we have a 1970 Mercedes SL 280 we wish to bring from USA to Italy. any obstacles?
The main obstacle is likely to be money.
You’ll need to contact the customs officials in both countries for solid information on this. I wouldn’t take any one else’s word.
Contact the Italian consulate or embassy and ask about importing a car into Italy…I expect the red tape and cost to be prohibitive…Also, they sell some some pretty nice cars in Italy.
Did you plan on selling the Benz in Italy?? Those dreams seldom work out as imagined…
time and money.
Another board I frequent had a poster that shipped from the US to Germany. It took 8 weeks for him to finally get it, and plenty of headaches as well. Though he is part of the military, he had to wait for them to get a full shipping container before they’d ship the vehicle
Unless things have changed substantially since I was in service, eight weeks is pretty good. We were always told 90-120 days minimum from date of turn-in, and those estimates were fairly accurate. This serviceman did not have to deal with the host nation’s customs system, either, in his shipment.
This person will have to meet all import requirements as defined by Italian customs, whatever those are.
I repatriated an Audi to Germany. It cost about 6000. Actually it was 4100 US including insurance to get it to Bremerhaven, and 1200 E to have it delivered to Munich. It took 4 weeks. We had a 20’ container. We also FILLED the container with all my sons stuff. The price included THEM blocking and chocking the car inside the container, and they put up an interior wall to keep the boxes from shifting onto the car.
The ONLY way this was feasible is Germany has a customs law which allows ‘household goods’ to be imported for your own use. But you cannot resell them for 2 years. Otherwise you must pay the import and VAT. And your auto is considered your personal goods.
However Italy may not be the same. One would think that the EU would have similar laws. That would be up to you to find out. Caveat Emptor!
By the way, they wanted an 1/8th or less in the tank for shipping.
You don’t mention it, what is the reason? You need to confirm the aability to drive there for an extended period of time with US plates. Once you leave the US your insurance will be void. And you will also have to conform to EU auto standards. It cost my son about 2000E to have his “made in Germany” Audi changed to their specifications.
Don’t even THINK about it. Unless you are military or diplomatic service and exempt from the red tape, it will cost many times more than the car is worth.
The Italian bureaucracy could tie this up for a very long time.
My son wanted to get married in Venice, Italy. I advised against that too ,and he ended up getting married in exotic Belize, which has less tedious rules for geting hitched.
Very few Italian mechanics can work on a 1970 Mercedes sports car.