I've been wanting to fit a Rotrex supercharger for a while and can now afford to do so. However I still want to save a few quid so I'm considering asking (bribing!) my nephew to carry one with him from the US.

So anyone carried any car parts through customs or anything similar to the Rotrex supercharger?

Any opinions welcome?

Rotrex C30-74

Approx £1500 bought over here
Approx £1050 bought in the US

i doubt if the customs men will know what it is. Unfortunately this will mean he'll have a lot of explaining to do at the x-ray. Maybe say it is a commercial sample and generate a false document for it. Dont know if you can bring oil through (im sure i saw a bottle in the kit).

Very intersting hand luggage Could it be classed as an offensive weapon?

I would imagine it would go through fine in his hold luggage but he would probably get stopped with it in his hand luggage.

It is perfectly legal to bring in but VAT / duties need to be paid.

If you were dishonest he could wrap it up and say he was bringing it as a gift for his car enthusiast relative...

i would make it look like if it was 2nd hand.

or if it was a repaired item.

then it isn't new

and then there apply other rulez..

else you could maybe dismantle it as much as possible.

let they take the heavy stuff with them and send the bearings appart etc...

and then rebuild

it should be the way to do the job...

Could he not just post it to you while he was over there........ just a thought

Hmmm probably not a bad idea to ditch the oil and get some over here from the UK dealer instead.

I suppose I could just get it sent as personal mail and if it gets stopped then pay the import duty. I'd have to pay VAT twice on it before it became more expensive!

Don''t worry about it. Just bring it through with your checked baggage.
Going the other way into US last year brought two Triton seats with me, wrapped up as a baby seat!!!!
Also brought 4 protech shocks another time.......
Rob

I like the 2nd hand idea as I've had parts posted that way before.

Thats probably the way to go unless my nephew is game for carrying it!

Carry it - you won't have any problems.... just take it out of the original packaging - forget the oil, and get him to post the receipts to you.

customs will still want their slice even if its second hand. the only difference is that the value will be less so less tax.

there's 2 sets of cutoms:
1 at departure, in US, they;d be more troublesome regarding taking it on as hand luggage - offensive weapon and such - they may take it off you and it travles separately or in checked in luggage - again the X-rays would show that up and that may cause questions to be asked.
2. in UK, t his is there whe duty is to be paid but onlyu if you are stopped; statistically you won't be - say it was a gift from your granny

I shouldn't tell you this but when you buy it, pay using 2 credit card transactions and show the lesser amount if stopped.

Here is a thought, do you think the supplier will do you two invoices? A correct one that you will pay (guarantee etc) and a second at a lower value purely for getting you home, this one could say something like old stock, 50% discount or words to that effect. If not perhaps you nephew could email you a copy of the invoice for doctoring.

02GF74.....

Sneaky bugger


I'll avoid tampering with the invoices as its not me carrying it. I think carrying it plain view, though in hand luggage bag, would be better. If its removed from the checked luggage I probably won't see it again.

[Edited on 19/6/06 by bimbleuk]

Personally I'd stick it through as main hold luggage.
But if taken through as hand luggage then if asked just claim thats he's a field engineer who'se just been to fix some machine using the part.

I once met a tractor engineer coming back from Spain, he smelled of sh!t and clearly had been in a field working on some expensive harvestor for a few days. His carry-on contained a large diesel turbo, no issues there.

I have quite a bit of experience carrying things through customs, but mainly into South Africa.

Main hold or hand luggage makes no difference as far as dodging duty goes, as you go through customs after baggage pick up anyway.

First, make damn sure you dispose of any credit card receipts or other paperwork that show what you actually paid for the goods. Take the goods out of the original packaging.

You then have to decide on declaring the goods (Red lane) or chancing it (Green lane).

If you want to go Red lane, put the lowest figure you think you will get away with on the declaration form. If you are carrying a lot of stuff, put only one or two items on the form and use the Red lane. Probably, as you have declared stuff, the rest will not be checked.

If you go green lane, pick the meanest looking official, and give him a hearty "good morning" or whatever greeting. They are so shocked that someone is pleasant to them, they let you go, and choose someone who looks a more likely suspect. Look casual at the baggage pick up, they watch for suspicious activity on camera's.

The only time I got thoroughly searched, after using the declare 1 or 2 items strategy, they found all the other stuff. But they then sent me back to the declaration queue, and as the search staff are separate to the declaration queue, I reoffered my original short list of items, and got away with it anyway!

Related story here
Cheers

Fred W B

[Edited on 19/6/06 by Fred W B]

[Edited on 19/6/06 by Fred W B]

Know any american servicemen/women stationed over here going home on leave?

I brought a 14" JBL Subwoofer home as hand luggage a few years ago from Newark to Manchester. It sent the x-ray machine heywire so they opened the box (it was in the original unopened box/packaging) to check that nothing was being concealed inside, and after a bit of a debate as to whether it would fit in the overhead compartment and if the magnet would effect the electronics of the plane, they let me through.

Had to take it out of the box to get it in the compartment and I writing this meaning the plane didn't crash - UK customs didn't even bat an eyelid as I went through green with it on my trolley.

Brought 2 subs an amp and a head unit through in my snowboard bag from Andorra

Thanks for the responses.

I'll order it and get it sent to my sisters. Get them to remove any shiny packaging and put the SC unit in a plain box. I'll ask my nephew to carry the box and offer it for inspection to get through the detectors cus its gonna be very obvious otherwise.

I don't want to dismantle it cus its probably a specialist job to set it all up again. Should be fairly obvious its just a fancy air pump though when you turn the pulley.

I'll get my neice (10 yrs) to carry it past the mean looking customs people in the green lane

[Edited on 20/6/06 by bimbleuk]

i brought a rebuild bw t56 6 speed box and a pair of cylinder heads through customs from the states i declaired the t56 but not the heads but they were very heavy un the cases

There is a much, much easier way. I suggest wrapping it up in birthday paper--complete with a to and from card. If customs wants to open it, fine, but I doubt they will. Even if so, it is technically a gift.

We do this all the time for family in Hungary.

--Chris