[Rosso Corsa]

Originally Posted by absnation

That's indeed a very good buy. I have also ordered a 1:24 ratio scale on ebay.us and expecting it by end Nov. Cross Fingers.

Shipped to India? Well, never do that. Customs are known for creating unnecessary hassles. Get it shipped to someone you know in US or wait for the model to be launched here.

[McLaren Roxx]

Originally Posted by Rosso Corsa

Shipped to India? Well, never do that. Customs are known for creating unnecessary hassles. Get it shipped to someone you know in US or wait for the model to be launched here.

Well, not really. I am a regular importer myself. My first shipment came through without a hitch. The 2nd & 3rd were detained at customs and I had to go to the Foreign Post Office at Fort. Reason being they wanted to check the purpose of import (private collection/reselling etc - coz i think the taxes are different), have a look at the invoice and tax accordingly. 4th one on, they simply calculated the tax based on the enclosed invoice & i had to pay it off to the postman when he delivered it at my door step.
They will only detain it if they do not find an invoice attached to/in the shipment and need to verify the cost of the product.

If you still feel that dealing with customs is not your cup of tea, simply opt for UPS or FedEx. This guarantees a home delivery as they take care of clearing your package from customs themselves (you only pay off the tax amt during delivery). Difference between private & govt. couriers is not much, atleast not much when shipping from US/UK + its much less of a headache. UPS takes 5-7 days for a US to India delivery. USPS will take nearly 3 weeks!

Having someone carry it when they come from US is not possible at all times + premium models do not launch in the country. They are only available through a few re-sellers who import these themselves. Often US$ price + UPS shipping cost is less than the Rs. price (margin of nearly 1000-2000 rupees for a 10k model).
So getting it shipped often makes sense.

Cheers & happy importing

[samstrikes]

A small collection of 1:18 - 40 awesome so far

Next in line:
1. Pagani Huayra 1:18
2. Zonda R Carbon 1:18
3. Ferrari F12 1:18
4. Gumpert 1:18

[Rosso Corsa]

Originally Posted by McLaren Roxx

Having someone carry it when they come from US is not possible at all times + premium models do not launch in the country. They are only available through a few re-sellers who import these themselves. Often US$ price + UPS shipping cost is less than the Rs. price (margin of nearly 1000-2000 rupees for a 10k model).
So getting it shipped often makes sense.

Cheers & happy importing

I was always told by everyone that the customs are thieves, Indian post has a careless attitude, parcels get "disappeared" etc. Someone I know ordered a Lancia Stratos from Canada in 2009, and it's yet to arrive here. All that had refrained me from ordering anything, except for a Novitec Rosso transkit, which I ordered from Hong Kong.

You're the 1st person I know who has successfully got models shipped here, without any hassles. Can you please share with us how much percent tax/duties you need to pay? The procedure to get a model cleared once it arrives here?

I have been getting models from US all this while, if the procedure to get them shipped here is easy, I'll atleast save on the $100 I pay for an extra 25kg bag!

PS : there was no invoice attached with the transkit I ordered, it reached me safe and sound although I had paid roughly $70 for that. (Anything above Rs 2.5k attracts duty, right?)

Originally Posted by samstrikes

A small collection of 1:18 - 40 awesome so far

Next in line:
1. Pagani Huayra 1:18
2. Zonda R Carbon 1:18
3. Ferrari F12 1:18
4. Gumpert 1:18

All that is gonna cost you a bomb, more than 50k for sure!

[absnation]

Originally Posted by Rosso Corsa

Shipped to India? Well, never do that. Customs are known for creating unnecessary hassles. Get it shipped to someone you know in US or wait for the model to be launched here.

Yes sir, it has been already shipped to one of my relative in US, he will be getting it here within week's time from now.

[McLaren Roxx]

Originally Posted by samstrikes

A small collection of 1:18 - 40 awesome so far

Next in line:
1. Pagani Huayra 1:18
2. Zonda R Carbon 1:18
3. Ferrari F12 1:18
4. Gumpert 1:18

Are the Huarya & Gumpert out yet? Which manufacturer? Maisto/Bburago would make a mess of it!

Originally Posted by Rosso Corsa

I was always told by everyone that the customs are thieves, Indian post has a careless attitude, parcels get "disappeared" etc. Someone I know ordered a Lancia Stratos from Canada in 2009, and it's yet to arrive here. All that had refrained me from ordering anything, except for a Novitec Rosso transkit, which I ordered from Hong Kong.

You're the 1st person I know who has successfully got models shipped here, without any hassles. Can you please share with us how much percent tax/duties you need to pay? The procedure to get a model cleared once it arrives here?

I have been getting models from US all this while, if the procedure to get them shipped here is easy, I'll atleast save on the $100 I pay for an extra 25kg bag!

PS : there was no invoice attached with the transkit I ordered, it reached me safe and sound although I had paid roughly $70 for that. (Anything above Rs 2.5k attracts duty, right?)

**touchwood** to the safe arrivals of my packages
I've also heard stories of stuff like perfumes, mobiles etc disappearing from within packages, especially since customs open your package to verify whats inside (i know, cant do anything about it). Having said that, once your package reaches customs, anyone of the following is possible:

1. They have it delivered to the address. No extra charges (yes, that happened for my 1st package)

2. They have it delivered to the address + the postman collects the tax from you during delivery

---if you are lucky, the above will happen, if not get ready for #3---

3. They detain it & send an intimation letter asking you to come to their office with a copy of the invoice for clearing it. You'll need to go there with the invoice and a letter of undertaking addressed to the Commissioner of Customs stating that the parcel contains xx number of scale model cars that you have imported from xx country for xx amount & that those models are for your personal collection/hobby and not for resale(the words in bold are important). You go there, preferably by 11.00am, go to the 2nd floor & there's a lady that sits in the room to your left. She'll make an entry into her register & ask you to meet another person in the next room. They will look at the invoice, your letter, take out a dusty book & check for taxes. Make some entries in their register, scribble something on your letter & then ask you to wait. The peon takes your letter inside the commissioner's cabin to get it signed (this step may or may not happen, depends purely on the person's decision). Once you get the sign, you have 2 options;

3a. Leave & let the postman bring your parcel to the address & pay the tax to him them. All this takes about 2 hours.

3b. Stay there, pay off the taxes & get your parcel cleared yourself. I must advise, 3b is a very very tedious option. If you have the rest of the day free & cant wait for another week, go with this. You will have to take your letter back to the person in the 2nd room, he'll let you know the amount you need to pay. Go to the ground floor, make the payment, get a receipt & take it back to that person. He makes more entries & then asks you to go back to the ground floor to meet another person who will make more entries in another book. This person will assign a postman, who will then take you to the holding room (i think its on the 1st floor -- you'll be too tired to remember who is on what floor). Here they will hunt for your package. Looking at your package does bring a big smile on your face. They will open up the parcel to verify the contents (& ask a few inquisitive questions like, "its a big toy car", "kitne ki hai", "bachche ke liye hai" & then be surprised when you tell them the $) & then seal it up again. Warning: Ensure that once they rip open the carton seal, when they try removing the car out of its box, you tell them nicely that you'll help them do it. These guys are really sloppy sometimes. Once done, theyll make a note on a slip of paper & you then have to take it back to the person on the ground floor. Done! Go back to the holding room & simply collect your package. Oh & i forgot, the person on the ground floor & the postmen, all keep looking at you expecting you to grease their palms . Ive done it a couple of times, 50 for the person sitting down & 50 for the postman, although they all will crib about it -- "sahab, sirf pachas rupiye?" etc etc. By the time you leave the office, itll be 4 & although youll be totally drained, youll be happy to have your babies with you!

I am not sure if they do not tax for items less than a particular amount. I believe everything that is imported is taxed. The tax amount is around 15% of the invoice amount for scale model cars

Since you pay $100 for a 25kg bag (which could probably hold ~8 to 9 models), i believe that is a much cheaper route. How do you get them, does someone get it for you?
A 1:18 model weighs around 3kgs & costs about $40 to import. $20 per additional item (USPS rates). Lemme know the next time you are planning to import. Maybe we could go dutch on the shipping.

[Rosso Corsa]

Originally Posted by McLaren Roxx

Are the Huarya & Gumpert out yet? Which manufacturer? Maisto/Bburago would make a mess of it!


Since you pay $100 for a 25kg bag (which could probably hold ~8 to 9 models), i believe that is a much cheaper route. How do you get them, does someone get it for you?
A 1:18 model weighs around 3kgs & costs about $40 to import. $20 per additional item (USPS rates). Lemme know the next time you are planning to import. Maybe we could go dutch on the shipping.

Gosh! That's too tedious if you get unlucky. I guess I'm better off asking someone to get them for me.

I put the models inside a huge box with a lock, (costs around $30) then ask someone to bring it here. I haven't paid duty so far, since the max I got in 1 go was 12 cars n the person explained they were for collection and not for resale.
Each box holds approx 6-7 cars (with boxes), and the remaining space is filled with Styrofoam nuggets enclosed in zip lock bags. If a model is without a box, then it's bubble wrapped and a nugget attached at each mirror for protection.

Haven't imported anything so far, planning to do so. Will shoot you a PM once I'm done with my exams, we can work out a group buy from HK.

At present, the cars you mentioned are available as follows -

Gumpert Apollo - Peako (resin) $400~
Huayra - BBR (resin) $450~
AutoArt has planned a model for 2013, tentative price is rumoured to be $340. They claim its their "most sophisticated model till date"
Zonda R - AutoArt $200~, available in India at 13k~
F12 Berlinetta - BBR (resin) $450~
Hotwheels Elite will be releasing it next year. Expect $120+, going by the recent prices for 458GT2 and the 458 Spyder.

[McLaren Roxx]

Originally Posted by Rosso Corsa

Gosh! That's too tedious if you get unlucky. I guess I'm better off asking someone to get them for me.

I put the models inside a huge box with a lock, (costs around $30) then ask someone to bring it here. I haven't paid duty so far, since the max I got in 1 go was 12 cars n the person explained they were for collection and not for resale.
Each box holds approx 6-7 cars (with boxes), and the remaining space is filled with Styrofoam nuggets enclosed in zip lock bags. If a model is without a box, then it's bubble wrapped and a nugget attached at each mirror for protection.

Haven't imported anything so far, planning to do so. Will shoot you a PM once I'm done with my exams, we can work out a group buy from HK.

At present, the cars you mentioned are available as follows -

Gumpert Apollo - Peako (resin) $400~
Huayra - BBR (resin) $450~
AutoArt has planned a model for 2013, tentative price is rumoured to be $340. They claim its their "most sophisticated model till date"
Zonda R - AutoArt $200~, available in India at 13k~
F12 Berlinetta - BBR (resin) $450~
Hotwheels Elite will be releasing it next year. Expect $120+, going by the recent prices for 458GT2 and the 458 Spyder.

You have a really nice setup going there for import. I think its by far the cheapest. Do PM me & will work something out.

$400+ is wayyy too much $ man, ill preferably wait for AA/MC/Kyosho/HWE or the likes to launch them. I'm eagerly waiting for the Veyron SS & McLaren MP4-12C to be launched in 2013 by AA. They will be a suitable addition to my supercar collection lineup Hope the Apollo launches soon too.

[Rosso Corsa]

Originally Posted by McLaren Roxx

You have a really nice setup going there for import. I think its by far the cheapest. Do PM me & will work something out.

$400+ is wayyy too much $ man, ill preferably wait for AA/MC/Kyosho/HWE or the likes to launch them. I'm eagerly waiting for the Veyron SS & McLaren MP4-12C to be launched in 2013 by AA. They will be a suitable addition to my supercar collection lineup Hope the Apollo launches soon too.

HWE won't make anything else than Ferraris. They have the exclusive license for that in the moderate price range ($100~, also the reason why Kyosho is forced to sell at $200) and this monopoly has been giving them heavy profits, so its highly unlikely that HWE will opt to sell non-Ferraris. The Gumpert Apollo isn't as popular as other elite hypercars like Pagani, Koenigsegg and Bugatti, so the chances of a diecast company making those models is pretty less, at least at the moment.

Minichamps is likely to release the MP4-12C in 2013, but going by the pre-production sample photos, it just doesn't seem worth to spend $200 for that. 150 more and you get a beautiful FrontiArt resin model - realistic paint finish and pretty decently priced as compared to other resin manufacturers. The only thing we miss out in this model is the doors, I bet everyone would want a photo of their model with both doors open ! AutoArt hasn't released any Decomaster for the Mclaren, so that's still 2-3 years away.

AutoArt is making the Veyron SuperSport, but won't come out before 2014. Look at the Sang Noir - preproduction sample pics released in 2010, the model is still not available.

Talking of the Huayra, there IS a cheaper version available - $30 for a Mondo Motors model. Detailing is better than Maisto, although it seemed a bit plasticky to me.

PS : You're still a newbie, cant PM you !

[McLaren Roxx]

Originally Posted by Rosso Corsa

HWE won't make anything else than Ferraris. They have the exclusive license for that in the moderate price range ($100~, also the reason why Kyosho is forced to sell at $200) and this monopoly has been giving them heavy profits, so its highly unlikely that HWE will opt to sell non-Ferraris. The Gumpert Apollo isn't as popular as other elite hypercars like Pagani, Koenigsegg and Bugatti, so the chances of a diecast company making those models is pretty less, at least at the moment.

Minichamps is likely to release the MP4-12C in 2013, but going by the pre-production sample photos, it just doesn't seem worth to spend $200 for that. 150 more and you get a beautiful FrontiArt resin model - realistic paint finish and pretty decently priced as compared to other resin manufacturers. The only thing we miss out in this model is the doors, I bet everyone would want a photo of their model with both doors open ! AutoArt hasn't released any Decomaster for the Mclaren, so that's still 2-3 years away.

AutoArt is making the Veyron SuperSport, but won't come out before 2014. Look at the Sang Noir - preproduction sample pics released in 2010, the model is still not available.

Talking of the Huayra, there IS a cheaper version available - $30 for a Mondo Motors model. Detailing is better than Maisto, although it seemed a bit plasticky to me.

PS : You're still a newbie, cant PM you !

I see. Well lets just hope they release these beauties asap. Its crazy waiting for scale models of such desirable hypercars. $400 is still too steep man, while a $30 make will never do justice to the supercar. I prefer the $100 to $300 range

As for the PM, didnt know that it was unavailable for newbies. I was able to send/receive till a while back, guess will have to re-read the . Infact i've been posting on TBHP since a long time, just that almost all of my posts were on this thread & unfortunately this thread was in a special section where postings didnt count, so..
Anyways, add me on fb (email: siddharthsajwan@gmail.com)

[Rosso Corsa]

Originally Posted by McLaren Roxx

As for the PM, didnt know that it was unavailable for newbies. I was able to send/receive till a while back, guess will have to re-read the . Infact i've been posting on TBHP since a long time, just that almost all of my posts were on this thread & unfortunately this thread was in a special section where postings didnt count, so..
Anyways, add me on fb (email: siddharthsajwan@gmail.com)

10 more posts in any section other than Shifting Gears and you'll be able to use the service. I have deactivated my Facebook account at the moment, but incase you're on Twitter, follow me @TeraBaapKaun

[rohit choudhary]

this might be my first post in this thread but i have been going through this thread for months. I had a few scale models when i was really small namely a 1986 porsche 959, a diablo and a bmw z3 is all i can recollect but i have absolutely no clue what happened to them where did they go?who were they given to? did they break etc.
so i started collecting again today after waiting to get an aa for quite a few months, Its a 1970 alfa romeo montreal.
P.S- Rosso Corsa's signature is perfectly true once you start collecting there is just no way you can stop.I am already looking forward to my next one.

[shahen9]

My recent 1:18 acquisitions.

[jasonrasquinha]

Hey Guy's !! Better late than never
My collection has only 1:64 Hotwheels, Matchbox, Wellys, Siku, Yatming !!!
Will post some more pics when I get back to Mangalore during Christmas.

[McLaren Roxx]

Originally Posted by shahen9

My recent 1:18 acquisitions.

Congratulations What make are they? Except the BMW, quality of others seem to be a bit iffy for a 1:18 scale.