SJS

Have posted this message in the general forum as well -- sorry if you've seen it twice.

I'm relocating from the UK to USA (California) at the end of this year. I decided I would sell my 911 here and buy another in the promised land ... then started checking out the prices over there. Wow, more than I expected. I know, sounds crazy to take a car FROM Britain TO California. But -- would you do it if you were me?

It's a 1989 Carrera 3.2 Coupe, left-hand drive, 125,000 miles, great condition, full Porsche history. Here are the things I'm weighing up:

COST: My 911 Carrera cost me about $16,000. Add $3,000 for shipping. Am I going to get the equivalent car over there for $19,000 - $20,000? I've just seen an equivalent car on sale in CA for $28k. And are buyers going to walk away from an import when I re-sell?

TECHNICAL: What modifications are going to have to be made to make it legal in CA? Emissions, re-registration, lights ...? How much?

HEAT: Do I really need aircon? Hey -- have the Californians worked out the heating / ventilation on older 911s then?!

Otherwise, I sell here. My heart sinks. UK readers know where to find me if they're interested.

Flying Finn

I can't give you a 100% answer what to do, but all those changes (bumbers etc.) and paperwork will be a hassle and cost something.

I looked into this slightly when I was thinking of bringing a 993 from Germany but decided it's not worth it.

Search the internet and other places so that you'll know exactly what you need to do to the car before you bring it here.

Oh, another thing, it 'never' rains in California...

I know it will be hard to sell your 'baby', since it has all the history etc. Are you planning to come here for few years or for good? If only for few years, store your Porsche in England (and drive it when you're visiting!) and buy cheaper, older 911 here.

SJS

Yeh, hassle ... this factor really puts me off. Probably in CA for a few years, but who knows? (Especially if it never rains ...) And I can't afford to keep two cars. Guess what, baby on the way too, forgot to mention that. Is the writing on the wall folks?

Any other advice, especially where on the web I might find regulations for re-speccing the car, appreciated.

H. D. Smith

not sure with the 89 emissions, but there are many pcar guys in the socal acrea who could make the adjustments to your car. $3000 seems a bit high for shipping. I am shipping my car from California to Germany next week, $550 shipping + $250 port fees. My .02 worth.

RAF Alconbury (1987-1992) <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" /> Cheers

Ed Bighi

While I am not an expert in the subject, I have a story that gives you an idea of importation laws in this "free" country of ours. Years ago, I shipped a Jeep I sold to some guy in Monaco. This was just your run of the mill Wrangler that I bought locally in Florida. Upon receipt of the Jeep, the guy was not satisfied and sent it back to Port of Miami. I figured I would go over there, pick it up and sell it locally. When I spent the whole day at the port with a pile of paperwork, being sent to go see this person and later that other person and so forth, I gave up for the day. Tried again for a whole week. They actually wanted to see DOT approval, EPA approval and a whole slew of other documents which I figured weren't necessary for what was essentially a US Jeep for the US market that left that same port a couple of weeks before. I eventually had to hire a customs broker to handle it and that he did for a good chunk of money.

The system is designed in a way to make it impossible to handle importation without one of these brokers. Considering that in Miami, with all the import-export that goes on, there is only 2 pages in the yellow pages with customs brokers, they are doing quite well. So if I were you, I would not do anything without consulting a customs broker in the port where the car would arrive. I would highly recommend going to <a href="http://www.autoshipment.com" target="_blank">www.autoshipment.com</a> and talking to Alp Eke. They are Miami and ship all around the world. I did a lot of business with Alp back in the early 90's shipping cars to Germany and Belgium, including that Jeep, and his prices were very good and service was good also. I don't know if Alp still runs the operation, but I would presume he does. I also think that things might be a little easier for someone who is moving to the US since it is understandable that the said person would bring in some prized possessions.

And on another note, I did have a friend in Florida who had a Carrera 3.2 targa completely modified by RUF in Pfaffenhausen. The modifications were done everywhere to bring the car to CTR specs. Basically a lot of money was spent to make the car very special. Not to mention the memoried the guy had considering he had driven every major F1 track in Europe witht the car. The fellow lived in Finland and when he moved to Florida, brought the car with him since it was highly unlikely to find the exact same car stateside. While I never spoke to him about the dificulties in importation of the car, I gathered that it is possible without major modifications since the car was in European state of modification.

Again, I have a feeling that if the car is for personal use and not to be resold in an instant, things are easier. I remember also hearing years ago that American servicemen abroad have a degree of freedom while bringing their personal cars back to the US. Do research, and call up Auto Shpment Inc. At least they will give you an idea of prices or customs brokers to call.

Flying Finn

Well, congrats for the coming baby!

Here are couple of web pages that hopefully will give you some information:

<a href="http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/entering_us/7importingyourcar.htm" target="_blank">http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/entering_us/7importingyourcar.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.mapsupport.com/thedatabase/impex/imprtgvehus.html" target="_blank">http://www.mapsupport.com/thedatabase/impex/imprtgvehus.html</a>

I've heard that there are companies who does this, so that could be an option too (might be expensive though).

H.D.

May I ask which company are you using? Friend of mine just shipped his car to Finland and it was $1200 or something (just the shipping).

Scott5

SJS - I thought about bring a Japanize 964 into the states and it would have cost soemthing like $15,000, maybe more, to satisfy the EPA and DOT requirements.

Also - as yours would be a right hand drive car, you'd guess that you'd take a hit on the car's proce when selling it.

I'd sell your car in England. Then shop around in the US for awhile. I've always seen the US prices lower than the English Porsche market value so I don't really think you'll have a problem.

H. D. Smith

<a href="http://www.rinkens.com" target="_blank">www.rinkens.com</a>

This is who I am shipping with.

SJS

Thanks everyone, plenty to be thinking about here and links to be following. The quote for shipping we got was an estimate, because no-one seemed interested in job in the UK, but they said about $3k when pressed, as if to get rid of us!

The car is left hand drive by the way, which is why people here in Britain think I'm ready to roll over there.

If I sell up here, I'll come back to the list asking where I should be looking for a replacement over there.

Flying Finn

Thanks H.D!

daberger

Sorry to be a nay-sayer, but I looked into the same issue a few years ago when I moved from UK to California. I had to sell my Aston Martin in UK as the cost of making the car California legal was to high. California, in case you don't know it, has the strictest smog standards of all states and those who can convert cars to meet CA standards have to be specially licensed - they have a monopoly on conversions and so they are expensive. Even if you got all the work done in UK at a reasonable price, you still have to go through one of these import experts. Bottom line, bite the bullet and sell your car - there is no problem finding a good used 911 in CA and you will probably end up spending less money that way.