Importing

[applesin]

Hi

 

I hope someone can help.

 

We are looking at buying our first m'home but as yet havent found anything in the UK that meets our requirements.

 

We were looking at buying abroad as we want a LHD model, now heres the tricky bit, does anyone know of any, or were to get any information on importing motorhomes?

 

Thanks guys

 

:-D

 

Yvonne

[Barney123]

Hi, Depends on what you want to know. Do you know what make/model of van you want. ? New or Second Hand ? How much you intend to spend ?.

New van you can Import Vat free and pay the Vat in Uk if you are liable from Vat. Select you van, sort out tempory insurance, download necessary forms from VRO, thats Vehicle Registration Office, fill the forms in, pay registration fee and vehicle road tax & Vat if necessary. The VRO may ask you to present the vehicle to check details in your form's match the vehicle details. After this the VRO post you the Tax Disc within 24 hours and thats about it. I have imported my last 2 vans and no problems. Go to a dealer in the UK to do it for you and that little bit of advise I have give you would have cost you about £4k on top of the van price.

Good luck

[Guest JudgeMental]

I think we need a little more detail if you are expecting some informed advice.

 

what are you looking for exactly?

 

new or used?

 

Budget?

 

length?

 

berths?

 

any makes catch yiur fancy?

 

 

I still think its worth buying abroad as savings still to be had. But also a lot of LHD vans appear in the likes of Ebay....so if you see something suitable there it may save some leg work. a good place to start to compare prices is the German website:

 

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/search.html?scopeId=MH&lang=en

 

 

[rupert123]

applesin - 2010-05-16 8:12 PM

 

Hi

 

I hope someone can help.

 

We are looking at buying our first m'home but as yet havent found anything in the UK that meets our requirements.

 

We were looking at buying abroad as we want a LHD model, now heres the tricky bit, does anyone know of any, or were to get any information on importing motorhomes?

 

Thanks guys

 

:-D

 

Yvonne

 

This is easy DVLA have all the information.

[Hughmer]

I've sent you a private message. Check your inbox. Regards

[Brian Kirby]

You cannot register the vehicle before it is physically in the UK.  The tricky bit is insuring the vehicle before it is registered in the UK, which you have to do to if you want to drive it home.  Be very, very, careful over claims that this is possible, and make sure you get confirmation in writing from any insurer who says they can do this.

Essentially, my understanding is that it is not possible to insure a vehicle to drive it in Europe before it is registered in UK.  Temporary cover notes are not accepted as evidence of insurance by European police forces.  It may be possible to obtain insurance to drive the vehicle from a UK port of entry to your home on its chassis number, possibly even on foreign plates if bought second hand abroad.  You should check very carefully whether it can be insured on temporary foreign export plates.

If you buy in Germany the German dealer will provide temporary export plates which will include third party only insurance.  Check very carefully if any UK insurer claims to be able to provide you with a "top up" insurance to bring this cover to the equivalent of UK Full Comp.

Finally, be aware that very few UK insurers will provide this cover in any form, that many people who have obtained this insurance in the past are unaware of changed rules now in operation, and that at least one insurer was offering this insurance in 2009, but with a requirement to get the vehicle registered in UK within 14 days of obtaining the insurance.  That requirement can, just, be met if there is no complication with the process, you have covered absolutely every DVLA/HMRC requirement in advance, there is low volume in the DVLA pipeline at the time you import, the vehicle does not have to be inspected prior to registration, and your local DVLA office is reasonably pro-active.  That is an awful lot of provisos for success!

[applesin]

Thank you to Barney123, JudgeMental, Rupert123, Hughmer and Brian.

 

Barney thanks for the information regards VRO, will look there at their info.

Brian, ditto, think insurance is proberly my biggest worry.

 

The 'van -

we dont mind either new or used as long as it is in good condition,

Budget £30k

Length, 7meters

2-4 berths

Tec and Eriba, ~Hymer but think way out of our budget.

Must haves - A island bed due to arthritis in the knees and under 3500kg due to my licence. Needing an island bed could also be a problem with trying to find reasonable priced 2nd hand models.

 

THe Ro-tec 722G is 7.5 meters long but has everything we need, Lowdhams have a 2009 model at £44k but is right hand drive, also over budget, I have seen the same model twice in Germany, 1 year old 3700km at eur50k and the other 2yrs old and more expensive. It does make me wonder if there is a problem with that model if they are selling them after 1-2 yrs use. Eriba car Emotions, again at Lowdhams, but still a right hand drive. The other down side of buying in Germany is that they don't bother with ovens!

 

After moving to Denmark and bringing our 10 yr old car with us and getting hammered by import tax, green tax and any other tax they could think of and having only 14 days to do it all and it was Xmas we did get quite a bit of leeway as the government offices love their holidays!

 

Thanks to every's info.

Yvonne

[Guest JudgeMental]

your kidding right? 7.5 m with island bed and 3.500kg it is just not possible IMO. 3.850 or 4000 kg at least, to give any sort of a practical, usable payload :-S

 

the rotec is probably for sale for the above reasons,probably totally inpractical in 3500kg form, It must weigh at least 32-3300 unloaded*-)

 

why an island bed, why not look at twin singles? Just as easy to get into and you can put a piece in middle with many, to make it a very large double but still have easy access in V with steps up in most.

 

But any longitudinal bed van will either have a compromised lounge or be long and heavy

 

I would not worry to much re insurance, many drive home on third party without incidence and dealers sometimes drive you to Port where your own full comp kicks in. This is easier if you buy in Belgium which is also more convenient if you have warranty problems

 

expect a 10 -18% discount buying in Europe...play one dealer of against another

[Brian Kirby]

JudgeMental - 2010-05-17 8:33 AM your kidding right? 7.5 m with island bed and 3.500kg it is just not possible IMO. 3.850 or 4000 kg at least, to give any sort of a practical, usable payload :-S the rotec is probably for sale for the above reasons,probably totally inpractical in 3500kg form, It must weigh at least 32-3300 unloaded*-) why an island bed, why not look at twin singles? Just as easy to get into and you can put a piece in middle with many, to make it a very large double but still have easy access in V with steps up in most. But any longitudinal bed van will either have a compromised lounge or be long and heavy

I would echo Eddie's comments above.  I don't think you will get a viable payload at 7+ metres within a 3.5 tonne MAM.

I would not worry to much re insurance, many drive home on third party without incidence and dealers sometimes drive you to Port where your own full comp kicks in. This is easier if you buy in Belgium which is also more convenient if you have warranty problems expect a 10 -18% discount buying in Europe...play one dealer of against another

I'm afraid I disagree with Eddie on this.  The insurance rules have recently changed, and although it may still be possible to find UK insurers who will cover you from UK port of entry to home, so that you have full comp on that part of your journey, I think you will struggle to find one.

If you buy in Germany, because the van cannot be driven on German roads without plates or insurance, it will be registered for export, and you will automatically get both temporary plates and export insurance.  This insurance is third party only.  To be clear, that means no fire, no theft, no accidental damage cover.  All it will cover is damage or injury to other people, or their property.  You'll need to check the validity of the insurance outside Germany, my understanding from others is that it is Europe wide, but time limited (I think 15 days).  If this is correct, you can legally drive on that insurance from wherever you buy to your home. 

You will then have to park it - off road, because it will now be completely uninsured - until you are notified of your UK registration, when you can insure it full comp in UK and then drive it as necessary to get the number plates made up.  You may be able to get UK full comp on its chassis number pending completion of registration, but you will have to research the insurers to check their present requirements.

This is not a matter of the legality of issuing the insurance, it is all perfectly legal.  It is even now legal to sell full comp insurance in UK that will cover the whole of your journey back.  It is a matter of whether the insurance companies consider the cost of issuing the insurance, the risks in doing so, and the amount of additional business that may generate, make it commercially worthwhile to do so.  At present, so far as I know, the general opinion among UK insurers is that this is not worthwhile, so they are not offering it.  You may get lucky if you can get to a really good Lloyds broker, who can persuade an underwriter to do him a favour.  Otherwise, I think you will really struggle if you want to drive home on full comp.

[net-traveller]

You could have a word with the following -

http://www.bundesvan.co.uk/about.php

 

May help.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Brian is probably right in theory to worry regards the detail. But checked with Safeguard and situation the same as 3 years ago when I imported last van...They will insure fully comp on vin or chassis no when at UK port, but only for 30 days. Why this worries Brian I cant imagine, as you are fully covered to get it home, and as long as you are organised should be able to register within that time.

 

I have used dealers trade plates (Brian don't like this either) and posted straight back. Dealer checked with insurance co and they said OK. Or would get them to drive van to port easy if Belgium.

 

I personally would not be concerned even if I had to drive 3rd party from Germany...you would have to be very unlucky to have a problem.

 

Now..... DVLA is a postcode lottery! some easy some are not! mine insisted on inspection and would not register till speedo changed from KPH to MPH. Ford had to order, which took 2 weeks but hey ho I will do this in advance next time, never happened before......so speedo and fog light on other side, head lights can be masked eventually

 

You could buy a 6 month old van and avoid the VAT but harder to negotiate a decent discount on secondhand van and harder still from here.....

 

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

applesin - 2010-05-17 6:17 AM Thank you to Barney123, JudgeMental, Rupert123, Hughmer and Brian. Barney thanks for the information regards VRO, will look there at their info. Brian, ditto, think insurance is proberly my biggest worry. The 'van - we dont mind either new or used as long as it is in good condition, Budget £30k Length, 7meters 2-4 berths Tec and Eriba, ~Hymer but think way out of our budget. Must haves - A island bed due to arthritis in the knees and under 3500kg due to my licence. Needing an island bed could also be a problem with trying to find reasonable priced 2nd hand models. THe Ro-tec 722G is 7.5 meters long but has everything we need, Lowdhams have a 2009 model at £44k but is right hand drive, also over budget, I have seen the same model twice in Germany, 1 year old 3700km at eur50k and the other 2yrs old and more expensive. It does make me wonder if there is a problem with that model if they are selling them after 1-2 yrs use. Eriba car Emotions, again at Lowdhams, but still a right hand drive. The other down side of buying in Germany is that they don't bother with ovens! After moving to Denmark and bringing our 10 yr old car with us and getting hammered by import tax, green tax and any other tax they could think of and having only 14 days to do it all and it was Xmas we did get quite a bit of leeway as the government offices love their holidays! Thanks to every's info. Yvonne

Accepting first that you will need either to increase your license entitlements to include vehicles heavier than 3.5 tonnes, or review your requirements to get a van that will work within a 3.5 tonne MAM, I would suggest you broaden your net.  Germany is not that handy if you want to self-import.  North-eastern France, or Belgium, are better places to look for dealers because proximity to the channel ports means the dealer may be willing to drive the van to the port on his insurance, leaving you with only one problem, that of getting insurance for the van once it is in UK, albeit still unregistered.

However, dealerships are not that dense on the ground in either country, and Germany, being the biggest market, is  the place that offers the widest choice.  It is also surprisingly competitive on price.

Both TEC, and Eriba, are, in fact, made by Hymer (at least, they are part of the Hymer group), as are Dethleffs and Bürstner.  I would suggest you review your licence permissions, and/or your requirements for the van.  If you will be limited to 3.5 tonnes MAM, I think you need to look at sub 7 metre vans, with unladen weights around 2.7 tonnes.  Put another way, you should look for an ex-works payload in the region of 500 - 800kg.  Remember every kilogramme of equipment you add to the van, in the form of awning, bike rack, solar panels, additional batteries, satellite dishes etc, reduces payload by exactly the same amount.  Adequate payload is the key to future happiness!

When you are settled on the van, or vans, that you think may suit your needs, hunt down the UK dealers where you can seen examples, and have a good look at them.  Check availability and prices in Germany on mobil.de as you go.  Prepare a shortlist on this basis and, when you are satisfied you have found vans you like within your budget, contact Nick Legg of Bundesvan here www.bundesvan.co.uk.

He is an importer who specializes in bringing in motorhomes from Germany.  He will go with you to view vans, haggle with the dealer/s, fix a price in Euros - but you will pay him in Sterling - import the van on his trade plates and insurance, register it, tax it, and deliver it to your front door.  Because he is registered with DVLA as a dealer, he will give you a UK registration number so that you can insure the vehicle before it is imported, meaning you can legally drive it, or park it, on UK roads from the moment it is delivered to you. 

My own experience of this route was that we got a van for about the same price as advertised by German dealers on mobile.de, while Nick presumably made his profit and covered his expenses on the difference between what he paid the dealer (which is his business), and what we paid him.  The UK price of our van at that time was about £35,000, and we paid Nick about £30,000 Sterling.  I have no connection with Bundesvan, other than as a satisfied customer, but he is generally well regarded by those who have used him.  I am sure there are others, but I have no knowledge, personal or vicarious, of them.

[Brian Kirby]

JudgeMental - 2010-05-17 12:15 PM Brian is probably right in theory to worry regards the detail. But checked with Safeguard and situation the same as 3 years ago when I imported last van...They will insure fully comp on vin or chassis no when at UK port, but only for 30 days. Why this worries Brian I cant imagine, as you are fully covered to get it home, and as long as you are organised should be able to register within that time.

Insurance is all about detail, but 30 days would not worry me.  It was the 15 days I have been quoted elsewhere that would, for the reason you state below re DVLA and their varying timescales/requirements!  Good to know Safeguard will still do this, at least that is one workable option.

I have used dealers trade plates (Brian don't like this either) and posted straight back. Dealer checked with insurance co and they said OK. Or would get them to drive van to port easy if Belgium.

I have no problem with the use of a dealer's trade plates if they are on offer.  You just need to be sure the dealer has crossed all the "T"s and dotted the "I"s.

I personally would not be concerned even if I had to drive 3rd party from Germany...you would have to be very unlucky to have a problem.

Ah, but that is a personal decision.  Someone who has never previously driven outside the UK, driven a left hand drive vehicle, or driven anything so large as a motorhome, may not feel quite so relaxed at risking their shiny new £30,000 toy in this way!  :-)

Now..... DVLA is a postcode lottery! some easy some are not! mine insisted on inspection and would not register till speedo changed from KPH to MPH. Ford had to order, which took 2 weeks but hey ho I will do this in advance next time, never happened before......so speedo and fog light on other side, head lights can be masked eventually You could buy a 6 month old van and avoid the VAT but harder to negotiate a decent discount on secondhand van and harder still from here.....

Which is why I raised the concern about the timescales imposed by some insurers.  Ours raised no queries at all, did not inspect (because I presented receipts for speedo and headlights), were not busy at the time, and were efficient.  However, not all are, and not all vans will be treated in the same way.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Using an agent you are not going to get the sort of discount you can get directly yourself...as this is how they make their money? By all means get quotes and compare and do the math But IMO you get charged a lot for the convenience. A 17% discount on a 45k van is over £8000, better in my pocket then anyone else's!

 

While I recommend mobile.de earlier as a comparison site,guide to prices and to find dealers, quoted prices can easily be bettered with hard negotiation. Just tell them your English and they will feel sooo sorry for you, and probably start crying :-D

[W3526602]

Hi,

 

A couple of deadlines to keep in mind.

 

VAT is scheduled to rise in UK, don't know when. But keep this in mind if you are buying new.

 

If Ant & Dec get their act together, it may be that the exchange rate will improve, or it may get worse. Even a 1% shift on £30,000 is a lot of money.

 

602

[Derek Uzzell]

It's perhaps worth adding that, if you plan to drive a motorhome bought abroad to your UK home address, it's pretty much inevitable that you will be in conflict with the Department for Transport's importing regulations. See

 

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicles/vssafety/importsapproval/howtoimportyourvehicleperman4559?page=3