Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey?

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 13:58
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - bananastand

Now look here you chaps.

Why is it so expensive to bring in a new car from the USA? Their prices are on the floor, and you don't pay their tax. Yes yes I know you have to pay shipping, VAT and the work to get it approved for our roads, but importing firms seem to do the sums and add an extra zero. Is it worth going over and sorting it myself? I want a Ford Crown Victoria. In black please.

Thanking you.

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 14:06
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - Bobbin Threadbare

A Yankee cop car?

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 14:09
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - bananastand

yes and NYC taxi!

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 14:29
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - tanvir

Erm

Buy a Scorpio and pretend.

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 14:42
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - Bobbin Threadbare

Erm

Buy a Scorpio and pretend.

Oh that made me laugh!

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 14:55
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - TeeCee

You'd need a vivid imagination. It'd probably help some to take the Scorpio, stuff an old sock into the air intake, disconnect the dampers and drill a small hole in the fuel tank......

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 17:29
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - pd

Of course you can do it yourself but add it all up first to see if its worthwhile.

Take the base price and reckon on about £1000 for shipping, insurance, customs clearance etc. Then add 10% duty. Then add 20% VAT on top of the price including the duty. To that, obviously, you need to add the cost of converting it to UK legality, registering it etc.

As a rough guide, a $10000 car will work out about £10000 to get on UK roads at current exchange rates.

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 17:44
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - unthrottled

I thought that the Vic had gone out of production-or at least was not available to the general public. The body on frame meant that replacement of sheet metal panels was dirt cheap and the police depts loved this since their standard method of pulling over a target car seems to be to nudge it into the gutter!

I rode in a Vic taxi in Chicago once and it was a much nicer experience than the deadful Hackney carriage TXII.

Where do LTI manage to source those dreadful diesel engines from? Ah yes, Ford! Proud manufacturer of horrible engines since 1910.

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 23:51
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - Pyranha

We had a Crown Vic as a rental in Orlando a couple of years ago - in civvy guise, it is (or was then) sold to rental companies as a Grand Marquis (pronounced "m******", for it's handling).

The leather bench seat in the front was a bit of nostalgia for us, but it handled like a complete dog, and I wasn't upset when I got three warning lights on the dash so headed back to the airport.

Avis offered me a Camry as a replacement, but when I asked for something 'more interesting', they produced a 6l V8 Camaro. Smiles all round - particularly from our 9 year old son, as it was Bumblebee yellow (as in the Transformers film).

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Tue 14 Jun 2011 23:53
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - Pyranha

And what is wrong with "m arquee"? Am I that innocent?

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Wed 15 Jun 2011 01:36
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - jamie745

Hey!! The Scorpio is a fine car!!

American cars are generally very cheap but by the time its got over here with UK stamps on it and some paperwork signed it costs enough to buy a small county.

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Wed 15 Jun 2011 09:45
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - TeeCee

I recall once turning up at the Alamo desk in San Francisco airport. The bloke behind the counter greeted me and said; "We have a car waiting for you, it's a Mittsoobeeshee Carisma!!!!".

I must have looked a tad disappointed as he then said; "Is something wrong? It's a very fine car......?"

"I'm sure it is, but we have Carismas in England. I was rather hoping for an American car."

<Disbelief> "You want an American car...???" <Stars and stripes in slightly misty eyes - draws himself up to full height> "You want an American car!!!" (I'm sure I could hear the sound of The Star Spangled Banner being played upbeat in the background by a full USMC band at this point).

He stuck his head out the window and had a quick look round the lot. "I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna upgrade you to the Chevrolet Blazer!!"

Cue me, happy as Larry, driving around in a honking great SUV with blacked-out windows, while my colleagues wonder how I've managed to get something quite that serious as an upgrade on a "Group C" car. National pride, a great thing to exploit....

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Tue 28 Jun 2011 15:41
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - glowplug

Great tale TeeCee even if I don't like gas guzzlers.

Steve.

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Tue 28 Jun 2011 15:54
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - jc2

Went to the Hertz desk to collect my hire car-now Hertz was Ford owned-so what did I get-a Chevvy and a Canadian one at that.

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Wed 29 Jun 2011 11:33
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - Collos25

Camaros were built in Canada nothing wrong with them.

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Wed 29 Jun 2011 13:58
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - captain chaos

They haven't always been so expensive. A few years ago I was in Las Vegas and they were selling Dodge Ram trucks for $14,000. The exchange rate was $2 to the £.

UK importers were selling them for 25k. I was tempted to buy a couple...

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Wed 29 Jun 2011 20:06
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - Pyranha

Isn't that the OPs point - they are not that expensive there, but are terribly pricey here? I suspect it is a combination of the straightforward costs of importing (shipping and various taxes) added to the cost of making them street-legal (lights etc). And it must be a pretty low volume business, so unit prices are high.

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Wed 6 Jul 2011 11:01
Ford Crown Victoria - why are new US cars so pricey? - RT

Have you seen this?

www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/buying-and-selling/2011-.../

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