Shipping a car to Europe, what's involved?

[canfossi]

I have a friend who lives in Austria. He's coming to Ontario (use to live here) to visit and wants to buy a car in Ontario and ship it to Austria. He says they are a lot cheaper in Canada than in Europe. He's older so I want to do some background work for him. Has anyone here ever done this? Thanks, Chris

[Smallhold]

Only thing I know for sure is that he'll have to pay VAT when importing a car, it will possible be checked by the customs to see if the standard is up to European standard. Such as lights at the right height, safety measures etc. Between the shipping and the VAT it might not be worth it.

[beorning]

Yep, the taxes he will have to pay on it when it hits Europe will negate the cost savings. I knew some Germans who did this, but they were buying Corvettes, which were not available at the time in country. The resale on them was also astronomical, which is what made it economically viable.

I doubt most North American vehicles would pass European emissions inspection either without some pretty involved modifications.

Hi canfossi!

It's really nice of you to do that for your friend. :-) But!
It's an incredible headache & the taxes will be so high you might end up paying even more (& if you add the shipping cost, you certainly will pay more)
I know it's tempting because cars are ridiculously cheap in the States and Canada (and so are all other products) but everything is taxed up to 30% upon entering Europe.

I know this for a fact because I live here, and my American fiancee moved here to be with me. Stuff like computers are so, so, so cheap in the USA so he wanted to ship one for use here, but the taxes & efford made it not worth it.

Also; Whenever I order online from an American store -like clothes- it's taxed by the customs-people. If I order a 100 dollars worths of clothes, I have to pay about 30 dollars import taxes upon recieving.

It sucks! You guys have no idea how cheap stuff in your country is compared to the prices over here. For a laugh, ask your friend what we pay for the fuel for the cars. :-)

If you want to find out more you can always go to the Austrian official goverment site. If you search around there you will surely find import-taxes info there. :-)

[canfossi]

The points that you are making are very good, I am going to tell my friend about the issues you've mentioned. Personally I think he should buy the car over in Europe, I'm sure it will save a great deal of headache and grief, but if he wants to do it I guess I can't stop him. Chris