Moving my car from New York to London

Dear All,

I have decided to move my car from  New York to London as this year car sales are dead due to cut in tax refunds.
My car is almost brand new and I would lose so much money selling it here.
I understand that my car is Left Hand Drive and it would be a bit more expensive in the insurance in the UK as its imported vehicle.

I have looked at all the risks of VAT and everything. It seems that I could do TOR to be exempted as long as I am within 1 year of my move.

Now, Who is the best shipping carrier to ship a car from New York to London? I am flexible to drop off the vehicle in the nearest port and pick up from a different city as long as it would save so much money? Also, I would like to ship things inside the car such as Blankets and some boxes.

Please let me know all your recommendation. I have seen Schumacher already. I would like to know the best and cheapest one possible.

Thank you so much

It’s more than insurance.

You’ll have to have alterations to make your car compatible with EU regulations which will likely cost £3-£4K.  Plus the cost of shipping the vehicle.  Parts will be very difficult to source and the vehicle will immediately drop to virtually zero value as no one will purchase a left hand drive vehicle if you want to sell in the future.

My caveat is if you have an old classic car (old Cadillac/muscle car), that’s a different story.  If it’s a run of the mill car - you’d be crazy to ship it.

Yeah, was just about to say the same thing as KFDancer.

You'll be looking at several grand to ship the car and to get it converted so that it's road legal in the UK... so unless your car is rare or vintage, and you'll never get another one like it, then it's probably not worth trying to ship it. It would likely be cheaper to sell it and buy a car in the UK (i.e. used cars here are much cheaper than used cars in the US)

On top of that, parts will be expensive and the insurance for an imported car is likely to be through the roof ... not just because it's imported, but also because if you don't have any UK driving history, the insurance is likely to be higher anyway.

My brother once bought an imported car from eBay UK, but then he discovered his insurance was going to be £2,000 a year instead of about £500 (and he's British and had a few years of UK driving history under his belt), so he immediately cancelled the sale and bought a 'local' car instead, which was much cheaper to buy, insure and repair.

Thank you for all your thoughts. I think I may not need the alteration for the car as its an Audi that was made in Germany anyway.
For insurance. I have stared and compared using moneysupermarket the quotes. for me, it was only £5 monthly additional.
In terms of driving history. I hold a UK Licence since 2016 and it's clean. I have done a quote already in a normal UK car using registration number and also edited the details stating that the car is imported from the US. I put all my licence details and everything on the quote. i understand this may not be final but it will be roughly close still.

Yeah, was just about to say the same thing as KFDancer.

You'll be looking at several grand to ship the car and to get it converted so that it's road legal in the UK... so unless your car is rare or vintage, and you'll never get another one like it, then it's probably not worth trying to ship it. It would likely be cheaper to sell it and buy a car in the UK (i.e. used cars here are much cheaper than used cars in the US)

On top of that, parts will be expensive and the insurance for an imported car is likely to be through the roof ... not just because it's imported, but also because if you don't have any UK driving history, the insurance is likely to be higher anyway.

My brother once bought an imported car from eBay UK, but then he discovered his insurance was going to be £2,000 a year instead of about £500 (and he's British and had a few years of UK driving history under his belt), so he immediately cancelled the sale and bought a 'local' car instead, which was much cheaper to buy, insure and repair.

Thank you for all your thoughts. I think I may not need the alteration for the car as its an Audi that was made in Germany anyway.
For insurance. I have stared and compared using moneysupermarket the quotes. for me, it was only £5 monthly additional.
In terms of driving history. I hold a UK Licence since 2016 and it's clean. I have done a quote already in a normal UK car using registration number and also edited the details stating that the car is imported from the US. I put all my licence details and everything on the quote. i understand this may not be final but it will be roughly close still.

I know from past posts that you don't really believe anything we say.  But just because your car is a German manufacturer does NOT mean this will be easy.   Have a look here:  https://www.shipmycar.co.uk/iva-modifications/

But by all means, it is your money.  If you want to spend thousands modifying a vehicle that will be worthless once in the UK, go for it.  Every third car on the road here is an Audi.  You'll find the resell value of your vehicle is absolutely tanked.  I'd take the hit in the USA and start fresh here with an EU vehicle.

Thanks for all your thoughts. You take it as I don't believe you it's not true. Before I post, I try to do my very best on my end and ask all of you for peer-review. If I don't believe anything of what you say, I would never ask you for sure. I am very thankful for all of your responses and it did help me so much
When I ask further for anything or share my thoughts, It doesn't mean I am debating or arguing but rather getting more information to help me make a decision. Also, when I get more information from you. Sometimes I go a completely different direction than what I asked or what you have responded once the picture is clear.

I am sorry If my posts implied that I was debating but rather, I am getting to know more information. Its not an easy car to sell here at all. For this one especially most of people want to buy it from the dealership because its over $10,000. I have posted it already on Craigslist as well as cars.com and I never got any buyer for the past 3 months already. Don't think that I didn't follow you. My car is posted already on both websites for 3 months.
I have asked for a reason

I know from past posts that you don't really believe anything we say.  But just because your car is a German manufacturer does NOT mean this will be easy.   Have a look here:  https://www.shipmycar.co.uk/iva-modifications/

But by all means, it is your money.  If you want to spend thousands modifying a vehicle that will be worthless once in the UK, go for it.  Every third car on the road here is an Audi.  You'll find the resell value of your vehicle is absolutely tanked.  I'd take the hit in the USA and start fresh here with an EU vehicle.

 Its not an easy car to sell here at all. For this one especially most of people want to buy it from the dealership because its over $10,000. I have posted it already on Craigslist as well as cars.com and I never got any buyer for the past 3 months already. Don't think that I didn't follow you. My car is posted already on both websites for 3 months.

Go to Carmax. They will take it off your hands and it'll all be done in a couple of hours. I sold one of our cars to them and it made life so much easier!

https://www.carmax.com

Beyond the fact that it'll be expensive (as others have pointed out), it will be MORE DIFFICULT for you to get used to driving here. That is what would make it the biggest no-no, in my opinion and you'll probably have zero re-sale value because - as KF said - Audi's are all over the place here. Nobody is going to want to buy a left-hand drive Audi when they can easily get a right-hand drive one (not to p*ss in your cheerios, just being honest).

You'll also want to make sure it's a model  that is sold over here as well because, if it isn't, there are additional qualifications it must meet in order to be imported (E.G. it needs to be something like 12+ years old). I spoke to my husband, who's a car guy, just now and reckons that it'll likely cost thousands to import but not to make it road legal (he mentioned needing to have headlights swapped but not too much else he could think of on the spot needing to be done but he said that it's not worth it at all as he agreed it'd have no resale value and it's not worth the hassle).

Also, are you positive it's only £5 extra every month for your insurance??? Does it know your car has been imported from the US?

I agree with the others that I think, personally, it's a mistake to try to import your car vs. selling it in the US and starting fresh here with a used car unless you have a big emotional attachment to the car or it's hard to find here because it's just not worth the hassle and you're making it more difficult for yourself in the long run.

Perhaps this will help you?  https://www.import-car.info/customs/ and https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/print

I personally would have had a much easier time getting my license over here if I'd had an American (left-side steering wheel) to use. I find the right-side driving to be terribly disconcerting. Especially in a standard transmission car, where you have to shift with your left hand instead of your right, but the actual shifting pattern is not a mirror image. My poor brain drove for tooooo many years from the left side of the car to be comfortable on the right side!

Perhaps this will help you?  https://www.import-car.info/customs/ and https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/print

I personally would have had a much easier time getting my license over here if I'd had an American (left-side steering wheel) to use. I find the right-side driving to be terribly disconcerting. Especially in a standard transmission car, where you have to shift with your left hand instead of your right, but the actual shifting pattern is not a mirror image. My poor brain drove for tooooo many years from the left side of the car to be comfortable on the right side!

Your field of vision is greatly impaired if driving a left hand vehicle on the left side of the road.

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Your field of vision is greatly impaired if driving a left hand vehicle on the left side of the road.

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Yeppp, this (was my main thought). And also, your brain is probably far more likely to slip back into thinking you want to drive on the US side of the road.

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Yeppp, this (was my main thought). And also, your brain is probably far more likely to slip back into thinking you want to drive on the US side of the road.

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This I know from being a passenger. You can not see what is coming around the corner on winding roads and Scotland is full of roads just like that. Lots of very narrow, winding roads or single track roads.

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My brother brought a UK car back to the States, when I was a teenager. I had HELL driving it  - it had nothing to do with vision or seeing around corners.
Same with my driving lessons. Being in the wrong place in the car played absolute havoc with my lessons.

winding roads and Scotland

I've seen that video before and i4s brilliant! Haha

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