Importing car into EU via Rotterdam

[66andBlue]

Some time ago someone mentioned here that it is cheaper importing a Pagoda from the USA into the EU via Rotterdam/Amsterdam because the VAT was lower in The Netherlands. 
I am wondering if this is still correct and if someone had done this recently.
There is a Dutch Customs web site and it appears that the VAT is now also 19% - but my Dutch reading skills are not far removed from zero.
http://www.belastingdienst.nl/variabel/bpm/

[Jordan]

Alfred,

If you have an up to date browser (Microsoft?) there should be a translate button along the top somewhere.  I just tried it and its turns the page into english.
Marcus

[66andBlue]

Thanks Marcus.
Yes I have done that. But it is not the translation that I am after rather the knowledge how to do it, what it will cost, and whether there is an advantage going through the Dutch system.

[jameshoward]

Hi Alfred,

Hope you're well. I imported by car from the US via Bremerhaven (so Germany, not Holland). I used a very good shipping company from the East Coast (a one lady operation; wonderful; I'd be pleased to email you her details). She made all the arrangements, and I'd strongly advise that anyone shipping a car uses a forwarder. However, because I was shipping to my 'work' and because we're exempt tax, I can't really tell you about duty costs.

My car was collected from the port by a German transporter firm that brought the car to where I was based. It was all very simple and all arranged for me. I can give you a breakdown of the costs of each element of the shipping (I think). Drop me an email if you're interested, although I realise it's a different route to that you're enquiring about. A quick call to the lady I used will, no doubt, enlighten you further about the costs. She was most helpful.

My car was shipped on a car transporter, not in a container. I have a slight suspicion that some genius moved it with a forklift; it has minor dents on the underside, which is annoying. However, that may have been because the car wouldn't start. If your car is perfect, you may want to ask about the additional costs associated with a container move. I think it's about double. I also recall insurance was hard to get. I did it without insurance. I wouldn't do that now having put so much work into the car.

James

[Dahlknudsen]

If you import a newer car there are money to be spared importing the car to a EU country with lower VAT - eg. Holland. Denmark is 25% and for that reason many Corvette C5 etc. are imported to Germany where vat is 19%. Then the car can be imported to denmark without paying vat, which has been paid to german customs...

But with car over 35 years of age, rules of VAT is the same all over EU and that is a 5% VAT - Nice right.

So I had my Pagoda in a container loaded off 200meter from my office... It did do transit in Bremerhafen to another ship but it did not do much to the price, because I orded it to go to my local port, which happened to be a mayor european port.

But I had damage to my car too. They pulled down by putting hooks in the holes in the buttom of car, resulting in a tear or rip.... I had it insured because I knew they dont treat the cars with respect.... se picture

[66andBlue]

Thank you Dahl!
What are the rules for customs duty on a +35 year old car? Do they differ also between countries?
Hi James,
thanks for the offer, I'll send you a PM. Just got a 280SL that requires lots of TLC !

[Dahlknudsen]

Thank you Dahl!
What are the rules for customs duty on a +35 year old car? Do they differ also between countries?

As far as I know - no, they dont differ, anyway that was what I was told. But if you need to transport the car from one Country to another the cost of that might be expensive.
I think that custom duty is the same, you pay for the cars value plus shipping cost. And it a value that you can choose yourself. If you have it insured through another compagny then the actuael shipping compagny, you can insure for a higher value then stated in customs papers.

Anyway I found som papers and it says that a car over 30 years has no duty and vat is reduced to 5% of the bill of sale plus freight and insurance.

I Used shipafl.com through a local broker called shipping.dk because then I did not have to go the US with my insuranceclaim. Its about 500 USD to have the car unloaded at the docks.

In Denmark we have a carregistrations fee at a 180% of the cars value when new. Fortunately not on a 35 Year old car. But I think I paid around 6000 USD for the registration of my car in Denmark, which you will not find in any other EU country. The funny thing is, that if I sell my car to Germany I will not get a refund from the state of my 6000 USD - Thank you Denmark...

Good luck with your project!

[Ulf]

@Dahlknudsen: as a fellow Dane, I'm pretty sure that you'll get a tax refund if you export your car again, but minus 15 %. A friend of mine had two Pagodas, a white 230 SL which he kept for himself and still has and a very late 280 SL, which he exported to Sweden, got a refund on the tax and re-imported it (a 20 minute drive across the bridge) when it turned 35 less than a year later in order to re-register it at the lower rate offered to cars above this age. He then sold it at a considerable profit, lucky bastard...
But to answer the original question, I'm also pretty sure that cars above a certain age falls under some cultural heritage category which is mostly exempt of import duties. And as far as I can see, there is a big difference between US-prices and the European ones.
Good luck with your import!

Best regards

Ulf 

[Dahlknudsen]

@Ulf

I read about the non-refund of registration of veteran-cars in "Vintage Nyt" the magazine of DVMC of which I am a member. I think the rules only apply to cars over 35 years.

There was a story about a guy that brought a rare Ferrari and payed over 20.000 USD in registrationtax. Problem was that Denmark is to small to have buyers for his car so he had to sell out of the country and did not get a refund and lost some money.

link to article:
http://bil.guide.dk/Veteran/Ford/Køb%20&%20forsikring/Klassikere/Brugt%20bil/Klassikere_diskrimineres_1521081

[AGT]

Alfred

Can you explain what your end plan is for the car you are thinking of importing, by this I mean where you would want to register the car?

The principle within the European Community is that if goods are imported into one member state and VAT/customs duty is paid in that country then the goods can circulate freely within the EC without paying any more import taxes. Although VAT is a European Community tax the member states have freedom to set their own rates so, for example in the UK, the rate was dropped from 17.5% to 15% to try to stimulate spending in 2009. It has now gone back up to 17.5%.

As the individual member states can set their own VAT rates it is worth checking each of the countries to which you could ship from the US.

The reduced rate of 5% for historic cars is something I have heard of but not found in the UK rules - I paid 17.5%. It may apply in some member states and is certainly worth checking.

The VAT is levied on the value of the car plus shipping costs. In the UK the Revenue will generally accept your US bill of sale as the value of the car as long as it is reasonable. However, strictly, the Revenue could apply VAT based on the value of the car in the country to which you are importing it. So if you were to import a condition 1 pagoda into Germany you might face a VAT bill based on the value of that car in Germany regardless of what you had paid for it in the US. My view is that in the UK it is very unlikely that the Revenue would argue value as long as you can provide evidence of a sensible valuation, ideally a sale transaction. One advantage of using the UK as an entry point to the European Community if you don't have a bill of sale is that your LHD car is worth less in the UK than in other member states.

Then there is customs duty. In the UK this is a nominal £50. It will differ between member states.

The next thing to address is the different rules to get a car registered. I don't know whether you could land a car in one country, pay the import taxes there, and then transport it to another country for registration. That ought to be the principle of the free movement of goods in the European Community but this could be a lot of form filling.

The registration process in the UK is easy and cheap - about £200 as I recall. The car does need to pass a MoT test of roadworthiness. This does not include an emissions test but you will have problems if there is rust which the tester considers to be structural. My impression is that the German test may be more stringent. In the end the car will have to meet the test standard in whatever country you want to keep it in or sell it although you could probably sell a UK registered car anywhere in Europe.

Hope this is some help.

Regards
Andrew
1966 230SL

[Dahlknudsen]

Just read that the 5% VAT and no Duty for cars over 30 years imported to Denmark as of 12. November 2009 is no longer valid. It is now a 10% duty and then 25% VAT of the "Bill of Sale" plus freight and insurance. This should bring the danish rules to be like other EU countries rules...

Not sure about this though. anyway it is worth checking Holland rules on this. They might not have changed the rules yet.

My brother in law has imported a couple of Corvettes C5 and he always have them unloaded in Germany, because the VAT is 19% and not 25%. He can then have the car transported to Denmark and not pay Danish VAT, because it has been payed in another memberstate. Its a 6% point difference which more or less pays the transportcost and leaves a little profit.

Sorry for the confusion

[Erik]

Hello,

BPM (or Tax on Passengercars and Bikes) is a  luxury tax you only have to pay if you want to register your car in Holland. If you don't need a Dutch Title and export your car further on, there is no BPM to be paid.

Just a few weeks back I imported my U.S. 1966 SL 230 into EU via Rotterdam. There was no import tax and no BPM to be paid, only V.A.T.
On oldtimers (over 30 years) there is a special V.A.T. percentage of only 6%, which is calculated on the invoice value of the car, shipment and insurance fees. You need to appoint a agent who takes care of the clearance. That takes a few days. Then you receive a E.U. customs certification number an you can ship your car further to any E.U. country.

I collected my car at the Rotterdam warehouse and drove it by trailer to Belgium. There I showed my Dutch customs clearance forms to the Belgian Customs who confirmed me that all taxes were paid. I immediately got the necessary Belgian documents and I only had to pay 0,03 euro (no joke) administration tax.

Greetings,
erik

[66andBlue]

Thanks everyone for the input and advice.
Erik it is good to know that Rotterdam only asks for VAT at 6%.
I am pondering whether to bring a Pagoda along to the European Event in September and then sell it after it is over.
However, there are still other issues, that is, whether to drive it with US license plates and then register it (most likely in Germany) if the insurance problem can be solved, or deal with the dreaded TŰV to register it right away and get a license plate and insurance, and then sell it afterwards.

[Dahlknudsen]

I say drive it on US plates and sell it if you can, and let the buyer arrange all registration etc.. If it was in Denmark, I dont think you could register the car when you are an american citizen. Then if you dont sell it you can put on a ship back home o!r sell to any EU citizen you may encounter on your trip!

But it should not be a problem selling it, but if I was you I would team up with a German person or whereever you are gonna drive it, on this site and make some kind of arrangement.

Can you tell us about the car you will be bringing?

Look at this link to see the 80 pagodas for sale in Germany right now: range 7900 EUR to 92000 EUR. Some are located in US or other EU states.

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/searchresults.html?pageNumber=3&__lp=7&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=specifics.firstRegistration&sortOption.sortOrder=DESCENDING&makeModelVariant1.makeId=17200&makeModelVariant1.modelId=95%2C96%2C97%2C98%2C99%2C100%2C101%2C102%2C103%2C104%2C163%2C105%2C106%2C164%2C165&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Car&segment=Car&minFirstRegistrationDate=1960-01-01&maxFirstRegistrationDate=1975-12-31&siteId=GERMANY&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=NO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&export=NO_EXPORT&customerIdsAsString=&categories=Cabrio&lang=de