uscarrera

Anyone ever ship a car over to USA, any info on how to procede and who to contact, shipping companies, transport companies, etc would be helpful
thanks

GREEK-TURBO-RACER

Rich, call AUTOSPORT DESIGNS in Longisland, Ny. They are an official dot conversion center. They specialize in bringing cars in from England all the time.


Theo

420WHP944

i was considering bringing my 944 turbo over from ireland to florida where i now live.......i called some local importers here in florida and they told it was a red tape nightmare bringing a right hand drive car to the usa????????? that has put me off the whole idea....UNLESS......somebody out there knows any different i'd love to know also??????????

hammerwerfer

So how does that car cope with the Irish roads? I always preferred the likes of a Scooby or Evo the Irish country roads.

You should be able to temporarily import a car to the USA without too much problem. You may have to post a bond to ensure that the car goes back with you when you leave. RHD shouldn't be an issue. There is a DOT website that may have the information you need.

420WHP944

hammerwerfer,
thanks for the info on temp import......i will look into it.

as regards my car coping with country roads? i mainly drive on either dual carraigeways or motorways....i'm very rarely on bad country roads because our road system has improved greatly over the last 10 years or so.......i admit no where near german standards but were a small country and its not as bad as you might think.

as regards driving a scooby or an evo?????? well.....firstly, i started my driving on bmw motorbikes and then drove vw beetles for some years ( i still have a 75 vw 1303 which i restored )... that led me into porsches......my dream was to get a 911 but finances only allowed me to afford an 83 944, i drove that for a couple of years and sold it on to my brother in law who has it now and is still extremely reliable!!! last august i went to the uk and bought andrew sweetenhams (promaxmotorsports) 422 bhp 944 turbo....it was featured in july's 04 porsche and 911 world and july's 04 gt purely porsche mags. so you can see its german cars that do it for me.....i think scoobies and evo's are tacky and cheap looking cars and would never in a million years have any interest in them. i'm a member of porsche club ireland and some of my friends are fellow porsche enthusiasts. anyway......my car is unbelievably fast (0-60 4.5 secs and 180+ mph) i spank scoobies and evo's all day long on the motorways back home whenever they put it up to me.....they think they can easily take my 16 year old 944......but soon get the shock of their lives when i blip the pedal and that thing gets on boost.....they are history!!!!!............SLAINTE!.

hammerwerfer

I moved away from Ireland 5 years ago, but where I lived one would have to drive a good 60 miles before coming across the M50! For the Meath roads, the Scooby and Evo were just the thing, as they resembled rally stages, even at the best of times. I agree that they are a bit on the ugly side, but they really can't be beat when the going is a bit on the rough side. One of my old SCRSs would have been a ball there though, but the Japanese cars would have walked away from it...Horses for courses!

Living in Germany now, the Porsche makes more sense, and I've been a Porsche fan and owner of over 20 years now.

How much did they hit you for the VRT? I do hope you were able to pull the wool over their eyes there.

The Alt Gr key will give you the fada in "Sláinte".

420WHP944

yeah.....i agree its horses for courses and undoubtably the scooby and evo are great performers on crappy roads with their awd etc........but they are still UGLY!!!!!. the 944 is quite a nice handling machine too dont forget and it beats the japs hands down in looks, build quality etc. i like my cars to look good as well as performance.

im living in florida since feb of this year...my wife is american, so, as you can imagine.....i'm missing my car badly!!!!! i looked into importing it over buts its not worth the hassle, i'll pick up 944 turbo or maybe a 928 here and leave the beast safe in my garage for when we go back for the summer months, xmas etc.

funny thing about the vrt????? when i inquired prior to buying it what the cost would be for vrt i was quoted between 1800 to 3200 euro. so.....when i got it and brought it down to the wicklow office the guy who normally dealt with the vrt was no where to be found.....eventually the girl at the desk came out to look it over, check vin numbers etc and then asked me what was i quoted on the phone a week prior?? i said 1800 euro and she just went along with it.......so i basically paid the bottom rate and was happy enough with that ( thats if you call paying 1800 euro vrt tax on a 16 year old car a good deal??? anyway......its done with now. thats one thing i dont miss about ireland........getting ripped off just for owning a car!!!!!! over here in florida car tax is peanuts and there is no such thing as an nct test or anything like that.......its more motorist friendly here.

i have driven on the autobahn before....but on bikes. im looking forward to maybe visiting friends in belguim next year and taking the beast with me....he is only 80 miles from the german border and i would love to wind that baby up........the m50 is just to short!!!!! cheers!!!!!

hammerwerfer

The M50 is short enough, but the real ball buster is the damned West Link toll bridge! Turns a ten minute trip into an hour sometimes!

Irish car insurance is another laugh. I'd go in and try to insure a car and the girl would get a bit flustered and have to make some calls: "There's a man here with a car with a really big engine!" "It is over two litres!"

And then the car tax!

Yeah, you really need to get the car onto some of the nice smooth German roads and maybe a few laps of the Nordschleife.

420WHP944

well....i actually do good on the insurance stakes. my brother has a 944 turbo also and he insures it with carol nash classic car policy....unlimited mileage, fully comp with full european breakdown cover and the bail bond for when travelling in spain.......all for just over 500 euros!!!!!! he then added my car on the policy and named me as a extra driver......you can have up to 5 named drivers as long as they are over 28 with full license for no extra cost!!!!! it was however 130 euros extra for my car to be added but i'm happy only paying that!!!!!!! the car tax is a joke....my car is stroked out to 2.8 ltrs but the tax office dont know that....its bad enough paying 800 or so euros for a 2.5 ltr.......its a joke....and we have some of the worst roads in europe??????

man....that m50 toll bridge....what can i say that hasnt all ready been said....there are tailbacks sometimes 4 miles long and they charge you for it??????????? i've had my car on the track in mondello with the porsche club track days...its all right but i prefer speed and mondello is not really the place for it....too many twists and turns....even on the straight its hard to hit 120 before you have to hammer on the anchors for the sharp 90% turn. to be honest....i had better fun coming home from work at 3am in the morning on the m50.....the most i got her up to was just a mile or two shy of the 160 mark......and believe me it was still charging on like a train.....that car easy does the 180 mph clock....no problem!!

by the way....whats the car tax cost in germany?? and what 944 do have, turbo or s2?????

hammerwerfer

Wow! That is some deal on the insurance! I paid over IR£600 on my mini 1000, third party only when I first moved there! Paid only £180 for the car!

Funny thing was the bird would pay less for her insurance despite the fact that she had a provisional licence for about 15 years! Crazy!

I'm not sure how they figure the car tax here. I think it takes into account whether the car has a Cat and some other thigs as well.

The only good deal in Ireland is the petrol, at least by European standards.

My car is a bone stock 1987 turbo. It will not stay that way for long...

My commute to the 'ring is exactly 100km or about 1 hour. I'm a bit of an addict.

I was working in Finglas and had to run down to the Tallaght VRT office on a regular basis. The West Link certainly had a negative impact on my productivity!

I saw a photograph with a D reg 911 at the 'ring last weekend. I'll try to find it for you. You might know the lad.

Phokaioglaukos

Old thread, but I'm getting desparate for some good advice on relocating from the US to Ireland, and what do do with the GT4. For example, I am considering whether to bring my US-spec, LHD Cayman GT4. I expect that there is not much to do to the car to make it roadworthy in Ireland, and I understand that no VAT would be payable upon import because I have owned the car since November 2016, but could it be that the CO2 emission of the GT4 of 238 g/km would attract an annual road tax of €2,350?

Some have advised me to sell my US-spec cars and buy in Ireland, but of course the GT4s are no longer available. And there is also the concern that there are not many roads on which I would want to drive the GT4. And there is not much in the way of track day culture. Of course England is not that far away and it is possible to get to the continent, but not as conveniently as from England.

There are, though, some cars that are sold in Ireland that are not sold in the US. Please give me your advice.