Brexit Effects

[MiniDave]

Looks like the dominos are starting to fall....this was posted by Smiffy's Bits on FB this morning....

Quite a sad post in a way, today I had a Webinar with HMRC & my Accountants regarding us, the UK leaving the EU.
It's going to be way too much for us to implement in time and costs for us to continue overseas sales, so if any of you overseas people want something now is the time to get in touch, you have a month to get any orders in, this unfortunately includes all of Ireland atm.

I know these guys are a small business compared to some of the other Mini parts suppliers, I just hope Spares, Sport and a few others can still ship to us after the first of the year. With Victoria British being bought out by Moss there are just fewer and much more expensive places to get parts for our Minis, and I have a lot of motors to build in the spring.

[BruceK]

I would bet that a larger Mini supplier, such as MiniSpares, has a significant percent of their total sales as export sales (to Japan, US, Canada, Oz, NZ, South Africa, Europe, and everywhere else).

Therefore even though it may be messy at first to figure out the various details of exporting from the UK post-Brexit, I believe this will be temporary.  Not good in the short term if you need parts NOW, but I think any issues will be resolved quickly.

[Willie_B]

I would not think this would change anything for shipping to the US. We are outside the VAT system already.

[MiniDave]

Then why is Smiffy's Bits stopping? Maybe there's some big regulatory hoops yet to be jumped thru?
that don't make sense for a small business like theirs? maybe they derive such a large percentage of their business right there at home that the extra work of packing and shipping overseas just doesn't make economic sense? Dunno....

[gr8kornholio]

Well if they stop shipping we are all screwed cause everything from mania or 7 also has a minispares label.

[jedduh01]

Mini Spares posted to Instagram Today :

" Due to continuing uncertainty around Brexit deal,  The final day to place order for DHL delivery to the EU will be 12/18/20  Any orders after this date will be likely delivered in Jan 21 , with pending tarrifs depending on location.
 
Absolutely consider the Americas other hemisphere in the fold - might be a pinch on deliveries for a while.

[MiniDave]

I've made 5 orders to spares this month already for this very reason - it's not that there won't be trade, it's just that they won't know how to charge us, exchange rates, taxes, shipping all up in the air. I've been saying for a while now that this was going to be a problem for us getting Mini parts....

If they won't ship to the US too, I set it up with my brother in England that I'll buy the stuff and have it shipped to him, then he'll send it to me from his house as personal goods. We'll see if it works.....it will cost more in shipping, but it may be the only way to get stuff in a timely manner.

Now that Moss bought Victoria British and closed down the local warehouse, everything I need has to be shipped in and if I can't get it from England and have to use one of the "locals", prices will really be higher.

I've noticed Spares is out of a LOT of stuff too.....they literally do not have any pistons.

[94touring]

I just talked with a friend who lives in the UK.  It's Pete Cavallo for those of you who know him from his mini years. Now he lives over there and imports over a million in cars and all the part sales to go with it.  Figured he'd be the guy to ask.  Basically it's a nightmare right now till they figure out the tax code. No one knows what to tax.

[MPlayle]

I would think it should have little effect on shipments to the USA as that tax situation should not be changing?

[MiniDave]

I wrote Spares a note this morning asking that very question...we'll see how/if they respond......won't hear anything till Monday anyway.

Maybe we can get Dan to start hauling a couple hundred pounds of stuff with him each trip?   ;D

[94touring]

Our payload is about 200k lbs.  Pretty sure I could fit 50 minis in the belly.

[MiniDave]

So,  a couple hundred pounds of parts should be no problem then?   77.gif

I suppose if I buy stuff and ship it to my brother in England, I'll have to pay VAT too?

[94touring]

One of the guys I flew with just bought a Persian rug in turkey and brought it home on the plane. Had it appraised locally and it was close to 3k. He paid $450 for it after some haggling.

[MPlayle]

I suppose if I buy stuff and ship it to my brother in England, I'll have to pay VAT too?

Probably.

[BruceK]

I suppose if I buy stuff and ship it to my brother in England, I'll have to pay VAT too?

Probably.

I would say without any doubt you'll have to pay VAT for delivery internally within the UK.  Otherwise, people would just promise on their honor to send whatever they're buying out of the country to avoid paying VAT.   No way would that pass muster.  A tourist to the UK can seek to recover whatever VAT has been paid on items they've shipped out of the country (eg gifts purchased on holiday) but I'm pretty sure that does not apply to citizens

The UK government is currently in a pissing match with the EU negotiators who don't seem to understand that the UK is asserting its sovereign rights regarding fishing in UK waters. Meaning no EU fishing boats allowed there post Jan 1st. And that is affecting other trade negotiations at the moment.

[MiniDave]

I wrote MiniSpares about the Brexit effects on shipments to us, and I suggested that if things went tits up maybe I could send stuff to my brother in the UK, then he could send it on to me.

In the reply I got today he said what most of you have - that shipments to the US should not be affected by the treaty as it is outside the EU, however I got to thinking about that as everything I get is thru DHL,. and goes to Germany first (which is in the EU)

He said shipping it to my brother probably wouldn't help anyway.

He also said DHL's backlog is huge and getting worse by the day, and if there will be any issue it will be with them as going into the holiday season they're already crushed, and it's getting worse day by day. He said they consider themselves lucky if they can get DHL to come pick up a shipment that day.

So, bottom line it won't get any better before the first of the year, and it may not get better after that, but stuff should still get thru.

What he didn't address is stuff getting to them - from their suppliers.....

They've been out of so much stuff lately - every order I place there are at least 3 or 4 things that I need but can't get due to out of stock.

No one I've talked to is happy about Brexit, they might understand or think they do about the reasons why the gummint did it, but they're not happy with how they've handled it or the results - and everyone is braced for trying times ahead.

The part that gets me is that they can't send stuff to parts of Ireland!

[94touring]

The DHL thing is a result of cargo demand sky rocketing during this year's worldwide Coronavirus lockdown.  People are buying online more. They and other cargo companies are understaffed to handle demand.  Passenger airlines are in the tank while cargo airlines are hiring.  This trickles down to drivers.  Our local drivers are swamped, with many new drivers who don't know what they're doing.  This is just observation with our building's management that consistently has delivery shipment issues, especially on weekends when the new drivers work.  I suspect the lack of parts has something to do with manufacturing being halted because of Coronavirus lockdowns.  People aren't allowed to work and things aren't getting done.  Reduced staff, reduced hours, working remotely, and so on. 

Edit: to add further.  I eventually did get a phone call from bestbuy (delivery driver left and canceled my order) Turns out my email was sent to corporate and they were not happy either. Talked with the regional manager guy on the phone awhile and they're also having issues with shipments due to demand. They decided to go with a 3rd party to help alleviate that problem, but lack of experienced drivers are creating some issues.  I helped him get in touch with our management team so this 3rd party can learn our system.

[94touring]

I got to thinking about that as everything I get is thru DHL,. and goes to Germany first (which is in the EU)

I'm guessing Leipzig.  That's just a hub they feed through, and I doubt they'd be held to some other taxes on their cargo, and if they were I'd expect to see them find a new hub.  We used Ireland as our primary European hub but as the pandemic closed down certain countries that prevented us to overnight, we switched to Bulgaria.  Turns out it's cheaper and more efficient. 

[MiniDave]

 I mentioned that we don't know a lot about Brexit over here except what we read or see on the BBC, here's his reply...

There is a lot we don't understand about Brexit, so you are not alone, its basically a pissing competition and the French seem to have decided to settle some old grievances.

I also asked about how low their stock is getting (can't get high compression pistons for either 998's or 1275's right now, in any size) and he replied....

Its always worth emailing about parts as stuff moves so fast at the moment, often we in the north will have it on the shelf as the website doesn't show our stock

[94touring]

Look at Russel Engineering for high compression pistons.  He has a good selection for small bores.

https://russellengineering.com.au/

68mm high comp pistons in a 1098, worked head, 266S cam, hif44 carb.

[MiniDave]

Isn't he in Australia?

[94touring]

Yep. 

[94touring]

I believe Calvert carries them for Russell.

https://www.calverst.com/webshop/engine/

[94touring]

I just placed a huge order with minisport.  I usually expect them to take 2 months to ship things to begin with, so the clock starts now.

[MiniDave]

My order came from Sport in about 2 1/2 weeks from the time they told me it was shipped, but I requested DHL instead of FedEx, so that may have helped....Spares is taking about a week these days.