Customs Duty on Parts

[MiniDave]

A local Mini owner ordered a disc brake kit and some other bits from Mini Spares, total came to $2200 plus shipping. DHL just informed him that he owes $525 customs duty on his shipment! 

I don't know yet if they sent paper work on what all it was for or if he hit a $$ threshold or if something went into effect June 1st or what, but I have never been charged any thing like that for customs duty, and I've had plenty of shipments that were that much or more in $$$ value.

I just ordered about $800 from Spares, it will be delivered today and I wasn't hit with any duty. In the past the most it's been was I think about 2%.....

His parts are scheduled to be delivered next Wed so when he gets them I'll see if they sent any paperwork on that $525, cause that's crazy!

Weird times we're living in right now.....

[ve9aa]

Sounds normal (horribly normal) if he was a Canadian, but I'm assuming he's not.

[Dan Moffet]

It could be the new US 25% tariff on auto parts coming from the UK. 25% of $2200 is $550. Maybe the actual cost of the parts ordered is slightly less than that, say $2100, and something in the total is duty free.

[MiniDave]

Dan that's exactly what it was.....tariffs. He called and spent an hour on the phone with DHL getting info. I thought auto parts were exempt, especially from England, but that seems to change every day.

He's local to me Mike, Kansas City area.

A few weeks ago DHL said they wouldn't deliver any orders over $800, then they rescinded that a few weeks later and said they would. I wonder if the $800 exemption is still in effect, cause I didn't pay any tariffs on my parts, but my order was under $800.

Just found this.....no dollar amounts exempted according to this:

The UK faces tariffs on parts imported to the US. A 10% baseline tariff applies to most goods from the UK, but a 25% tariff is imposed on automobile parts, alongside similar tariffs on steel, aluminum, and derivative goods. While some products like pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, copper, and lumber are exempt from the additional tariffs, other key sectors like car manufacturing and steel are affected. A recent agreement with the US has offered some relief for these industries, but a 10% duty remains on most goods.

[Dan Moffet]

Hold onto your beer... tariffs on steel and aluminum are now 50%. This will affect the cost of canned goods.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/business/economy/trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum.html

[MPlayle]

I'll chime in again if my AccuSpark gets hit by an extra customs fee from USPS.  It was $85 shipped from the UK and is currently going through USPS Customs in Chicago according to tracking.

[MiniDave]

My parts were supposed to come DHL yesterday and didn't - not that anything in the shipment was a desperate need at this point of my build. Their tracking used to be better too - yesterday it said out for delivery, today it only says it left England.

I wonder if I'm going to get hit for tariffs too, and that's why it didn't show? We'll see.....

I don't understand what's going on with the tariffs.....I thought I read that the court struck down his emergency powers so enacting the tariffs weren't legal?

[94touring]

The trade court reinstated them.  The appeals courts had till yesterday I believe to respond.

I think 50% goes into effect July 1st to the EU.  Unless they decide to lower their tarrifs on us.  10% was the goal I believe.

[MiniDave]

Here's his order.....brakes, wheels tires, lots of gaskets and seals and so on.....

[cstudep]

That is a load of stuff, too late now but I have a set of 5 mini lites I probably would have sold him LOL

[MiniDave]

I had no idea he was going to do all this, all we talked about were his oil leaks and the clutch slave that I think has failed!

[94touring]

He should have bought these new 008s I have that I'll probably never use.

[MiniDave]

Since they're not A008's and they don't look like the 539's I have on my car, he must have bought the Nankangs?

If I find anyone looking for Minilites or A008's I'll let you guys know.

Did you all notice the 914 lurking in the background?

[DarkHelmet]

I ordered a 48" braided oil line hose for the oil gauge from MiniSportUSA. I got phone calls from FedEx that its in customs and they need paperwork for it to clear. I checked and its a legit phone call. They needed country of origin of the part, material composition including percent of metals, smelt papers for that metal and origin of that metal, etc.

I eventually told MS to send the papers, heres my tracking number, fix this.

They couldnt. it expired and went back to england and i got a refund.

This is going to be horrible when i start my next project....whenever that is...

[MPlayle]

I think the FedEx customs people are offshore outsourced folks following a script and have absolutely no clue.

I had a similar experience with them last summer.  I had to provide a form HS-7 and the complete details on the manufacturer of a pair of Falken tires.  The handler's name was Raghunathan Lakshmanan and he spoke with a thick accent.

The two tires were the only item in the shipment.  Form HS-7 is for vehicles or equipment (tractors, etc.) not parts, but the afore mentioned person had not clue about that.  To him, it was car related and so had to have a HS-7 form.

[94touring]

Minisport is pretty horrible to be honest when it comes to the shipping process.  I've had my parts held hostage a couple times and was penalized with fees. I avoid them now because of it.  Minispares is still the best by far. 

[MiniDave]

I agree, I've not had good luck over the years with Sport compared to Spares, but sometimes they have something the other guys don't so I'm sorta forced to go there. I've not had issues like this tho, with customs wanting to know the base metal or the tire's composition!

Helmet, if you still need that hose, I have one.....it was given to me, so I'm happy to pass it along.

[MiniDave]

This was on another mini site:

This is a post from Ferrari chat.

"My company sends hundreds of packages to the US every week and we now have several weeks of data to reference. I has been my experience that De Minimis is still in effect and that car parts of $800 or less enter the US Duty free. Duties seem to only be charged when the package contains items that are made in China as declared in their HS Customs declaration.

Where it gets sloppy is that if only one item out of a whole list of them is made in China then the whole shipment gets charged duties regardless of the origin of the other items. This happened to me last week when I sent a package to the US where all the goods were made in Canada with the exception of a freebie flashlight I added in the package as a nicety to the customer. The flashlight had a declared commercial value of $5 and appeared in the customs paperwork as made in China. The entire package got charged duties on the $600 of other items in the box. Technically this is incorrect but fighting it after the fact was not worth it so we learned our lesson and are ensuring our paperwork does not do this again. This whole tariff thing has been a huge mess and it is a daily learning cycle for us."

My order was just under $800, so I wonder if that's part of why I escaped - as apparently this tariff was in effect starting May 1st.

[94touring]

Don't order wheel bearings from them or in any kit.  You'll be filling out worksheets with 0 clue what to select. Much like the thing about metal composition and smelt papers.  Another time they thought I was a company importing parts. Maybe because the order was large?  They wanted to have the boss man of the company in charge of importing give his ID and other information that simply didn't exist. 

[94touring]

This was on another mini site:

This is a post from Ferrari chat.

"My company sends hundreds of packages to the US every week and we now have several weeks of data to reference. I has been my experience that De Minimis is still in effect and that car parts of $800 or less enter the US Duty free. Duties seem to only be charged when the package contains items that are made in China as declared in their HS Customs declaration.

Where it gets sloppy is that if only one item out of a whole list of them is made in China then the whole shipment gets charged duties regardless of the origin of the other items. This happened to me last week when I sent a package to the US where all the goods were made in Canada with the exception of a freebie flashlight I added in the package as a nicety to the customer. The flashlight had a declared commercial value of $5 and appeared in the customs paperwork as made in China. The entire package got charged duties on the $600 of other items in the box. Technically this is incorrect but fighting it after the fact was not worth it so we learned our lesson and are ensuring our paperwork does not do this again. This whole tariff thing has been a huge mess and it is a daily learning cycle for us."

My order was just under $800, so I wonder if that's part of why I escaped - as apparently this tariff was in effect starting May 1st.

Good to know. I don't have anything to order for awhile at least.  It will buy time till all the tarrifs get figured out.  Thought I caught a news blurb where China agreed to something, but didn't look at the details yet.

Also I'll break up orders into chunks when I can to keep it under $800.

[MiniDave]

Yeah, the only issue with that is the potentially extra shipping cost. I wonder how they arrived at the $800 figure, why not $1000?