Have your ever imported a Ferrari from the US to France?

Hello Philippe,

I have done exactlly what you say. I lived 4 years in OC, California and bought my Ferrari there back in 2001.

To avoid paying taxes when you bring a car from the US there are several requirements:

1. That you are an US resident for at least 2 years, with a valid work Visa (student visa and student residents are not taxes exempt when importing backa a car from the US) You have to be registered at the France Embassy or France delegation in your US area for a minimun of a year and at least as much as you have owned the car. For an Spaniard, before returning to Spain I had to request at the Embassy to privide me with the certification that I was registered there and I am returning back. This might be different from other countries. Although this is not indespensable, it makes things way easier.

2. You have to had owned the car in the US for at least 1 year before sending it to Europe.

3. You have to keep the car at least 1 year in Europe and you can't sell it, otherwise the buyer would have to pay the taxes and VAT that go up to 38%.

If you meet all these requirements you will save about a 38% in taxes and VAT over the invoice price. Be careful, if the invoice price seems too low to the customs agents they have the option to search for local market values and use that as reference instead.

However unless you save a lot in this purchase I do not recomend you to buy the car in the US, at least not a pre 1995 one. The maintenance costs of a US car in Europe are higher due that some common parts have to be inported from the US most of the time.

If you need more info let me know, I will be glad to help you.

- Julio.

 

I forgot to say that the same import rules are applied all accros the EU. So although I did import the car to Spain the procedure should be pretty much the same than importing it to France. UK is slightly different.

- Julio.

 

When I said that you had to own the car in the US for I year I meant obviously locally registered there. The basis to be exempt from paying taxes on importing it is that you are doing it because it was a car you used while being a US resident and therefore is part of your private belongins. But for that the car has to be properly registered in the US , in your case at least for 6 months (I would recomend you to check this twice, as the EU regulations says it must be 1 year minimum).

Most of the difference between EU and US cars are in the exhaust system, starting at the engine header, the CPUs, the lights and the bumpers.

I had no problem to homologate my 1986 328. And you shouln't have any either with a 512TR, even if the car is not exactly the same the EU regulations allows you to import the car as far as is safe, and at in that respect US cars are theoreticaly not only safer, but also cleaner on emmisions. The homologation should be as easy as paying some 150 Euros taxes to the homologation agency for the paperwork. If you want to be sure you can even request that info to them by internet, all you need is the VIN number of the car. I will try to find the link, I should have it somewhere.

From the point of view of maintenance, the exhaust is the part that you will have to replace at some point in the life of any car. If you have a problem in the headers, the muffler, or any other part of the exhaust, you will be forced to purchase it for the US models. They are significantly more expensive than the Euro ones. However this might be different from model to model, but this is true at least for 308/328/348 and Mondials. Not sure for any other model.

- Julio.