DMC order

[Rissy]

I've been a busy bee, ordering a plethora of new bits from all sorts of places, both native, and American suppliers.

Amongst my orders, one order of many bits from DMC Texas. The box: The same dimensions as the one with the wings painted on it in the film Cast Away with Tom Hanks. The DMC cost to ship, after conversion: £111. The sudden, and unexpected additional bill from FedEx the other day for VAT and customs expenses added by our Government: £60.06. Meaning a grand total of roughly £170 shipping for that box. The cost of the bits in that box after conversion: £156.

Need I say any more!?

[bjbrownie]

Dont know what bits you ordered, but Ed Uding (DMC Holland), is pretty good at getting parts and the freight charge is very reasonable. I needed a complete set struts,cooling system components,door seals and clips etc,got them within 5 days. Parts listed in the DMC Texas parts manual are readily obtainable, seem to remember that £400 worth of parts cost £35 in shipping charges, which I think is quite good, obviously the weight of the parts is a factor, but I'd recommend Eds service to anyone needing bits for their DMC. 8)

[Guinney1971]

TBH, Rissy, you aren't the first person to be caught out in this way, and you wont be the last.

I can remember Dave ordering some stainless steel screws and stuff years ago for DGS for the
lights, and one or two other bits. A $45 item ended up costing over £65 in shipping as HMRC
added £38 tax, which the Post Office said we had to pay before they'd hand over the parcel.

The only way to sometimes get round it, is to ask the vendor to put a low value on the Customs
sticker (less then $30 IIRC), and also say that the parts are 'Historic British Vehicle Parts'. However
I dont think DMCH (or any other of the US Vendors) like to play that game...... Ebay sellers
are usually abit more accomodating tho in my experience :wink:

[Dan6457]

John hervy and DPNW are usualy good for putting different information on the customs form. Also if you ring your order through to Houston instead of using the website it can be better as somtimes the site makes up a postage charge and if not checked that's what you get billed.

[stunned_monkey]

Basically the rule of thumb is not to place small orders from DMC. On the large orders however, things work the other way where DMC get a great deal from FedEx.

Be careful with Ed that you actually get what you want - specify a genine US sourced DMC part if necessary. I recently received one of these:

http://www.delorean.eu/product_info.php ... cts_id=221

It is not the same as this:

http://www.delorean.com/store/p-6479-he ... ffler.aspx

..which is actually a heatshield and not just a piece of laser-cut stainless.

[Rissy]

stunned_monkey Wrote:Basically the rule of thumb is not to place small orders from DMC. On the large orders however, things work the other way where DMC get a great deal from FedEx.

Be careful with Ed that you actually get what you want - specify a genine US sourced DMC part if necessary. I recently received one of these:

http://www.delorean.eu/product_info.php ... cts_id=221

It is not the same as this:

http://www.delorean.com/store/p-6479-he ... ffler.aspx

..which is actually a heatshield and not just a piece of laser-cut stainless.

My DMC order wasn't small. It was a good range of bits coming to about $267 - $450 roughly or so total with shipping charge. I was VERY careful at what i ordered from them as where possible, I sourced lots of bits from UK suppliers of bits and bobs and other American vendors like Special T, and also even a DMC Europe order. I only used DMC Texas where absolutely necessary.

From Special T in America, I ordered one of his muffler heatshields. I finally got to see it at the weekend there when i went to my parents (Where LEX is kept and where i get all my bits shipped to) and it is in fact just a cut piece of aluminium with no heat absorbing qualities other than what might be native to the raw metal (if any! - I would thought more reflective than absorbant) So now i'm not sure if i'm gonna have to coat this with some sort of heat absorbant material before fitting or if i'm just gonna put it straight on the car as is...

Do we know if they are ALL similar in this way, or is it the case that if you buy the one from DMC, you get an absorbant type?

[stunned_monkey]

It's worth noting that shipping is charged by volume as well as weight, whichever is greatest. I tend to rack up a couple of thousand with each order and I actually go through Dave and Julee at DMC Mid West for the customer service and attention to detail. Julee always emails me back with shipping options.

Ref the exhaust heatshield. First off: anything is better than nothing (or the asbestos porridge you get from an original shield), and with a cat bypass pipe, the exhaust is a lot cooler anyway.

I do like to see the replacement shields with some proper heatshielding on it, not just metal (and ally is one of the best heat conductors of all metals), ideally you want an insulator for obvious reasons. The DMC ones are thin stainless with heatshielding bonded to it. Perfect IMO.

The heatshielding in question is this stuff:

http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/heatmat-htmat-1567-p.asp

£28 on a square metre of this stuff is good for at least 5 exhaust shields. Maybe I should get some made *rubs chin* :wink:

As an aside, John Hervey likes to sell extended shields which protect the AC pulley bearings. Off-the-shelf bearings are available which are rated to several hundred degrees and really won't suffer in that environment anyway.

[Rissy]

stunned_monkey Wrote:The heatshielding in question is this stuff:

http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/heatmat-htmat-1567-p.asp

£28 on a square metre of this stuff is good for at least 5 exhaust shields. Maybe I should get some made *rubs chin* :wink:

As an aside, John Hervey likes to sell extended shields which protect the AC pulley bearings. Off-the-shelf bearings are available which are rated to several hundred degrees and really won't suffer in that environment anyway.

I might get some of this stuff, and coat one side of my new heatshield. I bought one of the extended ones myself (the middle sized one) instead of the original sized one, and certainly NOT the large one (Too showy!) The middle sized one drops down by the same amount as the original, so really only extends out to the side, where once the boot is shut, you never see anyway. I just thought it might be a bit better at deflecting the heat directly up and away from the whole engine compartment, especially when idle. shrug. Couldn't do any harm. Its bought now, and i'm not sorry for buying the one i bought....at least yet anyway lol! Down to personal choice at the end of the day i think.

[Nick H]

I think everyone who owns a DMC has been caught out by shipping/customs charges at one time or another.
My other hobby is American model trains and these have all the same problems of shipping and charges etc.

In some cases if the item(s) is expensive enough it may well be cheaper to get a last minute discount flight and go over and pick up the item.

Another option is if you have a friend/relative with a US address is to have your gear shipped there and ether re-sent USPS as a gift at a low value or pick it up on a visit. This would also work with DMCH as they have several depots round the USA i.e. Florida where you could get your order held and pick it up yourself. Then bring it back or USPS it to yourself.

Regards
Nick H

[Rissy]

Nick H Wrote:Another option is if you have a friend/relative with a US address is to have your gear shipped there and ether re-sent USPS as a gift at a low value or pick it up on a visit.

This is an AWESOME idea! I DO have a friend in the US..... I could get my stuff sent to her! ...now to just convince her its a good idea! lol!

[KMC-DMC]

If you send your order to DMCH via email or phone and ask them to send delivery by regular mail, then you won't get charged as much and this might get passed the customs here in UK.