Import from Germany to UK

[s2bear]

You wont have any issues with MPH speedo, rear fogs or LED headlights. Just make sure you do not pay import duty - just UK VAT. You will need a NOVA declaration for HMRC I suggest you use a shipping agent for this to ensure your IEN and product type are correct and match your NOVA.

My LHD 6.1 now in UK ( German 3 month export plates have expired) Am about to send off paperwork to the skeleton staff at DVLA for registration including the all important COC

View attachment 88075

The red looks very good btw - works well with the contrasting arches/cladding. Did you use commodity code 8703321100 for the import?


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[s2bear]

I’ve just been informed by a main dealer in Europe (who checked with VW AG) that THE VW WARRANTY ON NEW EUROPEAN CALI”S DOES NOT COVER THE UK ANYMORE.

I’d love for this to be incorrect so please feel free to counter it but thought it was worth flagging.


EDIT: VW UK saying that the first 2 years factory warranty should be Global and the balance is country specific.
VW Wolfsburg referring only to ‘follow on’ warranty in their response. Seems to be a fair bit of confusion so apologies for passing that confusion on in haste. Will update any findings.



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[Corradobrit]

I’ve just been informed by a main dealer in Europe (who checked with VW AG) that THE VW WARRANTY ON NEW EUROPEAN CALI”S DOES NOT COVER THE UK ANYMORE.

I’d love for this to be incorrect so please feel free to counter it but thought it was worth flagging.


EDIT: VW UK saying that the first 2 years factory warranty should be Global and the balance is country specific.
VW Wolfsburg referring only to ‘follow on’ warranty in their response. Seems to be a fair bit of confusion so apologies for passing that confusion on in haste. Will update any findings.



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I think VWUK would have to honour the standard Euro 2 year warranty. My concern would be the extended warranty and whether or not work in the UK would be honoured even if it was a VW Factory Warranty extension.

 

[s2bear]

I think VWUK would have to honour the standard Euro 2 year warranty. My concern would be the extended warranty and whether or not work in the UK would be honoured even if it was a VW Factory Warranty extension.

What’s happening right now is:

Wolfsburg think the UK is still in the EEA (so their terms sound like it’s covered, but it isn’t)
Dealer thinks as we’re not in the EEA there is zero warranty full stop.
VW UK says first 2 years is Global so it should be covered but that I’d have to confirm that with VW Germany.

EDIT: VW Austria said “of course, it’s covered everywhere for 2 yrs”

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[campermanluxembourg]

I'm new here and I've just put in an order for 6.1 Beach in Luxembourg (where I live). Just a tip to anyone thinking of buying an EU vehicle, I believe Luxembourg is the cheapest place to buy these anywhere in the EU. The fully loaded Ocean is €65k and the Beach starts at €52k. I used the UK configurator to spec mine and the saving was over 15k versus buying in the UK. Bearing in mind the size of this country my dealer does pretty well, he told me they sold over 300 californias last year and when I ordered at the weekend he'd just had an order for 10 from Germany. Of course this is all official VW dealership, with none of the headaches or nonsense. As a Brit living here I confirm it's very easy to register a car from the UK and I would think the same in reverse given the laws are still equivalent despite the UK departing for those sunlit uplands.

 

[s2bear]

I'm new here and I've just put in an order for 6.1 Beach in Luxembourg (where I live). Just a tip to anyone thinking of buying an EU vehicle, I believe Luxembourg is the cheapest place to buy these anywhere in the EU. The fully loaded Ocean is €65k and the Beach starts at €52k. I used the UK configurator to spec mine and the saving was over 15k versus buying in the UK. Bearing in mind the size of this country my dealer does pretty well, he told me they sold over 300 californias last year and when I ordered at the weekend he'd just had an order for 10 from Germany. Of course this is all official VW dealership, with none of the headaches or nonsense. As a Brit living here I confirm it's very easy to register a car from the UK and I would think the same in reverse given the laws are still equivalent despite the UK departing for those sunlit uplands.

Good to know. Thank you.
Are those prices including tax?

 

[campermanluxembourg]

Good to know. Thank you.
Are those prices including tax?

Yes indeed

 

[s2bear]

Any advice on import insurance?
The guys I used to bring my Beach in from Germany last time can’t do fully comp this time because I’m buying an Ocean.

You can get insurance on a VIN but ONLY over here. Not for the drive home. Don’t really fancy driving back 3rd Party. If I’d known I’d have to go through this hassle again I wouldn’t have bothered.


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[Tarquers]

Any advice on import insurance?
The guys I used to bring my Beach in from Germany last time can’t do fully comp this time because I’m buying an Ocean.

You can get insurance on a VIN but ONLY over here. Not for the drive home. Don’t really fancy driving back 3rd Party. If I’d known I’d have to go through this hassle again I wouldn’t have bothered.


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Try IAS Bremen. They do insurance for exports. You need proof of insurance before you can get export plates so probably best dealing with a German company. Better recommendations from our German members I am sure.

 

[Corradobrit]

Contact Culpeck in Germany. They are fluent English speakers and I'll be insuring my Coast with them when it finally arrives. My contact was Chris Rombey (chris@culpeck.com)

 

[s2bear]

Contact Culpeck in Germany. They are fluent English speakers and I'll be insuring my Coast with them when it finally arrives. My contact was Chris Rombey (chris@culpeck.com)

Thanks very much I’ll do that now!


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[s2bear]

Try IAS Bremen. They do insurance for exports. You need proof of insurance before you can get export plates so probably best dealing with a German company. Better recommendations from our German members I am sure.

Thanks for this ! .Will try them. The dealer will give me plates and insurance but only 3rd party. I’ve found others that will give fully comp for export but only on passenger cars not Ocean/Campervans.


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[s2bear]

Thanks for the suggestions, Chaps.
Unfortunately, neither Culpeck or IAS Bremen can help.
Situation has changed from exciting to downright unpleasant in 2 days.


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[Tarquers]

Thanks for the suggestions, Chaps.
Unfortunately, neither Culpeck or IAS Bremen can help.
Situation has changed from exciting to downright unpleasant in 2 days.


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Did a bit of digging and looks like 3rd party is the option. May be worth contacting ADAC to see what they can offer. There is normally an insurance office next to where the plates are issued but not much help to you.

Could be worth contacting a company like ERS who are a Lloyds broker and typically do car insurance for foreign owned cars coming to the UK for a short duration. No idea on price, but its Lloyds, someone will insure it!

 

[B J G]

Did a bit of digging and looks like 3rd party is the option. May be worth contacting ADAC to see what they can offer. There is normally an insurance office next to where the plates are issued but not much help to you.

Could be worth contacting a company like ERS who are a Lloyds broker and typically do car insurance for foreign owned cars coming to the UK for a short duration. No idea on price, but its Lloyds, someone will insure it!

Years ago the only UK Insurer that covered vehicles in Germany was the then Norwich Union (Aviva) as it was all to do with German regulations. That was pre Iron Curtain days.

Having it transported may be cost effective??

 

[s2bear]

Did a bit of digging and looks like 3rd party is the option. May be worth contacting ADAC to see what they can offer. There is normally an insurance office next to where the plates are issued but not much help to you.

Could be worth contacting a company like ERS who are a Lloyds broker and typically do car insurance for foreign owned cars coming to the UK for a short duration. No idea on price, but its Lloyds, someone will insure it!

Thanks for this. ERS will only talk to brokers and wouldn’t tell me which ones they talk to. My own brokers, NFU won’t even add it to my policy when it’s on the drive until it’s dvla registered. It’s like a black hole of the insurance world - Honestly, I think Prince Andrew could get liability insurance easier than this. Crazy.

It’s just an asset and I want to insure it, how hard can it be.


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[s2bear]

You wont have any issues with MPH speedo, rear fogs or LED headlights. Just make sure you do not pay import duty - just UK VAT. You will need a NOVA declaration for HMRC I suggest you use a shipping agent for this to ensure your IEN and product type are correct and match your NOVA.

My LHD 6.1 now in UK ( German 3 month export plates have expired) Am about to send off paperwork to the skeleton staff at DVLA for registration including the all important COC

View attachment 88075

Hi @Tomato what did you do about insurance to drive the car back to the UK? Did you just roll with the 3rd party liability insurance that came with the Export plates or did you manage to find someone to do fully comp for you? I can’t find anyone in the UK or Germany to give fully comp / Vollkasko insurance on the continent.


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[dspuk]

Just had a quick look at VW Germany and spec’d a Beach Camper with 4motion and silver/blue 2-tone paint. So many options available for people buying in Germany!

RHD was not one of the options obviously.

When the UK was in the EU, people used to order cars in other EU countries and bring them to the UK. But that was before I could afford to ever think about buying a new car or van.

So these days, is anyone doing this to get the better options available on EU Californias? Is it possible to order RHD?

I know there would be import duty and it may be insanely expensive, but want to consider it. The plan is this will be the first and only Cali we ever buy, so want it to be the absolute best fit for us, and happy to explore adventurous ways of getting it..

Interesting one this and I did answer a previous question around it but my take having worked for an auto company for 27 yrs.

Prior to UK not being the EU it really made no difference - you were not really able to buy a RHD UK spec car abroad. We used to call these grey imports and cracked down hard on any dealers who did this or tried it. Many moons ago some EU dealers were able to order them and become quite well known for doing this, especially in the Nordics where taxes were so high that even with the UK 20% (or 17.5 as it was then) there was still a considerable saving. This was stopped and is more or less impossible today. EU dealers are not allowed to order UK spec and the OEMS have a stranglehold on distribution.

Other challenges involved something called "vehicle homologation" - safety regs and language stickers for each company. Each country had a number of legal differences and these stickers or minor spec changes were handled at build - something else that hampered the ability to order EU spec and use "easily" in the UK to get a car that was UK dealer supplied.

Vaguely related - back in the "old days" when I was a young squaddie in Germany, we were able to buy tax free cars of UK spec but you could not actually pick these up in Germany. We usually had to make our own way to Dover and pickup in a car park. So even then it involved a trip back to the UK for a UK dealer supplied car.

 

[DUB10]

Sorry for the thread resurrection. We have recently bought our 2nd new Ocean 4 Motion in May this year and since decided that a Beach layout would best suit us going forwards. We don't really want to lose 4 Motion though. LHD would not be an option either. However I have looked online on Australian websites and noticed they now have RHD Beach 4 Motion's and the wider choice of colours. Its got me thinking if there is anyway of getting hold of a RHD Beach 4 Motion in the UK which would be our ideal Cali. Did anyone here have any joy in getting a RHD Beach 4 Motion?

 

[B J G]

Is a Transporter Kombi 4 Motion available?
Having a roof conversion fitted later to get close to Beach spec.

 

[Tarquers]

Sorry for the thread resurrection. We have recently bought our 2nd new Ocean 4 Motion in May this year and since decided that a Beach layout would best suit us going forwards. We don't really want to lose 4 Motion though. LHD would not be an option either. However I have looked online on Australian websites and noticed they now have RHD Beach 4 Motion's and the wider choice of colours. Its got me thinking if there is anyway of getting hold of a RHD Beach 4 Motion in the UK which would be our ideal Cali. Did anyone here have any joy in getting a RHD Beach 4 Motion?

UK options seem quite limited in this respect. Transporter or Caravelle and convert or stick with the Ocean. In theory VW can build it for you but its finding a market that will sell it to you is going to be the challenge.

I guess the question is do you really need 4Motion? Maybe an odd question from someone with a 4Motion beach, but It’s probably just a nice to have, with worse fuel economy. 99% of the time the van is going to be FWD. If you prioritise it above everything else then add a diff lock to it to be any use.

 

[Corradobrit]

99% of the time the van is going to be FWD. If you prioritise it above everything else then add a diff lock to it to be any use.

Thats probably over simplifying what is quite a sophisticated and complex piece of engineering. 4Mo is considered to be a permanently engaged 4WD system. True that most of the time power is transferred through the front (for better fuel economy) but it anticipates when traction is reduced and transmits the power to the other corners as and when needed and as much as needed. This active system benefits cornering and general road holding, and not just for getting you out of a muddy grass field. And yes, the diff lock will augment the system in certain situations but is not essential most of the time. Personally I would invest in tyres with better traction capabilities given the high cost of the DL option.

 

[ShmBK]

is anyone planning to do this for the new California? I'm very likely to do it, does anyone have contacts?

 

[andyinluton]

99% of the time the van is going to be FWD. If you prioritise it above everything else then add a diff lock to it to be any use.

99% of the time on a quick pull away mine is 4wd - doesn't need the diff lock to assist in that situation.

Ive previously had both 140 and 199 Fwd vans & the biggest difference with 4motion is that ability to pull away quickly without wheelspin at damp junction or roundabout, at this time of year that is a situation where it comes into its own daily.

For off roading I'm less bothered, I never got stuck with just FWD

 

[Tarquers]

99% of the time on a quick pull away mine is 4wd - doesn't need the diff lock to assist in that situation.

Ive previously had both 140 and 199 Fwd vans & the biggest difference with 4motion is that ability to pull away quickly without wheelspin at damp junction or roundabout, at this time of year that is a situation where it comes into its own daily.

For off roading I'm less bothered, I never got stuck with just FWD

The point I was making (2 years ago) is that if you are buying 4motion for “off road” then you need the diff lock. With it you have 3 wheel drive, without 4motion isn’t great in poor traction situations. I think the subject has been beaten to death elsewhere.

On the road yes 100% agree about the better road manners. That said having had both FWD and 4Motion 150 beaches, I cannot claim to see a huge difference apart from the decreased fuel economy of 4mo and the occasional touch of wheel spin pulling away. I did drive a 204 FWD which was unpleasant due to lack of traction.