I'm sure you'll get lots of replies. Hopefully this will help.
 
My company ships stuff more than occasionally from the US. We use Atlantic - www.atlanticfreight.co.uk - for most of our shipping. I very highly recommend them. They will handle everything, door to door. They'll call you when the goods arrive in the UK and you'll have to pay the VAT and duty at that point. They take credit cards!  Other folks here use Big Mister. I have no experience of them so can't comment.
 
You need to get your import tax waiver number sorted out before you do anything. Call your local tax office - yellow pages or look online - and they will send you the right form. Someone then comes round to 'interview' you and explain how the system works. You need to give this to your shipper before they get the shipment. Can't do it afterwards.
 
I can't help with your other queries as I'm building a 7, other than to say don't hold back, go for it.
 
Best of luck
 
Duncan

Quote from Duncan on 03.11.2009 at 21:02:40:

 
It's a good idea to sort things out before you ship. But your import agent should be able to process your shipment through without duty - there is a one-off form. You will have to pay VAT on the goods incl shipping costs.
 
Somebody will post with the current form/duty arrangements.
 
You have a few options, to ship 'your kit' via a company like Duncan has suggested. Bax Global is another (but their name may have changed). OR you arrange your own container via somebody like Big Mister. As the container will have plenty of space you would be wise you find other builders looking for containerspace.
 
David Richard on this forum has recently arranged a group container - NOT A SMALL UNDERTAKING!!! as the more people you involve the more problems you create for yourself!
 
I have used Big Mister for shipping a whole aircraft rather than kit so just had the container for myself shipped door to door. We had a few problems but it did arrive as expected.
 
Curious why you are not getting the engine and avionics from Vans. I understood the RV12 comes as a whole kit - available in subparts. I have also found Vans very competitive on parts/engine/avionics as they have OEM agreements with large discounts.
 
Regards Tim

Hello Martyn,
 
For my sins, I have arranged a group container recently. I started the UKRVForum container with the intention of it arriving in April/May of this year. As we speak it's on the dockside of Felixstowe in the c/o of Jon Woods of Big Misters 10 months later.
 
The reasons for the delay are many but mostly are due to Van's in this instance.
 
Our container carried 3 QBs + 3QB wings, 4 Finish Kits, and 1 RV3 this a fair chunk of Van's uk business for last year.
 
Jon is clearing our shipments and arranging for delivery commencing Friday, and next week, after it's happened I will post a final update on the whole experience when I know the full outcomes. Cost is always a driver in sharing a consignment and is only going to be viable with a steadfast group. People often have good intentions but don't fulfill and this can be costly in time/money/effort. Ultimately it is much cheaper to share but, you need to make sure people commit otherwise it could turn out a very costly excercise.
 
JW knows how to handle the ETRN (duty) clawback procedure so he's a good resource. Remember also that you pay duty on top of the total bill incl. VAT and this is charged on the value of the goods, the cost of any service provision, shipping, forwarding, clearance etc. And there are many, many 'extra' small charges that do add up outside the control of the consignees and even the service providers let alone the customer!!
 
Duncan is quite correct though..... once decided there's no holding back!!!
 
Good Luck it's a nice machine to build, own and then...... fly.
 
David
 

Hi Martyn
I too have shipped a RV6 from the states last year and without the help of John Woods from big misters this would have been an impossible task. He organised the all shebang within a couple of days notice and had the aircraft collected over the labour day holiday on the day and time that i required.  
Just my two peneth!
Regards
Steve Beard

Hi Martyn
 
I would recommend getting yourself an End Use Relief Authorisation using the HMRC C1317 form. It is true that you can deal with things one import at a time but it is my view that this is much more hassle than doing the C1317. You will end up doing a lot more imports than you will imagine and the one-off approach would come to be a real pain, especially for the smaller shipments.
 
I have just renewed my EU Relief Authorisation. Getting it sorted in the first place was no big deal and renewing was a breeze too. HMRC were very helpful with the renewal even though I left it a month after the first one expired (the regs say you must renew atleast a month before expiry). And I've never had anyone from HMRC come for a visit. Three years is the maximum period my HMRC would allow on the C1317.
 
Once you have your EU No. just get your vendor to quote "Parts for Civil Aircraft" plus your EU No. on your shipment and associated documentation.  You'll then hopefully only have to pay VAT but not Import Duty on your shipment. Import Duty is 8%, I believe, so it's worthwhile.
 
And sharing a 40ft container is definately the cheapest way to go provided the container is full. I too have co-ordinated a container. We had $129,000 of kits for nine different aircraft so the £4000-ish shipping costs were well and truely shared.
 
Hope this is of help.
 
Steve Hutt

Now able to fill in some gaps regarding the shipping of my RV-12 Empennage and Tool Kit from Avery as I collected them morning.
 
Declared values $3,999 for emp & tools  
 
Tools Vat at 17.5% £183.35
Emp Vat at 17.5% £280.00
Air Freight to Manchester International using DB Schenker £298.47 plus £20 transaction charge
 
£781.82 total for shipping and UK taxes for the first bit of the kit
 
Fuse & wings to follow in May

David
 
Here's the info in American lbs and inches
 
Emp 207lbs - 114 Long by 32 Wide by 11 High
Tool kit 74lbs - 30 Long by 21 Wide by 14 High
 
This ship came in using the 'simplified end user agreement' and worked a treat
 
Jason