Tips for Those Importing Cars (UK Car Prices and Importing)

Member Name: guido

Product:	UK Car Prices and Importing
Date:	01/08/01 (2229 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Still some good deals on the continent

Disadvantages: quite some hassle

I just now imported a left hand drive Mercedes 280E 4Matic Elegance Estate with sun roof and special Designo edition. This car is not sold here (4 wheel drive is possibly too small a market for the UK). I wish I had been given tips (similar to those which follow by someone prior to undertaking this adventure).

By chance I came across a good website (www.autohit.co.uk) which give fundametal importing tips. Here you find prices of new cars (to compare) and phone numbers of HM Customs and DVLA and information on which documentation to get from them. They actually produce some good booklets. Get these booklets before making a purchase.

I then was lucky to have family in Germany
who told me that a Mercedes dealer was selling the car (which I eventually bought) at a 20% discount since it had been standing 'around' without being sold. I was told that 4 wheel drives do not sell well in that part of Germany but since I am living right now in Scotland I actually prefer it. So it pays to have contacts in Germany who find good deals. Alternatively try http://uk.mobile.de and look for deals there or pick from this website Email address' or fax numbers from dealers and make contact with them.

After getting the price I checked
www.uta.fi/~ktmatu/rate-converter.html
and converted the price to Pounds. The dealer wanted to have DM72000 + 16% tax. I was hoping to get the price excluding tax but I was told this is no longer possible in Germany (since too many cars in the past have never been exported). So I was told that I will get the German tax back after I pay the UK VAT. Still to be seen whether this will work (I actually hope that I only have to pay the 1.5% difference). The DM72000+17.5% VAT is circa £27000. Note that the same basic car excluding 4Matic and excl options is sold here for circa £32000.

Getting back to the transaction. The dealer wanted to have the full payment prior to me picking up the
car. I checked exchange rates with my bank but actually found a better deal. I got www.exchange4less.com to do the transfer and had to pay circa 4% less pounds than if I had used my bank! I actually had some money coming in from the States and they gave me a US$ account in Ireland to which I send that money. All in all they gave me an excellent quick service.

Picking up the car went without problems but I had some issue with the insurance. I thought of being smart but looking back I would do it differently. I phoned around (a lot) until I found an insurance company who was willing to insure the car in Germany on chassis number. This was Endsleigh. So I insured the car with them. They sent me the insurance papers the day I was leaving for Germany so I did not have time to check them. They included a small paper entitled "Driving Abroad" stating 'the territorial limits of the policy are extended.....'. What they should have sent was an official green card since the paper they sent was rejected and I had to get additional insurance in Germany. This was not such a great deal and only cost £50 but.... So after picking
up the car I drove to 'their' DVLA to get export plates but the people at DVLA told me not to bother and just to drive the car to Scotland on the dealer's plates. However, when I discussed this with the dealer he strongly objected. Since he still has to pay me back the German tax I decided to get export plates. This was a bit cumbersome since one has to cue up and walk a long way to the cashier and the place where they actually make the plates (here one also gets temporary insurance!) but it was all sorted in circa 2hrs. All in all it went smootly since they told me that lots of Poles export vehicles from Germany. If I would do it again I would not bother insuring the car with Endsleigh. I would get the German insurance (who gave me an official green card) and only get UK insurance once the car i
s registered here. The Insurance and export plates were circa £100.

2 other things I would do different: after agreeing to buy the car I should have asked the dealer for other options (i.e. bike rack, chairs with position memory, etc.). I was given the list of options when I picked up the car: too late to install any. The car also has a km/hr speedometer. According to law it has to have a miles/hr one in the UK. I now have to purchase one here for circa £350 (incl. labour). This should have been installed in Germany after I signed the fax papers and prior to pick up.

Not much else to report except that:
- I was a bit worried about the Certificate of Conformity which one must present to DVLA. The dealer did not know the English word and I did not know the German word. It was however in the car when I picked it up.
- No need to do anything at the German or UK border.
- DVLA here are extremely helpful and efficient. They actually told me that they will make contact with Germany to delist the car there!
- Note that one can still buy tax free cars in Holland to make the tax deal more straight forward.
- the car is a dream to drive and nice to look at. All in all well worth the effort. Note that the E280 is fast like anything. No need to get a E320.
Hope the above is of help.

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