We've been waiting for confirmation from the liquidators on what to do going forward, but we're tired of keeping you in the dark. As some of may you know, we are sad to announce the closure of Britcar UK after 15 years of trading.
Unfortunately, a series of events meant the business, in its current state, is no longer sustainable. As Duncan wanted to retire, we planned to sell the business in 2020 and invested heavily to improve it as advised by the person interested. Unfortunately, COVID then hit and our planned purchase fell through earlier this year. The issue was then compounded by extremely high shipping rates around the world, and a multitude of issues with import duties and taxes after Brexit that led to a decline in international trade.
We believed we could trade out of the situation if we made enough cuts, and indeed were able to yield a slight profit for two months. That is, until the next disaster hit us.
In early October, 2 weeks after Scarlett took over to try and turn the business around, our credit card provider contacted us to inform us that the e-commerce platform we were using had massive security issues and we had 30 working days to launch a whole new website and backend or cease trading.
We had no choice but to opt for an off-the-shelf website and try to modify it to our needs. Scarlett worked alone on this every night and day, and we launched it with over 400,000 products on the 9th of November. However, we immediately experienced issues with processing orders and receiving goods. There was also a limit on the number of redirects we could have, cutting our organic google presence overnight, which made 50% of our sales.
Already being in a precarious position financially, and with these issues compounding the problem, it was evident that we were close to trading insolvently. We made the decision to stop taking payments on 24th November, and shipped out all the parts we had available for customers.
We are so sorry to be letting some of you down. Please apply to Paypal and your credit card companies for a refund. For those who paid by other means, please await further instructions from the liquidator once they have decided the next steps.
One day, when we sort out a new and improved website, we hope to be able to return again but for now, we want to thank you for your custom and support over the years - it made all the difference. Thank you for choosing Britcar UK.

So sad. Sorry to hear this.

Oh wow, so sorry. I had no idea Britcar was your baby. Sad to see another LR supplier go away.

Not my baby was asked to pass it on. Hope nobody had an order outstanding with them

Jeez. Bit late to offer now I know, but give me a shout if you do want a hand with the new one.

???

What a pity, just received a nice order, very well professionally packed & superfast processed.
I will miss their good website, too. They even searched themselves in other sources for some rare parts, which are not big profit. That's how they created customer loyalty.

I’ve dealt with Duncan personally over the last couple of months, he’s been nothing short of a true gent, honest to his word and with zero messing around whatsoever. It really is tragic what’s happened to him and his business.

David.

Wow, that explains their firesale on eBay then. They had complete crate engines for £999 for example! I bought a few genuine components for my P38 for britpart prices.

Shame to see a business drop like this.

I wonder how much Brexit had to play in this. When I look at how much it now costs to buy and import parts into Ireland, from the UK, it makes more sense to look for those parts in Europe. I'm not suggesting that Brexit is the sole issue, and having read the first post which shows that there were a number of other issues, but every P38 buyer outside the UK suddenly had to pay considerably more for parts once the UK left Europe. I suspect that that alone made a big difference to Britcar.

If they were going to start again I think that they would be better off starting in Ireland and selling into the UK. That would mean that sales into Europe would be sold as seen, i.e. no extra VAT or import duty, or customs declarations to European buyers. I suppose that it all depends on where the biggest market is.

Pierre3.

It's got a lot better now the rules have become clearer and people now understand them. One company I use has this on their website:

DELIVERY TO THE EU: For private individuals with an order value of less than £120 net, no customs or import tax will be charged and the order will be delivered directly to your door. (IOSS)

I ordered a full hide from Martrim to be delivered to an address in France, no VAT was charged here and none was charged at the receiving end either.

I never pay VAT for parts sent to Canada. On this end I often have to pay Canadian taxes, which doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is the exorbitant “brokerage” fees the shipping companies often add to their charges.

Pierre3 wrote:
but every P38 buyer outside the UK suddenly had to pay considerably more for parts once the UK left Europe. I suspect that that alone made a big difference to Britcar.

Pierre3.

(snip!)

Actually that should read "Every P38 owner in the EU".
As Harv points out, the situation hasn't changed for non-EU customers.

Not that this helps Britcar of course :(

EU customers should be treated the same as non-EU but outside the UK but the problems at the beginning of the year meant nobody (not even HMRC when I phoned them back in February with a query) knew what they were supposed to do. So you had suppliers charging VAT on EU purchases, couriers charging a fortune for brokerage fees and then charging VAT again. The system was simplified and clarified around June and it should now be working as it should. Purchases below a certain net value (£120 in the case of Auto Electric Supplies so I assume the same with others) shouldn't attract any duty at all although the hide sent from Martrim was £160 and there was still nothing to pay when it arrived in France. A lot cheaper than me bunging it in the back of the car and driving over with it. I've been asked to take a P38 auto gearbox to Spain so that should be interesting.

I often wonder how companies are sending products to customers either in the EU from the UK, or in the UK from the EU but they are not charging VAT or import duty [if it exceeds the minimum amount]. I have seen this with Amazon, who sometimes ship products to Ireland from the UK without any taxes or duties. I'm not sure how they are doing this unless they are absorbing the cost themselves.

Ryanair seem to be able to do the same thing with airport taxes. All airlines have to pay airport taxes, based on each passenger they carry, and these taxes can be perhaps £15 - £20 per person. And yet Ryanair can offer £10 air fares into the UK. My daughter-in-law works at Dublin Airport and it has been a constant puzzle how O'Leary can offer a £10 fare into, say, Gatwick, but Aer Lingus have to pay perhaps £15 per passenger and therefore can't possibly offer a £10 fare.

The situation in Ireland is that when an item arrives in Ireland with, for instance DHL, a customs clearance document is submitted. This has the item value, say £75 STG, a shipping cost say £15, both figures which are converted to Euros. Then DHL add their admin fees, usually around €40, to the two previous figures, and then VAT at 23% is added to the total. VAT is applied to everything arriving in the country.

If te item is over €150 then import tax [depending on classification] will be applied - so therefore you have to UK purchase price [converted to Euros], the UK shipping cost [converted to Euros], any import tax at 12% is added, the customs clearance admin cost is added, and then VAT at 23% is added to the total. This does add quite a bit extra to anything bought in the UK, so buying from Rimmer Bros or Britcar has become expensive.

If I can find parts in Europe then it makes more sense to buy them instead. In fact, I have bought quite a bit of stuff from France, Italy and Germany rather than buying from the UK. Unfortunately, buying from the UK has become the option of last resort.

Pierre3.

Morat, yes that's correct, the change has been for customers in the EU of course. Thanks for the correction.

Pierre3.

Sounds like this is the Irish taking advantage of the situation rather than anything else. If I send anything to the US, unless the value exceeds $500 there is no duty or taxes to be paid at the far end. Sending stuff to France it appears that if under £120 there is nothing to pay either.

Your way round it would be to get it shipped to a UK address and then get someone to send it over marked as a gift with negligible value. Just the same as when you order stuff on eBay from China where it arrives with a customs declaration showing a value of $1, irrespective of what it is.

The Couriers will charge me “brokerage” fees on anything worth over something like £15 into Canada.

If it goes by Royal Mail/Canada Post it will usually come without any extra fees.

Harv, I am not sure what the fees, in Ireland, are with the Post Office because I haven't had anything delivered by them since Brexit happened. But anything that comed into Ireland from the UK is VAT chargeable, so even if you put €1 value you will still get charged VAT if you use a courier, as he has to make a customs declaration.

I suspect that if the package comes via the Post Office then there won't be VAT or duty, provided that the item is not worth over €150. It seems that we may not need to pay an admin fee, or brokerage fee, for goods delivered by the Post Office for low priced items. I would think that this is due to the way the goods are transported between the UK and Ireland. All courier companies have to provide customs documents for everything on the vehicle so customs have the opportunity to tax anything coming into the country.

I don't know how the Post Office does it.

This was always the way things worked before Ireland and the UK were full members of the EU, or the Common Market. We always had to pay the import duty, the shipping cost, the customs fees, and VAT on everything and anything that we got delivered to Ireland. It made car parts, particularly for rally cars, very expensive unless you could get thos parts smuggled across the border.

Richard, unfortunately, Customs and Revenue are fairly wise to the "Gift with no value" trick and they will regularly open packages listed as such. I have had magazines and books parcels opened before delivery, to see what was inside. I have asked some sellers if they can list parts as "Warranty replacements" with no residual value but most sellers on the net won't do it, only smaller, private sellers.

I would think that France and Ireland are using a common minimum value before charging duty. It is €150 in Ireland, and if it is £120 from the UK to France then that coming up near to €150, well €135 maybe, but still in a similar vein.

Pierre3.