Chuffed or what.

I bet. Bruce, who until a few years ago, let every car he owned go to a garage if it needed an oil change. After a really irritating two week wait for the Discovery to be repaired when the brake caliper fell to bits, parts ordered that were never used and when they finally did do the work, started it about 9am and returned the vehicle to us by dinner time, he has done everything himself. He says its is very rewarding when you know you have done something never attempted before and it still works afterwards. The Range Rover did fail its MOT this time on one thing - a worn suspension bush which was replaced within hours and I drove home with the new MOT certificate. He's sorting the Series out this morning - half shaft broke on it last week. Got to keep himself busy while he waits for Ivan to drop the new addition down to him - 1979 Lightweight.

I'm a little like that myself - after paying through the nose for a bodged job at a garage I would rather spend the extra on some proper tools and get my hands dirty (especially with the Series 2a). I've always got a little niggle in the back of my mind (especially at 70 mph) "Did I tighten that hub nut up correctly?" "Did I bend the lock tabs on the swivel pin far enough?" - but then, having read tales of woe on here about other garage jobs - maybe I'm just as well doing it myself as I do tend to double/triple check as I go along.

Right - it's totally pissing down here but I'm off to rip the bull bar off the Range Ruster (I've always disliked it but SWMBO does like it - seeing as I've managed to get the RR back as my personal transport then it's coming off)

Graeme

I know what you mean. Why pay the garage lots of money to shag it up, when I can make a hash of it on my own for a lot less?

Seriously though, it's irritating when you get the thing back, you're a hundred quid poorer and you think, "I could have done that myself in a couple of hours."

Might save something on fuel. Bruce has recently replaced the one on the Disco with one that was generously donated by a member of the newsgroup, before he disappeared to a Scottish Island. He did strip all the plastic off treat it for the small amount of rust it had aquired and has since repainted it.

Not too sure where Bruce has disappeared too actually. Probably trying to locate a half shaft for the Series 3, but he could just have easily gone over to the gunshop as he got a variation on his FAC certificate the other day and I know he's just fed up with waiting for the Lightweight to get here. He's been up since 6!

No point in going down that road "How much could I have saved if I'd done....."

You'll only get irritated/depressed!

Have you told her yet how much you've just had to spend?

I recall reading something on Ebay forums about posting stuff from the U.S. to export...if it's under a certain value or marked up as a gift or was it both then there was no export tax to pay... but then it was a while ago and I don't really have a clue what I'm talking about as I've never imported / exported a single thing but maybe someone can rescue my poor attempt at a helpfull suggestion thats now completely confused you. I suppose you could post it to the wife as a Gift from you...that should go down well! ....... no ....I really aren't helping am I....

Lee D

Actually Lee, you really are helping, that's a great idea. If you buy goods online and ship to another state you can often avoid state taxes. If I could get somebody in the US to buy them and ship as a gift, that could be a totally legitimate way of avoiding import duty, not sure about the VAT though... I'll look into it.

It's UK Customs & Excise -- import duty and VAT.

For small values, _including_ P&P, you don't get charged duty or VAT, and there is a higher limit for gifts. I don't recall the limit, but I think it's still _less_ than 20 quid. If the value is over the limit, you're charged for the total value.

And you pay VAT on the import duty as well.

The rate of import duty varies, and there are pitfalls over how some stuff is described. Books are zero-rated for VAT, but what is a book?

Then the Post Office will hit you with a fee for collecting the money.

Be careful. What you're suggesting is probably illegal.

Bruce ordered a nightvision rifle scope from the States a few years ago. It took longer to get here than he had expected so by the time it did arrive he'd got the right asre and sent it back when he discovered that it had £160 tax to pay. He then changed his mind and Boris from the company who sold it was quite understanding and re-sent it as soon as it came back. It seems that because it had already been through the system once, any tax due was overlooked, which we were really surprised about. On opening the box, Bruce follwed instruction to the letter but couldn't even get it to switch on, so it went back again and when a replacement was sent out we were expecting to have to pay import duty. It was marked as being a repaired item due to fault and didn't actually have to pay anything.

My understanding was that if it is over a certain amount - can't tell you what it is as it was about four years ago that we sent for the NV riflrscope and binoculars, then import tax applies. I know for definate that if it is a replacement for a faulty item or has been repaired then there is also no import tax to pay as it should have been paid when it was delivered the first time. Not sure about it being a gift though.

In article , Nikki writes

I bought a secondhand HP audio analyser from Alaska earlier in the year for $600 (first big Ebay success). I researched the duty payable from the Excise web site and by calling them (friendly & helpful, BTW).

Broadly speaking it's VAT on everything you'd usually pay VAT on, plus import tariffs on certain items at varying rates. For example there's an additional 6% on PC components (making 23.5% altogether!). There isn't a lower limit, but I think there's an unwritten rule-of-thumb that low-value items are ignored. It also seems to be the case that secondhand items aren't charged either (hence I was chuffed when there turned out to be no duty payable on the analyser - had calculated this to be about £150). Personal gifts ("Christmas Presents" etc.) also seem to be not-charged-for, although I don't think they're officially exempt. Looking forward to being proven wrong though :)

Regards,

Simonm.

I don't want to fall on the wrong side of the law, but I'll do a bit of research to work out the most tax-efficient, legitimate way of doing it. All the import duty rates etc are listed somewhere on the C&E website.

David