How I bought the 356 back to the UK

All information given below is given in good faith. If I have missed anything out I have done so in error.

    Firstly I would like to point out that I did it my way. I'm sure you can do it other ways, but I found this way to be suitable for me. Firstly you need the money...silly thing really but you need to convert it to US dollars, if you are buying like I did .US to UK. The rate does change I got $1.64 to the £ so that's not too bad .Not good but not bad. I found that you need to look at the banks rates and hidden charges .Sit there with your calculator and work it all out. I saved £130 just by opening up another account with another high street bank. Wire the money to the US. Now you could wire the money to the seller if you know of him/her, but if you don't air on the side of caution. I wired the money to the shipping company and paid a little extra for them to get a bankers cheque from there bank to the seller. About $35. Money well spent I think for the safe guard. The shipping company I used was Direct Express. The lady who I dealt with is called Vicky.

    If you are buying a Porsche from the USA and want to bring it back. Then you need to know the sort of costs involved. Firstly you will have find a shipper in the area. You can find them by using search engines. Or looking in the back of American Car magazines over here. The cost of shipping including putting in the container is about $700 each car. You would also probably need to pay documentation fees about $50-70. Transportation of the cars is another charge you may have forgotten about, unless you drive it to the port. This ranges in price, expect about $250 each car. Note most 356's don't have towing hooks for the modern day recovery driver this is a problem. Let them know in advance. Once you have got all that sorted out you need to look at insurance. 

   " Now this is where it starts to get tricky. "

 The shipping company I dealt with explained that they could only get insurance for Port to Port. i.e. from the Port  in the US to the port in the UK. For about 1.5% of the cost of the car. If your car was to get damaged or more serious, get stolen in their yard, they explained that they would " only be liable for $500. " not much good if you have a $10,000 car. So my shipping contact in the UK ( WT Shipping ) sorted me out with insurance with a company in the UK called Betts insurance. When I explained the problem that they would not be insured for their full value, they insured them for me. I spoke to the owner of Betts insurance and was told of door to door cover with a bit of storage. The storage being sitting waiting for the ship and the container. The insurance did not cover minor dents and scratches. Much better and in fact cheaper. More on this later.

Once all this has been done you need to look at the car you have. Now if it is of historical interest then you could get a reduced tax bill. Sounds good but there is a catch. The car does have to be old very old or rare. I have heard of people who were unable to get a 1956, 356 A though. But I managed to get my Pre-A though. You need to contact the Customs people and chat with them. I did and I put a case forward for reduced tax and won. But they could just as easily changed there mind so bear this in mind. All in all the system is fairly clear. All you need to do is answer all there questions and it is all up to them. Porsche 356's are a gray area. I don't know why they are quite a rare site on our roads and early ones are even more rare. But never the less as time goes on they will become more rare. The difference is 5% VAT or 17.5% VAT.

    With all this sorted out you need to know the final bill. Well you don't get the final bill until you get the cars. But if you prepare for the following then you should be not far out.

    Rough costs involved. e.g. a Porsche 912 in good condition cost $4000 to buy.

$ 700        shipping and container space

$ 70         documentation fees

$ 140       insurance ( if purchased in the US )

$ 250       transportation of the car

$ 35        bankers cheque

Total cost so far $1195. You would need to convert this to UK pounds. So e.g. $1.64 to the £1 = £728.66

When the car is on the way you will need to get a letter from Porsche HQ to say that the car was made in Germany at it's Stuttgart factory from duty paid parts. This will let the customs people know that you will not need to pay any duty on the car. Currently 10%. This letter costs about £56 a lot but it does save on paying the duty. Or you could get the best all round and join the Porsche owners club GB and get them to do one for you. Personally I think this was the best option as I got to join the club as well ( see there link on the companies that helped me page ) The club was very help full and I would have joined before if I had known about them and how helpful they were.

3-4 weeks pass and hey presto you car has arrived in the UK. Where it has arrived is up to you and your shipper. I went for London. So far the car has cost you £784.66 You will need to pay an unloading cost (de-vaning ) about £260 per car plus any other little cost involved.

Total so far $1044.66 in costs.

 Now add the purchase price of the car converted to £'s . e.g. $4000 to £ = £2439.02

New total of £3483.68 now add the dreaded VAT @ 17.5% this should then give you a final cost +,-.

So our example car has cost us £4093.32 with the keys in your hand all you need to do now is get it home and insure it ,book in for an MOT hopefully pass that and then get it resisted and this should cost about £60. One car in your hands for £4500 ish.

Then all you need to do once you get the car back is to out and get drunk!

Insurance !!!

Well that sobered you up. As I said earlier I would come back to this bit. I did in fact as you may have seen, had some damage to my Porsche 356 Pre A. The insurance company/shipping company have done there usual and done there best not to pay up. You take out insurance to cover this sort of thing. So when it happens it should be easy to sort out. I am still to have any repair work done on the car. The shipping company have informed me that I could not have got Door to Door cover. Funny I spoke to the owner of Betts insurance, and this is what he said. The only thing not covered as explained was minor dents. The seller kindly took photo's of the cars before they left so that if any thing like this happened I would have some evidence. When I explained to WT Shipping about the photo's they said

" that they could have been taken at any time and photo's wouldn't stand up in court."

The fact that they were fresh marks and dents with new surface rust where paint had been chipped and the bear metal, plus foot print marks all over the bonnet. hmmmmm I will let you make up your mind on this one. So be warned !!!!!!!!!