Any firsthand experience importing a Porsche?

Transportation, Travel and Trips
41
that really depends - a new 911 can cost anything from 150-250K, depending on specification. I think as a very rough estimate the monthly lease for a new car costing 150K without a substantial downpayment will be around 3K per month.

42
and do they offer the leasing on second hand ones also?

43
yes, as long as the purchase price is incl. VAT (i.e. the car has never been owned by a private person) and the car is not older than 5-7 years.

44
Monkeynut,

Do you want new or used?

45
As an accountant; you should know that you should buy a three year old one (VAT & depreciation paid by someone else) and pay cash.

46
In order to pay the lowest possible amount. On the other hand would I expect an accountant to understand and value the concept of cash flow.

47
any movement on this?

keen to get one in

48
my car is leased. We got it from an OPC. Prior to them having it was owned privately.

49
is that it there in the pic then?

who are OPC?

50
If you have a good accountant and avoid paying tax; you don't generally have a cash flow problem

51
OPC = Official Porsche Centre

52
Yes that's our car. I think the picture was taken on the Grimsel pass.

Cashboy has already answered the OPC thing. If you are going to move into Porsche ownership you will have to get used to the plethora of abbreviations!

53
Ahhh... I was thinking why somebody would possibly buy one at the Opel Performance Center ("VXR" for the Brits on here...).

54
i already have one, but looking for a newer 911

55
I know this is an old thread but I have been wanting to purchase and bring my dads old 997 Carrera to Switzerland because I could possibly make some good money for it in Switzerland. Does anyone know how much VAT is and where I could look more into it?

Three years ago I shipped my 1976 Carrera 3.0 from Houston to Germany and then drove it into Switzerland without any real problems until I had to register it. I ended up switching the headlights,the front and rear bumper covers and also the seat belts and the Speedometer. All in all after I sold the car in Interlaken this summer I made basically 12000CHF. That was after spending $1500 on shipping, near 4500chf on car insurance and about 2200CHF on petrol in three years. I would continue bringing older P cars to Switzerland but ever since I had a close call on the Sustenpass and seem to always get over taken by Golfs on the Nurburgring in Germany....I want something newer and much safer=)

56
Andi1,

I am in the process of importing a US spec but UK registered 993 at the moment.

The following link is a basic guide as to the VAT and customs duties you can expect to pay and under what circumstances:

http://switzerland.angloinfo.com/cou...toregister.asp

What it does not mention is that if you are already a permit holder and resident here you will have to pay duties and VAT on the car irrespective of how long you have owned it

I am finding the whole process somewhat protracted but you just need to treat it like any other project. I also think there is some money to be made. I asked an independent Porsche specialist to value my car and although he did say that 'imported' cars (non Swiss delivered) will never command the same value, when it finally is on Swiss plates I will advertise it for what I think it is worth. If they don't want to pay that price then I am just going to enjoy driving it myself !

57
It is the same on Silverstone Short Race Circuit.

You see people in Porsched getting blown off by ordinary Honda Civic R Types.

Newer and safer in Switzerland, I would think was the Porsche 997 Carrera 4 S with 4WD.

Personally I would prefer the Porsche 997 Carrera 2 S.

Do you have contacts in the USA for purchasing cars?

I think importing cars from USA to Switzerland could be good but possibly via UK.

People hate me on here for trying to break the system but I was thinking of forming an off the shelf UK company (GB£80) with just the car as an assets and then leave it registered, insured in the UK but use it in Switzerland "as employee on business for the UK company".

58
I did it, easier than I thought, found a local specialist who got the car through MFK for me, total costs excluding duties were about CHF3000 and I saved around 35% over list........this is the third vehicle that I have imported myself, and it was a whole lot more satisfying than getting shafted by a local dealer !

59
Please:

Who was the local specialist then and what did they do?

i.e. did you source the car and import or did they do everything.

What were the import duties as a percent and lump?

60
The Specialist I used was a garage called Shamal in Basel. They are enthusiasts as opposed to dealers and their service was exemplary. They provided different wheels and tyres, (on loan) serviced, tuned, cleaned (to an as new state), new discs and pads, replaced the handbrake tubes, set the lights.....the car had been used in the UK and the lights were rhd........I bought lhd on Ricardo for CHF200 and the socket configuration meant that it was only a five minute job to change them myself. The garage also handled the registration for me.

Import duties worked out all in all at around 11%. Lots of folks get a lower second invoice for this purpose, but I didn't as I am habitually unlucky and would have been caught !