I imported a car from NZ to the US at the beginning of this year. Here
is a small portion of info. The car in question is a 1977 Morris Mini
1000 outfitted with a 1275 (sorry, not a TR).
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There are two federal forms that are needed:
EPA form 3520 (available on-line at http://www.epa.gov under forms.
This is the declaration form that says it is exempt from EPA
requirements because it is 21 or more years old. (code E on the form).
There are other exemptions for racing vehicles and such but code E is
the one for a general road use car. If it is less than 21 years old you
are going to be stuck and have to find another means of exemption
(unless it conforms to the applicable emissions standards => emission
level AND installed equipment for that year).
DOT form HS-7 (also available on-line at http://www.dot.gov somewhere)
This is the exemption form for safety related items and the easiest
exemption is for cars that are 25 years old or more. Thats how I got my
'77 in.
A detail to be aware of for duty purposes. The actual Bill-of-sale
amount for my car was $3300 US so the duty I had to pay to import was
based on 2.5% of that. The shipping and such was included in the
purchase price of $5101.99 but since I had the bill-of-sale as a
separate document, it satisfied the government and I only paid duty on
the $3300..
Finally, your state may have emissions requirements that are more
restrictive than the EPA (Oregon has a restriction for 1975 or newer in
some areas). DO YOUR HOMEWORK - otherwise you may be screwed. I cannot
register my car in the Portland area because it will not conform to
local emissions requirements.
Furthermore, when I did the importing I thought I would be able to bring
it in entirely myself. It turns out there are bond issues and other
importing forms that are a hassle so I ended up using an import broker
to 'handle it'. The fee breakdown was as follows:
$5715.74 vehicle cost ($5101.99 initial + $600 shipping premium +
exchange rate variances)
$ 462.38 freight forwarding fees from the freight company directly
(offloading, etc)
$ 303.40 import broker fees ($84.50 duty + $100 processing + $50
warehouse fee + $68.90 truck fee)
$ 125.00 freight company (dunnage disposal)
For cars that are intended to be sold right away the broker processes a
bond as well so there are bond fees. Because I gave them a statement
that it was for personal use they were able to avoid the bond.
As for shipping, there are several companies that will handle cars
internationally. I was also checking into freight forwarders that
combine loads into containers and such. If it is a single car and
single shipment you are probably better off using one of the established
vehicle transporters. When I spoke to a couple of the forwarders they
were quite candid and said they would simple sub out to a vehicle
transporter and then charge a 10% fee for handling...
A listing of some vehicle shippers (price shown was from Portland OR to
Southampton - don't ask why...):
All Points Transporters $1595 USD, 800-888-4482
http://www.1stautocarriers.com/overseas1.asp $1850 USD
http://odysseytransportation.com $2170 USD to Southampton
http://www.weshipcars.com
http://www.aaat.com
http://www.carmoves.com
http://www.lloydmanex.com
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