Don't Discount Importing Parts to the UK

UKTJ

TJ Addict
Joined
Dec 30, 2020
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Hampshire, UK
In my introduction post I mentioned the cost of parts in the UK versus the US. Chris made a comment about having parts shipped from the US if they are not available in the UK. I have actually had a very quick look at this and apart from making othewise unavailable parts an option it may well make financial sense - which is pretty crazy.

As an example I went to the first US retailer that popped up on Google, which happened to be Morris 4x4. I have absolutely no idea if they are a good outfit or not. But they do as standard price parts in pounds if you indicate you are a UK resident and quote for delivery including shipping and duty. The duty is actually a lot worse than the shipping. Even so, as an exampe, a Heavy Duty Spartacus Tyre Carrier Kit is quoted at about £580 (incl. delivery) on Jeepey's website. Importing it via Morris 4x4 gives a price of just over £460 (incl. delivery and duty). Bonkers!

 
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That sucks, I know when I order parts for my 74 TR6 from Rimmer bothers in the UK, it is not terrible to ship and I don't have to pay your VAT tax on the parts.
 
Noted Chris. The trick will be finding a good supplier that is willing to sort the shipping to the UK out. Any thoughts?
Well I think what you can do in many cases is to buy the parts and have them shipped to an exporter, who then handles shipping the stuff to you.

It won’t be cheap, but it will be a solid way to get the best stuff.
 
I'm in the exact same boat as you uktj, I'm in Ireland! There's a place in Czech Republic that does jeep stuff and seem reasonable - bit fecked for you now with Brexit but still worth a look? I'll try remember the name of the place now!
 
That sucks, I know when I order parts for my 74 TR6 from Rimmer bothers in the UK, it is not terrible to ship and I don't have to pay your VAT tax on the parts.
Having looked at a couple of shipping companies it seems the Morris 4x4 online system calculates the amount of duty but does not include VAT, which is also payable but directly to the govt. in the UK when the package arrives. Sadly on my test product that brings the price for importing from the US roughly in to line with buying in the UK. No such thing as a free lunch I guess.
 
Hello everyone, new to the forum, importing a 2004 TJ from Japan that is a bit tired but mostly OE, so looking at various repairs/replacements.

Further to UKTJ posts what are the specific issues with the Morris guys? Clearly one or more issues?
 
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Specific. You order pay. Never get your product, pretty simple
Is that a consistent issue, did it happen more than once, have others experienced this problem? And how did Morris respond? As part of the checkout summary Morris gives an insurance option to cover damage or loss in transit, has anyone used this and had to make a claim for any delivery issues?

As background. I appreciate that in the US you have lots of choices of parts for your TJs and places to buy them. But that is not the case in the UK, we have limited choice of both parts and companies that sell them. Even spreading the net wider and looking across Europe gets us to maybe 10% of the options you guys are lucky enough to have. The parts which we can get hold of in the UK are significantly more expensive than you would pay in the US. Having looked again it seems the Morris website is calculating all the taxes correctly and even after shipping and taxes a range of parts are less expensive from Morris than we would pay to a UK seller. Mad, I know.

Now unlike most US retailers Morris appears (based on their website) to make buying items and having them shipped to the UK relatively painless. This does not appear to be the norm for US businesses selling TJ parts. As an example Morris will ship front and rear Chromoly axle shafts at a cost of $162, this compares to a shipping cost of $683 for the equivalent items quoted by Revolution Gear. But at least Revolution Gear quote for international shipping, many other companies don't. Now I understand that for these businesses shipping internationally will likely add a small number of sales but will be hassle, so I get why they either don't do so or charge a hefty premium for doing so, but that does not help me or anyone else in the UK looking for TJ parts. Which is why it would be great to be able to use Morris.

I hope you can see why it would be great if Morris was OK to use. And therefore why finding out as many people's experience as possible would be really helpful.
 
That’s crazy. Socialist taxes at your finest. Living in Germany a few decades ago could buy things at half the price from what the Germans paid using the vat exemption.

I’ve ordered many things recently from Amazon UK and Amazon DE.
I haven’t had to pay the taxes.

like Sweden where the vat tax is 70% 😱 on imports.
 
I think Quadratec ships to Europe
Thanks for that, it looks like they do. They do not address taxes on their system but I think what will happen is the items will be shipped to the UK then the courier company will have to collect the taxes from the buyer and pay them before they deliver them. That is what happened when my daughter bought some stuff from the US without realising the extra cost of the taxes. I will do a bit more digging.