1502 Update - On a Boat - Anxiety Continues

"Tripper" (tripe46) 12/07/2018 at 11:30 • Filed to: None

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If I said that I have been losing sleep over this whole thing, I’d be telling the truth.

The shipping company kept saying “we will put you in touch with our US agent next week. Yesterday they said that the agent would call in a few hours. That didn’t happen, so I sent them an email saying that I was concerned about filing the paperwork on time. However that was sent at 8pm Amsterdam time so I didn’t expect to hear back and I didn’t.

Early this morning I got an email with a Bill of Lading, and a request for payment from the shipping company, which can only be paid by wire (additional pain in the dick). I also read this before I got the next email with their US agent’s contact details so my feathers got all ruffled before I even got out of bed. Their agent is on the west coast, so I couldn’t even get in touch with them until a little while ago, and when I finally did the guy needed to call me back in 30 minutes or so as he was just seeing the email from the shipping company as we were on the phone.

He didn’t. So I called him back around 4 hours later and he had forgotten all about me! Said he would handle it and sent me an email. He did send me an email detailing the forms I needed to fill out and the ISF form that he needs from the exporter (shipping company in Amsterdam).

I replied with everything filled out and copied the shipping co in Amsterdam asking about the ISF form as it has to be filed 3 days before the vehicle is loaded on the ship.

No response from either party. So a day later I sent another email asking if they had everything they need, and if the importer an exporter had worked together before because no one was responding.

I got a snarky response saying that the exporter was a long time client of theirs and doing a great job. So obviously their is a lot of communication going on behind the scenes just like their was with the seller and shipping company. I’m happy about that but would it kill ya to let the guy who’s spending all of the money know what is going on!?

I realize I’m just a tiny part of what both of these companies do every day. They are professionals, and I don’t need to know what is going on every step of the way. However, I have said multiple times that I’m new to the process and very nervous about it. A simple “we’ve got what we need from the exporter and will get back to you as soon as we need something from you” would be awesome. Maybe they don’t deal with a lot of individuals doing this, but I can’t be the only one who wants to know that everything is cool after I’ve wired cash all over the globe. They’re asking for a lot of trust that would be a lot easier for me to give if I had just a little information.

Anyway, everything seems to be going fine with them now. I’ve submitted the EPA doc, The DOT HS-7, a power of attorney, and a few other things. They just need a better scan of the title as the seller just took a quick pic with his phone.

Side note: perhaps The Actual RootWyrm could shed some light , but it seems that there is a business opportunity here. I’m dealing with an importer, an exporter, and a customs agent... None of whom seem to be communicating well. It seems like a one stop shop could do this a lot more efficiently.

Which brings me to my next point of crippling anxiety...

The package with the title arrived stateside on 11/24. Since then it has been bouncing around nearby USPS locations, then held steady on “the package is in transit to the next facility” for the past 5-6 days. The tracking info looks like this:

11-25 ISC NY

11-29 NY Distribution Center

11-30 in transit to next facility

11-30 arrived Wilmington DE, and departed Wilmington DE

12-1 arrived Philadelphia

12-2 departed Philadelphia

12-3 in transit to next facility

12-3 arrived Philadelphia again

12-4 in transit to next facility

12-5 in transit to next facility

12-6 in transit to next facility

Since the 3rd, the text notifications are coming at the exact same minute each day, so I know it’s just an automated message and the package could be anywhere!

I could barely sleep last night, I thought I was going to have a panic attack. I asked my wife this morning if she would go to our local office and see if she could file a claim or inquiry as to the whereabouts of the package. I googled myself into delirium on this subject and the outcome was that your local USPS office is the best place to turn.

Being the level headed woman that she is, she checked the tracking info before she left the house around 8:30 this morning and it’s out for delivery!! Obviously, I have been checking every 5 minutes for the past week, I should have had her check days ago, haha. I’m not counting any chickens yet (except for the 3 that live in my backyard), but this is progress.

I’ve been wanting to post this update for a while, but I’m afraid to jinx myself by posting when things are bad/unknown/when I’m a nervous wreck.

On another positive note, one of my colleagues who was a US Navy helicopter pilot mentioned that I can track any vessel that isn’t military via the web. So here’s my 1502! At port being loaded in Amsterdam yesterday and where it sits now at it’s first stop in Bremerhaven, Germany. I have it up at work all day and watched most of the journey yesterday, haha.

I just keep looking at pics and watching the few videos to remind myself that it will all be worth it. The happiest of Fridays to you all.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 11:38

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meanwhile out in the pacific

*whistles innocently*

Tripper > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 12/07/2018 at 11:41

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It’s only crossing the North Sea, then the Atlantic. So your sub had better be a fast one!

Longtime Lurker > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 11:41

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Ah Bimmer Heaven, the port where all North America bound BMW's are shipped from.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 11:42

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dangit... foiled again!

Quadradeuce > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 11:48

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I deal with international shipping all the time.  Bad communication is par for the course.  We lost a container for well over a week recently.  No one was responding to our inquiries about its whereabouts.  Then it turns up in Chicago like it was supposed to, and delivered shortly after.  This is all totally “normal”.  It sucks, but I wouldn’t worry too much if you are dealing with reputable shippers.

Tripper > Quadradeuce 12/07/2018 at 12:00

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For now at least, I’m not worried. I do however think that this can be improved upon. Total outsiders POV, but I feel like this could be streamlined somehow like having one company that does the importing, exporting, and customs stuff.

Maybe it’s just the nature of the business but a lot of times that stems from “well this is how we’ve always done it” I’m big on fixing those sorts of situations.

Quadradeuce > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 12:25

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It’s a very outdated industry. And its a bad mix of entrenched players and government bureaucracies. Imagine having your shipment stuck in customers for 4 weeks with zero recourse.  That happens about every 18 months for us.

Tripper > Quadradeuce 12/07/2018 at 12:33

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Ugh Yea that sounds about like what I imagined. I’m super curious about the business now that I've had to go through all of this 

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 12:52

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Yeah, as Quadradeuce said, communications? Ha ha ha, oh god, that is the worst part.

And absolutely a one-stop shop could be a potential business opportunity, but, try making money at it. The numbers basically fall apart because while you, the customer, gets a less aggravating experience? It’s still every bit as aggravating on the other side of the coin.

Basically to fix it you’d have to go the full-service importer route, which puts you in direct competition with the cheaper guys who have scale, and you’d be catering largely to people who use your service once and then never again. (I mean really, how many people import multiple cars for personal use?) There’s no money in it.

That’s why the closest you get is the dealers who offer locating and importing services. (A lot of the JDM-focused shops are doing that.) They can afford to mark everything up enough to cover the costs.

Tripper > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 12/07/2018 at 13:29

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It really is the worst! I don’t understand how anything gets done! While exporter and importer are obviously communicating, I’m getting none of what is going on there. Meanwhile the importer sends these copied and pasted generic emails that are like “these are all the things required for any ocean shipment”. Half of the things don’t apply, half of the remainder only apply to the exporter, and the few things I did have to fill out were relatively simple. Too simple for a guy like me.

On top of that the importer is like “could you please fill out and send the following PoA ASAP?”. “Ya mean the one I typed out, signed and included in the same PDF as the rest of the paper work you required?” Anyway, I’m glad that they are talking to each other and everything is working out.

What you say about it being impossible to make money and a limited market for individual imports makes perfect sense and is really what I expected to hear from you if/when you chimed in. Honestly I could see doing this sort of thing on the side like Japanese classics, with popular European cars. This whole thing would be a lot easier the second time around especially if I was buying a car to sell instead of being emotionally invested.

I plan to write up “ a complete nervous idiot’s guide to buying and importing a car” post, when this is all over. Definitely a little more complex than Mr. DeMuro stated in his post from years ago. However, he bought from Japanese classics so I’m sure he had less to do.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 13:43

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How things get done is simple - they’re used to dealing with people who know all this stuff already, and handle everything either by paper, fax, or electronic filing systems that you can’t access. That’s why they’re getting things done between themselves but seem completely impossible to deal with as a one-off consumer.

And yes, it is MUCH more complex than DeMuro claimed. He basically did zero because Japanese Classics is one of the ones I mentioned serving as a locator. So you overpay significantly for the car, but, they dealt with all the importing. All you have to do is sign a few papers and they transit the title through themselves as a dealer.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Quadradeuce 12/07/2018 at 13:48

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I’m more amazed it’s only every 18 weeks. It’s all thanks to the rank incompetence and just straight up fucking idiocy of DHS. Everything involved with DHS needs to be burned to the fucking ground, along with the people. In fact, starting with the people.

Every fucking time shit gets held up for me, it’s “random inspection.” Because the stupid motherfuckers just tag it, ignoring that they’re backlogged WEEKS  on random inspections, and then? Not a fucking ONE has had the seal broken. Not ONE.

Tripper > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 12/07/2018 at 14:02

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Now more than ever I understand how few people are individuals buying cars from other countries for personal use. I’d imagine even fewer people are “regular guys” like me without gobs of cash who are taking a serious financial risk with a purchase like this.  

I can’t say for sure until I get the car home but I would use both companies again assuming everything goes well from here on out. They are both obviously doing what they need to do, and now I know that I just have to put a bunch of money out there and wait, haha.

Before I made the decision on this car I contacted a local 02 guru. He said that he had a friend that imported one but had no experience himself. When I told him I was going through with the purchase he said “I think you’re a stud for trusting the import process.” I had no idea what he meant by that, but I sure as shit do now.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 14:27

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Yep, that is exactly the case. There’s no reason other than letting themselves being intimidated by the process, largely. (There isn’t that much actual financial risk if the shipment’s properly insured.) But yeah, it can be very frustrating, especially if you’re detail oriented.

Generally speaking, if you did your homework, eh. It’s just so much waiting and chewing your nails off. Too many fools out there who just go “I LIKE IT, I WANT IT,” and then find out they have to actually do work to import it and run around saying “it’s impossible!!”

Tripper > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 12/07/2018 at 14:36

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“especially if you’re detail oriented”

Haha, that’s me! I’m logging every bit of this “adventure” down to screenshots of the carrier at each stop on it’s way to Baltimore.

Quadradeuce > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 12/07/2018 at 17:55

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What kills me is that out product is a composite that is transparent to x-ray. So a cheaper, quicker x-ray exam would tell them everything they need to know.

Plus you get to pay out the ass for the privilege!

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Quadradeuce 12/07/2018 at 18:31

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They made a whole fucking THING about how “OH WE HAVE NEW AUTOMATED SNIFFER X-RAY EQUIPMENT IT WILL MAKE THINGS SO MUCH BETTER!” And it’s only fucking made it WORSE. Millions and millions and millions of dollars wasted to do absolutely nothing.

Absolutely. Fucking. Nothing.

CBP and DHS are completely fucking worthless. If I wanted to import a complete FQ400 engine and transmission - which is illegal - I wouldn’t even be worried . Because their inspection regime is such a TOTAL FUCKING JOKE, they’d just go “meh whatever, looks like an engine.”

Their own fucking audits have found nothing but fail in every single thing they allegedly do. And the only way they could possibly set the bar any lower is if they dug beneath the Marinara  trench.

f86sabre > Tripper 12/07/2018 at 21:53

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This was me a year ago.  Deep breaths. It will work Out ok.  One thing that screwed me is I didn’t realize that I was suppose to register the car within 30 days of getting the paperwork.  They charged me a fee.  Have you reached out to your DMV to verify their process?

Tripper > f86sabre 12/07/2018 at 21:58

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Whad you import? The cooper? I have talked to the DVM and here in PA they won’t register it or give me a tag until it’s here. They require the entry summary from customs, the HS7, the EPA form, proof of insurance, and the title. Even after that they wont issue a temp tag so I have to wait until the state processes everything and ships a tag. So I’ve got to trailer it home, and stare at it in my driveway every night for a few weeks while I wait for a tag.

f86sabre > Tripper 12/08/2018 at 05:20

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Yeah, ‘ 90 Mini Mayfair. Interesting that they want the car here before they process. GA seemed to assume ownership started when I had the paperwork. It might have just been the lady I was working with as well. These things don’t happen every day for them.

It’s a great feeling when it’s all done though. Like having a superpower.

Are you going to go with Hagerty for insurance?  They’ve been pretty good to work with. 

Tripper > f86sabre 12/09/2018 at 00:07

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I’ve talked to the local tag place twice, but now that I’ve got the title I’m going to stop in to make sure I’ve got everything I need, and to see if there’s anything I can do / anyone I can grease to accelerate the process.

I’m feeling a little better now that it’s on the boat, importers are saying everything is good and I’m holding a title, but I will be glad when it’s over. It’s a big deal at work, haha everyone asks about it.

I’m sticking with my current provider (state farm) for insurance. Rates are good and I’m insuring it for more than I bought it for. I’m also not doing classic/antique tags because I don’t want to be limited as to how much or when I can drive it