Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Sun 14 Oct 2012 11:47
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - doowie

Hi all, I have been working in South Africa for a while and whilst out there I brought a nice 1978 Ford Escort. I am looking at shipping it back to the UK and was wondering if anyone knew of how to go about it. I am from the UK so its not a case of shipping all my stuff over, its literally just the car.

When I was in Australia to ship a car over from the UK I had to prove that I had owned it for over a year and had to pay a nice Import tax + check over and rego fee. It was worth it for a decent car that would have cost me around $16,000 AUD that I paid £900 for here.

I have looked at similar Escorts here and a complete shed seems to hold a value of around £3000. My shed which is in nice condition only cost me the equivelent of £380 so even if it costs £2500 to get it over its seems worth it to me.

Any advice would be most welcome

thank you

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 14 Oct 2012 12:08
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - tony g
Hi dowie,
Sorry I'm a little confused by your post,

If you're suggesting bringing a 98 escort to the uk ,it would be pointless ,a mint example in the uk would be worth £500 ,scruffy runners are worth about £250 .

Check autotrader uk for prices if you can find one ,most UK escorts have been scrapped .

Tony g
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 14 Oct 2012 12:42
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - pd

If it's a '78 rear drive Escort with a sound bodyshell it is worth a lot more than £500.

There is quite a lot of info here:

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/BuyingAndSellingAVeh...m

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 14 Oct 2012 14:18
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - tony g
Sorry ,my mistake ,read it as a 98 ,stupid ,to much whiskey last night ,looking on e bay it seems possible that it could be worth at £3000.

More still if its something unusual.

Edited by tony g on 14/10/2012 at 14:31

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 17 Oct 2012 12:26
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - guvnor666

Hi,

I am in the process of shipping VW kombi's from SA to the UK and the prices for shipping vary from company to company as far as I can find out SA ports do not offer the Roll on Roll off car service which is the cheapest option for vehicle transportation so you will have to put the car into a container. I have been quoted around £2000 for the whole container from Cape Town to Felixstowe docks with 'George Baker Shipping'

There are some strict and peculier conditions on the import duty so it will be worth calling and finding out these details before shipping. It could be classified as a classic vehicle and therefor subject to none or reduced import duty.

If you are serious about getting it shipped over feel free to contact me as there are discounts available for shipping 2 vehicles at the same time depending on where you are shipping from,

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 13 Apr 2013 19:42
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - jaqsta13
Hi I see your post is quite old but I thought I'd still reply. I am really interested in importing a couple of Ford Escorts from South Africa if you have any contacts out there who could help me and if you'd be interested in sharing a container unless its too late though maybe it's an ongoing project of yours?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 26 May 2013 19:30
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - ra28gt

Hi did you manage to ship your cars from south africa to the UK, am interested in bringing over a few cars and would like to know more about the shipping my email add is classictoyota@hotmail.co.uk please do contact me thanks

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 28 Nov 2013 12:28
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - hombre
Hi, saw your reply on the forum here and wanted to introduce myself.
My name is Danny and I'm interested in shipping a car from South Africa to uk.
I see you do the same thing.
Would you be interested in sharing a container for two cars to reduce the cost.
I'm still at the early stages off shipping the car but any help would be gratefully appreciated.
My email is danhug@rock.com if you feel like a chat
Many thanks dan
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 16 Jan 2024 11:43
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - Christiaan Taylor

Hi, I came across this chat in my search of trying to find the cheapest way to get my mk2 escort to the UK which I bought in SA.

I see this chat is quite old but non the less I'll share my experience for someone looking to do the same thing in the future.

I did quite a bit of digging and running around to get prices, eventually I came across va autotraders who I went with in the end. They charged me about 1130 pounds, cheapest shipping I could find and had a great service from them.

Details for those needing assistance

Cheers

Christiaan

Edited by leaseman on 16/01/2024 at 11:56

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 16 Jan 2024 12:49
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - Adampr

Hi, I came across this chat in my search of trying to find the cheapest way to get my mk2 escort to the UK which I bought in SA.

I see this chat is quite old but non the less I'll share my experience for someone looking to do the same thing in the future.

I did quite a bit of digging and running around to get prices, eventually I came across va autotraders who I went with in the end. They charged me about 1130 pounds, cheapest shipping I could find and had a great service from them.

Details for those needing assistance

Cheers

Christiaan

I had a minor desire to import one of their Mark 1 Golfs (Rabbit?). I wonder...

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 16 Jan 2024 13:21
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - badbusdriver

I had a minor desire to import one of their Mark 1 Golfs (Rabbit?). I wonder...

They were called Citi Golf, made 1984-2009. And they did do a GTI version using essentially the same 1.8 as the later MK1's, though it was called CTI.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 16 Jan 2024 13:58
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - Adampr

This looks like the place for me

www.retroimports.co.uk/

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 16 Jan 2024 14:36
Ford Escort - Importing to the UK from South Africa - badbusdriver

This looks like the place for me

www.retroimports.co.uk/

Not sure it is actually, the Citi Golf listed apparently "arrives in the UK mid 2022"

;-)

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

If you cover no more than 100 miles per day and have easy access to a charging point at home or work, then an EV is ideal for you.

Is an electric car right for me?