Importing a pushchair from abroad

[Eskarina]

Has anyone done this? I'm looking at a valco zee two with joey seat for my NB twins plus 22 mo toddler.

It looks like the US and Aus are the most obvious places to get one from. My DH is going to the states today for a week but isn't impressed at the idea of dragging a buggy back with him!

What do we need to consider in terms of import tax etc? How easy is it to find retailers willing to ship pushchairs abroad?

Would it be easier to just hang around and see if a second hand one comes up here? Seems unlikely as I think the Zee is new out. I don't need an all terrain hefty jogger style buggy like the t3 or adventure buggy, and the only valco I can find for sale second hand in this country is the tri mode jogger. I just want to be able to walk into town with 3 kids under 2!

Thanks

That looks interesting. I had the Valco Runabout with Joey seat and it was fab and said I would always get the Trimode. Its about 10kgs (or so!) lighter than the T3 and its a similar size to a TFK Twinner Twist Duo or Bumbleride Indie Twin when folded. I like the height on this Joey seat though as we had to be careful the toddler wasn't standing on the LO's legs underneath with the Runabout.

I know of a couple of retailer in the US who will ship to the UK but its not cheap. Import tax is expensive. The best way to "play" is to go to Amazon.com, choose a pushchair of a similar price and go all the way right up to the final "confirm order" button and they give you the estimated import taxes on the penultimate screen. Its scary as you have to put all your details in! Do Amazon have any of these to import because their shipping is really cheap and if you have an issue, they can be good to deal with?

I dont think i would wait for one to come to the UK TBH.

Lots of good advice thank you Tiggywunkle. I'm fact thanks for putting me on the valco trail originally in a previous thread of mine, I'd not heard of them before.

Frustratingly Amazon.com do have the stroller (but not the accessories) in stock but won't ship it to the uk. No reason given, just "we cannot ship the following product to the address given". It's not an import issue as such (like bugaboo, p&t etc) as there are a couple of places willing to ship it

I need to think seriously as to whether this is really what I want as the one retailer who has all the bits and are willing to ship to the uk are charging $200 for shipping so the whole thing is going to come out around the £700 mark. That's more than a brand new t3 (though not by that much), and I would have got one of those on eBay relatively easily. I don't know how much of that I'd get back if selling on next year.

Perhaps DH will just have to carry it on a BA flight next week, paying excess baggage must be the cheapest way of shipping it in! He's not going to be amused by that thought!

Ha ha, I would so make him bring one.. with very tight instructions to ensure he lands back with the right thing!

Thanks natashabee. I'm just on the BA website now and it looks like the folded buggy would be bigger than the max allowed.
Back to the drawing board!

Hi I was wondering what you decided to do in the end about importing a Zee two to the UK? I'm in the same situation and really want this pushchair but can't work out the best way to get hold of it! Thanks