and you could get a pass through on emissions if you used an otherwise certified drive train.
This explains the 5 spd 230TE I found for sale back in the day.
A much more desirable powertrain than the US market 300TD offered, IMHO.
The 123 wagon was certified for US sale and the powertrain was emissions certified in the 201.
This car also had the cloth home market seat covering, while US models were always either Tex or leather.
There were also grey market BMWs, Ferraris, Porsches, Volvos and even Citroens, although since Citroens hadn't been officially sold in the US in years, I'm not sure that those should have been considered grey market cars.
It wasn't just the whines from MBNA that brought this happy state of affaris to an end. It was also the fact that a number of cars of various makes that had supposedly been brought into compliance with US emissions standards never were. There is a tale of one compliance specialist who sent the same photos along with his application for certification with every Ferrari he had supposedly made compliant. After a while, the EPA was unamused.
If you really want a RHD car, older JDM Hondas aren't that hard to find in this country.
I've seen things like the Rural Wagon offered, which was an AWD Accord wagon.
That would be a pretty neat thing to have.
I've also seen some adorable little confections like the Beat offered for sale titled as Civics courtesy of a western state with apparently very weak enforcement of its title process.
A Beat would be truly cool until the first federal employee who knew what it was spotted you driving it.
FWIR, the feds surf enthusiast sites looking for illegally imported vehicles.
In the case of the Beat, this would be easy since not only did Honda not import them but there is no way on earth that the little thing could be made compliant with US impact standards.

 

[SatinSilver]

My friend who works for a shipping company said that some cars, trucks, motorcycles that arrive in a shipping container end up being sent to the crusher. Since they fail the customs inspection. When I ask some follow up questions he just says he doesn't know. So proceed with caution.

 

[nleksan]

My European market BMW's were bought already having been brought into the country by someone else, it's way too much of a hassle and significant an expense that I'd want to do it myself...

FWIW, my Euro M6 documentation shows that the PO spent almost 10 large to get plates on the car

 

[hattaresguy]

My understanding is that if they are 25 years old its not that big of a deal.


However with younger cars its tricky, but I know it can be done. If they sell the car you want in say Mexico or Canada one option is to buy it out of country and simply drive it back. Registering it will depend on how picky your state is. A lot of times at least with Mercedes the VIN numbers are different and they give the DMV heartburn. But a state like NH or VT that doesn't really seem to care will probably let you register it.

I know of one person who has had success importing Mercedes from Japan via Canada. But Japanese spec cars are pretty similar to US spec. I don't think the differences are that great except some are RHD.

 

[dailydriver]

25 years huh??

Not too much longer until those Escort Cossie RSes/WRCs are that old!!

 

[01rangerxl]

With anything post-OBDII, I would imagine it will be extremely difficult and cost prohibitive to import.

People do physically get cars that aren't supposed to be here into the country, but registering could be another thing.

I see a drop top (cabriolet to foreigns) 2-door Mercedes G-Wagon daily. It's a nice one too. They definitely did not sell that in the US. No idea where that beast might have been sold originally, but it is definitely cool, it is here, and it is driven regularly (I see it on the street being driven, has current AL tags). They even had it out in the snow/ice we got recently, a true DD. I have also seen a '99-'02 Mexican market Dodge Ramcharger here, but it had Mexican plates on it, so someone drove it across the border and indicated to customs, border patrol, whoever, that it would go back to Mexico.

The G-Wagon's age is hard to tell because it's really clean and it's not like MB changed much appearance wise on those, but I'm betting it's an old grey market import from the '80s. The Ramcharger wasn't registered here. Either way, these vehicles are very different from trying to import a foreign version of a model currently sold in the US that is subject to the full extent of US regulations.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
With anything post-OBDII, I would imagine it will be extremely difficult and cost prohibitive to import.

People do physically get cars that aren't supposed to be here into the country, but registering could be another thing.

I see a drop top (cabriolet to foreigns) 2-door Mercedes G-Wagon daily. It's a nice one too. They definitely did not sell that in the US. No idea where that beast might have been sold originally, but it is definitely cool, it is here, and it is driven regularly (I see it on the street being driven, has current AL tags). They even had it out in the snow/ice we got recently, a true DD. I have also seen a '99-'02 Mexican market Dodge Ramcharger here, but it had Mexican plates on it, so someone drove it across the border and indicated to customs, border patrol, whoever, that it would go back to Mexico.

The G-Wagon's age is hard to tell because it's really clean and it's not like MB changed much appearance wise on those, but I'm betting it's an old grey market import from the '80s. The Ramcharger wasn't registered here. Either way, these vehicles are very different from trying to import a foreign version of a model currently sold in the US that is subject to the full extent of US regulations.



A neighbor a couple of blocks away had a black Peugeot 207. Had Tamaulipas tags on it but it was here for years.

I had a client with a 2000 Nissan Tsuru that was registered and inspected. It's essentially a B13 Sentra but Nissan was up to the B15 Sentra by then. I do not know how it wiggled through. The only thing I can think of is that they had a junk Sentra somewhere with a clean title and kept putting the sticker on the Tsuru. I never checked the last 8 in the VIN vs. the registration sticker.