Let me pose a few quick questions; any feedback is greatly appreciated! Scenario: I buy a 599 in Europe not so out of the question... 1) How much for air freighting? (I heard 10K) 2) How do I get it after it comes to the states? (Can I specify a dealership; if so, does it cost extra to ship it from the airport to the dealer; per mile etc.) 3) Say, my 599 does not have everything I want in it; can I take it to my dealership and have them install all the extras? 4) Could I loop-hole it, so as to keep any European tags on the car avoiding taxes in the U.S. ? Thanks all, Kind Regards, -Jon
Let me take a stab at this. 1) Yes, that is the right figure. 2) Assuming that it clears customs without a hitch, yes you could get it shipped anywhere you want. And yes, it would cost extra. 3) Maybe, you'd have to have a friendly dealer who didn't care about losing his profit on selling you the car. 4) Not unless you have dual citizenship and then you'd probably only be allowed to do this for a short period of time. The only ways to avoid sales tax is to be a dealer or get a residence in a non sales tax state. You'll still have to pay import taxes to clear the car through customs.
1. Fright to US $5000.00 2.NO US dealer will touch the car 3. The car is not US spec ie: Dept of Trans certified- 4. Must pass EPS emissions and have a Cert 5.Maybe could buy parts from Dealer doubt it when they check VIN # and see it not a US car 6.Most important no warrenty what so ever from Ferrari North Amer 7.Good Luck
There is no way I would try to import a Non US version of a current car into the US. The single biggest issue will be the utter lack of dealer support. You will not have a warranty and if anything does go wrong there will be no-one, including a local dealer, with the OBD II diagnostic tool for a non US car. In order to license it to drive and insure in the US you will need both EPA and DOT approval and for that you will need to have the car modified, no differently than say a 288GTO or a McLaren F1, by a certified shop and at a cost probably exceeding $50,000. Import duty on the car is 2.5% of the invoiced price and there is absolutely no way around this. If you have bought and titled the car outside of the US and you are importing it as your personal property there will be no other sales taxes due. As someone else said earlier "Good Luck!". I would add "why?"
An interesting source for new Fcars is China - buy it but do not pay China registration tax of about 100%. I suspect that you could get a left hand drive 599 quickly and for no premium. The problem is that the car comes from the factory with a China emissions certificate which is accepted nowhere else in the world except Japan. I have heard rumours that people have been tempted by availability in China and then left stranded with "orphan cars" that they can't sell anywhere in the world and are left to dump in Japan.
Unless you have some loophole that the rest of us don't know about, or are talking about getting a US version car, I agree that this doesn't make sense. However, I have my doubts about dealers being unwilling to work on the car. I would be *very* surprised if my dealer, at least, wouldn't be happy to take your money to work on the car. I'd also be surprised if the normal US SD-3 didn't work just fine with the car. I know my dealer will work on gray market 360s (and did so while the 360 was a current production car), why would they not work on a 599? In fact, I vaguely recall that the dealers are supposed to honor the warranty worldwide, are they not? If I buy a US version 599 and take delivery in Europe, will the dealers over there not honor my warranty?
FNA is not part of Ferrari SPA. They are two seperate entities and because of this the warrenties, to my understanding, are not transferable. As for taking delivery in Europe, the dealer will honor your warrenty because after you drop your car off at the drop off point the car will be delivered as it would have been to your dealer. Also the car is US spec so there will be no problems with that. DM18 i am interested as to why the emissions certificate is good only in japan? couldn't that be easily reapplied for in another country? Also are you talking about LHD cars from the mainland? If so could you drive them in Hong kong with the chinese emissions certificate?
Mainland cars are LHD. They cannot be registered in HK which is RHD. Emissions irrelevant when the steering wheel is on the wrong side.
Thanks for the thoughts, and very, very good notes on the subject. I am not writing this without a reason because I have found this 'abroad' method to provide me with one of the only unbought 599s with my specified equipment that I didn't have to wait those two years for. I am actually brokering for a close friend of mine, and we have yet to take delivery of the car though have given the dealership a significantly large deposit. It seems that the emissions would be a problem. As we stand, the car would most likely be registered in Maryland, and we are debating which dealership to import though. The dealership we are doing our business with over seas, has asked for the car to be bought buy the new year... Any more thoughts? Please, keep them pouring in! We haven't gone out of the country before in buying Ferraris or any other exotic, so this is new territory. Thanks to all! Regards
I bought a non US car and had it converted in the US so I can shed some light on your issues. I am also in Md. so I know what you will need to go through. First issue is that you cannot import the car to a dealer of your choice. It can only be picked up from customs by a registered importer that can do the EPA,DOT conversion and since you are in Md. you have JK technologies in Baltimore. I would call them and ask how much the conversion will cost before buying this car. Since this is a new model it will need to be petitioned and approved before it can even be converted to US specs. (process can take 6 months). You also have to pay duty tax at customs when the car gets here. After that you will need to pay 5% sales tax on the car in the state of Md. and there is no way around that. You can never have possession of the car until all conversion work is done so be prepared to wait. In my opinion I would never do it until the car is already on the approved list. When the 360's were new some sat at the importers for over a year before they got approval.
About the only place you'll be able to buy one! I was told today by a Ferrari employee that approximately a total of210 599's will hit US shores! Doesn't look good for those of us not on the dealer's most favored list!
Certainly true for those examples, but standards in the EU and USA have largely converged over the the years and I'd be surprised if current model year cars would need much more than placarding and light bulb changes (because I do imagine some remnant stupidity still exists) to satisfy the certs. IIRC, making the F-40 USA emissions compliant resulted in *more* horsepower.
FNA and its dealership network WILL NOT honor a warranty on a euro car. Furgettaboutit---it's not worth the chaos and agita. I did it with a 360---Never again!!
Isn't the 599 a "world" car where the EU has the same spec now. I got the impression from chatting with my dealer after the 599 tech training sessions that the european ferrari dealers were now going to get the CELs that we get with the rubbish air systems US cars have and that the US was pleased because they'd no longer get the "ours don't do that" reaction from Ferrari SPA.
RTGT worked on it, though, didn't they? I certainly agree with you that it's not worth the hassle, though!
I disagree with everyone. I think that a 599 from Europe is a great idea but only if you understand a few things. First of all as already said no warranty Cannot get it serviced at ferrari Some parts will be more difficult to replace But overall I think it is a great idea if you are buying the car as a driver and not a collector or reseller. Euro cars are much better than US cars, they have a few features that are better, plus launch control. Second much, much cheaper, and no premium. The no warranty thing is not that big of a deal because you can get the car serviced at many reliable places that are not ferrari dealers, second if ther is a major problem you can either send it back to the factory or send it to a european dealer, the amount of money you save on the premium could pay for the shipping costs ten fold. Genius idea, but only if you are going to use the car.
#3. Do not have to pass EPA emissions if the car is not registered. To get insurance you do not need a registered us car, can just use the vin number, same thing when you get pulled over. But if you get caught having an unregistered car, not very likely because of the amount these cars are usually driven, then there will be a great deal of mess to go through. You could explain as a defense that it is only a track car.
I'd hate to have to try a find a non-authorized Ferrari shop to fix a bad clutch due to the use of Launch control.
Basic things like clutch etc I don't think would be a problem for top quality mechanic. For example...Jason Heffner took my Gallardo engine out of the car ,completely tore it down redesigned a couple of things and put it back together and gave a 1 year warranty on his work. Now at that time and probably still today no Authorized Lambo tech stateside has EVER done this. He had the factory Lamborghini computer disc on the car.
Yes they did work on it HOWEVER the dash background lights didn't work and so the entire dash had to be sent to Italy ---car out of service for 2 1/2 months.AND the paint on the front light assembly was burnt and new headlights had to be purchased from Europe and on and on.NOT worth it!! Any moneys saved on purchase is lost on resale,
How about the exchange rate from dollars to euro? That seems to negate any savings right from the get go.
Lack of parts and dealer support, no warranty, why go through all sorts of problems just to evade paying some taxes? Buy a US-spec car. It will be much more worth it.
You have to import it under a race car or a show car exemption and EPA, DOT, US Customs all take a very dim view of being lied to. If caught the car will be siezed, and exported and you will be prosecuted. The name of Erickson ring a bell? By, by, 599
