I thought that it would be instructive to members who live outside the UK, and more specifically, in the EU, to find out what happens now the UK is out of the EU.

I bought a replacement switchpack [ which I know that I could have got from Marty Cox, and perhaps should have done - sorry Marty] from Rimmer Bros, which has an exchange surcharge on it, and cost £244 [ €283] with the surcharge being returned, £50 or so.
The exact breakdown was, in Euro's:
Switchpack - €209.10
Surcharge - €57.96
Sub-total - €267.06
Shipping - €16.16
Total - €283.22

All very well, I know it is pretty expensive but I was looking at the idea that because it has come from Rimmer Bros then it may have been repaired by Landrover, but again perhaps not. It was a cost I was prepared to accept to make sure that my windows go back up when I put them down !! I have just fitted a spare switchpack that I got from Marty early last year and I had kept as an emergency back-up. Now I have used it.

So the "new" switchpack was delivered by UPS this morning, and with a bit of a shock. The driver said that there was €80 due to be paid, care of Irish Revenue. I had an idea that there would be something due, but €80 ???? A bit steep.

The new import rules now, after Brexit, is that anything coming into Ireland with a value of over €150 gets [a] charged 12% import duty, [b] 23% VAT, and the VAT is charged on the sub-total of the cost of the item, the 12% duty, the shipping cost, and then, on top of that, 10% handling fee by the import delivery company.

So my switchpack ended up costing €363.22 !!

That is the cost of Brexit to people outside the UK. Anything that comes into Ireland, and probably applies to the rest of the EU, is subject, over certain limits, to 12% duty and whatever VAT rate is current in the importing country, currently 23% in Ireland. It effectively means that if I want to import spares for the P38 from a tax-compliant shipper and the total purchase cost is over €150 then I need to add around 33/34% to the initial purchase price. It doesn't matter if you buy 151 items at €1 each because the total is €151 and therefore subject to duties.

I can see that, if I have to replace something expensive which has to come from the UK, then the poor old P38 will have to be got rid off as it will be too expensive to repair. And, being a P38, I suspect that day may be sooner rather than later.

Pierre3.

Pierre, my friend, your post was very informative about importing stuff into Ireland. I don't have a problem with it.

What I do have a problem with is your last paragraph introducing politics into the equation. Brexit is something that the electorate of the United Kingdom voted overwhelmingly for. We are not all stupid and to say we didn't understand what we were voting for is an old discredited argument.
I suggest you delete the last paragraph and stay off politics.

I do however wish to ask you another question on headlining.

Hi Dave3d, I didn't mean to offend anyone who voted for Brexit, I just don't think that people were fully aware of the cosequences. But let it lie. What would you like to know about the headlining ?? 😉

If it's any help my roof lining is still OK after two weeks so I believe that that maybe a good sign !!!

Just an aside, a second hand grab handle arrived today to fit in place of the square plugs above the driver's seat. The holes are all there to accept a grab handle to be fitted, which I think will be better than the two square plugs which were originally fitted.

Pierre3.

I wouldn't call 51% to 49% overwhelming personally and I think a lot of people that voted for it didn't think through the consequences. However, it's done now and we have to put up with it (or find ways around it....).

What you didn't mention Pierre is whether Rimmers charged UK VAT on your purchase because they shouldn't have. Previously, VAT was paid on a sale within the EU but not if something was being exported out of the EU. So someone in the US buying parts from a UK supplier wouldn't pay the VAT on the purchase price, that, or their equivalent taxes, would have to be paid when the items arrived in the US. Now, the same should apply to a purchase made by someone outside the UK. No VAT charged on the purchase price by the supplier, but charged, at the rate applicable in the recipient's country. The import duty will vary depending on what the item is but VAT is always charged on the total, the cost, the carriage cost and the import duty. A tax on a tax if you like.

In future, your best bet is to stock up on parts when you are next over here as you are allowed €430 worth of other goods (or £390 if charged in Sterling) as a personal import free of any duty.

Hi, I would just like to clarify my earlier post.

I had no intention of politicizing my remarks about import duties from the Uk, but, instead, my point is that a number of unanticipated consequences have happened due to Brexit, and which I believe that a lot of people in the UK hadn't expected. I will give a couple of examples, which are not in the least political but economic, not just to people, for instance in Ireland, but also in the UK.

Last summer I decided to fit a new kitchen, which I am doing myself. I looked around for a new worktop, granite sink, tapset, and some other extra's for the sink. So I looked around, on the internet, for a week or so, and decided on the sink and ancilliaries from Caple Co Ltd, in the UK, and a worktop from Formica UK. These items were all quite a lot less expensive buying from a N.I. company, who had an office in Dublin, than buying a sink from Franke, or Blanko, or Stock. The parts, and bits and pieces, collected by myself in Dublin came to around €700. If I had bought from a large local dealer I couldn't have bought products from Caple UK because the main dealers here don't sell Caple. I would, therefore, have had to pay at least 30% more for locally sourced items.

That was last December, just before Brexit happened, and if I had waited until January this year I would have had to add taxes and duties to the cost of buying from Caple, thereby making not worth the cost as I could then but Franke or Blanko for less money. Therefore, and this is my point, I wouldn't had bought from a UK company but from a German or Belgian company and so the sale would have been lost, to the detriment of Caple Co and their workers.

Example two- I had to fit all new bushes to the front of the P38, last September, to pass our version of the MOT, so I bought everything, track rod assembly, drag links, anti-roll bar assembly, upper and lower ball joints, the lot. All these parts came from Rimmer Bros, and cost somewhere in the region of £350 [I forget exactly]. Now, after Brexit, if I had to buy all those parts I would probably expect to have to pay closer to £500/£525. At that stage I would have to consider whether I want to put the car through the MOT test, but instead sell it for parts.

Again, my point is that is that, before Brexit, the parts were only different in as much as I would have a currency conversion rate to bother about, so I would therefore buy from Rimmer Bros UK. Now, after Brexit, I have currency conversion and taxes and duties to be concerned about, and how much more expensive it is going to make the parts. Therefore, I may either scrap the vehicle or try to find a supplier in Europe, although he will be buying from the UK himself and adding on the premium, but either way I would not be buying from Rimmer Bros, therefore, as before, the sale would be lost to the detriment of Rimmer Bros and their employees.

Although I am only one person when you multiply up the number of people who did used to buy directly from the UK the figures become very, very large, and if those people are now shopping online from Germany or Spain or Italy then the loss to the UK exchequer will be really noticeable.

This is my point that I don't believe people in the UK realised the unintended consequences of Brexit. A decision made in one country can have profound effects in other countries. After 40 years of no barrier trading this is big issue.

Sorry for the long post, but I am just trying to put into context some of the results of Brexit outside the UK. Nothing political is assumed or intended. I just wanted to point out that, because of the big jump in imports from the UK to Ireland, keeping an oldish P38 may have become to expensive and not worth the hassle.

Pierre3.

Richard, thanks for your informative post.

These are the current personal entitlements when returning to Ireland from a non-EU country, e.g. the UK:

"You can buy goods from outside the EU up to a value of €22 without incurring any VAT charges. Goods up to a value of €150 may be imported without payment of customs duty. To avoid these packages being stopped by Customs, the value should be clearly marked on the label.1 Mar 2021".

So, unfortunately, in theory I can't stock up on parts without paying either VAT, if the goods are over €22 but under €150, or duty and VAT if the goods are over €150. At the moment the only way to do this is to drive over the north of Ireland, to Scotland and then down to, for example, Rimmer Bros. When returning there would be no border between the North and the South, but there are currently mobile Revenue patrols on the motorway south, checking vehicles at random. So you take your chances.

Pierre3.

Those limits are for items sent by post, the same as here if buying something from an EU country. If I am visiting an EU country and bringing stuff back I have personal allowance limits. That is 200 fags, so no more bringing 1000 or so back at €3.70 a pack, 18 litres of wine rather than the boot full I used to bring back (which wouldn't e so bad if I could do my usual trip every few weeks but with the Covid restrictions on travel I'm having to pay twice the price for inferior wine over here) and up to £390 worth of other goods. If going the other way, it is €430 worth, which, oddly enough, is almost exactly £390. But, the point is, these higher limits are if you travel over the invisible line, buy something the other side of the line and bring it back with you, not if you order it and have it sent over, then the lower limits apply.

I suspect the Customs patrolling the border areas are looking for people who cross from North to South or vice versa, and don't stop to declare what they have bought. If you were to travel out of the EU into the North, buy something up to the value of £390/€430 and declare it when you travel back into the EU, then you would be OK. Although as there is no hard border with Customs posts, quite how you are supposed to do that is anyone's guess.

Funny how customs can Rob us blind but can't stop the drug trafficking ---- they'd have to actually work then

Hi Symes, you have it completely wrong here - there is no tax or duty on Class A drugs in Ireland, especially if you throw them into the sea in big bales and let them float ashore. The Revenue patrols are only there to make sure that you haven't been buying excessive amounts of dangerous products from Sainsbury's in Newry. You could have too many loaves of toasting bread, you swine !!

Pierre3.