I have a 90 sitting at Hueneme right now. Been waiting on customs since it was delivered 03/21.
I’ll let you know what percentage I get hit with.
Whoops, I meant march 21st. 😀Stuck in customs two years, am I reading that right?
Hey Dipodomys, thanks for posting this. We've seen that too, and lots of it is just inconsistent.As a followup, a boatload of recent and not-so-recent Customs rulings concerning Land Rovers can be found at the link below. These are rulings where someone contested the 25% levy. As can be seen, even these rulings are not consistent in their rationale. This is consistent with the experiences conveyed on this board and elsewhere by others concerning rates they were levied.
Customs Land Rover Rulings
You shipped a 90, right? Sorry to hear that. We actually showed proof that the Defender 90 is shown as a light SUV in the UK, and in the US Land Rover themselves determine the Defender 90's as an SUV, not a truck. Our LR 2A even shows as a Sedan (equivalent to a Saloon here) and has fixed rear seats, literally bolted to the rear bed and cannot be lifted up and down.Well, it looks like I’m being hit with 25% too. My Customs Broker had me write a letter explaining that it’ll be personal use.
Customs responded and stated that usage doesn’t matter. They say it was built as a truck and it gets the truck rate of 25%.
There’s an extra $6800 I didn’t expect
Yep, it’s a 97 Defender 90. Luckily the seller is awesome and helped with the extra cost. I’m extremely irritated with this treatment at Hueneme and hope this isn’t the new normYou shipped a 90, right? Sorry to hear that. We actually showed proof that the Defender 90 is shown as a light SUV in the UK, and in the US Land Rover themselves determine the Defender 90's as an SUV, not a truck. Our LR 2A even shows as a Sedan (equivalent to a Saloon here) and has fixed rear seats, literally bolted to the rear bed and cannot be lifted up and down.
We'd seen that one customs officer had given the reason that 'the rear seats lift up and down' as an excuse, to which we say 'and there's a button in the back of your Honda that drops the rear seats down, does that make it a truck?'...
It seems Port Hueneme is the most infected of the ports, with others such as Newark being entirely 2.5% duty rates that we are aware of. Have never heard of a 25% sting there. Makes for a good legal case, but doesn't help in the short term.
At least we hope you can enjoy your Defender!
I’d be happy to contribute to the cause If you need me. Thanks for the infoJust an FYI; We've submitted a FOIA request, and we're also speaking with our local politicians / mayors to raise this as something that is likely to stifle small businesses, limit imports, resort to people shipping into other ports around the US and therefore loss of business to Cali ports etc.
A long shot, as we're small fish, but every little helps... don't ask, don't get...!
Will keep all posted
I have only looked at the D90's import rulings and found them fairly consistent.As a followup, a boatload of recent and not-so-recent Customs rulings concerning Land Rovers can be found at the link below. These are rulings where someone contested the 25% levy. As can be seen, even these rulings are not consistent in their rationale. This is consistent with the experiences conveyed on this board and elsewhere by others concerning rates they were levied.
Customs Land Rover Rulings
I just brought mine through Baltimore. 2.5% duty. They wanted photos of the back, saw the seats/seatbelts, and it helped that the V5C actually said "Station Wagon".So what do they base the value of the vehicle for duty purposes? The rulings just say "ad valorem".