Driving with a car load of boat stuff into EU

Quiddle

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Has anyone done this since The Great Day of Freedom? I drove France to UK in July with a packed car of paraphernalia after boat sale. Mostly tools, lines, paddleboard, bedding, engine spares, chandlery, LJs, VHF etc. and didn't have any problems. All the stuff has obviously been used. Now looking at going the other way and wonder if I might be hit for VAT or some such at Calais?
 

st599

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Technically, there's a value limit per person on stuff going in each direction - go over that and VAT and possibly import duties are due.
Depends on if the border guards are checking, the limit isn't very high, about 300 Euros.

You can do temporary import paperwork, which is what I do for work, but it's a pain and requires a downpayment (which you lose if you don't re-import the goods).
 

mil1194

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We took all of this out (from Bristol) in August without any issue.
 

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longjohnsilver

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Went through border control/customs in Santander a few months back, only interested in looking at our passports. Will be doing the same trip again next week, I’d be surprised if it were any different.
 

Sailfree

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We went through Santander in June 21. Car and Trailer. Got stopped at passport control - showed Portuguese residency - then at customs - showed documents for licence to occupy for new house in Portugal and documents for sale of house in UK and a list of car and trailer contents but no receipts nor values.

Happily all accepted but then directed to a area with a barrier. After a period light went green and barrier lifted.

Not sure whether it was a weighbridge or area foe X rays/heat source in case we were people smuggling UK to Spain!!

Not sure how we would have got on without supporting documentation.
 

jonrarit

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I drive Scotland to Sardinia back in may via france and the eurotunnel. The car was packed full of gear (approx £12k) of tools and accessories including a 15hp two stroke outboard ...(which was "re-badged " as a 9.9 four stroke) ... got off the euro tunnel and 3 mins later was on the motorway heading south. No checks whatsoever.

It was only 2 days after euro=uk lockdown had been lifted so not sure if that had an influence.

Perhaps we were just lucky but i did have a full inventory of everything I was carrying just in case
 

dslittle

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Has anyone done this since The Great Day of Freedom? I drove France to UK in July with a packed car of paraphernalia after boat sale. Mostly tools, lines, paddleboard, bedding, engine spares, chandlery, LJs, VHF etc. and didn't have any problems. All the stuff has obviously been used. Now looking at going the other way and wonder if I might be hit for VAT or some such at Calais?

We went back to France in August and took quite a bit of ‘stuff’ out with us. Some of it was relatively small and fitted nicely into the nooks and crannies in our car with LOTS of stuff on top (just in case…).

Going through was a breeze, almost the same as pre-B, with no checks at all on the contents of our car. That was obviously prior to October (after which things seem to be a bit stricter) so please don’t take this as gospel !!!
 

Sailfree

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We were closely examined at Santander. I had a large trailer covered with tarpaulin with furniture underneath.

I provided paperwork stating it was furniture being transferred from sold UK house to new house in Portugal.

I think without paperwork it would have been thoroughly examined.

If the boat stuff is new - good luck as VAT and possibly import duty should be payable.
 

Sailfree

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We went through Santander in June 21. Car and Trailer. Got stopped at passport control - showed Portuguese residency - then at customs - showed documents for licence to occupy for new house in Portugal and documents for sale of house in UK and a list of car and trailer contents but no receipts nor values.

Happily all accepted but then directed to a area with a barrier. After a period light went green and barrier lifted.

Not sure whether it was a weighbridge or area foe X rays/heat source in case we were people smuggling UK to Spain!!

Not sure how we would have got on without supporting documentation.
 

marsbar

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We landed in Santander in August with a trailer full of our own possessions. Had Portuguese residency certificate and a document from the Portuguese consulate in London stating we were moving our possessions to our house in Portugal. Officials in Spain laughed and said “ this is Spain not Portugal “ pay up €400 or leave your car, trailer and possessions here. It’s the luck of the draw.
 

Sailfree

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We landed in Santander in August with a trailer full of our own possessions. Had Portuguese residency certificate and a document from the Portuguese consulate in London stating we were moving our possessions to our house in Portugal. Officials in Spain laughed and said “ this is Spain not Portugal “ pay up €400 or leave your car, trailer and possessions here. It’s the luck of the draw.

Sorry to hear your situation.

Have you ever sought clarification on whether they had the right to charge what appears to be an arbitrary amount.
 

Poignard

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In July I took a carload of tools, boat's gear and materials from the UK to France. Also included was brand new Torqeedo 1103 electric o/b motor.

The o/b motor never got unpacked from the car and I decided to fetch it home and perhaps sell it.

I brought it, and a load of other things back in September.

Customs in Caen and Portsmouth showed no interest, and I don't remember seeing any signs about declaring things.
 

chrishscorp

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I think if you had stopped at the Spanish/Portugueese border and said we are exporting this lot out of Spain can we have the import duty refunded and handed them the paperwork you MAY have got a refund though whether they then had a chat with their colleagues in Portugal to then clobber you as you enter Portugal, this is of course asuming there is a manned border post between Spain/Portugal
 

marsbar

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Sorry to hear your situation.

Have you ever sought clarification on whether they had the right to charge what appears to be an arbitrary amount.
They had pulled maybe four or five vans , asked everyone to fill in a form declaring the value of your goods and charged a percentage on that. Poor guy behind us had two motorcycles he was bringing to Portugal and charged him a few thousand euro. Despite us having Portuguese resident certificates and the baggage certificates from the embassy in London. Apparently there is another form, D1 or something that you need . It guarantees that you will pay duty , if needed, at your destination EU country not at the first EU country you enter. We found this out afterwards, of course.
We informed the Portuguese authorities and they indicated that there may be a way for us to reclaim the money but it involved going back Santander etc etc etc , so we just sucked it up. Love Brexit.
 

Sailfree

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They had pulled maybe four or five vans , asked everyone to fill in a form declaring the value of your goods and charged a percentage on that. Poor guy behind us had two motorcycles he was bringing to Portugal and charged him a few thousand euro. Despite us having Portuguese resident certificates and the baggage certificates from the embassy in London. Apparently there is another form, D1 or something that you need . It guarantees that you will pay duty , if needed, at your destination EU country not at the first EU country you enter. We found this out afterwards, of course.
We informed the Portuguese authorities and they indicated that there may be a way for us to reclaim the money but it involved going back Santander etc etc etc , so we just sucked it up. Love Brexit.

Thanks for info.

We have no more big items of furniture to transfer but next March we will be doing a short visit UK with our Portuguese reg car and intend to take some soft furnishings bed sheets etc. Just pack it all in suitcases?

Cant find any info on the form D1 you mention.

When you go on websites you just get removal firms stressing how important paperwork is and they know how to do it (but no helpful advice).

As previous post "We went through Santander in June 21. Car and Trailer. Got stopped at passport control - showed Portuguese residency - then at customs - showed documents for licence to occupy for new house in Portugal and documents for sale of house in UK and a list of car and trailer contents but no receipts nor values." however happy to do it to the letter of the law.

After your experience wondering whether its better to return via Caen, France rather than Santander. Never been stopped on French/Spain Road Border nor Spain/Portugal border
 

marsbar

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Thanks for info.

We have no more big items of furniture to transfer but next March we will be doing a short visit UK with our Portuguese reg car and intend to take some soft furnishings bed sheets etc. Just pack it all in suitcases?

Cant find any info on the form D1 you mention.

When you go on websites you just get removal firms stressing how important paperwork is and they know how to do it (but no helpful advice).

As previous post "We went through Santander in June 21. Car and Trailer. Got stopped at passport control - showed Portuguese residency - then at customs - showed documents for licence to occupy for new house in Portugal and documents for sale of house in UK and a list of car and trailer contents but no receipts nor values." however happy to do it to the letter of the law.

After your experience wondering whether its better to return via Caen, France rather than Santander. Never been stopped on French/Spain Road Border nor Spain/Portugal border
Sorry, it’s a T1 shipping note , not D1. Maybe less chance of any hassle going via France.
 

Beneteau381

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Thanks for info.

We have no more big items of furniture to transfer but next March we will be doing a short visit UK with our Portuguese reg car and intend to take some soft furnishings bed sheets etc. Just pack it all in suitcases?

Cant find any info on the form D1 you mention.

When you go on websites you just get removal firms stressing how important paperwork is and they know how to do it (but no helpful advice).

As previous post "We went through Santander in June 21. Car and Trailer. Got stopped at passport control - showed Portuguese residency - then at customs - showed documents for licence to occupy for new house in Portugal and documents for sale of house in UK and a list of car and trailer contents but no receipts nor values." however happy to do it to the letter of the law.

After your experience wondering whether its better to return via Caen, France rather than Santander. Never been stopped on French/Spain Road Border nor Spain/Portugal border
Thanks to Graham 376 for this Rules for carrying alcohol, tobacco, cash in the EU and leaving and entering the EU
 
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