For those of you who are geeks, nerds and politico's that watch the news. You might have seen the Pound crash over the past year, thanks to the referendum debate the UK is to become a Staten island isolationist rock. I remember buying parts at 1/1.65 dollar only about 6 months ago. It had a brief crash this morning and dipped to 1.18, when you add on the mandatory government 25% VAT (tax) to all imports and goods bought here (even bread!), it basically equates to parity (1-1).

Some of the parts manufactured in the US, which are vital to building performance engines are basically becoming way to expensive for rookie DIYer's to buy.

To give you an example. I was looking into the metal coolant flange, short shifters, linkages, and the ECS rear diff mounts, which retail for $189 in the US, and £196 in the UK (Example: Awesome GTI which is a reseller of ECS tuning). The US price is equivalent to around £149.27. Just about 6 months ago It would have been around maybe £120. At todays price, £196 is equivalent to $244. This is one of the reasons why i've been discouraged in ordering IE and Mahle parts for a rebuild, because the cost with importing could be so expensive, its likely that by the time I collect funds, to import all at once, would just not make a project viable if I didn't have another motor for my daily.

While this doesn't seem to hefty of an increase, when you include shipping, which typically ranges from $70 to $130, AND add on customs tax which we pay, depending on the value of the goods, you pay tax.

Here's a rough estimate of importing ECS rear diff mounts.
US price for parts - $189/ £149.27
- (Estimated Shipping set at $70)
- Duty: £6.30
- VAT: £47.90
Total customs value (CIF): £233.22
Product, shipping & insurance: £233.22

Total landed cost: £287 OR $352.5
This is the total cost of importing, including product, shipping, insurance and import duty & taxes at exchange rate of 1 GBP = 1.24 USD

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I recently imported an LEDGlow 3million SMD wireless kit and was hit with customs charge which I was surprised to see but happy to cough up for. The point being that as the Pound reaches Parity (devalues), we are likely to see our currency worth even less. As someone who is basically 'involved' in politics here (unfortunately), the referendum decision to leave the EU has only just begun to affect sterling, we are likely to see a major devaluation in our currency, triggering another recession.

Im sure this is also a problem for some of the performance parts companies on here which are having to deal with us red coat brits.
Does anyone see any light as to how as poor folk in the UK can get our imports over at a decent price? One idea I've been thinking about is by having someone send you parts, which if you don't have insured, is cheaper to send. Also if you don't declare what the value also is, but that might be naughty