Walkabout Wednesday: A Half-Price Porsche?
Could a half-price Porsche deliver full supercar thrills?
The Story of a Porsche to the Pyramids
It’s a first for us.
A call comes in from a client of ours, telling of his colleague, Dr Basta who has a dream of owning a Porsche 911. Not just any 911, but a specific one, he wants a 992, nearly new, in red, a GTS, and a convertible.
Beth answers the phone and passes it to Anthony. Finding such a car, at short notice, is what we do. There is a complication though.
Now whilst we are well versed in finding the car of a customer’s dreams, the ‘complication’ is that this client wants the car in Cairo, Egypt. Can we help? Of course we can. We have experience in exporting and importing, Japan, Australia, NZ, Middle East, Hong Kong, USA, even Brunei, and of course Europe, but Egypt is a new one and it seems a long way from Saltash, and checking with Google… it’s over 3600 miles.
This is certainly pushing the boundaries and unusual territory for our team, but if we never pushed, we would not be doing what we do now.
The first step is always the same, finding the right Porsche. 30 years’ experience and contacts are beneficial in getting a result effectively. Once a car is identified, Louise (pictured below) will typically research it, study photos & history, check data sheets, go onto our Porsche Partner system, check the specification, and review provenance and pass back that info to Anthony who will decide if suitable to purchase, meanwhile, Louise will share her photos and information with our customer in order he knows, in detail what to expect.
Step two involves extra special care with paperwork and coordinating all aspects. This is Beth’s (pictured below – top) role; she will create a file for the paperwork and gather things neatly together, whilst working alongside is Emma (pictured below – bottom), who has been with us a while and learned a lot about exporting from Adrian. It’s never straightforward, but knowing ‘how’ to ask the right question is helpful in getting the right answers
The money, the billing, invoicing, payments, currency, and tax is handled by Megan (pictured below), and the associated paperwork being all squared away. It’s like watching a duck swim around, serene on top with all the activity out of sight. There are a lot of moving parts to an arrangement like this, along with an immense amount of trust endowed upon us by our customer.
It could go all wrong, but we have 30+ years of import & exporting Porsche to draw from, and therefore we usually know the right people to handle things. Delays can happen in the docks, paperwork can go missing, or be refused, and that’s before it leaves the country. Then shipping, loading, protecting, and hoping they arrive & leave on schedule. Is the car going to be cross shipped? That too can be another element to deal with.
The whole process is reversed upon arrival, but now in a foreign language. Will all this work? Will the Porsche get there, on time, with the right paperwork, get cleared quickly, and be received by the customer?
While insurance can cover loss or damage, delays in shipping, clearing, transport, customs or, paperwork snarl-ups cannot. So we endeavour to get it as tight as possible, experience helps.
The easy part is the Porsche, when it is unpacked, we know it will work. We know it will please. Even though temperatures in Egypt can exceed 40 degrees, a Porsche is designed to handle the heat of the desert, or the cold of the Arctic. They are well engineered Germanic machines….
Once unloaded, unpacked, cleared of customs, our client can look forward to driving his Carmen Red 992 GTS, with the black wheels and roof making this a standout Porsche wherever it is seen. Top down or top up, it is special, it’s going to feel great and has enough performance to satisfy in ways that Porsche excel.
Imagine it, one day in Cornwall, another in Cairo.
We have, for decades imported and exported cars, usually for sale, but also, we have received restoration projects from other Countries, hard to fix issues get sent to us, or simply customers that trust us prefer to ship. When they do, the shipping cost is usually not so significant and for many repairs or restorations, we can zero rate for VAT. That combined with exchange rates means we continually receive and repatriate Porsche.
Behind it all is a largely hidden team who can put things like this together, though easier jobs are welcomed.
If you would like us to find, sell, service, restore any Porsche, from anywhere, just ask.
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