Shipping F-Car to Asia

Asia consists of many different countries all with their own tax laws, you need to be more specific. I took my Ferrari from Dubai to China. Very very hard to do at that time, now it is not to bad, tax has changed recently but I think 25% is the norm here now.

 

Are you trying to import a left or right hand drive?

China is near impossible to privately import due to taxes.

You may run into legislation issues with HK as it is a RHD country.

most parts of Asia are right hand drive.

 

It can be done, but you're right, it is difficult and can be very expensive if you don't speak Chinese.

Not sure that you would want to bring a car into Shanghai anyway. There are no independant garages that have ever seen one and the local dealer only handles 360's and newer.

 

It is so much trouble now that it is just not worth it. Just buy a newer car to use in China.

 

hk 40 % import duty... No thanks !

unless the receipt is doctored...

 

A F430 is running about $280k US here. About a 16 month wait.

 

as mike c. eluded his reply, there are different laws for different country in the pacRim. i had briefly given consideration to shipping one of mine to VN for personal use but decided against it.

vehicle tax in VN is approx. 250% (btw, they have their own book to determine value and don't go by Bill of Sale) regardless. if the vehicle is shipped to a non-resident/expat, the tax still applies but the gov. will give you "a rebate" once you ship the car back. you are allowed to sell but no rebate.

 

Cars are left hand drive here in China, but it does not seem to matter to the drivers, as any side will do to pass at any time. We are taught two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, this rule is tested very often in China, and I think it is part of the population control drive. Driving here is tough and a Ferrari here is not easy at all in the traffic, bicycles and pedestrians (yes we have lots of those) but it can be fun.

As for getting a car in here, it is much easier now but very testing. Your forwarder will be useless no matter who he is, to get the job done you need to get stuck in yourself, this entails endless visits to customs, ports, and stevedore companies, all designed to make sure get to see every office they have plus a few bogus ones to boot.

It goes like this.
You ship the car
Your forwarder forgets the car is arriving and is too busy once he finds out the car has been in Shanghai port for week.
Lots of forms to fill then they make several trips to customs to find out they do not have all the correct documents.
They ask for a bond of 100% of the Kelly’s blue book value. You organize the funds and give it to customs, and then you can clear the car.
You have now to negotiate the value of the car for tax purpose, (since F1 arrived they all know what a Ferrari is) Once you get a figure you pay and you can claim the bond back. (this must be within one year or you forfeit the bond).
Then you pay the port, then the stevedoring and a few other people on route to get the car out.

All this actually takes about three to four months, mainly due the Inadequacies of the forwarders here (big or little it makes no difference). Customs themselves are really not that bad and reasonable friendly once you have shouted a few times and threatened the lives of their families.

It pays to roll your shirtsleeves up and get stuck in yourself.
When my 1985 308QV arrived the car was already 18 years old, three years to old to be used on the road in China. This was the first problem. Then they wanted 75000US$ bond as the car is not in any of the valuation books they have they guessed a price from a Ferrari in the book. As I would not pay the 75000$ then the car stayed in the port until I negotiated a figure (eventually I paid 6500US$ bond), this takes time. In my case (the first used Ferrari to arrive in Shanghai) I used every trick I could think of to speed things up and it still took three months, the car was in storage the whole time after clearing so I had demurrage first then storage, then stevedoring and then came the quarantine issue, fortunately this one had been removed only my forwarder did not know so that caused a further delay, the car only needed to be sprayed with god knows what. But once sprayed I drove the car home. Then came the emission tests, China has much stricter emission regs than anywhere else on the planet, well for foreign cars anyway. Mine failed very badly; I had to have a special dispensation to use the car.

Then the battle for the tax value, I did very well with mine and eventually paid no tax and had the bond returned.

I also had the 15-year-old car rule changed in order to use the car here and eventually the emission test was bypassed. The traffic authority gave me a special black number plate which guarantees the car can be used until it fall to pieces. That part took a year.

Unless you have a lot of time and speak fluent Mandarin, and like confrontation then leave you car at home, get one here.

Oh and did I mention A lot of time.

 

Need to check the latest rate as there has been a few changes recently, I will be off to Xiamen next week where the records of my importation are stored. I will dig out the detail and try to find a few names in customs who may help you (english speakers).

 

From US east coast to Hong Kong sea freight costs $4,000 air freight is $15,000. For HK at least you don't have to pay 1st registration tax if you don't register the car for road use. For demo you can get a dealer T plate which dealers use to demo cars. Of course you would have to set up a company to get one.