Danny B

Hi all,
Can someone who has colected a car from Holland please tell me roughly how much it cost them?
Things I am interested in really are where you caught the ferry from in the UK, how long the crossing took, how much it cost as a foot passenger(going there), what Dutch port you arrived at (I'm thinking of buying mine from http://www.subaruvdvelde.nl) and I have no idea where to land in Holland.
How you got from the Dutch port/airport to the garage,(were you picked up) and how much it cost to bring the car back to the UK on a ferry.
I am trying to decide if I should pay £400 and get it delivered to my door on a transporter or self collect.I have done a quick search for ferry prices and it's £300 return to Holland! I expect my fuel bill would cost £50, food on the ferry about £20, etc etc.
So the idea of paying £400 doesn't seem so bad after all, or is there a cheaper way of doing it?
Cheers

ps- Has anyone used www.litimports.co.uk before, they are offering a 2002 WRX for £16,695 delivered to my door, at the above garage in Holland when you convert from NLG to GBP inc VAT the price is £16,218 then you are responsible for getting the car back to UK, licence, TAX, reg plates, etc, etc the price will probably break even with what I have been offered here in UK, plus they are claiming to have a 3 year, 60,000 mile warranty.
I am more confused than ever now.
Cheers

orbv

Both http://www.litimports.co.uk/ and http://www.keyring-cars.co.uk/ have been used by loads on people on this board and come highly recommended.

If you collect the car yourself you will need transport plates to get it back to the UK and insurance. It can be hard to get insurance on an unregistered car using the VIN number.

Dealers in Belgium offer a three year warranty where Holland dealers only offer One. It is possible to buy an extended warranty to cover you for year two and three.

If you use the trip to pick up the car as a short break (keep the Misses happy) all in all it would work out a few quid cheaper then getting it delivered.

Orbv

Ray T

Danny,
I collected my car from Gertjan , last year, the way i did it was to get a flight from heathrow to rotterdam (one way of course)i think it was about £48 at the time, gertjan then picks you up at the airport, back at the dealership, you have a tea/coffee, sign the paperwork/check the car etc, my car a full tank to start with. I then decided on a drive back to the eurotunnel (did'nt want anyone parked next to me on the ferry etc)stopped of in bruge (belguim for lunch) the oneway eurotunnel was £170 approx at the time(you can check there web site).All this took the day of course but it does allow you to put 300 or so miles on the clock (so you can get the running done quicker!!).

hope this is of some use to you.



ray t

Danny B

Thanks very much for the info, at the end of the day the cost just about breaks even whether I collect or get it delivered and I think I'll opt for the delivery option as I know if I took the wife with me we'd spend a lot more than £400 as I'd make a weekend trip out of it.
Getjan sounds like a top bloke from what I've heard about him, shame about the 3 year warranty thing though.

Ian E

iTrader: (1)

When I picked my car up from Gertjan we went Hull - Rotterdam with P & O ( www.ponsf.com ). We went across with my company car, had a weekend in Amsterdam and then drove to Gertjans to collect the Scoob. Total cost of the ferry (1 car out, 2 cars back, 3 people and 2 cabins) was around £300 I think. I'm sure Gertjan (or a member of his family) would pick you up from Rotterdam if required. Gertjans a top bloke to deal with as you've probably already heard

Cheers,

Ian.

ollyshorey

I just got mine delivered from Belgium, by a company called CCS (Car Collection Services) It only cost me £280 (including VAT)

To me that was a no brainer, as I worked out the cost to collect was near £500 when you consider all the petrol, plates, insurance, and 2 ferry tickets.

I cant find their number at the mo, but have a look at the URL..

http://www.carimportguide.co.uk/features/transport_august_01.htm

Cant reccomend them enought. Another plus point for me is that my car was delivered to Perival, London. I live in reading, so I saved extra cost (they wanted £60 more for delivery). If you ring them, speak to a guy called Peter Hepburn. He will talk you through everything, step by step. Very helpfull.

Hope this helps.

Olly.

jasonFaz

Danny,

I'm bringing mine back from Belgium in february - up to now, the service from Keyring has been excellent and they will advice you on all the travel stuff close to the time of collection. I have considered having my car delivered to the door, cost wise there ain't much in it. However, I do think that the whole experiance of flying out and bringing the car back yourself is well worth it - I cann't wait.

Not decided yet if I'm am taking my wife, if not I plan to get the first flight out in the morning and drive back (Eurotunnel) the same day to keep costs down.

Go for it.

P.S. it anyone knows what the final mods will be to MY2002 please let me know.

orbv

The aerial has moved to the back of the car......and that's it Guess it will be confirmed went we see a MY02 in December.

robman

Get a cheap flight return to Holland *and* get it delivered :-)

You've got to meet Gertjan. He's the nicest bloke on the planet!

Anyway I made a long day of it with my brother. Cheap flight from Liverpool on Easyjet, train, picked up by Gertjan, amazing drive back to ferry, ferry back to Harwich, long lovely drive home. Lots of (s)miles covered by the time I got back so sooner to be able to thrape the nads off it after 1k.

Dennis Hough

If you get it delivered it will have a different stamp in the log book. I drove mine back and it didnt show it as new when first registered here even though it was driven back on a German temporary number plate for export only. Doing this meant i had the car back on the 1st Aug for the new reg no problem rather than a day before and old reg letter.
If its on a trailer, its shown as 1st registered in the UK rather than date of manufacture unknown by the UK DVLC people.
Having it delivered saves all this and much worry about insurance and foreign plates or registering it etc. Once its in th eUK it easier to go do it all at a local DVLA office. I did mine in Wimbledon over the counter in about 5 mins and added a private reg plate at same time with the right years prefix.
cheers, Den