Whirlwind 110-Buying Tour

Good Morning, Gents.

A friend and I are planning on visiting the UK in hopes of picking up a pair of Tithonus 110s from Witham Specialist Vehicles. We're hoping to fly over from the US, pick out and purchase the vehicles, complete all necessary paperwork and vehicle prep, then drive them to Southampton for loading on a RO-RO ship.

Neither my friend nor I have ever been to the UK so we're quite unsure of what to expect and totally unfamiliar with your government processes. Does it sound feasible for two foreigners to pick out a truck at Witham and get all of the preparation work done within one working week?

When you purchase from Witham, are they the ones doing all of the V5 paperwork or is this something that we can handle on our own?

Chris

I'd strongly suggest that you talk to Withams, they are experts at exporting vehicles.

I believe that, as they arrive at Witham on army registrations, most vehicles are not legal on British roads without an MOT (our road safety test), taking out British insurance and then paying for British road tax. It might be cheaper for you to get Withams to deliver them, on a truck, to your export port.

This might also save you having to pay the national sales tax (Value Added Tax at 20%).

you also need to check US law, as last time i checked said vehicles need to be over 25 years old for them to be imported into the states???

Any of our resident merkins confirm or deny?

All sound advice above, I was looking at doing something similar and bringing one or two out to Poland but when we spoke to Withams we were told that 7 days is expecting a lot for the turnaround time, dependent on the vehicles we chose and what was needed to get them through the MOT and then taxing and insuring the vehicles does seem pointless if they are only going as far as Southampton, or in our case Dover.

I would say you must speak to them to clarify everything and it has to be cheaper all round to get them delivered to Southampton on a transporter rather than paying 6 months tax on both and taking out temporary insurance on two vehicles just to drive 150 miles or so.

BGBs point about the importation is also a bloody good one, are these types of vehicle even allowed in the states?

chrissnell said:

Good Morning, Gents.

A friend and I are planning on visiting the UK in hopes of picking up a pair of Tithonus 110s from Witham Specialist Vehicles. We're hoping to fly over from the US, pick out and purchase the vehicles, complete all necessary paperwork and vehicle prep, then drive them to Southampton for loading on a RO-RO ship.

Neither my friend nor I have ever been to the UK so we're quite unsure of what to expect and totally unfamiliar with your government processes. Does it sound feasible for two foreigners to pick out a truck at Witham and get all of the preparation work done within one working week?

When you purchase from Witham, are they the ones doing all of the V5 paperwork or is this something that we can handle on our own?

Chris

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Doubt you can do that........... If you are going to try to get a defender into the USA you NEED to do a google about importing them.
Just might take the wind out of your sail. Be careful though you can buy anything you want and put them in a container and ship. But when you go through Port authority/customs is a different story.

You will not be the First American that has a Defender sitting on US soil behind a fence rusting away

Well BGB and Discopol you both point out areas of concern. If people would do a search, everything would be answered. In this case what does he think....... That we are eggsprts in export/import services and Knowing US import laws?????? I have done the google about this and is a bag of worms and have give links to other Yanks about the subject By PM in most cases. problem is right hand drive insurance is a very big problem in the US unless you are a mail man/women doing the delivery. Plus you need a special endorsement on your driver license for right hand drive vehicles.

Best bet they could do is buy them left hand drive 109's and then ship and that is not a problem.

You have seen on uk ebay the silly price for us-exportable drfenders 20-30k quid
that is $30-$40 k us money plus 5k for shipping

I'm looking into shipping to namibia

Thor1950 said:

Doubt you can do that........... If you are going to try to get a defender into the USA you NEED to do a google about importing them.
Just might take the wind out of your sail. Be careful though you can buy anything you want and put them in a container and ship. But when you go through Port authority/customs is a different story.

You will not be the First American that has a Defender sitting on US soil behind a fence rusting away

Click to expand...

Sorry guys, I should have told you a little bit about myself. I'm not new to the Defender game, having owned one for eight years now. The Tithonus trucks that we're planning to purchase are legal to bring to the US because they are 1987 trucks, thus over 25 years old and exempt from NHSTA and EPA regulations. No big deal. How to import them into the US was not the question I posted. I was trying to find out about any registration or inspection that has to happen on the UK side at time of purchase and whether it is feasible to handle these things on our own (versus paying Witham to handle them).

Thanks for the help.

chrissnell said:

Sorry guys, I should have told you a little bit about myself. I'm not new to the Defender game, having owned one for eight years now. The Tithonus trucks that we're planning to purchase are legal to bring to the US because they are 1987 trucks, thus over 25 years old and exempt from NHSTA and EPA regulations. No big deal. How to import them into the US was not the question I posted. I was trying to find out about any registration or inspection that has to happen on the UK side at time of purchase and whether it is feasible to handle these things on our own (versus paying Witham to handle them).

Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

Well then just give a call to them and they can answer your questions. Doubt you need a inspection and there is no vat on export. Do they have left hand drive in stock??.

Might want to think about getting some spare parts with them. My thinking is brakes and clutch parts slave cylinders. The harder parts to get.

but what BGB said just have them either delivered to port of exit or just have Witham do it for you, as they ship world wide and could probably get a better shipping rate than you could as a 1 time shipper. They can not be shipped with fuel in them as tanks need to drained and vented, if I remember what I read correctly.

Thor1950 said:

Well then just give a call to them and they can answer your questions. Doubt you need a inspection and there is no vat on export. Do they have left hand drive in stock??.

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Yes, we're looking at some LHD trucks.

Thor1950 said:

Might want to think about getting some spare parts with them. My thinking is brakes and clutch parts slave cylinders. The harder parts to get.

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I would love to load a container up with spares but US Customs has made it much harder to do this now. If a part has ever been mounted on a vehicle, it can't be imported unless it's mounted on that vehicle and the vehicle meets import requirements. The best we could do is source some new-in-box parts but the documentation process (per US Customs) is so difficult that it's easier to just buy them from an importer.

chrissnell said:

Yes, we're looking at some LHD trucks.



I would love to load a container up with spares but US Customs has made it much harder to do this now. If a part has ever been mounted on a vehicle, it can't be imported unless it's mounted on that vehicle and the vehicle meets import requirements. The best we could do is source some new-in-box parts but the documentation process (per US Customs) is so difficult that it's easier to just buy them from an importer.

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From what I read if they were for personnel use as in the vehicle is not a problem why I mentioned brakes and clutches, thermostat and water pump Have them write a repair order up with the sale as parts needed for repairs.

There has to be a way around as long as not for resale and for personnel use

how about this Car Shipping USA. Weekly auto shipping to the USA direct from the UK.