water pump life

[deltasierra]

Mine came from EU at around £255 BUT I got a bill for Customs and VAT some months later. If it’s any consolation parts from US is even more expensive

[pvr]

Ah yes, that “free” trade agreement

[Roberltd2]

Thanks for the info.
No, I wasn't aware of the the £255 seller. I was about to use Autodoc which would come to £363.72.

[Roberltd2]

So if customs was 14% and VAT 20% on top of that, the £255 would then become £348.84?

[pvr]

Not quite, as the duty is not on the shipping costs, but VAT is

[Roberltd2]

Ah right. Decided to go the Autodoc route in the end.
Cheers.

[enuff_zed]

Not quite, as the duty is not on the shipping costs, but VAT is

I’ve just ordered my third from that seller. Not had any customs bill yet. How long does it take?
First one was months back

[pvr]

It varies, sometimes I don’t get delivery until I have paid, or get a bill from the shipping company a few weeks later. If it is HMRC themselves then it is anyone’s guess.

[petrocelli]

just seen a pump and t stat on ebay for !30 quid supplied from UK.
Curious to know what is the difference between this one and the Pierburg .
Is it simply manufacturing quality or are there design differences ?
Welcome your comments

[Bodyboarder]

Interesting topic … I ordered a new pump / stat from eBay ( a link that was put up on the forum ) all tuned up great , fitted and working lovely . Had a ( well from what I can gather , it’s very hard to understand !!) invoice from fedex for £69 for vat and delivery . Wasn’t expecting that . Any more info on this ? Thanks

[petrocelli]

I think the vat has to do with buying stuff from the EU but others on here will have chapter and verse on this.
If you took the car into a BMW main dealer ( why any one would is beyond me but that's another topic ) what pump and stat would they fit ?
Never realized water pumps and stats could be so interesting !

[Mr Tidy]

BMW would fit a Pierburg pump that my Indy paid over £500 for from them in 2015 - the same one you can buy for about half that elsewhere.

[pvr]

Interesting topic … I ordered a new pump / stat from eBay ( a link that was put up on the forum ) all tuned up great , fitted and working lovely . Had a ( well from what I can gather , it’s very hard to understand !!) invoice from fedex for £69 for vat and delivery . Wasn’t expecting that . Any more info on this ? Thanks

VAT, customs and admin charge. The last part is really annoying as it is a lot by itself, sometimes £25. I order business parts so have seen any combination of charges for the same goods, from nothing to close to £1k

[Bodyboarder]

Interesting topic … I ordered a new pump / stat from eBay ( a link that was put up on the forum ) all tuned up great , fitted and working lovely . Had a ( well from what I can gather , it’s very hard to understand !!) invoice from fedex for £69 for vat and delivery . Wasn’t expecting that . Any more info on this ? Thanks

VAT, customs and admin charge. The last part is really annoying as it is a lot by itself, sometimes £25. I order business parts so have seen any combination of charges for the same goods, from nothing to close to £1k

Sounds about right then …. But annoying but hey ho , still way cheaper than other sites / bmw

[chanlon1]

Thanks to all.
If you don't need to jack the engine up separately it may be something I can tackle at home.
My ramps will get the front of the car up about 10 inches which gives enough room for most stuff

I think the M54 engine requires the engine to be jacked up as the water pump is belt driven and you can't remove the pump until you take the belts off etc.
The N52 has an electrical water pump, so no belts to worry about and it's literally bolted onto the bottom of the engine with a couple of bolts. Couple of coolant pipes go in and out. From the videos and pics I've seen, it looks manageable. Something I plan on doing at some point.