One of the coolest moments you can experience as a car enthusiast is buying your dream car, especially if it’s something that was never sold in your home country. Most of the discussions revolving around imports involve buying a car in Japan and bringing it to America. There is, however, a whole world of cars out there, and plenty of forbidden fruit is sitting in Europe just waiting for you to bring it here. And it’s not even difficult! Here’s what you need to do to import a car from Europe, and how the process is different than importing a car from Japan.
Finding information on importing a car from Japan is easy. That’s because getting a car from Japan is almost too simple. Japan has a robust auction system, globally-popular car sales sites, and countless businesses and individuals have access to these systems. The nation has what’s essentially an entire industry dedicated to sending old Japanese cars to other places. Because of this, it’s simple to fire off an email to just about any importer and get the process started.
Importing cars from the island nation is also remarkably cheap. This is due to a winning combination of inexpensive shipping, worthless vintage Japanese cars, and a U.S. dollar that’s stronger than the Japanese yen. Not everything in Japan is as wildly expensive as a Nissan Skyline. I’m serious when I say you can buy a running and driving 25-year-old car for just a couple hundred bucks in Japan.
So, how is Europe different? Several readers have been asking me this, and it just so happens that I’m in a position to find out.
A Different Game
This year, I want to get back into car imports. Yes, I said that back in 2023 and again in 2024. Unfortunately, I buried myself under a pile of junk so high that I couldn’t really focus on much else. Finally, having gotten rid of my terrible project cars, I can really chase the stuff I want.
I want to import another car from Japan and one car from Europe. The Japanese car has been easy thus far. I just emailed my favorite auction service and I’m already cruising the Japanese auction system. As for the European car, I’ve been dreaming about the Audi A2 ever since David wrote about one for the old site. It’s a tiny car that was crazy over-engineered and way too expensive for the segment it was trying to compete in. I mean, that has me written all over it. Audi A2 production began at the very end of 1999, so if you’re playing things by the rules, only the earliest Audi A2s are now legal to import.
But how do you do it? Europe doesn’t seem to have a super simple auction system nor does there appear to be a massive industry of companies that make it super easy to just choose a car and send it off to America. A Euro car importer confirmed such to me back in 2021.
If you search Google for “import car from Europe” or other variations of this, your results will likely be lots of shipping companies and exporters. These companies will get your car onto a truck or a boat and to America. That’s great and all, but how do you get the car into your possession and then send that car to that shipping company?
Here’s where things get immediately more difficult than importing a car from Japan. It’s super easy to find dozens of companies to help you bring a Japanese car over to America. The same isn’t exactly true for European imports.
Back in 2021, I asked U.S.-based import firm Orchid Euro about how to import a car from Europe. Orchid Euro has over a decade of experience in importing cars from Europe, but at that time in 2021, the firm was not taking any orders. Orchid Euro’s representatives presented me with the options they felt were the most feasible. The first option was to do all of it yourself.
This is pretty much as annoying as you think it is. You’ll have to contact the dealership or seller yourself and hope that these entities would be willing to sell their vehicle to someone an entire ocean away. If you’re really lucky, the seller might even help you prepare the car for its voyage across the ocean. If you’re buying a car that you want to be in good condition, you’ll also have to find some way to get the vehicle inspected.
This is sort of a wild way to go about this. Ideally, you’d fly out to wherever that car is in Europe to facilitate the purchase and then the shipping back home. That way, you could at least see the car in person. However, you’re still left taking time off from work, paying for an expensive flight, and then going through the work of contacting a company to help you get the thing on a ship and off to America with the correct documents.
The way many enthusiasts go about importing a European car is by using a combination of a vehicle sourcing company, a shipping company, and an importer. This is the kind of work performed by the likes of Orchid Euro. You tell them to find you a car. They’ll find you examples and should you choose one, they’ll have it inspected, prepared for shipping, and then have it put on a transport. But how, exactly, does it work? Perhaps more importantly, how much will it cost?
I didn’t move any further on my European import plans in 2021, but I was motivated to give it another try after seeing that Doug DeMuro successfully imported an old Mercedes-Benz A-Class (above). In fact, I decided to contact the same entities Doug used to import his car, vehicle sourcing agent Dutch Munich and import firm Inbound Motorsports.
No Auctions, Still Easy
Dutch Munich explained to me how it works. You give Dutch Munich your parameters and they’ll search Europe for cars that fit your criteria. Once they find cars that fit the bill, they’ll send you a list with an estimated cost breakdown for each car. Should you choose one of those cars, they’ll have it inspected, purchase the vehicle, and then do all of the work needed to get it to America.
Once it gets to America, you can either handle things yourself or have an importer finish the job. In Doug DeMuro’s case, he used Inbound Motorsports to get the car to America. Dutch Munich elaborated in a message to me:
We can handle everything—from sourcing the car when you give your requirements, to delivering the car to your doorstep anywhere in the US. We collaborate with Inbound Motorsports, who manage everything on the US side, while we take care of the European side.
In Europe, we will source and locate the car for you. If we find one that meets your preferences, we will give you more objective info on the vehicle, allowing you to make an informed decision. We negotiate directly with the seller in person, which is more effective in Europe. If we reach an agreement, we will handle the payment, export documentation, and arrange transport (enclosed or open) within Europe, as well as sea freight (or air freight if preferred). Once the vehicle arrives in the US, Inbound Motorsports takes over, managing the import process and delivering the car to your location. They specialize in importing cars, doing this on a weekly basis.
Throughout the entire process, we will maintain direct communication, so you can ask questions at any time—either to us or Inbound Motorsports.
If you go through this route, it is not much different on your end than using, say, The Import Guys service to import a car from Japan. You choose the car and they do all of the work to get it to you. On your end, the main difference is that you don’t have access to a candy store of cars as you do in the Japanese auction system. Otherwise, it’s functionally similar in that you just pay a number of intermediaries to get a car across a vast ocean.
The price here is also significantly different. The U.S. dollar is stronger than the Japanese yen, so everything in Japan is cheaper than it appears. Unfortunately, the opposite is true for cars in Europe, where the price you’ll pay is more expensive than the price you see. I’ll demonstrate what this means.
I asked Dutch Munich to find me a 2000 Audi A2 with a diesel engine, a manual transmission, and painted in a color that’s not black. Sadly, Dutch Munich informed me that the kind of car I’m looking for is rare at this time and the ones worth buying are deep in Europe nowhere near an ocean port. That’s not to say that diesel Audi A2s are rare, but that it’s currently February 2025 and only the first few months of Audi A2 production are legal to import. If I’m willing to compromise on color or engine I would have better luck.
That being said, Dutch Munich gave me options and estimates, anyway. The cheapest Audi A2 Dutch Munich found me was the 2000 1.4 diesel (above) with 133,594 miles (215,000 kilometers) for $2,500 (2,390 Euro). Perfect! It’s just the kind of car I’m looking for. So, what would it cost? Here’s the breakdown:
Asking price of the car: $2.500
Sourcing, inspection, payment, documentation, and transport handling: $1.500
Transport within Europe (open): $500
Ocean shipping to New York: $2.250
Customs entry fees: $450
Import duties (3% of vehicle value):$75
Service fee – Inbound Motorsports: $1,500
Total: $8.775
I was shocked by this. My Honda Beat was $1,900 in auctions and when all was said and done I paid about $4,700 total for The Import Guys to buy me the car, handle all of the paperwork in Japan, ship it to a port, ship it to America, and get me an American title.
Auto Scout 24 SellerThere are a number of differences that make the Audi more expensive. Putting a tiny car on a Roll-On/Roll-Off vessel in Japan for a trip to the United States costs about $1,000. It appears that doing the same trip from Europe costs over double. I also paid only a few hundred for documents and land transport in Japan while the same costs $1,500 in Europe.
The Customs entry fees and import duties can’t really be changed, but I could save about $1,200-ish by having a different firm like All Ways International Shipping handle the U.S. entry of the Audi. This was the company I used to handle documentation in the U.S. for my Suzuki Every importation. If I try really hard, I could maybe get this price down to about $7,500. That’s before any further negotiation on the above prices.
Still, this amounts to paying $7,500 for a $2,500 car, which is a hard pill to swallow. Things get more expensive if I want to choose a car with fewer miles.
Look at the beauty! It’s another 2000 Audi A2 1.4 TDI. This one has 112,965 miles or 181,800 kilometers, but costs $5,522 or CHF 4,990. The first car was also located in Germany while this one is in Switzerland. How does that change the math? The costs rise even higher:
Asking price of the car: $5.500
Sourcing, inspection, payment, documentation, and transport handling: $2.000
Transport within Europe (open): $1.250
Ocean shipping to New York: $2.250
Customs entry fees: $450
Import duties (3% of vehicle value): $165
Service fee – Inbound Motorsports: $1,500
Total: $13.115
Admittedly, I’m not in a rush to spend $13,000 on a $5,000 old economy car.
To be fair to Dutch Munich, the biggest problems here are that there aren’t many Audi A2s out there that are legal to import and the ones that are deep inside of Europe, which makes everything more expensive. Keep in mind that pretty much no matter where you buy a car in Japan, it’s not going to be far from an ocean port. At the same time, we also have that problem with the exchange rate.
So, what can you do in a situation like this? A lot of people just import European cars from Japan. Yes, these cars may have steering wheels on the wrong side, but the exchange rate will be on your side and fees are apparently cheaper. This is why you’ll see JDM importers in America bring in Japanese market BMWs and similar. Sadly, I’ve yet to see an Audi A2 in a Japanese auction.
I’m probably going to press pause on the Audi A2 idea for now. Maybe I’ll wait for more examples to become legal to import. Or maybe I’ll wait until the much cooler Audi A2 3L becomes legal. Either way, I’m not going to import one right now.
That being said, if you’re looking to import a car from Europe, now you should have more insight into what it would be like. You can either fly out and do it yourself, pay other people to do it for you or get a European car from Japan. Any of these methods should get you that car you’ve been looking for. Either way, this is a ton of fun and I can’t wait to bring in another car.
What about kit cars, cars that were made by companies that made a grand total of a dozen or cars modified into unrecognizable form?
For example https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1753244
Or this maybe used to be a 2cv?
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1763134
Theoretically they still have to be 25 years old, unless they’re still registered as a 1990 2CV, etc.
Goddamn you Mercedes. I’m a long time lover of the A2 and have pined for one forever. Now I know it’s possible. Expensive, but possible.
Maybe we can go halves and share custody? You take every first and third week and I’ll take every second and fourth. That should work, right?
Try to find one in Spain or Portugal or even Italy.
Italy must have some established exporter, lots of people imported vintage Fiats to the US, and I’ve seen some Panda 4x4s brought over as well.
Bonus, they are also rust-free unless they were in the northernmost alpine part of Italy.
I was going to say, a Danish friend was very happy with the rust-free old Iveco truck he drove up from Spain.
I was thinking similarly, i.e. target cars from countries that of course have their own export ports like France, Spain, Portugal, Italy And where the make/model you are after may have been common…
Even better like Portugal, Spain, Italy if it temds to be a mostly dry climate..
Every time one of these stories comes up I start daydreaming about importing a Ford Falcon from Australia. My dreams are dashed when I try to find anything at all about importing a car from Down Under.
Not a ‘ute’, though the early 2000s GTO was basically a Holden, same for the Pontiac G8
This is a great article as there are a few things I wouldn’t mind procuring from the Old World and like knowing rough estimates of what it would cost me.
I still have 15 years to wait for my Audi S1 though only 5 more years for a BMW E87 130i!
Isn’t Alex Roy, the Cannonball guy, a car importer? Asking for a friend
About 25 years ago, a friend of mine who had spent 3 years living in Germany without a visa doing odd jobs but mainly working as a tool/parts runner for various metal and woodworking shops. He took the opportunity to pick up used high-quality German, Austrian, and Swiss tools for cheap.
When he decided to head back to Wisconsin, he bought an old Pinzgauer 710K RadioVan and loaded it to the gills with all the tools he had purchased, shipped it back to the States, and then opened up a shop on eBay selling all the tools. He managed to make a decent living for about 2 years.
The thing he figured out was that the high weight of shipping the tools to the U.S., where most buyers were, was a killer. However the cost for shipping the van was by volume and not weight. It was just a long-term plan to save on shipping costs. Plus, he got a cool old truck in the bargain.
That works if you’re putting it in a container. Legally it has to be empty if it’s being shipped roll-on, roll-off.
Likely what he did. I know the transit time was long and he and a friend drove to the east coast and rented a Uhaul so they could get the Pinz unloaded and get the stuff back.
Just pointing it out because I’ve had customers ask me to load cars with wheels, bumpers, etc. Legally, ro-ro cars have to be empty.
I’m just curious. Is that due to the liability of having something stolen or another reason?
To my understanding, a car is not a shipping container. The paperwork you file says you are shipping a car and nothing else. I’ve looked to see if it was possible to amend that, but it doesn’t seem so. Will they check? who knows. Will stuff get stolen? also who knows. Have to pull shift knobs and things off because they get stolen. If it does get stolen, what can you do? the car was supposed to be empty.
I know a former sr. logistics vp that did the same thing except he took a vacation to Italy and shipped a container full of vespas home to the US from which he turned a profit.
Potentially a great idea as long as you view the sales as a fun short term side gig/hobby
I dunno, 8 grand still sounds reasonable to me considering that these things aren’t exactly common.
But yeah, I would wait a bit too for more examples to be eligible.
The rear quarter view of the A2 in that silver color just gives me Dodge Caliber vibes. And that’s not a good vibe.
Yeah, this is not exactly a handsome car, even though it’s during Audi’s peak of design cleanliness. You just can’t wrestle those proportions into something good-looking.
Not everything has to look like a sports-coupe to look good, Dad ????
I should have been more clear. There’s nothing wrong with chunky little hatchback proportions in general, I mean proportional decisions to this specific car: the extremely high belt line and comically small rear DLO, the unhelpful sloping roof, and especially the bug eyes that look make this car look like it’s perpetually having an extremely bad week. Seriously, this is the face of “I spent my allowance money on a giant ice cream cone and immediately dropped it on the sidewalk.”
But yes, I am a dad! So you got me there.
A lot of websites do not show old cars in Europe, more like +2004 and so on. Do you have to look into Facebook Marketplace?
I was wondering if I could bring something interesting from Mexico but roads conditions are bad, you will have to find something that someone took care of it and the market is very similar to the US prior 2000. Labor is cheap in case you need to make repairs before bringing it here. The interesting euro options are +2002.
If you are just looking to peruse cars on the Continent and British Isles, Car and Classic is a good website I stumbled upon. Not going to find any huge bargains, but there is a pretty impressive collection of cars and bikes for sale. There is no support for the actual shipping, however.
How much is that $2,500 A2 worth once imported though? Find two and sell one to finance some part of the overall transaction. Someone will want one and will pay for the rarity and the fact that you already did all the leg work.
There are some really tasty European cars on the Japanese sites though, and most of the pre 2000 BMWs are left hand drive!
Recently I’ve seen several articles and videos from US-based journalists hyping the A2 and discussing the possibility of importing one. As a former owner of an A2 I find it…perplexing that people are apparently ready to go through quite a hassle to get one. Yes, it’s made from aluminum and it has some clever details, but ultimately it’s an econobox and about as exciting to drive as watching paint dry. Your experience will probably be similar to one that Doug had with his Benz, with the exception that parts availability will be even worse (some A2 specific parts are unobtanium even here in EU). If you really have to import something from here, get a Smart Roadster* instead (I’ve also owned one of those). At least its fun to drive, so you have something to enjoy when it’s working. That’s not something I can say about the A2.
*just get it with correct spec: Coupe with power steering. The unassisted steering has ratio that would be more suitable to a delivery van. In the non-coupe version you can’t hear the engine and you’ll miss the warble and turbo hisses. Those coupes actually sound quite cool inside.
” I find it…perplexing that people are apparently ready to go through quite a hassle to get one”
You must be new here. Welcome to the Autopian, a celebration of regrettable, life altering choices.
I think most people here are much more focused on ‘interesting to own’ than ‘fun to drive’. Besides, the latter is subjective and I find fun in anything I drive, whether it be a CVT Subaru or a UHaul Transit van.
Fun is what you make it. Of all the cars I would want to import from Europe, the one at the top of my list is a first generation Ford Ka, like the one my wife and I bombed around England in on our honeymoon in 2005. Red with black bumpers and flares and a blue interior. Sketchy on the motorways but fun on the B roads, and not something you see everyday here.
Talk about not being worth the cost however…
Those Ka headlights though. I don’t remember if I heard/read this somewhere or if I came up with it on my own, but the front end looks like a depressed goldfish.
While I am a fan of Ford’s “New Edge” look of the era, my interest in the car isn’t aesthetic. It’s the memories.
Personally, I’m holding out for the BMW 1-series 5-door that we never got here. Apparently Americans only want the 2-door coupe version. Nobody asked me!
I think it also depends on what A2 you own as the trim level/engine can make a big difference.
I actually own two, both S-line éditions, both petrol, one a 1.4 and one a 1.6. Living just outside Paris they incredible cars, compact for parking, spacious for transporting large items (3 place couch with rear seats removed!) and yes, incredibly fun to drive in the Twisties thanks to the S-line suspension adjustments
We actually bought the second to replace the first when my wife found out they offered an optional 3 place bench in the back as opposed to the standard 2 place bench. In the end we keep both because we enjoy them too much.
However I do agree that a base model is more of an appliance and less interesting in general!
I have the same thoughts about importing Kei cars from Japan. Personally I don’t get it but some people just want weird cars.
And the flappy paddles, although in reality you will only ever use the downshift one as hitting the redline will upshift for you and that’s the only way to drive that thing
“Here, let’s find some more cars from the brand and era that have been the bane of my existence and pay 5x their asking price to bring some fresh headaches to me!”
This is what happens when I quit drinking and come on here late at night.
Would it be cheaper if you went in on a group buy and bought out the transport of an entire container? Something to promote among your auto-addled colleagues at the next company picnic.
Hmm. This sounds like a business opportunity for Galpin.
How to buy a car in Europe or wherever and have it shipped to the states for free:
“The Cost Of Shipping A Military POV
Transporting a car, even internationally or by plane, is likely more affordable than anticipated. For active duty personnel, there is often an option to have your privately owned vehicle shipped at no charge to you.”
https://www.militarycarshipping.com
Sooo…
Step 1) Enlist in the military
Step 2) Get posted in Europe or wherever your dream car awaits.
Step 3) Buy dream car
Step 4) Have military ship the car back home for you for free
Step 5) Get kicked out of the military
And that’s how ya do it!
You know, you get to keep the car even without the Bad Conduct Discharge. You should see our parking lots!
But where’s the fun in that?
Hell, for Mercedes Steps 1 and 5 are just a matter of timing between Executive Orders and courts striking them down. Might as well make lemonade from lemons…
Why not indeed?
How about buying an A2 in Japan and have it imported from there as its a lot easier? Here’s a couple.. I think you have to request for a price.
https://www.japanesecartrade.com/make-model/audi-26-a2-30856.html
There is also this absoloute monster on goo.net https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/AUDI/A2/700957248130240917003/
Just take a Euro vacation and drive the thing to the port yourself. It’s not that expensive to fly over, and I’d rather pay a couple grand for the trip than a couple grand in shipping a car across Europe.
I did it the super easy albeit most expensive way twice – two new BMWs picked up in Munich. One dropped off in Amsterdam for re-delivery, the other in Paris. Good times back when BMW didn’t suck.
I have considered doing this for a classic though and did a fair bit of research. The Netherlands is a great place to look. Good classic car scene, lots of dealers, and pretty nearly everyone speaks English. And I have a good friend who is a Volvo mechanic outside Amsterdam willing to help. Just haven’t gotten the “round tuit”. I don’t think it’s worth the bother for a cheap car. Go big or go home, the costs end up as too large a percentage of the price of the car. I will add, if you can deal with RHD, used ordinary cars (aka not classics) in the UK are *massively* cheaper than on the continent, though you run the risk of getting a rustbucket due to the rampant road salt use. Southern Europe is best for that, but then you are into a major language barrier.
The Netherlands is also a cheat code if you want a British car but don’t want to put up with right hand drive.
Counterpoint: My Dutch car is a UK-market example so I have the added delight of right-hand drive.
The British cars I like are plentiful in the US already, zero reason to go abroad for one. Plus I already have two.
I was looking at Mercedes we never got here – in particular, a w123 250E or 280E wagon. Or another Alfa Romeo.
Of course, there is a lovely gray-market import 280E wagon for sale in MI at the moment, and I can’t buy the damned thing because I’m building a new house and can’t spend the money. Sigh.
You know… dry southern european country* + left hand drive…
Gibraltar! SW tip of Spain and controlled by the British
https://gibbay.gi/item/72-lancia-fulvia-zagato-sports
There is another way, Mercedes…
On Oct. 18 last year, I drove my latest European import over the border and into the USA.
On that day, my light green Rover 75, originally a Dutch market car, turned 25 years old from the day of manufacture.
The Rover was exported to Canada in 2016, and lived a very sedate life on Vancouver Island. I paid $4,800 for the car, the top spec Connoisseur model with the biggest engine and a 5-speed manual gearbox.
Canada has a 15-year import rule and there are many awesome cars already here in N. America.
I paid $1,900USD to have the car shipped from Vancouver to Windsor, Ontario. I paid around $130 for import fees after driving it through the tunnel to Detroit. And that was it.
The car came loaded with parts, a spare set of NOS factory mag wheels, all new brakes, and roughly $2,000 worth of additional parts.
I have brought 7 cars over from Europe. I doubt I will do that again. Canada is my first port of call.
And if you take a look at FB Marketplace in Mexico, you will see plenty cool old crap cars there, too.
I am not brave enough – yet — to try and bring in a car from Mexico.
I have drooled over many cars in Canada just waiting to be dragged over to the other side. Sadly, they weren’t yet 25.
I think some of us at Autopian HQ briefly discussed buying a bunch of cars and leaving them with Thomas for a while. 🙂
If you are willing to do this I might have a holy grail A2 to propose to you (it’s 2002). Let me know if you are interested to know more and I’ll send you the details.
This is a really bad good idea
When I brought my car in (to Canada), I used a European broker for local transport, export paperwork and getting it onto the ship. I used a Canadian broker to get it off the ship on the East Coast, and then got a rail shipper to get it onto a train for me. I picked it up locally and did the registration myself. Not including import taxes it was about USD5k.
It was also at least 100 e-mails and a dozen phone calls, and I lost track of my car for a week when it made an un-scheduled transfer to another ship. That was fun.
Interesting experience to do once but I wouldn’t do it again, especially for a really cheap car.
Having just gone through this, here’s my run down:
Find your guy. In my case, it was like buying your friend’s car, just an ocean apart. Buying from the UK, it had recently passed an MOT inspection, so I knew it wasn’t too terrible and knowing my friend, it would be a-ok. The Fiat world runs on trust and reputation, but we’re weird. Fly in. Go on vacation and test drive your new whip. Park it for a couple days and get drunk a lot. Seller takes it down to the port cause he’s a homie and does it all the time. Homie hooks you up with the shipper, in my case Jamie Hill Shipping in the UK and All Ways for the US side. You get nickle and dimed to death for random fees on top of the regular shipping costs, but you know to expect it. Once it hits port, All Ways does your paperwork and you either get it at the dock or appoint someone to pick it up. If needed, you arrange a truck on the US end to get it to you.
Is it worth it? God yes. You try getting a good, low miles manual wagon in the US for well under $8-10k. It may not be worth it for other cars though, just depends on your chosen poison.
I’m really happy to hear other people have had luck with All Ways! They’re a definite recommend for me. I think I paid them $390 to handle the work on my Suzuki import.
I was honestly surprised how easy it was with them, I thought I’d have to do the import paperwork, but they did every bit of it.
I used All Ways too last summer. Their fees add up to about $500 now. Why even mention Inbound Whoever charging $1500 when you know Allways charges $500 for the same service?
Here in the Netherlands we have quite a lot of companies that import US cars , mostly trucks.
Maybe you can contact them if they can help you te other way round.
PS. Really don’t like VAG so help us get rid of them
And lot of oldtimers are imported through companies who know their way eastbound
As opposed to the worlds of… oh, let’s be coy and say “other Autopian contributors,” which run on rust and trepidation. But also weird.
Well played…
One of the things to keep in mind, though, is, if you live in an emissions state, there’s a limit to how old you can go. The UK and Europe didn’t mandate catalytic converters until 1993, which is why I ultimately backed out of buying a Scimitar GTE after doing some checking with the state DOT to see if there was any workaround (eg, retrofitting a Mercury Capri cat). Also, OBD2 wasn’t mandated until 2001, so anything 1975-1992 and 1996-2000 is going to be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to get through emissions, leaving the brief window of 1993-1995 as sort of the sweet spot years where just about everything should line up. Theoretically. Good news is that at least the VINs should be in the standard format so DMV employees won’t freak out and fail it as the lower effort option on their part
Oh that’s an excellent point! Up until now, I’ve been importing old cars, so I haven’t had to worry about emissions testing. Thank you for pointing that out!
I think a lot of states are more reasonable with sort of a rolling age exemption, but some are really rigid on everything 1975 and up having a cat and everything 1996 and up needing OBDII
It is my understanding that my state OBD-II tests everything 1996 and newer. Exemptions for vehicles outside of emissions counties/cities and vehicles registered as antiques. Of course, antiques have their own fun qualifications.
Obd2 wasn’t mandatory but most European cars have it , Renault Laguna from 1994, my own 1996 Mégane did have it
That freight cost seems high. I got a quote a couple years ago with the idea I’d ship the Miata to Europe for a few months for a road trip and if you did port to port it didn’t seem like it would have been over 4 grand round trip….
And no I am not helping you herberts buy cheap cars from the UK so don’t ask.
You aren’t willing to part with the Ferrari? You just said you need the money…
Never. I’d only sell it to get something else, and I can’t think what.
How about a really nice Capri?
if the right one came up possibly.
Did harboring the Marea in front of your house upset the neighbors that much?
I had three cars parked outside. It was like Adrian’s dodgy car lot out there.
The only thing dodgy was the Mini, you know what light I saw on the dash…
The Italians are perfectly beautiful high quality vehicles that nobody would ever complain about
Funny way of saying “Dear Mercedes, of course I will help you”
Yes but she’s family. You lot are…..whatever you are.
haha, same to you. I thought we were all family over here at the Autopian. If you ever want a car from this side of the North Sea, you are always welcome Adrian!
Parasocial parasites?
I wouldn’t put it quite so bluntly. Actually yes, yes I would.