Lancia Motor Club

Having read the article in VL about the VAT payable on imported cars under the recently introduced NOVA scheme, I contacted HMRC.

Interestingly, if the imported car was built before 1973 you do not need to complete the above process. I was told that because VAT was introduced in 1973 they do not expect VAT to be paid on cars built prior to that. And, you just complete the new registration request as before .....

Interestingly, the DVLA (or some employees at least) do not know this yet.

Let's see how it works in practice

Excellent. Could you send jack a note?

That's not my experience with NOVA. I had to go through the NOVA system earlier this year with an Italian made car imported from Greece, which was manufactured in 1971. It was also extremely difficult to contact HMRC throughout the process, and took 4 weeks from submission to obtain the NOVA number, which you must have to get your DVLA registration application complete. I also received no explanation as to why you have to do this at all, given you are importing an EU product from an EU country (oddly, apparently you bypass NOVA if you are importing from outside the EU).

Must admit it seemed too straight forward when I spoke to them today, but they were very clear about it - HMRC did not need NOVA to be completed and they said that I should complete the registration process without it

I am going to have to go through this process soon so I will report back.

But, having gone over the websites again, it shows that there is a lack of specific information for old cars and it appears to depend whose desk it lands on!

Unfortunately, you cannot download the importation pack from the internet, it has to be sent out to a UK address and the web page has not been updated for some time - I suspect we are not at the top of their list of priorities .....

I have used NOVA recently, the form online took some time to fill out as there are so many questions, but I had a reply and the necessary NOVA number the next day.

I have now completed this process for the Appia and I know someone else who did the same thing before Christmas.

Although the HMRC said that I didn't need NOVA, the DVLA were equally insistent that I did ! As with Ade, I went ahead and completed the online form and was issued with the NOVA within 5 mins. It confirmed that no VAT was due

In order to get a first reg and tax disc for the Appia I had to send :

1)NOVA doc above to the DVLA
2)A completed V55/5 form (I had to request this by phone)
3)Proof of age (the car not mine) - Barbara Longlands was invaluable here. I sent copies of the original Italian docs along with production dates from various sources eg La Lancia book etc. The car was inspected by a club expert and then Barbara issued a letter to the DVLA with authenticated and stamped copies - all for a very reasonable £20
4)Copy of my ID
5)Copy of "proof of address"
6)Fee of £55 (first reg fee)
7)Proof of insurance (cover note with chassis number) NB these are only valable for 30 days and must be in date when you want the tax to start
8)SAE for the safe return of my documents

I did not need an MOT because the car was built before 1960

The only problem I had was that I applied too early ! - you cannot apply more than 14 days before you want the tax to start. That is I applied at the end of November asking for the tax to start on the 1st Jan - all nice and neat - but it was rejected and returned along with a note saying that I could re-apply after the 18th December !

Then it all went through very quickly and I am in receipt of a nice new Reg Number and a tax disc

Many thanks for this write up - makes very interesting and useful reading for me given I am looking at various cars in Europe and beyond at the moment.

Simon,

Did you have any problems getting the car out of Italy, and any at customs over here ?

Bob

My experiences transporting an old Lancia  on a trailer over the last 30 years and most recently 12 months ago are that once the vehicle is in 'Euroland', as long as you have paperwork showing either your  ownership or permission from the owner to transport the vehicle then all is fine moving from country to country
 The problems I have had have all related to Switzerland and particularly leaving Switzerland with an old vehicle. I have been stopped by French and Italian customs upon entry from Switzerland and had problems of one sort or another, all of which were resolvable but which incurred delays..
 

Bob - I can answer that question for you, as it was I who exported Simon's Appia from Italy - in 2003. There are absolutely no customs posts whatsoever in all of the EU that is covered by the Schengen agreement (the one which guarantees free movement of goods and people).

Unfortunately our government under John Major didn't seem to hold with the free movement of goods and people and opted out of it, which is why the ONLY place you will encounter customs controls is on entry to the UK. Personally I think this is a load of scaremongering racist garbage, and that we'd be better off without them like the rest of Europe, but that's just my opinion. The reality is that when you go from Italy to France, or France to Belgium, or Luxembourg to Germany (etc.), you usually don't even know you've done it (they are dismantling the customs post between Germany and Luxembourg at this very moment).

However, at the ports of entry into the UK there is now a very searching passport check, and often a long queue as well. But as the UK is in the EU there are NO customs checks on what you are importing. Last time I 'imported' a car from France to the UK, about 6 months ago, it was my own which was coming from France to the UK for an MoT. And they neither looked in the (covered) trailer nor asked what was in it.

So you have nothing to fear from HMRC as you peregrinate round Europe. NOVA is a different matter - that sounds a nightmare, and although I have imported over 20 cars into the UK none of them was subsequent to NOVA and I think I will probably now hang up my importing hat, as it sounds a total bureaucratic nightmare.

I'll back this up - as Switzerland isn't in the EU there are border controls going into it and out of it, and even though, as it is such a small country, the entry and exit are often not much more than an hour apart, the system seems to get 'amnesia' about the fact that the car on your trailer only just entered Switzerland, and they use it as an opportunity to give you the third degree about it, try to charge you VAT on the car, stop you exporting it, etc. I have only done it once, with my S3 Appia in 2003, but it was a total nightmare and enough to convince me that it was best always to skirt Switzerland from now on.

Which is a pain in the bottom because I live about 100 miles from the Swiss border and it gets in the way virtually whichever direction I want to travel in. But no way am I ever taking a classic car through there again.

Stay inside the EU...