Replacement soft top recommendations?

Malteser said:
I guess it depends on how much of a hurry you're in for the parts, but I want the jeep summer ready so I wasn't prepared to wait and deal with estimates that I felt were being made up just to stall me!
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I'm always impatient too..but this is my long haul project so I'm learning to be patient..my Jeep is coming from Japan and the shipment date has slipped by more than a week in two weeks as the car transporter had to wait for ages moored of Chinese ports waiting to pick up Chinese cars / tractors etc.. looks like they are not having a recession!

I did look just now on Amazon and the sample of products I checked are not available there.. at the moment..
 
Caledonian said:
Hi thanks for the opinion. much appreciated..the issues are that some of the things I wish to buy are Quadratec items and I didn't want to get hit with multiple handling charges..out of interest I'll look at which parts I can order via Amazon and see their prices / delivery timescales / charges!
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I think the other thing to consider is the duty / VAT. I am not sure about Amazon, but I believe some eBay retailers quote the duty / VAT in the price and you pay upfront. Now that is great in that it means you have certainty of price and no delay with amounts having to be paid when the item arrives in the UK. But I do wonder if those costs are 'padded', they are described as "customs duties, taxes, brokerage and other fees".

Take for example a soft top listed on eBay at $1,099.99. The shipping is another $79.02. My understanding is that duty is charged at 4% (applicable rate for most vehicle parts) of the value of the item. You then pay VAT at 20% on the value of the item, shipping cost and duty payable. For the soft top I make that $44.00 duty (1099.99 x 4%) and $244.60 VAT ((1099.99 + 79.02 + 44) x 20%), in total $288.60. However, the eBay vendor is quoting a figure of $426.74. Either I have the calculations wrong, or they are adding a hefty $138 in other fees. To be fair the shipping quote is about $20 less than Quadratec.

If I recall you have some professional experience in import duties, so you are probably way ahead of me but I thought it worth mentioning.
 
Caledonian said:
I'm always impatient too..but this is my long haul project so I'm learning to be patient..my Jeep is coming from Japan and the shipment date has slipped by more than a week in two weeks as the car transporter had to wait for ages moored of Chinese ports waiting to pick up Chinese cars / tractors etc.. looks like they are not having a recession!

I did look just now on Amazon and the sample of products I checked are not available there.. at the moment..
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Do you get to track the deliver. It would be fun to have a world map on the wall and keep moving a pin across the see each day as it gets ever closer!
 
UKTJ said:
I think the other thing to consider is the duty / VAT. I am not sure about Amazon, but I believe some eBay retailers quote the duty / VAT in the price and you pay upfront. Now that is great in that it means you have certainty of price and no delay with amounts having to be paid when the item arrives in the UK. But I do wonder if those costs are 'padded', they are described as "customs duties, taxes, brokerage and other fees".

Take for example a soft top listed on eBay at $1,099.99. The shipping is another $79.02. My understanding is that duty is charged at 4% (applicable rate for most vehicle parts) of the value of the item. You then pay VAT at 20% on the value of the item, shipping cost and duty payable. For the soft top I make that $44.00 duty (1099.99 x 4%) and $244.60 VAT ((1099.99 + 79.02 + 44) x 20%), in total $288.60. However, the eBay vendor is quoting a figure of $426.74. Either I have the calculations wrong, or they are adding a hefty $138 in other fees. To be fair the shipping quote is about $20 less than Quadratec.

If I recall you have some professional experience in import duties, so you are probably way ahead of me but I thought it worth mentioning.
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Hi there, yes I've re-energised my import documentation and looked at is as you said..the bottom line is that you have to work it out and compare (as you did) the various options like ebay global shipper vs doing it yourself. I've got a snorkel on mine which I want to remove..it needs the OE airbox so I bought a good quality 2nd user one from a US parts sellers and used the ebay gobal ship program.. it was 161 USD for the box and 22 USD shipping and 42 USD import charges..so it looks like 42/183 = 22% for VAT n duty
 
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UKTJ said:
Do you get to track the deliver. It would be fun to have a world map on the wall and keep moving a pin across the see each day as it gets ever closer!
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You can track it here .. https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ai...msi:258981000/imo:9342205/vessel:HOEGH_LONDON

Hoegh London is the ship

The free tracking uses terrestial AIS trackers so you can only see it near to coasts etc.. fascinating world I never was plugged into..teh system is colour coded so you can see passenger ships/freighters/tugs/oil tankers etc.. enjoy!
 
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Ron505 said:
So is the material really as thick as the stock material? I've heard conflicting answers to that question.
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Mine is the basic RAT and has the same thickness as the standard top. The premium top from bestop I believe is even thicker than the stock material
 
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Malteser said:
Mine is the basic RAT and has the same thickness as the standard top. The premium top from bestop I believe is even thicker than the stock material
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Could you provide a part number or link to the one that you purchased? I'm wondering which material it was.
 
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