Ohlins and import tax.
 

Couple of questions.

Ohlins.
Does anyone know of a UK supplier for Ohlins dampers where we might as a club member get discount?
Looking for an '03 R1 steering damper that mounts 916 style but keep coming up with £300+ for uk purchase.
I am in contact with Motowhaeels in the US where I can get one for £238 plus P+P this still only comes to £278 delivered.
The only problem is the extra import tax!!!!
It seems as though we will have to pay it so does anyone know what rate it is?
Its a while since I bought from over there so dont know now.

Is there a similar import duty from Europe?
I would have thought that us being in the EU would say no but dont want to buy it and THEN GET STUCK WITH ANY EXTRA DUTY!

Any of you import peeps might be better placed to answer this or anyone been importing stuff from the US or Europe recently might know.

Any help or advice will be appreciated.

And yes I do stikll have the Duke, this is my mates new bike I am sourcing it for.

There have a couple of threads on that recently. From the US, you can try to avoid it altogether by having the supplier describe the item as a "warranty replacement" or similar.

From the EU there is no import duty. You pay the VAT of the country you're buying it at. Try Belgium.

Don't know the import duty for ohlins stuff. You'd have to call the Duty & Excise people.

Ohlins importer/distributor is Harris.
They are not known for their "discounts" and the mark up on Ohlins is pretty low anyhow.
Some of the authorised Ohlins service centres bring their own stuff in?? Might be worth a ring round.
Stuff from the States is cheap at the moment because of the exchange rates.
If you buy from Europe, you pay their vat but don't kop any import tax or vat when it gets over here.

Its worth checking the VAT level in the country your buying from if its coming from within the EU, if they have a higher level than us you should be able to get it removed at their end for export and ra-added at this end on import.

If you buy something from outside the EU in theory you pay 10% non EU duty then add VAT @ 17.5%
In the EU you don't have to pay the VAT in the country you buy something from but I believe you have to Be VAT registerd to do that. Even then you should in theory still pay UK VAT @ 17.5% This rigmarole is really not worth the bother, believe me, you only save a few % at best.
I seem to recall that some Ohlins dealers used to offer a discount to DSC members, try a search on the old board.

Ray