Importing a 500E 124 series

[skinflint]

It seems that 124 series 500Es fetch between £10000 and £18,000 in this country (when you can find them that is)

Looking on E bay, one sees many more advertised either in Europe or the USA, often for much less.

Aside from the headlight alignment and in the case of european cars the speedo, will the spec and performance be any different to a UK registered car? They will all be LHD anyway i guess.

I guess the european car will be easier to import if its coming from another EU country, but will it need an MOT and would there be any import tax to pay?

 

[Seeker_UK]

I went through all of this when I was looking to buy something similar.

The DVLA will tell you all about the technical side of importing the car but cost wise, whatever you spend on the car is only the start.

Any import will cost money to ship. (Not sure how much this is but it's likely to be expensive)

Add 17.5% VAT to pay when it hits the UK.

Add an additional 10% import duty too.

Then there's the cost of bringing it up to UK spec and finding a sympathetic MOT tester who won't notice a km/h speedo.....


If you want my advice, speak to Martin at MCP motorsport:

http://www.mcp-motorsport.com/

He imports those sort of cars day in / day out and offers a sourcing and import service - you may pay a bit more but his buyer is pretty up on these models and so you are less likely to be getting a dog - a lot from Europe will be quite miley and have had a hard life.

Good luck.

 

[skinflint]

Thank you Seeker UK

If buying from Europe one could drive it back maybe following an easy jet fly out there?

Also if an EC country, would you have to pay VAT and imprt duty?

Not sure if they would apply.

Lighting cant be that difficult to change over as i dont think lights are unique to 500Es

I can see the merit though of going thru some agents like those you suggested, but they must be making money out of it or else why would they do it.

 

[Seeker_UK]

From the EC, you pay VAT but not duty.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...ntent&id=HMCE_CL_000165&propertyType=document

Hope your German's up to scratch - if it is, use http://www.mobil.de

Try this link first:

http://www.mobile.de/SIDRzsOlMGpzb9...sr_zipRadiusTo=-2&doSearch.x=74&doSearch.y=12

 

[Legoman]

for the speedo just do what ive done and buy a HUD display that works in mph.

 

[ant500sl]

No VAT or import duty on used vehicles from Europe, only new and nearly new.

When I brought a Porsche 944 Convertible over in 2000 all it took was a trailer and a visit to the local vehicle office with the old German documents and an MOT. If the vehicles still registered abroad you can even drive the thing back on export plates.

Very simple really. The hard bits finding the right car, which is where an agent comes in handy.

 

[mjtray]

If you're looking at a 500E....one thing you need to check is...wiring harness....the originals are prone to failing and if it goes, its likely to take out the ECU and Coil Packs.

Luckily for me, my 500E had the work done just before I purchased it....cost....a cool £3500....you need to see evidence of the work having been done or at least knock off the cost of the wiring loom (£800) and get it changed ASAP.

All in all....do your research before you purchase as these are fairly complex machines and there are a lot of cheap 500E's for sale in Germany and also a lot of 500E's that are a similar price to what you would pay over here....which makes you think why are the cheap ones cheap!!!