One accountable party, from the brief to the driveway

We find cars and we move them. Classics and modern classics, supercars, collector cars, market-only specifications never sold in the buyer's country, and the discreet daily driver that has to be right. The work is advisory. We hold no inventory, so there is no car on our books we are quietly trying to place with you.

The shipping line exists because of an ordinary failure. A cross-border purchase is usually two suppliers: one who finds or sells the car, one who moves it. Neither owns the join, and the join is where money is lost. The VAT position of a European car is settled by its ownership chain before anyone books a vessel, and is rarely put right afterwards. As at 2026, HMRC expects a NOVA notification within fourteen days of the car arriving in the UK, and until it is filed the DVLA will not register it. When something slips, the finder calls it a shipping matter and the shipper calls it a buying matter.

Lucas International holds both halves in order to be answerable for both. It is also why we are paid only by the person we act for. As at 2026, a motor dealer owes a car buyer no fiduciary duty in the United Kingdom — the Supreme Court held in August 2025 that dealers may pursue their own commercial interests. An appointed agent stands in a different position, and the difference is contractual rather than rhetorical.

Nearly every expensive decision in a cross-border purchase is made at the point of buying, not at the port. Whether a European car is VAT-qualifying or a margin car is fixed by its ownership history. For the United Kingdom, commodity heading 9705 covers collectors' items of historical interest. A car qualifies only if it is at least thirty years old, no longer in production and substantially unaltered. Where HMRC accepts that classification, duty is 0% and VAT is charged on 25% of the value — an effective 5% rather than 20%, as at 2026. For the United States, the NHTSA safety exemption runs on twenty-five years and is claimed on Form HS-7. The EPA operates a separate twenty-one-year provision, declared on Form 3520-1, which turns on the engine being original or equivalent. Eligibility is counted from the month and year of manufacture, not the model year — as at 2026, and subject to NHTSA and the EPA. Each is a question about which car you choose.

So the disciplines compose, and each also stands alone. Many clients already own the car and want it moved properly. There vehicle shipping is the whole engagement — a route such as the United States to the United Kingdom, quoted end to end. Others want the search, which is where vehicle sourcing begins. A third group has found the car and wants it verified, negotiated and landed by someone other than the person selling it. The sequence is published in full on how it works, the territories under coverage. Customs entries are filed by licensed brokers and ocean legs booked with licensed carriers; we coordinate them and remain accountable for the result.