How it works
Most firms in this trade assert a process and publish none of it. Ours is written down, so you can see where your car is, what has been checked, and what comes next.
- Eight stages, one point of contact
- Fee basis agreed in writing before work begins
- A written record at every stage
The engagement
Eight stages, whether we are finding the car or moving it
A transport-only engagement skips the search and keeps everything else. Where timings appear they are ranges — ocean schedules, port congestion and customs examination are not ours to promise.
The enquiry, then a call
You tell us what you are trying to do, in a sentence or in a page. We reply within one business day and put a call in the diary — thirty minutes, no charge. We would rather establish early that we are the wrong firm for a brief than take it on badly.
The brief and the fee basis, in writing
We write the brief back to you: the car or the route, the tolerances, the timing, the ceiling. Beside it, the fee basis — what we charge, when it falls due, and what happens if nothing is bought. Nothing begins until both are agreed.
The search, or the transport plan
A sourcing mandate works the private market first: owners, registrars, marque specialists, cars that never reach a listing. A shipping mandate starts with the route — port pair, sailing and method. Choosing between RoRo and container is a judgement about the car, not a price comparison.
Verification and inspection
Nothing is recommended on a seller's word. Stamps compared against documents, the history file read, the ownership chain tested. HPI in the United Kingdom for finance, theft and write-off markers; NMVTIS in the United States plus a separate lien search, because NMVTIS carries no lien data. The physical inspection is commissioned by us from a marque specialist, never taken from the seller.
The decision point
You receive the inspection whole, including the parts that do not flatter the car, with our recommendation and the reasoning behind it. Then you decide. We hold no stock and please no seller, so advising you to walk away costs us nothing.
Purchase and payment
We negotiate against the evidence rather than the asking price. Funds move only to the verified legal owner, or through a solicitor's client account or a regulated escrow provider. Bank details are confirmed by callback on a number we obtain independently, never from an emailed change of details. We do not take cash.
Logistics, customs and compliance
Collection, condition survey, export formalities, sailing, clearance. The controlling dates are unforgiving. As at 2026, CBP requires the AES filing and ITN 72 hours before a used vehicle leaves the United States. Inbound to the United States, the ISF is filed at least 24 hours before the cargo is loaded. HMRC must be told through NOVA within 14 days of arrival in the United Kingdom, or the DVLA will not register the car. We confirm the position per shipment with the licensed customs broker on the file.
Delivery, registration and handover
Enclosed delivery to the address you name. Then registration — V55/5 and the approval route with the DVLA, or state titling in the United States — and the handover pack. The file stays open afterwards; we keep the record for as long as you keep the car.
Deliverables
What you receive
Six documents, on every engagement, whether we found the car or only moved it.
A written brief and scope
The mandate as we understand it, with the fee basis beside it. Agreed before work begins, amended only in writing.
A shortlist with condition reports
Candidates with what is known and what is not — and the cars we rejected on your behalf, with the reason each one failed.
An independent inspection report
From a marque specialist we appoint, passed to you in full: identity and stamps, matching-numbers position, paint and body survey, road test.
The full documentation pack
Title or V5C, bill of sale, export declaration, bill of lading, customs entries, and the filings that matter — DOT HS-7 and EPA 3520-1 into the United States, NOVA into the United Kingdom.
A transport plan with dates
Route, port pair, method and sailing, with the collection window, cut-off, transit, clearance and delivery given as ranges rather than promises.
A handover pack
Everything needed to register and insure the car where it now lives, with the condition photographs taken at collection, loading and delivery.
Communication
One person, and what happens when something goes wrong
You are given one point of contact on the first call, and that person stays with the mandate to the handover. They wrote your brief, they read the inspection, they instructed the carrier. There is no queue, no reference number that reaches a different desk, and no handoff to an operations team after booking.
You hear from us on a rhythm and on every event. Weekly while a search is live, including the weeks when the honest report is that nothing has surfaced. Then at each milestone once a car is moving: collection, loading, sailing, arrival, clearance, delivery.
Things do go wrong. A sailing rolls, a survey finds filler under fresh paint, a customs examination adds a fortnight, a seller changes their mind at the last hour. What we commit to is the part we control: you hear it from us first, on the day, with the cost, the options and what we would do. Bad news early beats a comfortable number late.
Two ways to engage
Sourcing, shipping, or both under one mandate
Either line stands alone. Run together, they remove the seam between the person who found the car and the person accountable for its arrival.
Vehicle sourcing
Appointed to act for the buyer: brief, private-market search, verification, negotiation and acquisition. Classics, modern classics, supercars, market-only specifications and discreet daily drivers.
How sourcing worksVehicle shipping
Enclosed collection, RoRo or container, port handling, customs, compliance and door-to-door delivery. The two transatlantic routes are set out lane by lane: United States to United Kingdom and United Kingdom to United States.
How shipping works
Questions
Engagement, fees, timing and cancellation
By you, and only by you. The usual shape is an engagement fee on appointment, credited in full against a success fee due on completion, agreed in writing before work starts. We take no commission, introducer fee or volume incentive from any seller, dealer, auction house, lender, carrier or insurer, and any rebate offered to us is passed to you.
Walking away is a normal outcome and the engagement letter says so. The engagement fee covers work done; no success fee arises because no car was bought. If a search runs long without a credible candidate, we will say the market is not producing one rather than lower the standard to close the file.
A common specification can close in weeks. A specific car in the right colour with the right history can take a year, and we would rather say so at the outset. Transport is steadier — three to six weeks door to door across the Atlantic once collection, sailing, clearance and delivery are counted. We give it as a range and revise it in writing when a date moves.
Yes, in writing, at any point before a car is committed. You owe the engagement fee and any third-party costs already incurred on your instruction — an inspection booked, a survey commissioned, a sailing reserved. Nothing beyond that.
Often the best first mandate. We verify it, negotiate it and land it — the process from verification onward, without the search. Compliance is checked before purchase rather than after. As at 2026, the NHTSA 25-year exemption from the federal safety standards runs on month and year of manufacture rather than model year. The EPA's separate 21-year emissions route turns on the engine being original or an equivalent configuration. See the 25-year rule and importing from the USA to the UK.
Next step
Tell us what you are trying to do
One conversation is usually enough to establish whether we can help and what it would cost. If we cannot, we will say so. The firm sets out who you would be dealing with.