Importing Tyres

Malcolm ( snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Shall we examine the options more thoroughly?

Take the missus, make a weekend break of it, and get in her good books at the same time. Don't forget what date Monday is - a good day to announce a romantic long weekend to New York...

Of course, especially with a half-decent "Sex and the City"-style tour of Fifth Avenue, the final cost will skyrocket, negating any possible savings.

That's all before she realises that you're expecting her to carry a pair of

21-inch beaded-edge tyres through customs with an innocent look on her face.

Balance against that the effect of saying "I'm going to the States for the weekend on my own, to buy some tyres for the old car, dear. Can I have a lift to Heathrow?" will do. Just think of the phone bill as you spend the whole following week trying to find which scrap yard collected the Crossley while you were away. Ignoring, of course, the cost of the lawyer for the divorce.

Buy them in the UK. YKIMS.

Don't forget how much they weigh - you could end up with a large freight or excess baggage bill!

By the time you've paid import duty and VAT I suspect the savings don't make it worthwhile. Unless you can find someone who is importing regularly who is able to pop it in their container.

Last year I imported a set of 4 brake discs and and a full set of pads from the USA for my Ford Explorer. (Am I allowed to mention the Explorer in this NG?) The surface shipping charge for this heavy consignment was approx £65. The stuff was shipped in 2 separate packages - HM customs slapped a £23 charge on one of them. The other arrived a day later without any import or VAT charges. The total was still about £400 cheaper than Ford UK... Get Googling and find a US dealer prepared to ship worldwide - I'm sure it'll work out cheaper!

Simon H

You may be interested to hear (or not) that you can get the pads from EBC, either as normal or their "green stuff" compound. The brake disks can also be had from EBC for reasonable prices, no import duty or VAT and the prices are comparable with Sears/Explorer Express in the states.

"Simon H" realised it was Fri, 11 Feb 2005

19:24:28 +0000 (UTC) and decided it was time to write:

You are, but you should be prepared for questions like: don't you care about your credibility? When did you last roll it? Does it have wheels on the sides and roof, too?

Maybe. But then you'll have the import duty and VAT to pay.

Thanks for that - I'll bear it in mind if / when I need any more...

Simon H

Hi,

never done tyres (or tires either) but I've sent gun and motorcycle parts to europe a time or two with no hassle via the post and never had the recipient have to pay VAT.

I'd mark it someth> Malcolm ( snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com) gurgled happily, sounding

Don't forget the VAT and import duty

Pete

I haven't bought anything yet and yes I am aware of the VAT and duty and the handling fee. I did find a PDF table of import duties but can't find it again, by memory it was about 4%. What looks like being the killer is the freight charge. My best bet at the moment is there could be a saving of about £50 by buying from the US. In view of the possible problems I am thinking its not worth it. Several tyre companies were offering VAT free deals at Beaulieu in September and if that can be repeated it would really swing it to the UK.. Seeing the tyres are from Taiwan and presumably paid for in dollars and the way the dollar has fallen there has been a 20% increase in profit to someone in the last 12 months.

The special offer of the tyres at USD55 rather than USD75 which really encouraged me seems not to be available at the present.

Adrian, fortunately they are not beaded edge or the price would double.