Car import compliance woes
I have imported a 1968 VW Beetle in good health :cool: which is under scrutiny at present and there seems to be some trouble ... :uhoh
The car has been in a dry garage for over 10 years before having it collected and fettled to successfully pass the UK MoT test immediately before the dry weather drive to Abels in Cambridgeshire (about 50 miles). The engineer who worked on her (Bessie) was an enthusiast and helpfully pointed out and corrected a few minor ailments before passing the MoT, but that is nowadays a fairly rigorous structural test, even if it does little to consider mechanical fitness for older cars. The car had been involved in a crash many years ago but was repaired by another specialist to a high standard - I had done a fair amount of maintenance on her before and I'm quite familiar with such engineering work.
She is sitting in the compliance testers' yard after having been given a once-over by an approved crash repair specialist who has stated that there are some serious problems and has offered an initial estimate of $2000 to correct them :eek: :wah. This is something of a shock, especially as the car is valued at not an awful lot more than that and, to the best of my knowledge, that's a heck of a lot of work to quote for! I have the name of an alternative approved specialist, but I would love to hear any advice from anyone who has any to offer ... I feel somewhere over a barrel, as this car is very dear to me!
Best regards in hopeful anticipation,
Rik Wells