Importing A Classic Car

[chrisyork]

Hi Guys

Yep, I've read the experiences of Tuktukmike having his Supra confiscated, the customs web site and all the other good advice here.

No, the objective is NOT to save money.

Yes, I already have a Thai built and registered Toyota Pick-Up.

My family has been Rover Motor Co for three generations starting with my Grandfather in 1912 (who finished as foreman of the experimental shop). I could not conceive of existence without a pet Rover to play with! (as well as homage to the antecedents!)

I have been building a Rover P6 with the intention of bringing it to Thailand. To give you a flavour, I started by importing a 1970 built Air Con car from California to the UK and we're now about £35k sterling down with more to go on the rebuild / new-build. Along the way it has grown to 4.6 ltr.

No, you can't buy one in Thailand - there is precisely one in the country (in Pattaya and that one's 2nd hand and in standard trim)

Cost to me we'll estimate at around £50k, likely value if sold in the UK around £7k to £10k, book value as per classic car mags around £2,500.

There is absolutely no way I'm prepared to risk confiscation!

On the other hand, I'm not too price sensitive on whatever Customs choose to rip me off for.

I have a couple of ideas as to how to tackle this, and would appreciate your (constructive) comments:

1 Get the Land Rover agents in Bangkok to bring it in via their existing import route for new Land Rovers.

2 Get a grey importer to bring it in.

3 Either of the above routes, but declaring it as a new car. (I could get a suitable declaration from one of the engineering co's I am dealing with)

Anybody got any leads on grey importers? I saw a name mentioned in an earlier thread reference MIni's but not sure how to contact them.

Anybody tried breaking down to components and re-assembling in Thailand? I reckon you'd finish up with a car that way but I could foresee all sorts of agro getting it registered!

Yep, complete nutter aren't I!

Regards

Chris York

[Heng]

Go through SEC or perhaps ETON or MIDA... they all import legitimately. Just tell them that you already have the car in place, but you need someone who regularly gets cars through and you'd be happy to pay the costs + their margin (as long as it's all on paper beforehand).

[chrisyork]

Thanks for that Heng.

No problem finding the address for SEC (although no website or e mail). Coouldn't find ETON or MIDA though. Any clues where to lookk?

Chris

[geoffphuket]

I've some friends on Phuket that tried to import their old classic Mercedes sports car from the UK when they came to live here.

Despite having been maintained and kept in A1 condition, their application was refused on the grounds that it wouldn't meet Thailand's strict emission regulations... and that was without them even testing or inspecting it...go figure.

geoffphuket

[Heng]

Thanks for that Heng.

No problem finding the address for SEC (although no website or e mail). Coouldn't find ETON or MIDA though. Any clues where to lookk?

Chris

I don't have the numbers... although an easy information source (offline) is the 1113 "Bug" service by telephone. It's in Thai, but they have the numbers for just about any business.

[Lancashirelad]

I thought there was a moratoruim on the import of western vehicles? came in about a year ago? Though it may only apply to used vehicles?

Import duty will be applied to the perceived value of the vehicle in Thailand on the day of import + on shipping cost (the 2 added together). Yes i know, try making sense of charging import duty on shipping costs....... this is LOS!

I understand registering it for road use in Thailand is nigh on impossible unless you have a residency permit or are prepared to put it in a Thai's name.

(A friend's Australian Ford Capri Convertable [looks like a mazda mx series] imported to Thailand after spending about 10 years in England, still sits in his garage in Jomtien almost 2 years after importation due to this problem. ..... and many palms had to be greased to get it released from Laem Chebang.

[mikethevigoman]

I thought there was a moratoruim on the import of western vehicles? came in about a year ago? Though it may only apply to used vehicles?

Import duty will be applied to the perceived value of the vehicle in Thailand on the day of import + on shipping cost (the 2 added together). Yes i know, try making sense of charging import duty on shipping costs....... this is LOS!

I understand registering it for road use in Thailand is nigh on impossible unless you have a residency permit or are prepared to put it in a Thai's name.

(A friend's Australian Ford Capri Convertable [looks like a mazda mx series] imported to Thailand after spending about 10 years in England, still sits in his garage in Jomtien almost 2 years after importation due to this problem. ..... and many palms had to be greased to get it released from Laem Chebang.

Does anyone remember the lamborghini countach that sat at pattaya immigration for years ? .apparantly that guy gave up on trying to get it done, i find it remarkable that they let him get it that far and then make problems ,. work this one out, i imported a set of wheels genuine 200us declared value and purchase price ( ebay ),. fedex beforehand quoted me 30 per cent import tax, the bill ? 11.300 baht ! work that one out ,. fedex rang me 10 times prior to delivery ,asked me what the wheels were for,why i bought them ? what size are they and get this is the car they are for auto or manual ! ,.they sent a driver to collect my wifes id card ( a copy wasnt acceptable ) and after 10 days of deliberation came to that amount,. unbeleivable,. as with importing anything into thailand dont forget the import taxes are charged at a figure to bring that item up to a locally bought price,. .the fedex agent said why did you buy wheels in the USA we have wheels in thailand,. ,.i cant help thinking that fedex and customs are on a 50 50 split,!