The Wing is on...My car is DONE!!!
12-14-2004, 07:53 PM
#61
Drifting
Hi Berney,
I was just wondering about that... with almost 2 US Dollars to the British Pound, do you find it much cheaper to buy stuff from the US? Do you have to pay VAT for stuff you order from the US through the Internet?
I wanted to take a weekend trip to London but the Pound is just kicking the Dollar's a$$! Hopefully things will be a little better by spring. Cheers!
I was just wondering about that... with almost 2 US Dollars to the British Pound, do you find it much cheaper to buy stuff from the US? Do you have to pay VAT for stuff you order from the US through the Internet?
I wanted to take a weekend trip to London but the Pound is just kicking the Dollar's a$$! Hopefully things will be a little better by spring. Cheers!
12-14-2004, 08:05 PM
#62
Three Wheelin'
VAT is 17.5% on imported goods from outside the EEC. But Generally stuff in the US is incredibly cheaper than in the UK but nocessarily Europe. For example, a new 997 is £70,000. That's $140,000!
Another example, I see 996's going for $35,000 on ebay and that's only £17,500 and that is very cheap indeed. But the 17.5% import VAT is not the end of it. There's landing fees on large objects and shipping handling fees to boot. I am looking for a replacement gearbox for my cab. I can get one in the UK from Porsche new for £7,600.....$14,000. With good-will they will let me have it for £3,300.....$6,600. But add VAT to that and fitting and it all starts to mount up. The best deal I have found is to drive to Belgium to Porsche's Getrag specialist rebuilder/fitter. They are charging only £2000 for a replacement including fitting, taxes etc. That's still $4000 but it's a real good deal on this side of the pond.
On the other side of the coin, I work for Sun microsystems and I travel over to Palo Alto roughly 6-8 times a year. I will be there in Jan/Feb. While there I do all my shopping.......and take advantage of your devalued dollar. If I hand carry stuff back I can get away with taxes. SOmwhow think United Airlines would be a bit pissed if I turned up with a tranny
Another example, I see 996's going for $35,000 on ebay and that's only £17,500 and that is very cheap indeed. But the 17.5% import VAT is not the end of it. There's landing fees on large objects and shipping handling fees to boot. I am looking for a replacement gearbox for my cab. I can get one in the UK from Porsche new for £7,600.....$14,000. With good-will they will let me have it for £3,300.....$6,600. But add VAT to that and fitting and it all starts to mount up. The best deal I have found is to drive to Belgium to Porsche's Getrag specialist rebuilder/fitter. They are charging only £2000 for a replacement including fitting, taxes etc. That's still $4000 but it's a real good deal on this side of the pond.
On the other side of the coin, I work for Sun microsystems and I travel over to Palo Alto roughly 6-8 times a year. I will be there in Jan/Feb. While there I do all my shopping.......and take advantage of your devalued dollar. If I hand carry stuff back I can get away with taxes. SOmwhow think United Airlines would be a bit pissed if I turned up with a tranny
