Self Importation - Advice / Join me

Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

This thread was at least 2 years back. For those bros who follow up on this, any success (self import BMW)?
Hope you can share
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

sunboy77;508458 said:
Hi guys.

BMW Parklane just called me and told me that there is aboslutely no way for them to export a BMW to any country other than those in the EU.

Har????

Then where do our parallel importers bring in their BMWs from?

Ask to purchase under Personal Export Scheme VX302. It's meant for outside EU export. You need a UK address (ask a friend). Of course they won't export for you (nothing in it for them); you have to export it yourself. Key thing is to buy the car in a manner that LTA accepts; you then DIY and bring the car in yourself.

Also explore Direct Export Scheme -- no registration nor VAT required. Not sure if BMW would do it; Porsche wouldn't.

Parallel importers purchase and register the car in UK locally (V5), pay VAT, de-register the car for shipping within 14 days, and claim VAT back. Some buy registered ex-stock from independent dealers to ship out as new.
 
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Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

DriveAllDay;508820 said:
Ask to purchase under Personal Export Scheme VX302. It's meant for outside EU export. You need a UK address (ask a friend). Of course they won't export for you (nothing in it for them); you have to export it yourself. Key thing is to buy the car in a manner that LTA accepts; you then DIY and bring the car in yourself.

Also explore Direct Export Scheme -- no registration nor VAT required. Not sure if BMW would do it; Porsche wouldn't.

Parallel importers purchase and register the car in UK locally (V5), pay VAT, de-register the car for shipping within 14 days, and claim VAT back. Some buy registered ex-stock from independent dealers to ship out as new.

Wah bro you really know a lot!

I was beginning to give up on this self-import thingy until I saw your reply. It really lit some hope in me again. Hahaha.

Do you have any source I can explore? Like try Parklane again?

Or maybe I try the parallel importer method? :)
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

Thumbs Up to DriveAllday! Good piece of info.
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

sunboy77;509060 said:
Wah bro you really know a lot!

I was beginning to give up on this self-import thingy until I saw your reply. It really lit some hope in me again. Hahaha.

Do you have any source I can explore? Like try Parklane again?

Or maybe I try the parallel importer method? :)

rhkl;509133 said:
Thumbs Up to DriveAllday! Good piece of info.

Good luck. I learned all the above bringing the Boxster in myself. Painful, but worth it. Of course you can try the parallel importer route, but remember that they need to make a living too -- they will take a share of the savings in exchange for the convenience.

Really, try the Personal Export Scheme first -- there is no reason why they won't sell you that. Ask to speak to the manager about it. Tell them if they can help you source for insurance and shipping -- if not you can do it yourself. Of course some element of trust comes in (you are after all entrusting the car to the sales guy and the shipper without having met them).

Good luck.
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

DriveAllDay;509674 said:
Good luck. I learned all the above bringing the Boxster in myself. Painful, but worth it. Of course you can try the parallel importer route, but remember that they need to make a living too -- they will take a share of the savings in exchange for the convenience.

Really, try the Personal Export Scheme first -- there is no reason why they won't sell you that. Ask to speak to the manager about it. Tell them if they can help you source for insurance and shipping -- if not you can do it yourself. Of course some element of trust comes in (you are after all entrusting the car to the sales guy and the shipper without having met them).

Good luck.

Hi there bro,


Care to give me a PM on your experiences in importing a boxster? I too myself am interested in importing a porker, probably a boxster S. I am very ignorant in this, would you mind shedding some light?

Thanks!
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

Hi Chartier,

I have shared my experience on the Porsche Forum: Porsche Singapore Forum • View topic - HELP! Boxster 987 analogue speedo in kph needed!

If you want to DIY all the way, you have to first sort out your finances. Unless you can arrange for loans, you would have to pay everything with cash. You may need to decide on locking in a good FX rate for your purchase (now 1 GBP = 2.23 SGD is pretty good). Pricing of the car is straight forward, just use Porsche configurator, put in all your options, and divide the price by 1.15 to exclude VAT. This, along with insurance and shipping, is your OMV. Take OMV + (1.3*OMV for registration) + COE + port clearances + road tax + inspection & IU + speedo kmh conversion gives you to total price.

Next, try to get a valid UK address from a UK friend. You'd need that.

Once you have done that, I can give you the dealer, insurance and shipper contacts. You have to deal with each party separately, although it is not too difficult. Build time was about 3 mths, plus 21 days shipping.

Dealing with LTA, customs, etc. can come later. We can chat when you reach that far.

Good luck.
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

Hi there,

thanks for your valuable input. If i do not have a valid UK address? Any way of getting through it?


Thanks bro!
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

For porsche, VX302 is the only way they will do.

No UK address no deal. Maybe you can be friend with the sales guy...
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

VX302 is just the registration codename for Personal Export Scheme.

If I am not wrong, V for vehicle registration, X for export...
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

Your self import route sure sounds interesting. Do we have to be physically present in UK to do all these? Things like registration, de-registration, refund of VAT..etc sounds like the kind of things one has to do himself.
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

Fastcar

1. There's no VAT for VX302 so there's no refund procedures
2. There's no de-reg requirements for VX302
3. You dealer can do the registration for you
4. You don't have to be in UK personally -- question is: wouldn't you want to? You are entrusting a whole car to someone you never met.
 
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Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

DriveAllDay;511289 said:
Fastcar

1. There's no VAT for VX302 so there's no refund procedures
2. There's no de-reg requirements for VX302
3. You dealer can do the registration for you
4. You don't have to be in UK personally -- question is: wouldn't you want to? You are entrusting a whole car to someone you never met.


Just for fun, i tried the UK Porsche configurator. A car up-specced to Sing levels will have a high OMV(even higher then Stuttgart singapore's), no matter which model(from 911 to boxster). Add on taxes..etc, savings seem to be not much. No wonder the PIs try to tamper with the OMV. If they do it honestly, think almost no margin/profit!!!!
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

this is EXACTLY the problem I faced. I went to london to try to get a similar spec car at our OMV, but it's always much higher (even after reducing the VAT) so much so that it negates the incentive of importing your own car.

procedures are pretty straightforward to follow. but thing is, can anyone find a car at OMV prices? (dont forget OMV by right includes freight and insurance costs)
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

fastcar;511409 said:
Just for fun, i tried the UK Porsche configurator. A car up-specced to Sing levels will have a high OMV(even higher then Stuttgart singapore's), no matter which model(from 911 to boxster). Add on taxes..etc, savings seem to be not much. No wonder the PIs try to tamper with the OMV. If they do it honestly, think almost no margin/profit!!!!

Your savings depend very much on timing. I saved about 26% off Stuggart's fully configured list price -- granted it was with low COE and ok-ish exchange rates and pre- UK price-hike.

1. When you use the UK configurator: take the final price and divide by 1.15 to take out the VAT. You don't have to pay that.

2. Porsche increased UK prices twice in Q4 last year, by as much as GBP1,000 for a Boxster. So that's an increase of SGD5,000 after all Singapore taxes are considered.

3. COE has increased by about SGD10K since May last year, but Stuggart has quietly included COE into their sale price, and kept the pricing constant.

The OMV should be a little bit higher than Stuggart's (which is GOOD). However, do remember Stuggarts margins over and above OMV + all taxes are still >SGD60K per car. That's the bit that gives you the buffer / cushion.
 
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Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

I am so excited!

Finally, after many weeks of pestering BMW UK, they have finally got back to me with this email:

"Dear Sir,
I hope you are well,
Please email me your final specification by PDF from the “Build your own car” mode. I will send you a contract based on 7% below the TAX free UK list.
I will ask you to sign a disclaimer to confirm that we have advised you that the vehicle is not recommended for use outside the EU.
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind Regards
BMW Park Lane "

Haha. But I don't really get the meaning of "7% below the TAX free UK list". Anyone can enlighten? :)
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

sunboy77;511763 said:
I am so excited!

Finally, after many weeks of pestering BMW UK, they have finally got back to me with this email:

"Dear Sir,
I hope you are well,
Please email me your final specification by PDF from the “Build your own car” mode. I will send you a contract based on 7% below the TAX free UK list.
I will ask you to sign a disclaimer to confirm that we have advised you that the vehicle is not recommended for use outside the EU.
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind Regards
BMW Park Lane "

Haha. But I don't really get the meaning of "7% below the TAX free UK list". Anyone can enlighten? :)

Just means that you got a discount, my friend. I guess it is Configurator price *0.93 / 1.15

Congrats.
 
Re: Self Importation - Advice / Join me

Has anyone tried ordering from a USA dealer? Having stayed in the US for 8 years and having owned a few BMWs there, I know that you can spec out your own BMW and perhaps even build a right hand drive car?? They also have a european delivery programme where you can take delivery of the car in europe, drive it for a couple weeks and then have it delivered to the US. USA car prices are the lowest in the world. On top of that, USA dealers always give a discount. They have the MSRP (dealer recommended selling price) and the Invoice Price (what the car would cost them supposedly). If the volume is big enough, a dealer might even sell you the car at invoice just to meet their target sales volume. For eg, a 335i Coupe invoice price is only about USD39,240 which translates to OMV SGD54,936 with no options.

source: Edmunds.com - 2010 BMW 3 Series Car Pricing Guide

the total car price would then be 54,935 * 2.4 (incl all taxes, freight and insurance) and would come up to $131,846 on the SG roads.

I'm interested to come on board too for self importation.. pls add me to the list.
 

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