Request for help with EU import

Hi Guys,

New to the forum and to the UK. Had a dream since I was young to get a defender 110. In need of some help finding and procuring a classic 1995 or earlier LHD Defender 110 into the UK to restore to original (or close to), enjoy while I am in the Uk, and eventually take back to the states wth me (if I ever go back from this lovely country)! I could use some help in the following areas; locating a solid truck (either finding it or helping to with some places i can look, importing back, and finding a great garage to fix it up. Willing to trade a significant amount of pints and/or some cash for any help you can provide! Friendly offers accepted as well!

Welcome,

I assume for your post that you know about the 25 Year rule?

Good luck.

Cheers

I do. I mention 1995 because I will be in the UK for at least another 2 years. I have really struggled to find the best way to track them down in the EU (or UK), to find a good candidate for resto, and to find a good (reasonable) local shop close-ish to london.

@neilly appreciate the response. Any advice or help you can provide in tracking one down, evaluating them for quality, advice on local shop, or anything else I would be grateful! I am actually out in the Oxford area today, saw yoh are from the area, beautiful place. Hope you are enjoying your bank holiday.

Tap204 said:

Hi Guys,

New to the forum and to the UK. Had a dream since I was young to get a defender 110. In need of some help finding and procuring a classic 1995 or earlier LHD Defender 110 into the UK to restore to original (or close to), enjoy while I am in the Uk, and eventually take back to the states wth me (if I ever go back from this lovely country)! I could use some help in the following areas; locating a solid truck (either finding it or helping to with some places i can look, importing back, and finding a great garage to fix it up. Willing to trade a significant amount of pints and/or some cash for any help you can provide! Friendly offers accepted as well!

Click to expand...

You have a really big adventure with this, if you purchase an EU LHD vehicle then import into the UK it's a ball ache (I speak from personal experience here!) the paperwork, while extensive isn't impossible to do but be prepared to be probed a lot deeper as a foreign national living in the UK and trying to import a vehicle that you just purchased on the continent, you will be required to pay import taxes as you will not have owned the vehicle for long enough to import as personal vehicle when relocating, tax man will ream you inside and out whilst looking over your papers, they really do like to investigate, I was lucky as I had invoices and receipts extending back to day of purchase when it came time to move back to the UK.

Great garages, yeah, well, good luck with that.

Some honest advice, if you want to own a Defender whilst here in the UK then buy one, if you want to cover the possibility of taking back to the US then be prepared to be disappointed on LHD UK prices for Defenders as anything that could be shipped to the US under the 25yr rule is already being tarted up and priced up to be shipped state side for the massive returns on investment so you might be looking at the proverbial "pipe dream" but, perseverance is the key, if of course you are serious. Remember that you are walking into other peoples business models where they make a lot of money so be prepared to be scooped on any vehicles that you find.

Welcome to the forum

@dieseldog69 Do you happen to recall about what the fees were to bring it across / re-register? You mentioned they love to investigate, do you know if there is a chance they will actually stop the transaction or just make me pay a bit more or something like that? Any idea how you would make the transfer on purchase (i.e. do you request temporary plates from the UK or need to ask the current owner to allow you to drive back with his plates?).

In regard to garages, so it is quite difficult to find an honest local shop to restore a truck? I would be willing to travel if you are aware of any really great shops.

Luckily, I have a few years for sure in the UK so I can buy ahead a few years (i.e. a 23 year old vs a 25). Any thoughts on where the best places to track down a solid truck would be (i.e. ebay, facebook market, etc.)

-Tyler

dieseldog69 said:

You have a really big adventure with this, if you purchase an EU LHD vehicle then import into the UK it's a ball ache (I speak from personal experience here!) the paperwork, while extensive isn't impossible to do but be prepared to be probed a lot deeper as a foreign national living in the UK and trying to import a vehicle that you just purchased on the continent, you will be required to pay import taxes as you will not have owned the vehicle for long enough to import as personal vehicle when relocating, tax man will ream you inside and out whilst looking over your papers, they really do like to investigate, I was lucky as I had invoices and receipts extending back to day of purchase when it came time to move back to the UK.

Great garages, yeah, well, good luck with that.

Some honest advice, if you want to own a Defender whilst here in the UK then buy one, if you want to cover the possibility of taking back to the US then be prepared to be disappointed on LHD UK prices for Defenders as anything that could be shipped to the US under the 25yr rule is already being tarted up and priced up to be shipped state side for the massive returns on investment so you might be looking at the proverbial "pipe dream" but, perseverance is the key, if of course you are serious. Remember that you are walking into other peoples business models where they make a lot of money so be prepared to be scooped on any vehicles that you find.

Click to expand...

dieseldog69 said:

You have a really big adventure with this, if you purchase an EU LHD vehicle then import into the UK it's a ball ache (I speak from personal experience here!) the paperwork, while extensive isn't impossible to do but be prepared to be probed a lot deeper as a foreign national living in the UK and trying to import a vehicle that you just purchased on the continent, you will be required to pay import taxes as you will not have owned the vehicle for long enough to import as personal vehicle when relocating, tax man will ream you inside and out whilst looking over your papers, they really do like to investigate, I was lucky as I had invoices and receipts extending back to day of purchase when it came time to move back to the UK.

Great garages, yeah, well, good luck with that.

Some honest advice, if you want to own a Defender whilst here in the UK then buy one, if you want to cover the possibility of taking back to the US then be prepared to be disappointed on LHD UK prices for Defenders as anything that could be shipped to the US under the 25yr rule is already being tarted up and priced up to be shipped state side for the massive returns on investment so you might be looking at the proverbial "pipe dream" but, perseverance is the key, if of course you are serious. Remember that you are walking into other peoples business models where they make a lot of money so be prepared to be scooped on any vehicles that you find.

Click to expand...

Tap204 said:

@dieseldog69 Do you happen to recall about what the fees were to bring it across / re-register? You mentioned they love to investigate, do you know if there is a chance they will actually stop the transaction or just make me pay a bit more or something like that? Any idea how you would make the transfer on purchase (i.e. do you request temporary plates from the UK or need to ask the current owner to allow you to drive back with his plates?).

In regard to garages, so it is quite difficult to find an honest local shop to restore a truck? I would be willing to travel if you are aware of any really great shops.

Luckily, I have a few years for sure in the UK so I can buy ahead a few years (i.e. a 23 year old vs a 25). Any thoughts on where the best places to track down a solid truck would be (i.e. ebay, facebook market, etc.)

-Tyler

Click to expand...

Depends on where you are importing it from, Belgium is a country where the plates belong to the person not the vehicle so you buy a car with no plates but you should have the original COC and papers to get it registered in the UK, the rest of the EU is different but you will need to transport it here in order to get it registered in the UK, you'll need to have it MOT'd (UK annual mandatory safety inspection for all vehicles over 3yrs) and will need it taken on trade plates as you will be the owner on paper but not registered keeper in the country of origin.

We don't do temporary plates here as a "get you by", these are Q plates issued to vehicles being imported for 2yrs or less and still need to be assigned to the vehicle and require it to be registered to you or your corporation outside of the UK, all ball ache, and a lot of hassle for no real gain as it still has to be registered in country of origin (from my understanding).

You also have to be certain of rules from the country of origin as some require the vehicle to be de-registered before export!

I can recommend Keith Gott in Alton and Safari Engineering in Eversley as garages I would personally trust with my own truck and that is really saying something as I am very reluctant to let anyone touch my own truck.

If you're serious then spend on the transport and don't leave anything to chance, a pull here on on the continent and a vehicle that is incorrectly registered will land you in big trouble.