Buy from the States?

[RS VR6 0]

Why don't you guys buy parts from the States? With the falling dollar your going to get stuff for dirt cheap even with the shipping. I remember a while back people were trying to get Samcos in the UK, and it had some ridiculous three week wait time. If you ordered them from the states...you would have gotten them in a week and a half...on top of that...it would have been cheaper. The only down side is if you want to make a warranty claim...it could be a pain.

 

Just curious thats all.

 

If I was able to get stuff in another country for way cheap...you bet I'd be all over it.

[Jim 1]

We get stuffed on import tax as well as the shipping.. so it usually has to be a REALLY good deal before it makes financial sense.

 

Plenty of people do buy stuff from the States though. Cheesewire is a regular customer of Schimmel Performance!

[Dec 1]

It's the charges that the delivery companies put on top of the customs duty / vat that really gets me!

 

I had a parcelforce package that I had to pay £12 in Vat on the other week, but parcelforce charged me £18 on top of that just for the privilege of them paying the vat charge and passing it onto me!! :evil:

[too hot 0]

According to a friend of mine in customs at this time of year you can get anything in without paying tax.

Something to do with them being so busy with large orders they don`t bother with the small stuff :)

[steve @ 0]

I brought a few things from the states. Passat door handles, ally crack pipe and vagcom lead. Next is a set of autotech 262's 8)

[too hot 0]

Why don't you guys buy parts from the States? With the falling dollar your going to get stuff for dirt cheap even with the shipping. I remember a while back people were trying to get Samcos in the UK, and it had some ridiculous three week wait time. If you ordered them from the states...you would have gotten them in a week and a half...on top of that...it would have been cheaper. The only down side is if you want to make a warranty claim...it could be a pain.

 

Just curious thats all.

 

If I was able to get stuff in another country for way cheap...you bet I'd be all over it.

 

RS VR6

So how much are Samcos over there?

Any recommended dealers mate?

[__Andy__ 0]

looked for some samcos earlier and would prob work out at around £130ish not including postage.

 

i only had a quick look so you may be able to get a better deal...

[H8RRA 0]

We get stuffed on import tax as well as the shipping.. so it usually has to be a REALLY good deal before it makes financial sense.

 

Plenty of people do buy stuff from the States though. Cheesewire is a regular customer of Schimmel Performance!

 

stuff from schimmel comes in on a 2.5% duty and then theres just vat which you would pay anyway. I gave Bill the code when he sent me over the first schimmel manifold.

 

he's used this code for all products sent since then, so I've saved the likes of wires absolute fortunes !!! ;-)

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Wrong, I got stung on a set of used RECARO subframes I have just shipped over from the states, having won them on eBay. Won them for a respectable price, but the shipping cost was stupid (£80) and had to pay VAT on top of import duty which sucks big-time.

 

Shouldn't have had to pay VAT either as was under the impression that VAT is not chargeable on USED car-parts ? So what was a reasonable price paid for the subframes, turned out to cost another £160 in shipping and charges, which is more than double I paid for just the subframes alone........

 

Also got charged £12 admin fee just for the priveledge of Parcelforce passing on the Customs charges to me........... :mad:

[carpoid 0]

Would the Samco's be the same coming from a LHD Corrado ??

[RS VR6 0]

Theres no way around the VAT? I got some parts freighted in from Taiwan straight to my door...I don't recall paying any taxes.

 

VF has a special now...3000usd for the stage 2 SC kit. That has got to be cheaper than what you guys can get in the UK...even after shipping and taxes? :?

 

 

The Samcos should be the same. I recall someone saying that the only difference is that the UK ones don't come with the two small hoses off the oil cooler.

 

Samcos are going for 300 shipped locally with the clamps.

[H8RRA 0]

Wrong, I got stung on a set of used RECARO subframes I have just shipped over from the states, having won them on eBay. Won them for a respectable price, but the shipping cost was stupid (£80) and had to pay VAT on top of import duty which sucks big-time.

 

Shouldn't have had to pay VAT either as was under the impression that VAT is not chargeable on USED car-parts ? So what was a reasonable price paid for the subframes, turned out to cost another £160 in shipping and charges, which is more than double I paid for just the subframes alone........

 

Also got charged £12 admin fee just for the priveledge of Parcelforce passing on the Customs charges to me........... :mad:

 

are you referring to what I said? FFS, i'll not bother trying to give information if thats the reaction you get.

 

You'll always pay VAT as I said in my reply so you're wrong about the VAT as you've already found out - import duty is down to what the goods are declared as and 2.5% is correct for mechanical parts if you use the correct import code.

 

As for shipping - its a long way, you know and surely you asked before you bought them? The cheap way to get stuff is by land (sea) as opposed to air but obviously you wait a long time.

 

Not all couriers charge either, Parcelforce is obviously a rip-off merchant.

 

If you want to quantify what something from the States is going to cost, you can get the courier charges in advance and it s pretty dumb not to - after that add 3% duty and then 17.5% VAT - its not hard and I'm not wrong but I'll keep it to myself next time, eh? :?

[skinnyman9000 0]

I used to buy from the states alot.

 

Even after shipping, import duties etc it still came in ALOT cheaper.

 

My old gripe was parcelforce. They would charge £15-£20 to take the package from east midlands airport to my house, but would try to deliver in the day. So then when no one was in they would take the parcel back to their depot for me to pick up. Only problem was the depot was further away than the airport. So they'd just take the package 10miles further away from my house, then charge me for it!

[RS VR6 0]

I guess it depends on who the company uses to ship the stuff. Insurance really drives up the price of shipping.

 

I shipped some Robotech stuff over to the UK a couple months ago...the package was about 6-7lbs. Cost me about 50usd to ship without insurance. That gave me $100 towards the package if it gets lost. This was using the United Stated Postal Service. The package got there in about a week and a half.

 

If theres any small items you guys may need...let me know if I can help you out.

[BigTartanJudge 0]

I was actually referring to too hot's post, H8 RRA, so cool the jets :?

 

I did know about the shipping cost, just wasn't prepared for import duty AND vat AND admin fee, that's all........and it was down to the seller to put down the correct import code as he is a business, so I relied on him to get things right.

[H8RRA 0]

I was actually referring to too hot's post, H8 RRA, so cool the jets :?

 

I did know about the shipping cost, just wasn't prepared for import duty AND vat AND admin fee, that's all........and it was down to the seller to put down the correct import code as he is a business, so I relied on him to get things right.

...in that case, yip your right. A quote would have clarified things-i just get a bit pished when helpful comments are criticised. I'm calm now. ;-)

[too hot 0]

This time last year I bought full body kit for my fireblade from the US.

All panels were more or less shipped individually in seperate boxes.

I did not pay any import tax on any of it 8)

It was all marked as secondhand body panels with minimum values on it.

So there are probably ways round it,depends who is shipping :)

Mine all came via courier too,so it was not through UK post offices :lol:

[VAG-hag 0]

I guess it depends on who the company uses to ship the stuff. Insurance really drives up the price of shipping.

 

I shipped some Robotech stuff over to the UK a couple months ago...the package was about 6-7lbs. Cost me about 50usd to ship without insurance. That gave me $100 towards the package if it gets lost. This was using the United Stated Postal Service. The package got there in about a week and a half.

 

If theres any small items you guys may need...let me know if I can help you out.

 

Thats cool of ya mate. may come in handy.......

 

just had a look at your C by the way - VERY tidy indeed 8)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I buy shed loads of parts from the States.

 

Doesn't bother me about import duty and VAT as it often still works out cheaper than buying from the UK.

 

I also buy from the states because of the vast choice of parts compared to the UK and the US tuners & suppliers I deal with know their arses from their elbows and deliver on their promises, unlike a lot of the useless, lazy feckin bastards I deal with in the UK.

 

Once you build up a good relationship with a US supplier, you will rarely shop in the UK again.

 

Yes shipping is expensive but as H8RRA says, think of the weight and distance. FedEx is a well oiled machine and their service is incredible. Deliveries are always at my desk by 10am Wednesday if ordered on a Monday and the packages are never so much as scratched, let alone dented. Service like that is worth paying for.

 

It cost me $200 to ship over a VR6 cylinder head (40lbs) with FedEx and twice that to ship one back via ParcelForce :roll:

 

If you ship via the US Postal Service (very cheap, but only insure up to $500 IIRC), it ends up at Parcelforce and you will have to pay a handling fee. Parcelforce then send you a letter requesting you go and get it and pay the duty/fees....adding a 2 day delay. Use UPS (the most expensive) or FedEx (the best) to avoid the handling fees and they ship direct and invoice you for the duty afterwards.

 

To reduce the duty and VAT, you can put a very low insurance value on your shipping as that is what the duty is based on. So if you want to risk insuring, say a $4000 engine for $100 so that you only paying $20 duty and VAT at this end, you're a bloody fool quite frankly. If it gets damaged, lost or stolen. You are fcked! Just pay your dues like everyone else and stop being tight fisted :-)