Dodgy car dealers

[CobraRover 0]

Hey guys. I'm looking at buying a used 2009 Ford Mustang from a car dealership in Miami and importing it into the UK, but once it arrives in the UK I have to pay 17.5% tax and 10% import duty based on the amount the car was bought for + plus all costs of shipping up until the moment it arrives in the UK.

I'm not quite sure how things work in the USA, but does anyone think it would be at all inappropriate to ask the car dealer to invoice me a couple of thousand dollars less than what I actualy pay for the car? Or do you think they will tell me where to get off straight away? Love a bit of black money.

[muff528 3]

If he has no problem screwing the governments of 2 countries, he will probably have no problem screwing you in the car deal.

[futuredivot 0]

Since you choose to leave a trail of your intent to defraud on a website-I don't think they should trust you.

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[shropshire 0]

Bwhaaaa


You used dodgy and car dealer in the same sentence ... redundancy or what?

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[CobraRover 0]

Yeh no more answers needed on this one I think!

[CobraRover 0]

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Since you choose to leave a trail of your intent to defraud on a website-I don't think they should trust you.

Yeh I suppose thats understandable, so I'd just like to point out that im on a budget of 16,000 euros, which I originally thought was enough... that was until I found out I'd be getting charged 27.5% instead of 17.5%, which puts me a couple of thousand above budget :(. No harm intended anywhere, just being a little inpatient, that's all.

[Amazon 7]

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Since you choose to leave a trail of your intent to defraud on a website-I don't think they should trust you.

Yeh I suppose thats understandable, so I'd just like to point out that im on a budget of 16,000 euros, which I originally thought was enough... that was until I found out I'd be getting charged 27.5% instead of 17.5%, which puts me a couple of thousand above budget :(. No harm intended anywhere, just being a little inpatient, that's all.

Ahem....


Private sale .........................avoid the dealer

Far easier to wheel and deal... and get the price down that way. Its been my experience that many dealers will only pay out 50% of blue book when doing a trade in.. so if a private party who is facing that in a trade in for something new.. there is a lot more wiggle room to do the wheeler dealer thing.

They get more money than a dealer will give them

You get a car for less that you have to pay tax on

You just wont have Edd China to sort it out mechanically for you

[skyjumpenfool 2]

[Red]Red Flag!!!! Red Flag!!![/Red]

It's called book value. Go ahead and try, but most customs types know how to look up the current book value of any vehicle.

Lying about the price will just raise the flag.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[BIGUN 1,486]

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Hey guys. I'm looking at buying a used 2009 Ford Mustang from a car dealership in Miami and importing it into the UK, but once it arrives in the UK I have to pay 17.5% tax and 10% import duty based on the amount the car was bought for + plus all costs of shipping up until the moment it arrives in the UK.

Can you still avoid both of these by owning it and leaving it in the US for 6 months?

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[CobraRover 0]

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Hey guys. I'm looking at buying a used 2009 Ford Mustang from a car dealership in Miami and importing it into the UK, but once it arrives in the UK I have to pay 17.5% tax and 10% import duty based on the amount the car was bought for + plus all costs of shipping up until the moment it arrives in the UK.

Can you still avoid both of these by owning it and leaving it in the US for 6 months?

Nope. The only way I could avoid them is if I was importing the car to the UK for work or as a student and only kept the vehicle in the UK for X amount of time (3-6months i think) before shipping it back to its original country of origin before this time frame lapses.

[CobraRover 0]

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[Red]Red Flag!!!! Red Flag!!![/Red]

It's called book value. Go ahead and try, but most customs types know how to look up the current book value of any vehicle.

Lying about the price will just raise the flag.

If I import it within 1 month of purchasing it, I get charged based on the value I paid. If I go over this time frame, they charged me based on the UK wholesale value (which is a hell of a lot higher than in the US!).

Funny thing is though, shipping from the USA to the UK takes 6-8 weeks anyway! Stupid rule! Just emailed customs to find out whether the 1 month rule applies to exporting from port of origin within that time frame, or making sure it lands in the port of destination within that time frame. Better be the former!

[BIGUN 1,486]

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In order to avoid duty (10% for cars) and tax (Value Added Tax - VAT - of 17.5%) you must have owned the car for 6 months or more in the US and keep it for 1 year after you arrive in the UK. The Customs and Excise website says:

You may want to double check that... http://www.import-car.info/customs.shtml I don't know if it means you must live in the US; or own it in the US.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[ridestrong 1]

buy something with a Hemi in it instead

*I am not afraid of dying... I am afraid of missing life.*
----Disclaimer: I don't know shit about skydiving.----

[Andy9o8 2]

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I'm not quite sure how things work in the USA, but does anyone think it would be at all inappropriate to ask the car dealer to invoice me a couple of thousand dollars less than what I actualy pay for the car?

Ethics are for you to decide. But you & the dealer doing that in concert with each other is probably a violation of UK law, at least on your part. You'd have to ask a UK lawyer whether the dealer, even though he's outside the UK, would be deemed by the UK to be in violation of its laws.

(I'm not going to take the time to look up whether the dealer creating a false invoice for the purpose of avoiding tax in a foreign country is or is not a violation of either US federal or Florida law, and/or a violation pursuant to any treaties to which the UK & the US are mutual parties.)