International Parts Sourcing and Import

When importing is the right route

Most parts sourcing requests are settled without leaving the UK. Importing becomes the sensible route when the UK supply chain has nothing to give and the part exists elsewhere — which, for genuine manufacturer parts, is more often than a dealer screen suggests. A part number is issued globally; UK stock is one warehouse's view of it.

• The part is on UK back order with no date. The same number is frequently in stock in another market's distribution network. See back-ordered parts.
• The part was withdrawn here but is still supplied elsewhere. Manufacturers discontinue lines market by market, not everywhere at once. See obsolete and discontinued parts.
• The part was never sold here. Home-market lighting, bumper reinforcements, emissions components and interior trim for imported vehicles are not in the UK catalogue at all.
• The vehicle is an import. A Japanese, American or European home-market car registered in the UK has to be identified against its own market's catalogue.
• The vehicle is low-volume or specialist. Where the UK never held stock, the market that built or sold the car usually did. See hard-to-find parts.

Markets we search

Which market we go to depends on where the vehicle was built and sold, not on a fixed list. In practice most overseas searches run through:

• Mainland Europe — the closest market by transit time, and the first place we look for European marques, body panels and mechanical parts the UK has run out of.
• Japan — for Japanese marques generally, and for imported Japanese-market vehicles in particular, where the home catalogue lists parts the UK catalogue never carried.
• North America — for American marques, for European models sold in North American specification, and for lines that stay in production longer there.
• Other right-hand-drive markets — Australia, South Africa and parts of Asia hold stock built for right-hand-drive specification, which occasionally decides a search.

We search where the part is, and we tell you which market it is coming from when we quote. If the only source is a market where the cost or the transit time makes the part impractical for your job, we say so rather than letting the request drift.

Japanese imports and JDM parts

Japanese domestic-market vehicles are the clearest case for international sourcing, because they are not identified the way a UK-supplied car is. Instead of the 17-character VIN used in Europe, a JDM vehicle carries a chassis number built from a model code, a hyphen and a production serial. It encodes no model year and no build data, and a UK registration lookup usually returns little that is useful for parts.

That changes what we need from you. For an imported Japanese vehicle, send the chassis number from the identification plate or the Japanese export certificate, the model code, the engine code and the grade or trim level if you know it. Photographs of the plate and of the part itself are worth more here than on a UK car, because the catalogue route depends on getting the model code and grade right.

Sourcing for a Japanese import? Send the chassis number and model code from the identification plate, plus photographs of the plate and the part. We'll work from the home-market catalogue.

European and other overseas markets

For European vehicles the identification is familiar — a 17-character VIN, a build record and part numbers that match the UK catalogue — but the stock position differs in each country's distribution network, so a panel that is unavailable here can be available under the same number elsewhere. For North American-specification vehicles the numbers themselves often differ: lighting, glazing, bumper reinforcements and emissions components are built to that market's regulations. We confirm which specification your vehicle actually is before searching, using the VIN and, where it helps, a photograph of the build label. Our guide to finding parts by VIN or registration explains what each identifier gives us.

Duty, VAT and paperwork

Importing brings customs into the job, and it is worth knowing what actually applies rather than working from a remembered figure. Duty on vehicle parts depends on the commodity code for the specific item and on where it comes from. HMRC publishes those codes and rates in its Trade Tariff service, which is the authoritative source for any given part — we do not publish rates here, because they are item- and origin-specific.

• Goods from the EU can qualify for a preferential rate of duty under the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, but only where the goods meet the agreement's rules of origin and the importer holds a valid proof of origin — a statement on origin from the exporter, or importer's knowledge. GOV.UK sets out the conditions in its guidance on claiming preferential rates of duty between the UK and EU.
• Import VAT applies to goods brought into the UK. A VAT-registered UK business can use postponed VAT accounting to declare and recover import VAT on the same VAT Return rather than paying it at the border and reclaiming it later; see GOV.UK on accounting for import VAT on your VAT Return.
• Carrier and clearance charges sit separately from duty and VAT and vary by route and carrier.

Where a part comes from overseas we factor customs handling into the quotation and tell you what the quoted figure covers before you order. The above is general information about how importing works, not tax or customs advice — for a specific consignment, check the Trade Tariff or speak to your customs agent or accountant.

Lead times on imported parts

An imported part takes longer than one on a UK shelf, and how much longer depends on the origin, the transport mode and whether the consignment needs clearance. We do not quote a blanket figure. When we come back to you the lead time is the one for that specific source, and if it moves in transit we tell you. For a bodyshop working to a key-to-key time the useful thing is usually to know early whether a part is a UK item or an import, so the repair can be planned around it.

How an international request works

1. Send the registration or VIN — or, for an import, the chassis number and model code — with the part description and any number you already have.
2. We identify the part against the vehicle's own market specification, and check UK availability first.
3. If the UK cannot supply, we search the overseas markets where that number is held.
4. You receive availability, the source market, the price including import handling, and the lead time for that source.
5. On approval we order, arrange the import and deliver to your workshop.

Delivery outside the UK

Most of what we source is delivered to UK workshops, but where a job requires it we can arrange international delivery of a part we have found. Tell us the delivery address when you send the request so it is quoted correctly from the start.

Identification across markets

The same component can carry different part numbers in different markets, and the same number can supersede on a different schedule in each one. That detail decides whether an overseas search succeeds. Before we look for stock we establish which market's catalogue applies to the vehicle, then follow that market's number and its supersession chain rather than assuming the UK number travels.

• Market-specific numbers. Lighting, glazing, bumper reinforcements, emissions components and audio or telematics parts are the usual cases where a part that looks identical carries a different number abroad.
• Different withdrawal dates. A number no longer supplied in the UK can still be current elsewhere, which is why a 'no longer available' answer here is not the end of the search.
• Assemblies and components. Some markets list an assembly broken down into components that the UK only ever sold complete, or the reverse. We tell you which form the part is actually available in.
• Build specification. Where a catalogue offers variants, we confirm the right one against the vehicle's own build record before anything is ordered.

Right-hand and left-hand drive

Drive side is among the first things we check on an overseas search, because a part can be correct in every other respect and still be the wrong hand. It matters most for steering and pedal assemblies, dashboards and interior trim, wiper linkages, headlamp beam pattern and anything asymmetric in the engine bay. Japan and Australia are right-hand-drive markets like the UK, which is part of why a search there is often productive; mainland Europe and North America are not, so for those markets we confirm whether the part is handed before quoting. Where an item exists only in left-hand-drive form, we say so rather than sending something that will not fit.