Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I send various parts (from alloy tube to alloy fuel tanks) throughout the world including the US.

When sending from the UK, Royal Mail is the cheapest. If I was sending various items each day then a carrier would be interested, but as it is, their prices reflect their interest.

Obviously postage costs are reflected primarily by weight and then by size. Royal Mail will send up to approx 4kg via air mail. The rest goes via sea. It generally takes a few days for air and about 5 weeks for sea (depending where in the States). I am reliably informed that there is usually a delay at US customs.

In respect of costs, an aluminium Elan or +2 Elan tank which when packaged up will weigh approx 8kg, will cost about ?68 to send to the US. But if the customer wants full insurance then it will be about ?81.

A disadvantage with these "cheaper" prices is that once the package is outside the UK, the item cannot be tracked (unless you are prepared to pay more!).

I've not lost any tanks yet and I know that some suppliers will automatically choose the price which includes the full insurance to save any hassle later (when the customer has chosen the lower price with no insurance or reduced insurance and once it's lost the displeased customer loses out).

Andy,
Axminster Specialist Panels.

Even surface mail doesn't take that long from the UK; I got something from eBay in under a week. It appears that most commercial carriers have a fixed cost to prepare international waybills that means a 1-cent, 1/4 ounce item will cost about $50.00 to ship. Suppliers who use these shippers just add it on without questioning the result. After all, they're not paying the tab.

Additionally, you might be subject to a large (again fixed) customs bill for items, which as already discussed here, might come about six months after your order.

All of which can be simply avoided by demanding shipment by mail from your supplier.

Andy

I received your alloy fuel tank for my +2 in the U.S. in a short period of time. No more than 5 days if i remember correctly.

The tank has been installed and works fine. The car is at the trimmers and will soon be on the road.

Thanks. Your product was of the highest quality.

The only complaint is the low value of the U.S. dollar. Maybe you could fix that also.

Again, thanks for a fine product.

Bob

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the feedback. It is appreciated.

Andy

Thanks to all who responded. Clive at PM brought the cost down almost in half by using Royal Mail instead of UPS, which also included re-packaging it. So I asked him to go ahead. Still a lot but it is in line with other packages I've received.

This incident reminds me of the time my daughter and I were vacationing in England and I bought vast quantities of (childhood favourite) sweets, cereals and so on then went to post them home to the US. The cost was astonishing. So we ended up dragging a couple of boxes with us around England, the Channel ferry and France till in paris we bought the "plus grand, moins cher" piece of luggage for my goodies.

Thanks all

Keith

I am shipping a fairly large box containing a complete Eclat airbox to California, the total cost including insurance is ?54, booked through Parcel2Go, hope that helps.