Shipping very heavy machinery internationally

[chris_d]

Dear members,

Being a tight git, I'm considering buying a very good value for money digger from Spain. Could anyone advise of realistic freight options and associated costs to transport a 3600kg digger from Spain to the UK? Also, would this import be subject to excise duty or does that not apply because it originates from within the EU?

TIA,
C

 

[NetBlindPaul]

You would have to pay "VAT" on the sale, but there should be no import duty as the tax has been paid within the EU, or at least this is how it works when I buy spares direct from EU machine builders.
As far as transport goes, a UK machine moving "wagon" is around £2.50+ per mile (ish)

 

[cambournepete]

Will it fit into a container?
If so that might be the cheapest way?

 

[Mcluma]

if you have a vat number, then export is free of vat (that is if your seller is vat registered) if not then you have no vat to claim or to pay

then on transport, checkout ebay for movers, there are quite a lot of them, and you are probably cheaper with a uk transporter

I reckon it will cost you arround the 400 to 600 to do so

At least we got a quote for that to get one from germany

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

drive it back

 

[chris_d]

Thank you to everyone who replied (except monkey man :wink: ). It appears that the seller of the machine is a scammer: Gesmex Machinery, so I won't be importing from Spain!

Frustratingly this is the third scam that I've come across in my search for a digger. Be careful of overly cheap adverts on Gumtree and Alibaba! Some of the email exchanges I've had with the scammers have been hilarious and it is sad to think that they manage to snare the unsuspecting. I always work from the assumption that everyone is a crook until proven otherwise!

It is worth googling the keywords in these adverts as you invariably find that the scammers have ripped off perfectly legitimate adverts elsewhere in the world, reusing the photography etc. Also worth checking up on the email addresses and website domain names that the scammers use as these are occasionally red-flagged on consumer websites. After that, when a scammer refuses to give you the serial number of a machine to check the history with the manufacturer, says they are 'abroad', won't let you view before buying but will deliver it to you for viewing if you pay 50% upfront then I'm sure any sensible buyer will run for the hills.

I'd love to catch these criminals, probably wouldn't be that hard if you have the means to 'follow the money'.

 

[Karl]

We had a similair thing with E-bay when we were looking for a caravan 6 years ago.

Caravan advertised on a Buy It Now, about 1/3 the price of what you would expect to pay. Contacted the buyer - "caravan is in Greece, you send me half the money and pay the other half when I deliver it to you in the UK". Pineapple off was my response. :lol:

Cheers

Karl