I imported a mill, deluxe stand, rotary table and some tooling last year and John Prentice (he works for Tormach out of the UK) was very helpful recommending a route and agents. I imported as a private individual - if you are VAT registered or a registered company then some of this will be different.
The agent I used was ACC Shipping Ltd., 01474 333387 (info@acc-g.com) who did a very good job. They handled picking up the machine from Tormach (they used West Forwarding in the USA), consolidating it in a container, shipping to the UK and arranging delivery from the port to my home in Weybridge. Alan Rose was my main point of contact although June Rogers did most of the work in the later stages. The initial quote was from delivery via London docks but delivery was actually done via Liverpool docks so the local haulage cost ended up higher than was quoted.
The only thing that went wrong was the instructions for a tailgate lorry with a pallet truck went missing so it took two goes to deliver it to my home. Also I was supposed to get advanced warning of the delivery so I could be their to receive it but this never happened.
You will need your invoice from Tormach to have the import tariff codes against each item as import duty and VAT are payable. Tormach should have these on file as I supplied them for my order.
Insurance is optional but given the value of the goods I choose to have it. UK shipping agents are no longer allowed to sell insurance so I had to arrange this separately. I don't recall offhand who I used but I think it was about £50.
VAT is of course payable. If you are registered then no problem otherwise you need to get H M Customs & Excise to issue a Pseudo TURN (Trader Unique Reference Number). I did all this via ACC so apart from filling in a form ACC supplied this was no big deal. ACC have a deferment system so they will pay the duty and VAT on you behalf so a small admin charge (2% or £35). You should allow 20% to cover VAT and duty.
The machine didn't have a CE certificate - not an issue for home use.
The shipping took a month - I wasn't in any hurry and needed the time to get organised. In fact it all stayed boxed for a further 4 months until I was ready.
The ACC Shipping fee was £619.43. VAT and duty was £1245.28, but the exchange rate will help you here and obviously depends on what you are buying.
All in all using ACC Shipping made this a very painless exercise and they were very helpful in answering my questions and holding my hand through this mysterious process.
Dave.  |