Shipping/Customs Clearance - A Guide

Following a few enquiries, some from the forum and others through my business I thought I’d share some knowledge I’ve gained appertaining to the Shipping and Customs clearance processes of importing a Kombi from Brazil.

One of the first things you need to decide is whether you have the time to oversee the whole thing yourself. If you do that’s great, following purchase you’ll need to make contact with a shipping line to arrange collection and delivery to the port of export as well as a Customs broker in Brazil to arrange the necessary Customs export formalities and payment of any export taxes. You’ll also need to contact a Customs Clearance agent in the UK to clear the vehicle through UK Customs and pay the necessary import duty and VAT. Once the vehicle has Customs cleared it will need to be collected by you or delivered to you with the ensuing cost.

Alternatively many people will chose a recognized and more importantly a recommended Freight Forwarder in either the UK or Brazil who will put the whole thing together for them.

There is no right or wrong, a freight forwarder will have buying power but he’ll also charge for his expertise it is purely down to personal preference, time and your budget.

Customs Clearance - Brazil

Export Customs clearance in Brazil and payment of local taxes will be required and unfortunately Brazil is the most bureaucratic and expensive country to date I have experienced obtaining Customs clearance in. This is where utilising a freight forwarder with reciprocal trading could be beneficial unless of course you have the linguistic abilities and knowhow and patience to manage this yourself.

If there are to be delays in the process and unexpected costs this part of the process I believe is where it will occur and therefore whilst the cost of the shipping has to be factored into the equation you must realise until the Customs clearance is completed to the satisfaction of Brazilian Customs then the vehicle isn’t going anywhere.

Getting this part correct is the key  in my opinion.

Shipping

The cheapest way of shipping is Ro/Ro(Roll on / Roll Off). The vehicle will be driven on to an enclosed deck and tethered using straps to the vessels integral securing eyelets.  Loading of Ro/Ro ships is very carefully planned with different types of vehicles being allocated to the necessary deck so you won’t find your Kombi parked alongside a tractor or a JCB.  




A slightly more expensive option is to ship the vehicle inside a shipping container which is either 20ft or 40ft in size. The vehicle will be secured inside the container using tethers and chocks. All vehicle shipping containers must comply with strict safety regulations confirming both their structural integrity and that they are deemed wind and water tight. These stringent requirements ensure that when loaded into a container your vehicle will remain safe and protected from the elements.




Please take into account that unless your seller deliveries the vehicle to the shipping line that a cost will be incurred should it require collection.


Insurance

Please do not assume the shipping cost provided by the shipping line or your chosen freight forwarder includes insurance. Insurance is normally an optional extra so please take this into account.

Customs Clearance – UK

If you’ve privately purchased your vehicle and once it’s finally arrived in the UK you will have the pleasure of paying H.M. Revenue and Customs
10% Import Duty and 20% VAT.
Please don’t forget that the shipping costs are also subject to duty and VAT.
(As this is what I do for a living I’m more than happy to calculate potential charges for anybody looking to import).

Once you’ve paid the taxes to Customs and your fees to your agent they will forward all the relevant paperwork to the UK Customs authorities on your behalf. HMRC will then write to you quoting the relevant NOVA reference number to enable you to register the vehicle with DVLA.

If you are looking at importing a ‘classic’ vehicle from Brazil you should contact UK Customs in advance of the arrival seeking BTI (Binding Tariff Information). If the vehicle is unaltered they should allow it to be entered to UK Customs under a 5% VAT rule.

Should you already own a vehicle in Brazil and are looking to import it because you are moving your normal home to the UK as long as you have paid all the relevant taxes in Brazil when purchased and owned and used the vehicle for in excess of six months you can import the vehicle free of duty and Vat. There is one further proviso which is you are not allowed to sell the vehicle for one year or Customs taxes will be become applicable retrospectively.

Collection

If you choose to ship Ro/Ro once the vehicle is cleared and once Terminal Handling Fees have been paid (Approx £100) you can contact the shipping line who will inform where and when the vehicle can be collected from which you can either do in person or employ somebody to collect.

If your vehicle is shipped in a Container it will have to be removed from the port and unpacked (Approx £400 Inc Terminal handling). Once removed from container you will need to visit the collection point and collect yourself or employ somebody to collect for you.

Please remember that once the vehicle is landed and ready for collection you will start incurring rent charges after the lines rent free period expires (sometimes only 2-5 days).

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I’ve been involved in the Customs clearance process for the last 28 years and undertaken the Customs clearance of hundreds of vehicles both privately and commercially but I don't profess to know everything.

Feel free to advise me if you can add anything or have and additional information as the Brazilian side of things is relatively new to me but the more we know the more knowledge we can share.

Hope this helps and feel free to let me know if there is anything I can do to help anyone.

Well done - Looks most kombi-hensive

I have no intention of importing a Kombi from Brazil but I do find the whole process really interesting. Thank you for your words of wisdom Beakyboy.

Yep same from me beakyboy. ..thank you for that info.

Thanks breakyboy - very useful.

So under the 'classic' category - does this imply over a certain age? i.e. 25 years or something?

eamamar wrote:

Thanks breakyboy - very useful.

So under the 'classic' category - does this imply over a certain age? i.e. 25 years or something?

In the UK all vehicles pre 1950 automatically qualify as 'classics' and are only charged VAT at 5% and no import duty. However as the T1 only started production in 1950 and the T2 somewhat later that ruling doesn't apply to the Campervan/Bus.

In the UK there is not a definitive ruling for vehicles manufactured after 1950 however I feel from experience that any classic or limited edition vehicle pre 1985 would be given serious consideration. The classification process should always be completed before the vehicles arrival as there is obviously a big difference between 5% and 30%. I've just imported a 1964 Mini that's come back from South Africa that was granted entry at 5%.

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I thought I'd write a guide to enhance Tim's new section on importing from Brazil.
Thanks for the positive comments and hope it might help anyone in the future who should come to the forum looking to import anything from outside the EU.
Despite the inquiries from here I'm yet to actually see one ship from Brazil but am sure one will come to fruition soon..

Great write up beakyboy, very interesting and an intriguing insight. Thanks, although like the others, I don't have any plans for the immediate future.

Superb bit of info. Much appreciated bb!