briTT

I'm in the process of importing a 225 coupe through Sweden an dteh Krona like all currencies generally is strenghthening against the £. Of course this affects the end cost.

Are there any financial experts who can give me informed advice as to whether this is a temporary hickup or whether further weakening of the £ is likely to take place over the next 3 to 4 months.

Also where is the best place to buy currency - for instance the FT market rate for SKr is about 13.29 yet my bank is offering 13.09 which makes a big difference!

Thanks in advance

Billy (UK)

My 225QC is due from Holland within the next month - where's the best place to buy guilders apart from your local bank?

Fraz

I can't tell you about the market, but I found my bank (First Direct) to be ok in terms of exchange rates when I bought my car from Germany. They basically gave me spot rate (as found in the likes of FT) - 1%, alot better than tourist rates! I had to set up a foreign currency account and trade through that, which was no hassle. In addition, there will be money transfer charges to take into account when making payments. The dealership I dealt with gave me their bank details and I TT'd(!) the money across directly. Cost me about £50 I think for the final payment of 80%.

Hope this helps.

Thanks - Faisal.

briTT

Thanks for the input Fraz

Mike Bailey

http://www.currenciesdirect.com
Used these for the deposit where I bought at the "spot rate" i.e. the current rate. It was signicantly better than anywhere else I looked, including Exchange Direct, on the date that I bought it. I can't recall the rates that I was charged.

http://www.exchange-direct.co.uk/ (0207 878 1878)
Using these for payment of balance of car. I bought currency on 01/03/00 at a "forward rate" for 01/07/2000. This meant that the spot rate was adjusted to compensate for what they think the rate will be in x month's time i.e. spot rate was 3.57 but I got 3.53 for buying at a future time. This rate is fixed so your FX risk is removed. Had to pay Exchange Direct 10% immediately with other 90% on or before the agreed settlement date. It cost about £10 for the transaction and £14 for the future transfer of funds to the Audi dealer.

I would recommend that you set up an account with both of these (takes 1-2 weeks)in advance and bargain with them on the day you want to buy - they both say that they will match the lowest price from a competitor and, in my experience, will do everything they can to beat it - so start haggling!

It's much quicker to do electronic transfer of funds from your bank to the FX company but your bank will charge you about £10 for a CHAPS transfer to them (mine did)- I have paid or will pay for 3 CHAPS transfers, once for the deposit on the car, once for the deposit on the future currency and finally the balance on the future currency. I will also have paid for 2 transfers to the dealer (say about £30) and 2 transaction charges to the FX dealers (say about £20).

As far as the currency market goes, I'm no expert but sterling is looking weaker every day - the FX companies can advise you on their thoughts.

Mike Bailey

...I forgot to mention that it takes about a week for the funds transfer to reach the dealer.

briTT

Mike - Thanks a lot. i'll get in touch with them.