Help Please! Shipping a car from US to Spain

Dave Lindemann · 03-09-08, 02:23 PM

I have a buyer for my Esprit. The challenge is the car is located in Minnesota and he is in Barcelona Spain. The car needs to be trucked from MN....probably to New Jersey where it can be placed in a single container and shipped to Spain. I've never done anything like this before. Can you folks offer any advice on shipping companies that could handle the entire shipping process?

Also, any advice on secure money transfers? The buyer will make a holding payment by wire transfer to my bank tomorrow. Is a direct wire transfer like this any gaurantee that the funds are "good"? I don't want to have the car picked up and shipped and find out later that the funds transfer was bogus.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Dave L

Fran Hall RCR · 03-09-08, 02:58 PM

Dave,

I have a shipper that can take care of everything......he ships every RCR car overseas.....tell him I sent you.

Pat Knibbs
T - +44 (0)20 8751 5833
F - +44 (0)20 8751 6027
pat@southerncross.uk.com
.

Ian Anderson · 03-09-08, 04:11 PM

Dave

On the electronic / wire transfer if your bank notifies you the funds have hit your acount then they are good.

It is not like a cheque that can be bounced and you only find our a month later.

But be advised that most banks in Europe will say there is a minimum transfer time of 3 days. (They normally say 5) This is actually false but you may not see the money in your account till mid week.

If at all worried ask the seller to get the SWIFT100 message from his bank (It is a bank telex) and then have your bank confirm it has arrived - they may then also confirm the value date (cleared funds in your account) is immediate or a few days hence. (Your bank will not be able to trace the SWIFT without the magic reference numbers from the sending bank - like tryong to find a needle in a haystack)

Ian (Sad accountant?)

Dave Lindemann · 03-09-08, 05:15 PM

Fran and Ian -

Thank you so much for the information - you guys are great! The knowledge of the people on this Forum is invaluable.

Thanks again!
Dave L

J. Salmon · 03-09-08, 05:33 PM

Nice Esprit by the way. I have always like the early crisp lines. I never much like the "modernized" look on the more recent cars. Glad you found a buyer, and I am sure you have some good memories from ownership. Cheers!

Bill Musarra · 03-09-08, 08:24 PM

Dave,
I purchased my 40 from a guy in Australia. I covered my behind by using an escrow account. Escrow .com is the one I used. The transaction took a long time because he and I didn't know a lot of the banking laws. I sent him a deposit check. It took nearly a month to clear. Checks are not the way to go!!
With an escrow account the buyer/seller sets it up. The buyer deposits the money and gives them the sellers info. He is then contacted when the money is deposited. The shipment is made and when delivered, the escrow company is notified. The buyer then has a set period of time to inspect the goods to determine if it is as should be. If all is well, he notifies the escrow company and they release the funds to the seller. If there is a dispute, the seller and the buyer should have setup arrangements for how that is handled beforehand. They will even arbitrate the dispute if necessary. The beauty of the plan is that once the funds are deposited, neither the buyer nor the seller can get the money without the consent of both parties.
In my case the seller advertised the car as newly rebuilt engine. He also was to remove the engine ad trans and ship in the same container. He did neither. The car was held up in customs for two reasons. First he didn't list all the ancillary parts that were shipped with the car. Customs has to have it listed and a value attached so that they can assess the tax. This resulted in extra storage fees. I paid them so I could get the car. Fortunately I anticipated him NOT taking the engine out and had him put some racing stickers on the car. When I found this out(after it was shipped but not arrived), I had the papers changed to importing a race car. Otherwise I would have had to ship it out of the country, remove the engine, and reship it in. Had to do with the regulations. In the U S if it comes in with the motor and trans in tact, it has to meet the safety and DOT regulations of the year of manufacture(no 5mph bumpers on a forty).
With my purchase I had 5 days to inspect it. When I pulled the head of the engine I found water in the engine and damage to the cylinder walls. I got him to give back a considerable amount of the purchase price for the money that would be spent making it right + the increased storage fees. There were other things, but you chose your battles. Once agreed upon. I released the funds to him.
This is the most secure method I know of, and it lets you sleep at night. You just have to have contingency plans.

Bill

Steve C · 03-09-08, 08:58 PM

Dave,

One more thing to add to all the good advice above.....

I would suggest you have the wire transfer made to your checking account...Have the bank advise you when it has been received and IMMEDIATELY have it transfered to your savings account or a different checking account.

A wire transfer CAN BE withdrawn by the issueing bank but ONLY from the account transfered to...

When I sold a car to a German buyer it went like clockwork ( I had the funds in 1 day).

Good luck, Steve

Dave Lindemann · 03-09-08, 10:56 PM

Thanks for all of the advise guys - much appreciated. I've had the car advertised in Europe through a broker and I'll be talking with him tomorrow about the escrow account idea. If I stick with the wire transfer payment I'll be sure to move the funds into savings asap.

Dave L

Dave Lindemann · 03-10-08, 08:01 PM

I've run into one small glitch - how to get the car into a shipping container!

I contacted Pat - extremely helpful - he even called me on my cell from the UK - unfortunately I was just driving into Chicago and had to cut our conversation short. There is no way to get the car into a truck mounted container without some sort of lift - and I don't think a forklift would be kind to the underside of a Lotus. It would be nice to have the container on the ground, drive the car in and load the container on a trailer but I'm not sure how to accomplish this - any ideas?

Thanks,
Dave L

Fran Hall RCR · 03-10-08, 08:12 PM

You will need to get the car to a local shop with a loading dock or call a local tow truck with a tilt flat bed....they can lift the bed upto the height of the container....easily.

BenL · 03-12-08, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gt40fran

You will need to get the car to a local shop with a loading dock

You'll need a place with a loading dock for the truck/container, and a street level ramp so you can drive the car up to the loading dock (then you'll probably need to drain the fuel tank).

Quote:

or call a local tow truck with a tilt flat bed....they can lift the bed upto the height of the container....easily.

We've done that, but you should bring a pair of boards to bridge the gap.