It’s Christmas, I’ve got a little money so I thought it might be nice to treat myself to something shiny for my engine bay. From the UK shops the bits I’m after retail at about £90 each. Since I need a about 4 bits I decide to hunt for some bargains.
Tmtuning.com is, at first glance, an American VW/Audi specialist. Their prices seem reasonable and they offer much cheaper but equally good quality parts. I think I can take advantage of the exchange rate to bag a bargain…then I discover Tmtuning.com is actually a German company. Sneaky. But good, perhaps I can still pay in dollars and make a saving. Not quite.
Tmtuning charge me European VAT @ 20% and shipping charges, then it my goods take about 4 weeks to arrive. But they don’t just drop through my door, oh no, first I’ve got to pay a £14.49 customs charge. WTF? I already paid VAT, now I am paying it again?
Moral of the story? Sometimes it’s better to pay more in the first place.
Adrian is a self-proclaimed geek with a love for all things tech (except Apple products). He works in the SEO industry for a living and loves how it's constantly changing and evolving. He finds social media fascinating, but is also enthralled by all sorts of other things including Android, VW's, gaming and being a Dad.
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tell me about, sometimes EU really suck balls
Well, when you’re ordering goods from outside the EU, there is duty to pay on everything valued over £18 (although any duty less than £9 is waived).
If you decide to shop overseas and deny British companies your business, then HMRC does impose duty on certain goods in order to benefit the UK economy. It is a bit annoying, but otherwise we’d just order everything from China and no one would pay any taxes.
That’s the point, it was ordered from inside the EU!