How Much Would I Have To Pay Customs To Import A Car Stereo From London
Posted in Car Electronics | Asked on Jan 19, 2012
I’ve found a certain Pioneer car stereo model with a feature I want, that is only available in the UK. If I were to buy it and pay shipping ($165 TOTAL) to the US, would I have to pay additional money to customs? If so, how much might it be? Is it a percentage of the total value?
Are there any better options to get certain electronics models that aren’t offered in the US? I just want 1 unit, not trying to resell or start a business. Thanks.
FYI, I am looking for a feature called RDS (radio data systems) that is commonly found on units in the UK, but very rare in the US. It does come on some factory stereos…I know Toyota, Ford, and GM offer it. It displays the song title/artist on most FM stations, along with the name of the participating station. I’ve got a friend that has it on his Toyota Sequoia, I want it…but its near impossible to find in the US (aftermarket). Pioneer DEH-2100UB is the unit I want, but it isn’t for sale here.
There are 4 Answers for "How Much Would I Have To Pay Customs To Import A Car Stereo From London"
I don’t know if customs would cost more than a few bucks on something that cheap, but what feature are you looking for? For $165, the stereo is most likely not a PRS or anything, and I’m almost positive that you can find anything in America, that is offered in the UK.
** The reason I’m asking, is because most of the time you get something from the UK through Ebay or other sites, it doesn’t end up being what you expected it to be.
*****All 2009 stereos offer RDS, it’s been a standard on most car stereos for some years now.
*******The Pioneer 2100 is available in the US, go to BestBuy, or any mom and pop shop, it just doesn’t have the USB. If you wanted the one with USB, you would have to step up to the 3100UB model, which is still cheaper than the $165+Customs that you’d be paying.
~~The biggest reason why it isn’t pushed in the US, is because there is no RDS standards like there are in Europe. So it is up to each DJ to decide if and how he enters the information into the signal, so it extremely unreliable, and very few stations use it.
~If you like the idea of RDS, you might want to look into an HD radio capable stereo. The JVC HDR50 has HD Radio built in, a USB up front for Ipod/Flash Media, and it’s actually one of the better looking decks JVC has put out in a few years. HD radio uses your same radio frequency, but the HD stands for High Density, meaning that each frequency now houses several sub channels, so if you don’t like what’s playing on one, you can switch to another channel from the same station. What’s more, is there are actual RDS standards for HD radio, and if you have your ipod hooked up to your stereo while you listen to the radio, you can tag songs you like on the radio, and your ipod will alert you of them next time you’re on iTunes.
Another problem you may run into is,being the radio is from the UK the radio tuning frequency may not be compatible here in the USA.
Not a 100% sure on that but might want to look into it.
That actually surprised me, that it’s not available stateside aftermarket, but now that you mention it, I just checked a few models, and, I just learned something new today! I’ve seen so many cars come with it from the factory, but I hardly ever use the AM/FM on my aftermarket system, so I never noticed that….
anywho…
Passing customs will be included in the price charged for shipping. If they quoted you $165 shipped, that includes whatever charge customs wants.
And, according to it’s manual, it does tune the same frequencies we use here in the states (87.5 to 108Mhz), so, no worries there.
Just buy US the import would put it at just over what it would b 2 buy it here…u know the US aint playin that import shi+!!