Club 80-90 Forums

Been waiting for the arrival of this extortionately expensive item anxiously..
Although the tracking suggested that delivery had been "attempted" I had no note or information, and I followed this up with Mao who has been the person I ordered it from at Small Car. He just told me it would have been handed from US Postal Service to Royal Mail here in the UK. Couldnt help further than that.
Well they had no record of it, and eventually I realised that Parcel Force is separate and it could be with them.
Turns out its sitting at Parcel Force waiting for me to pay VAT of £75!
Whats the procedure, is this right?
If it is, surely Small Car should know about it and would expect it, and if they expect it then surely they should say when they sell it that its not fully paid for? I mean I paid for it and I expect it to arrive, not to be held to ransom for, and with no help or notification, they just put it in the post and I have to hunt it down and then pay extra..

I will write back to Small Car, but thought to see what general opinion here was, on wether I was just being ignorant, or wether they would be expected to pay the import taxes or at least mention them.
Is that what happens when we buy a set of Mefros or something from EU? Or is that heavy duty only from US?

As far as i'm aware, duty from the US is expensive, which is why most people don't buy from there. It would be polite for them to mention it, but they don't have to.
It's much better to get them to send to someone you know in the US, get them to open the box re package and send to you as a used part

Import duty from the US is always a killer. Sadly it's the responsiility of the buyer to ensure it's paid - my mate thought he'd got a bargain buying several pairs of Levis from America a few years back, nearly everyone in the village pub signed up for a pair. Once the duty kicked in it would have cheaper to buy them at Tescos...

More info from Customs here...

Sorry I haven't got better news

This is quite normal, sometimes they slip through sometimes they don't.

if package is marked as sample or gift it is usually ok. but if marked as spares,goods etc they always seem to pick these ones up. price paid is also on package so they know the duty to charge,

Next time get them to post as gift and you should be OK. no guarantees though.

Twiggy

Hi Tim,

I'm afraid thats how it goes with buying stuff from the good ole US of A. I remember buying some camber adjustment bolts for my MacPherson strut Beetle in the days when you couldn't get them in the UK. I ended up paying three times the amount in tax over here than the bolts cost me originally.

Lloydy's idea seems a good one.

See you soon,

Pete

I got caught with a pile of bits for my quad. I had the seller list everything as samples but the shipping company insisted on the duty cuz they had paid it. They refused to release them until the bill was paid

We got caught a while back when a customer sent us a Jag steering column for repair. He made a tiny mistake on the paperwork with FedEx, so when we returned it (also by FedEx) the description didn't tally exactly (to the letter, it's that bad) and we got stung for the import duty back to the US, ewen though it was going back to the country of origin!!!
All because he didn't write "sent for repair and return to US"
Pay the import duty and learn by the experience.
Andy did you get stung over your smallcar bits or did you have a "tax efficient" method of import?
I'm hoping to get a few choice bits back from SA with a mate in his hand luggage, making the most of his 25kg allowance
Hopefully it will work out ok

Thing is...
Because of the "Common Market" you can buy spares from members of the EC, and pay their local tax, so, if you buy from germany you pay the cost of the item plus 19.6% tax (or whatever it is)
When you buy from countries outside the EC then you shouldn't pay tax at their end, tax should be deducted, once it comes here you will be expected to pay VAT on it (20%) plus a import duty.
Import duty changes depending on the item, to find out what that is you need to speak to HMRC revenue and customs and get a commodity code, and then see how much that particular group of items is taxed.
Then, this is the worse bit, you have to pay a ransom to who ever has your parcel.
If you search Volkszone there was a thread there years ago about how you don't have to pay the ransom, it's not quite legal.
If you don't want to pay the ransom you'll have to go to the depot and pay for the item and take it away, if you want them to deliver it they have you by the nads.
Buying from the EC is soooooooo much easier, and this is why getting recon VCs from the grumpy man is Switzerland is such a bind. It's not too bad for me as I am VAT registered and I have a EORI number and I know the commodity codes to use to get them to him without him having to pay to recieve them, and for him to send them back with a reduced rate of duty.
I can now see why people go to Switzerland to buy parts from him as it's probably easier than all the hoops you have to jump through to get them at sensible money properly.
And for all those knobbers who say being in Europe is bad news, you wouldn't be able to run your VW for as little as you can without it, you'd be stuck driving a Rover or some other sh!t like that.

silverbullet wrote:We got caught a while back when a customer sent us a Jag steering column for repair. He made a tiny mistake on the paperwork with FedEx, so when we returned it (also by FedEx) the description didn't tally exactly (to the letter, it's that bad) and we got stung for the import duty back to the US, ewen though it was going back to the country of origin!!!
All because he didn't write "sent for repair and return to US"
Pay the import duty and learn by the experience.
Andy did you get stung over your smallcar bits or did you have a "tax efficient" method of import?
I'm hoping to get a few choice bits back from SA with a mate in his hand luggage, making the most of his 25kg allowance
Hopefully it will work out ok

You should have spoken with HMRC before you did anything, they ain't monsters and helped me loads trying to get my head around sending things out of the EU for repair.
basically, it should come to you for free.
You repair it.
You sent it back.
they recieve it and they get charged import duty ON THE COST OF THE REPAIRS.

We ended up having to pay the vat on the (accidental) import and then claim it back. We had all the info for our accountant from FedEx but could have done without the headache...
So if my mate gets snagged bringing in a "gift" from SA, what's the duty likely to be on new or used parts? e.g a new clutch vs. used front hubs, for example?

Same here Ian I've bought stuff from the States, paid all the delivery charges and been blissfully unaware of the duty payable until I received a demand and it was a demand for further money for its UK delivery from Swindon by FedEx. If it is a standard item then there should be a set charge and that should be mentioned when confirming order. Otherwise it is a hidden cost over and above. Rob