vettebuyer6369

I was curious if anyone here has actively marketed their cars to overseas buyers? I know some people do that and I was wondering what the process was and your experiences.

yvesvidal

Precious resources such as Corvette C3 should not leave the country.

Yves

brit vet

general ike

Isn't they exportation of sensitive and necessary components needed by this country illegal?

I don't understand the question!!!!!!

Ike

corvetteronw

Let me ask my friend Steven in Belgium and I will get back to you.
I helped him buy an 81 back in 2008. He used a roll on/roll off shipper as it is less expensive. He uses a shipping line that has several ships that call on many of the East and West coast ports. The buyer contacted a local tow truck operator who picked up the car on the East coast of Florida and hauled it to a port in Southern Alabama. They had to make sure the car had no more than 1/8th tank of fuel in it. The buyer then picked up the car at a Rotterdam ship yard and drove it home.
The import laws and taxes have become more strict since then. Any car that was first titled/registered less than 30 years ago gets hit with huge taxes. The exchange rate is worse for Euros right now too.
In fact, Steven is looking for an 89 C4 with a 6-speed right now as that was the first year you could get the ZF transmission.
There are a lot of car enthusiasts in Europe that love American cars. They have rallys and shows all over during the good weather seasons.
If you ship the car in a container you can also load it up with Corvette parts and the buyer does not have to pay extra taxes on them. But, if you do the RoRo then you cannot do that. The buyer will pay more taxes on the parts too.
Steven is a member of the Forum. I will ask if he can reply to this post here so others can learn too.

SB64

The only experience I had so far was the selling of my 71 at a Daytona show. The gentleman was from Germany. He paid cash, signed over the title and he drove the car to the corner lot where the shipping outfit picked it up and brought it to Jacksonville harbor to ship. While at the show a husband and wife stopped by who were from England and mentioned the they were the couple on an early wheeler dealer show who bought the C2 project. They also mentioned a UK corvette type forum for people in Europe interested in corvettes. Just sayin................................... ........................................ ...............
The German folks will be back this year to see my Steel City Gray 71. American folks at the show seem to just want to kick the tires so to speak. That's ok too!

Steven_Belgium

Ron helped me back in 2008 with my 81 which I bought in Florida , and the whole thing actually went as he describes .
2 years later then I imported a Chevy Stepside from Indiana.
For the American sellers there was actually no risk , as I wired the funds directly to the seller’s bank.
When funds were cleared , the cars got shipped to Brunswick from where they left per RoRo to Zeebrugge in Belgium.
There is definitely a market for older Corvettes in Europe , but as Ron wrote the €/$ conversion is actually not so good for us Europeans compared to 10 years ago when I bought my 2 cars. Also since then it became more difficult to import / register an “oldtimer” that is heavily modified. In Belgium for example the pre-registration inspection was very easy until two years ago but has now become more and more difficult 😕
If you need any further help or advice ( or if you have a possible Belgian buyer who wants some help ) feel free to contact me at any time ! Happy to share my experience as not only Ron but also other forummembers helped me also in the past .
I’m still looking for a manual 89 ( or an 88 ) but so far was not lucky. Buying “unseen” is alway a bit tricky for us here in Europe , but I also understand that for the American seller the process is not always easy and more “difficult” then a simple cash transaction .
Greets from a cold and rainy Bruges ( B ),
Steven

brit vet

We have just completed a hotel air conditioning project in Brussels so I’ve been out there once a month for the last six months! the beer gives serious headaches...



The demand for American cars both here in the UK & other parts of Europe shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. From a sellers point of view, I would think you could get a premium price for your car with an overseas buyer as in my case, when an LT-1 popped up on the forum that ‘ticked all the box’s’ I had to have it and cost be damned. I dealt with a great seller that wasn’t afraid to deal with me and realised that the risk was all mine. I paid my shipper their shipping costs and the agreed cost of the car. They inspected the car and checked it was all in order with no outstanding loans then paid the seller. Seller then released the car to be transported to the docks. Easy peasy



Browsing the C2 sections now for a 66 or 67 BB so facing doing it all again.

Stuart

Steven_Belgium

🤪 we do have some very good & strong beers here in Belgium .....

Steven_Belgium

If interested I can always put a free ad here on a European car site if you have a car up for sale....
Will probably get some fake bidders also , but could sort these out and bring you in contact with the serious buyers.
it’s just an idea 😉
Greets ,
S

vettebuyer6369

When I was shopping for my split window I was surprised how many cars I looked at wound up in Germany and other European locations. It seemed there was a definite method to advertising for European sales, but never nailed down what that was.

I know threres always a strong Euro buyers market for American cars. A couple years ago I went to Sweden to visit the Big Power Show, reportedly the biggest American auto show outside the US. It was massive, and the collector/drivers were so passionate and enthusiastic ; it was great fun.

I may have one too many cars for my storage capacity and I’m considering different options.

Primoz

I bought 2 cars and brought them to Europe. My friend bought more than 10 and sold 4 of them the rest are at his house and all with no hassle.
The current exchange EUR/$ is not good compared to 10 years ago but the economy is strong especially in Germany and surrounding countries and people are willing to spend some serious cash.
Other countries not so much and people are much more picky. They want great car for low $$$!
I tried to sell my vette a year ago because I needed the money for my house but oh my what a headache.
Only lowballers and hustlers!
I decided to keep it in the end and work on it!

joewill

I don't think anyone here is answering your question. are there websites or brokers you could commission to find a overseas buyer?
I am similarly interested..
I would expect that overseas buyers would know how to access the more popular sites here in the states.. ebay, mecum, hemmings, etc...

Dazaa Rafae Aman

If someone was to create a website which allowed international buyers to search for all the vehicles for sale in the USA listed on all the different platforms they would make a lot of money. When I was searching for a car it got real tiring looking on Ebay, Autotrader and then every different area of Craigslist.

Steven_Belgium

There Is a website where you can advertise your car simultaneously in several different countries in Europe , but I’m not really aware of brokers here in a Europe who help you ( for a fee ) to find a European buyer. There are of course companies who specialise in importing older US cars to Europe and who probably make a lot of money ( when I see some of their asking prices ).
And sure people know where / how to find US cars on the websites you mention , but then the transport and import process starts , and this scares them off.
And just as there are Americans who feel uncomfortable to sell their car to a European buyer , this same buyer in Europe is afraid as he buys “unseen” and is wiring money to an “unknown” seller. That I guess scares a lot of people ( both ways ) and is the reason why these specialised importcompanies here in Europe still make good money.....
Greets ,
Steven

Metalhead140

X2! Seems to me that older American cars are often more appreciated outside the US than they are at home...

Most international buyers will look on Ebay and other places. They may not (even probably won't) buy through ebay, but I think it's a good way to advertise the car. Importing to Australia has dropped with the exchange rate and some recent draconian enforcement of asbestos rules, but there's a lot of American cars here. I see American cars specifically listed on Australian Ebay from time to time too.

vettebuyer6369

Yeah I assume overseas buyers access the usual sites, etc. I just know people who seem to sell a lot to Europe, particularly Genrmany, and wonder if there’s a specific resource or method for this.

vettebuyer6369

In the early 90s I sold an ‘81 convertible conversion to an Asian guy from DC who apparently was shipping it to Japan. It was in a magazine the month before and sold well. People were more “Japan sensitive” back then and I actually took a bunch of grief from some flag wavers in my Corvette club. Now, while I am a strong US and military supporter and proudly fly my US and Police flags in front of my house, it seems I could not get any of these complainers to cough up the amount of money being paid for this car to allow me to sell it locally.

It seemed quite easy to be cavalier about where a sale was being made when it wasn’t their money.

cv67

Id be interested in info....if someone offered decent $ for mine Id let it go.
Yes they know what they sell for out here but are more apt to pay for a car done right.
The age group of buyers out here still thinks its 1995 $ wise.

Steven_Belgium

My friend Ron this weekend went to check a 1989 C4 for me. He clearly informed the seller upfront that the buyer ( me ) lives in Europe and was willing to pay via bank transfer if the inspection was to be OK . Seller initially agreed but now suddenly only wants “cash in hand” , which is of course impossible for me.
Some sellers seem to be very scared of doing business with an overseas buyer , although there is no risk for them.
Anyway , sooner or later I find somewhere a nice C4 😉