# Importing classic car from US to Italy



## bobnease

Hi, folks!

My wife and I are moving to Italy in about 3 months. We have a 1974 Toyota Landcruiser in great running condition. I have heard nothing but horror stories about importing cars to Italy, but want to do it if at all possible.

So my question: has anyone on the forum done this? Does the fact that the vehicle is a classic help or hinder my chances? Are there any experts on the ground in our area (southern Le Marche) who would be willing to assist - happy to hire someone if they know how to get this done.

My main concern is registration and insurance - I think I understand the physical transport part of the process.

Many thanks in advance,
Bob


----------



## accbgb

There is a reason why you hear nothing but horror stories...


----------



## pudd 2

bobnease said:


> Hi, folks!
> 
> My wife and I are moving to Italy in about 3 months. We have a 1974 Toyota Landcruiser in great running condition. I have heard nothing but horror stories about importing cars to Italy, but want to do it if at all possible.
> 
> So my question: has anyone on the forum done this? Does the fact that the vehicle is a classic help or hinder my chances? Are there any experts on the ground in our area (southern Le Marche) who would be willing to assist - happy to hire someone if they know how to get this done.
> 
> My main concern is registration and insurance - I think I understand the physical transport part of the process.
> 
> Many thanks in advance,
> Bob


I have friend who does this all the time and he is not far from you and speaks English he is in abruzzo , and please don't try the import your selve with out asking first , as some ports are controlled , if you follow my drift and will cost you a lot in so callel taxes when you have enough posts I will pm you his contact detales oh and I love land crusers Iive had 6 from the old long wheel base tractor types to the amazon damb great car and unstoppable exept by a jobs worth custums officer


----------



## bobnease

pudd 2 said:


> I have friend who does this all the time and he is not far from you and speaks English he is in abruzzo , and please don't try the import your selve with out asking first , as some ports are controlled , if you follow my drift and will cost you a lot in so callel taxes when you have enough posts I will pm you his contact detales oh and I love land crusers Iive had 6 from the old long wheel base tractor types to the amazon damb great car and unstoppable exept by a jobs worth custums officer


Sounds good - thanks much, and agreed about the Landcruisers!


----------



## Mozella

The car may be "classic" to you, but in reality it's just an old car. I'm sure you can find plenty of Land Cruisers where you live. Well, the same is true here in Italy. They're all over the place and can be purchased starting for less than 2000Euros but those are a little rough. I did spy a nice one with very low mileage at a very low price, but guess what. The car was a U.S. registered vehicle belonging to a U.S. serviceman and was NOT yet registered in Italy. This seemingly good price exists ONLY because registering a U.S. car here in Italy is so frustrating, time consuming, and potentially expensive. 

Good Land Cruisers can be found at about 3500 Euros but with high mileage. Plenty of nice ones are available with less than 100000 miles up around five thousand Euros. Check autoscout24.it for some samples. There are many other used car sites too. Land Cruisers and similar cars aren't exactly a dime a dozen, but they are quite common and don't command any kind of price premium.

Unless you have some VERY special attachment to your car which only you can justify, then sell it and buy one here in Italy, especially if you might like to own one 20 years newer. If it were only shipping costs to consider, then I'd say go for it. But registering a U.S. car here in Italy simply can't be justified for most cars, especially ordinary ones like your Land Rover.


----------



## pudd 2

most second hand cars here are very expencive , and most have never had a service after the gaurartee run out take it from me a good Toyota land cruiser is very hard to find 
The only ones you will find are the ones worn out by boar hunters never never had a oil our filter change , and even I Toyota land crueser will struggle with that 
And I have been searching for one for a long time , and am now thinking of importing from England or Germany , 
The cost of re reging will be well worth it to get a car with a service history


----------



## pudd 2

just seen a rare sight here a long wheelbase amazon 4 ltr straight 6 nomaly they are short wheelbase cruisers do to small village roads or 3 ltr due to bollo


----------



## pudd 2

bobnease said:


> Sounds good - thanks much, and agreed about the Landcruisers!


Has the old land cruiser broke down if so there is a first time for every thing . ik was looking forward to seing it


----------



## Paulie59

*Me too please...*



pudd 2 said:


> I have friend who does this all the time and he is not far from you and speaks English he is in abruzzo , and please don't try the import your selve with out asking first , as some ports are controlled , if you follow my drift and will cost you a lot in so callel taxes when you have enough posts I will pm you his contact detales oh and I love land crusers Iive had 6 from the old long wheel base tractor types to the amazon damb great car and unstoppable exept by a jobs worth custums officer [/QUOTE
> 
> Hello,
> I am wanting to import a car to Abruzzo. Could I trouble you for your friend's contact info?
> I have been told it is impossible by some but it would be nice to speak to someone from that industry before paying for shipping and winding up having to scrap it in the end.
> Thanks, and great forum...
> Paul


----------



## pudd 2

Paulie59 said:


> pudd 2 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have friend who does this all the time and he is not far from you and speaks English he is in abruzzo , and please don't try the import your selve with out asking first , as some ports are controlled , if you follow my drift and will cost you a lot in so callel taxes when you have enough posts I will pm you his contact detales oh and I love land crusers Iive had 6 from the old long wheel base tractor types to the amazon damb great car and unstoppable exept by a jobs worth custums officer [/QUOTE
> 
> Hello,
> I am wanting to import a car to Abruzzo. Could I trouble you for your friend's contact info?
> I have been told it is impossible by some but it would be nice to speak to someone from that industry before paying for shipping and winding up having to scrap it in the end.
> Thanks, and great forum...
> Paul
> 
> 
> 
> i have sent you a private message
Click to expand...


----------



## Paulie59

Thank you!


----------



## NickZ

Paulie59 said:


> Hello,
> I am wanting to import a car to Abruzzo.


What car are you considering importing? Just want to point out at the moment diesel is just under €1.3 a litre and gasoline is more. 

Think if you'll want to drive your car with those prices.


----------



## arcarolina

*Classic car to Tuscany*



pudd 2 said:


> I have friend who does this all the time and he is not far from you and speaks English he is in abruzzo , and please don't try the import your selve with out asking first , as some ports are controlled , if you follow my drift and will cost you a lot in so callel taxes when you have enough posts I will pm you his contact detales oh and I love land crusers Iive had 6 from the old long wheel base tractor types to the amazon damb great car and unstoppable exept by a jobs worth custums officer


Hi Pudd2

We are moving soon to Italy and would like to bring our '87 Alfa Romeo Spider. 
Could we get in contact with your friend? 

We keep reading how hard it is to register the car in Italy but we really love our car and would love to keep it. 

Thanks you for your help
David


----------



## pudd 2

arcarolina said:


> Hi Pudd2
> 
> We are moving soon to Italy and would like to bring our '87 Alfa Romeo Spider.
> Could we get in contact with your friend?
> 
> We keep reading how hard it is to register the car in Italy but we really love our car and would love to keep it.
> 
> Thanks you for your help
> David


i have sent you a pm


----------



## 19/58Cooper

Good Evening,
I am interested to hear how you go importing your cars. I’d like to bring a two pre 1960 cars over from Australia. One is partially restored and the other is a race car and not road registerable. The Earlier car is right hand drive but there are a couple of them in Italy already that are road registered. My situation is a little different from most as I’m a crew member on a foreign flagged Yacht that spends a fair bit of time on the Riviera. I plan to be here for a long while. I have about a year to get organised and find accomodation with garaging before I move my stuff over but I think it’ll go quickly. I’d like to bring a container over with the cars, spares, tools etc and some household bits and pieces.


----------



## NickZ

You need to start out by clarifying your position with the consulate. Just shipping over a container load of stuff will end up with you paying VAT and duty on everything. 

Which gets to the second point. Think hard about what you want to ship. Decide if the shipping cost is worth the item. You might be better off replacing it.

I understand with two cards you'll already half fill a 40 foot container but don't assume it you can't buy things here.

You can drive a car for 12 months before needing to get the plates changed. 

But if you can't get residence and I'm not sure you can what will you do at that point?


----------



## 19/58Cooper

Hi Nick,
Thank you for the reply and input.
I’m not sure what to clarify with the consulate or even which countries consulate. I’m new here in Italy so specifics, if known, would help. 
So far I’ve registered (my passport) with the Police (I think it was the police) managed to get a Codice Fiscale and opened a local Bank Account although I must acknowledge I had a lot of help. I haven’t been paid yet so that might be an adventure if I got it wrong. 
Next step is to work out a licence and maybe get a modern-ish car for a hack and maybe to do a few laps of the Nurburgring. I have time though so no hurry. 
The guy I took over from was here for 14 years (completely legally) so I don’t foresee any unassailable obstacles. I’m sure there’ll be interesting times though. 
If I have to pay VAT and taxes to have my favourite things with me then that is as it is. Again though, specifics would help. 
I have to ask! Have you been talking to my wife? She’d be happy to see me divest myself of all cars. Commonsense dictates the same. I am going to unload a few in Australia as I won’t see them for a while. Also I can only sit my butt in one at a time. 
The two I’m planning to bring over will easily go in a 20 foot container. If Italy doesn’t like them maybe they can spend some time in France and come and visit when the weather is good. 
I know it isn’t going to be all plain sailing. I saw a great garage for sale here that I got all exited about but the agent told me he couldn’t sell it to me. 
Most times when someone enquires about shipping a car some well meaning sole points out the utter futility of the exercise. These well meaning soles dismiss the emotional attachment completely and generally suggest purchase of the same in country, obviously completely oblivious to the costs associated with purchase of a great looking liability. Some miss the point completely and suggest purchase of something years younger or vastly different. 
Cars can be an emotive thing for some of us. As a great friend of mine says, “It’s a broad church”. 
A feeling of attachment to a mechanical object that gives the custodian great pleasure is easily dismissed by those that have no regard for such things. Hence the often voiced response as to why not sell. Funnily the same people recoil when the suggestion is made that they sell something they hold dear. 
Granted there are a large number of people that believe ageing inanimate objects hold no intrinsic value. We are after all living in a disposable society. 
Thankfully there are those with drive, passion and imagination that preserve and care for the objects of their affections and pass them to a new generation of custodians when the time comes.
The world would be less colourful without history in all its forms. Same for interesting people - how many of your friends thought you were stark raving mad when you announced - We’ll see ya, we’re off to Italy to live. 
The two cars I plan to import at present are: 
The road car restoration project is a 1939 MG TB. There were 379 TB’s built in total - all in 1939 before the intervention of war. The ravages of time and the fact that a large percentage of them saw active service on race tracks the world over has resulted in scarcity. Next year I’m off to England with other owners to celebrate the 80th Birthday of the MG TB - Nuff said! TB’s do come up for sale occasionally but as there’s not that many left in the world it’s an occasional thing. I looked for many years before getting mine. Although I’ve never driven the 1939 MG TB I’ve owned three of the similar post war model (MG TC) and raced one. I sold them though as I always wanted a TB. There’s one current advertisement for a 1939 MG TB on the web - it’s in the USA. 
The other car is one of one. It’s a Cooper Monoposto Special Race Car that has a very cool history including period Grand Prix. It’s as much about the history with this one as it is the shear exhilaration of driving such an engaging device. Plan is to race the European circuits so it’ll travel around a bit and not always be here in Italy. 
See a short history of the Cooper MG written by a previous custodian here https://primotipo.com/2016/10/14/cooper-mg-by-greg-smith/
And see it racing in 1955 here https://youtu.be/dK7zXyWexr0
And hear it doing a recent demonstration here https://youtu.be/EIG8b_8sdm0
So I really like these two cars and although it makes no sense I’m keeping them and I’m bringing them here and I’m going to enjoy them. 
I just have to work out the how and how much. 
Thank you for pointing out some of the pitfalls as I need to know these but please feel free to advise on the how to as well.
Regards,
Graeme


----------



## NickZ

Classic cars are one of the few things I'd think about bringing.

But how are you here? Are you an EU national? Do you have a visa? Do you have residence?


----------



## 19/58Cooper

Hey Nick,
I’m an Australian - the only passport I hold is an Aussie one. As I posted earlier, my situation is different to most., I’m a crew member on a foreign flagged yacht.


----------



## NickZ

But will you be getting residence? Because without it you won't be able to plate the cars.


----------



## Italia-Mx

Really? You still have a wife? Amazing.


----------



## dfwexpert

Sorry to revive an old thread but I am also very curious about this. I am in Texas but planning to move more permanently to Italy as soon as we can. My wife is dual citizen US/Italian and so is my daughter. We have an '84 Jeep CJ7 that we are considering bringing with us to Italy. I also have a Lotus Evora and a race car (thunder roadster) that I might bring but maybe not. The Jeep is the biggest concern right now as the motor is from another CJ7 so the numbers don't match. I don't want to waste money bringing this one if I can just buy one there and be out less money. Any input would be greatly appreciated!


----------



## accbgb

dfwexpert said:


> Sorry to revive an old thread but I am also very curious about this. I am in Texas but planning to move more permanently to Italy as soon as we can. My wife is dual citizen US/Italian and so is my daughter. We have an '84 Jeep CJ7 that we are considering bringing with us to Italy. I also have a Lotus Evora and a race car (thunder roadster) that I might bring but maybe not. The Jeep is the biggest concern right now as the motor is from another CJ7 so the numbers don't match. I don't want to waste money bringing this one if I can just buy one there and be out less money. Any input would be greatly appreciated!


Oh my goodness! Please, do not even think about importing your Jeep. You will never, ever, be able to get it registered.

Now, the Lotus may be a different matter. It will still cost you a ton of money and you may never be permitted to drive it on the public roadways, but at least it has some value (I presume).

And, just for the sake of mentioning it, you should be advised that obtaining an Italian driver's license ("patente") is no simple matter and you can expect it to cost in the neighborhood of €750 to €1,000 for each of you (that is, €1,500 to €2,000 for the two of you). You cannot legally drive in Italy on your US driver's license for more than 12 months after arrival.

And, by the way, as "new drivers" you have two additional problems: 1) you will be limited to vehicles with ridiculously small engines for the first few years, and 2) you will pay very high insurance rates - certainly much higher than you currently pay in the US.


----------



## NickZ

Jeeps are relatively expensive in Europe. Big issue is do you want to fill the tank? At about €1.5 a litre do the math.

The new driver limits aren't on engine size but power to weight ratio. Basically hp per tonne of vehicle weight.

Maybe US insurance is cheap but my Italian insurance is less than half what I paid in Canada.


----------



## 19/58Cooper

*Yes, Really*

Deleted due to duplication


----------



## 19/58Cooper

Duplication


----------



## 19/58Cooper

*Yes, Really*



Italia-Mx said:


> Really? You still have a wife? Amazing.


#Italia-Mx#
I'm not sure why you thought it appropriate to make a personal remark. The only reasons that come to mind are that you are either a smart arse or trying to be amusing. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt until I have a better understanding of what they are like so I will take it as a poor attempt at humour. While you seem to believe that personal comments are appropriate I will make some suggestions to you. Leave the humour to amusing people otherwise you may be perceived in an adverse light, and don't give up your day job.


----------



## Italia-Mx

26 November 2018, 06:13 PM
19/58 Cooper
Reply to NickZ

"I have to ask! Have you been talking to my wife? She'd be happy to see me divest myself of all cars".

First of all, I don't have a day job -- but I would like to see my companion divest himself of most of his junk too -- since I'm a minimalist and he's somewhat of a hoarder. Oh yes and the 3,000 euro worth of extra baggage the airline charged him/us for all the excessive electronics he couldn't part with? They have not been seen since we arrived here together ten years ago. Instead they are in our storage area having gone from storage in the USA to storage here. I was a resident in Italy for ten years before he arrived. I tried to tell him he wouldn't need or even be interested in all of that junk in Italy -- but I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks, now can we?


----------

