Erska

Well, first of all, I explain why...

For mass imports,European Union requires full E-certifications for every part. But for private imports, you can pass every of those, except here in Finland.

Finland requires the same things for private import than the mass production facilities.

We have some Us cars in here, like Chrysler 300C,Pt-Cruiser,Voyager,Sebring and Crossfire?,Dodge Caliber&Viper(very few sold, costs ~200k$), Jeeps,"Daewoo Chevys" and maybe few other that I cant remember at the moment.

Chrysler corporation products are built in Austria with E-certificated parts.

And if I remember correctly those Chevys that we got, are re-badged Daewoos, so those are allready E-approved.

But we certainly don't have full-size pick-ups like Dodge Ram. Or big US SUV's like Excursion,Suburban or Durango.

Mainly because European Union requires their own certifications for lights,emissions, and basicly anything wich is Dot certificated, should&must be modified to "E" - certificated, some small dot certificated things can be approved, if you have right documents for it, like seatbelts. But not for lights and such.

And what comes to light-truck imports, same thing, but the max speed for over 7500lbs GVWR vehicles is 50mph. And if you have newer than 00, you must have speedlimiter to 50mph.

But there is one great here with trucks, you dont have to pay that huge car tax. And the diesel tax is smaller on trucks. You have to pay "only" 10% for customs and 22% for the base tax.

I suggest that you guys read this story, so you can really got the idea what's happening outside the Us&Canada.

http://www.valimaki.com/jeep_reg.html

And relatively speaking, that guy got away a lot easier with that Jeep than I with my Dodge.
You see, there were E-approved lights for Jeeps, but there are non for Dodge Pick-ups.

I had to built those lights for my self.

And because all of this, cars&trucks value are much higher.
For example, my 1999 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 with 97000miles is rated to about 55000 dollars without any modifications.


I have pictures in my gallery if intrested.

It's no suprise if american car manufactors are doing poorly with their sales.

We have over 496 million people in European Union and I'm sure that many of those would like to drive american car, but are not able to...


I apologize my possible typo's, but I hope you got the idea.

Thanks.

HotRod82

WOW...speed limiter to 50? What is the penalty for disconnecting the limiter and being caught speeding?

Erska

50mph is for all trucks in here, but the limiter is required newer than 00.

If you drive over 50mph, you're being charged for exeeding your vehicles class speed, it's just a ticket, and worst case scennarios your driving license could be suspended.

But if you have speedolimiter and you have disconnected it,you're losing your driving license immediately.

And your truck is also illegal then, you're going to get a massive ticket for that+ they took your license plates off and you have to re-register it and install the speedolimiter again at the authorized company(again) who has rights to install those. It is a really serious thing, really. And expensive.

That's the main reason why I bought the 24v 2nd gen. And of course, 02 and newers you have to install E-approved WINDSHIELD, and that's expensive too, because every one of those are specially made somewhere and has to approved separately .

But it's real, unbelievable.

96_12V

A few simple answers:

A lot more people in a much smaller space. Think parkign in downtown New York City everyday and it's not far off.

Fuel costs (taxes).

Driving habits. People in Europe prefer manual transmissions, and good handeling cars. They don't buy into the idea that something that's sized and shaped like a oversized freezer is what they need to be protected. They are drivers, generally more involved ones at that than a US driver. Look who actually has Lincoln Town Cars?

Oh, and i'm ready to move to Europe.

fbx22

well I imagine Europe has much more stringent imported goods laws and taxes. Over here they let any clown come here and sell stuff for less than the domestic products Most countries tax the pants off of imported autos and is why you dont see a lot of american cars there like in Japan. On the other hand we give them tax breaks to import things here

Erska

Both are true, but people are moving automatic transmissions fast in here.

Most of the better equipment cars in here have autotransmissions. Like our Saab 9-5, which shifts and works much better than my Dodge's auto. But I think it's a GM product...

But once again, allmost every car costs a lot more with auto transmission, so it's pretty hard to presume that people would buy cars with automatic transmissions, in most of the cases it could be increasing your car price over 10%. So it is no wonder why people want manual transmissions.

I have said it before, but our regular gas costs 5.9$ per gallon at the moment. And the diesel is 4.66$ per gallon. Diesel is cheaper because the every year diesel tax.

So it's pretty nice to have cars like my buddys Volvo S80 D5, 185hp, which gets 75-95 miles per gallon when driving with overdrive steady 50mph...

madhat

$4.66 a gallon??? That's crazy!!!! Where's my bike?

Very good reading...

johnzie

Diesel price here equates to approx $7.50 per gallon....

To bring a vehicle in to the UK..say a Ram 1500/2500..( classed as a commercial vehicle)...What ever the $$ price is + shipping...convert to UK £...add 22% import duty....ten add 17.5% tax.....then....If its less than 10yrs old...you have to get an SVA test..(inspection)...then regester it.....at the end of the day...the bargain you saw isn't quite as good as it semed...

for example....Say you saw a nice truck for $10k...costs $1k to ship it...works out at £5790...add 22% then 17.5%...equals £8300....converted back to $$...is approx....$15770...( thats just to the port)....

Add to that....mention left hand drive/ american to the insurance company...and they take your eyes out.....

well.thats my rant for the day......

fbx22

22% import duty tax see thats what Im talking about. Wonder what the US charges for vehicle imports? Probably they get a 22% tax rebate well maybe not that much but you get the idea . As for the high fuel prices in the UK, without getting too political its the same reason they are high here in CA, CT, MA, and NY

chrigu

but is to expansiv to buy a dodge ram, here in switzerland, dodge ram 2500 slt cummins coast 60000$!!

best regards
chris

johnzie

I made a typo in my post as to the duty/tax......was meant to say for an import...its 22% import duty....then add 17.5% tax....so in total...39.5% in taxes....

Just had a look on DODGE.CO.UK...we can get a Ram 1500 Laramie 4 X 4 ...5.7 hemi....for the amazing price of £30553......roughly $58050...

On the DODGE.COM website...same truck is $38800....

Could be why there isn't that many here in the UK....

TIMMY22

a little word called tariff.

chrigu

and for the ctd you must make here in switzerland test for emission ,test for exhaust, the 03 ram have here euro 3.
this test was expensiv.
from 10/01/2006 you can only import euro 4 here in switzerland euro 4 and up was in the staats emisson 2010.

Erska

Yeah, still, you guys can register your vehicles there and only do some expensive tests. We have to do those test too,modify,add&change all the lights,modify exhausts etc...

And talking about the price, we have one private imported and modified Dodge Ram 2500 CTD 4x4 SLT Laramie-06 here. "Only" 9000miles on the clock.

Check it out: http://www.nettiauto.com/viewVehicle.php?id_car=981694

And what was the price again? 77500€ . Thats 93000 bucks!

dssimecek

Also in Europe, the public trasportation system of trains, trams, busses, boats is much better than in the USA. Examptle, busses in Bern Switzerland ran ever 10 minuites. Trains are comfortable. They also walk and bike a lot.

Years ago was going to go with a friend and fly an new Cessna 182 from the factory to his cosin in Greece. The taxes, and other requiments nixed the trip.