The American Import Agents Association was formed 9 years ago to
protect your interests and to ensure that relevant Government regulations were
favourable to the American car industry.
All AIAA members have at least 16 years experience and adhere to the following
CODE OF PRACTICE:
LEFT HAND DRIVE/ RIGHT HAND DRIVE
The American Import Agents Association members only sell North American vehicles in their original left hand drive state, as built by the original Manufacturer, and which have earned their technical approval for use on UK roads as left hand vehicles in the Standard SVA test. For consumer protection and safety reasons, the American Import Agents Association members do not offer or condone any right hand drive conversions, unless the converted vehicle has passed the Enhanced SVA Test, the legally required standard for all right hand drive imports that do not have European Type Approval.
DON’T GET CAUGHT WITH A STOLEN IMPORT !
Each year there are many vehicles stolen in America that end up for sale in
the UK. If you’re buying an import make sure it’s not one of them.
AIAA members can offer a unique Certificate of Authenticity which gives a money
back guarantee that the vehicle has not been registered as stolen prior to export
from America or Canada. It also guarantees that your vehicle has no outstanding
financial liens, such as HP.
MAKE SURE YOUR VEHICLE IS IMPORTED CORRECTLY !
Members of the AIAA have been working closely with HM Customs and Excise for
years in ensuring that vehicles entering the UK are declared correctly
for Import Duty and VAT. There have been recent cases of importers incorrectly
declaring values and vehicle characteristics which can leave the vehicle owner/importer
in a very awkward position with the law.
ENSURE THAT YOUR SVA MODIFICATIONS ARE UNDERTAKEN
SAFELY AND PROFESSIONALLY
With AIAA members at the forefront of negotiations with Government on the Technical
standards pertaining to the Single Vehicle Approval of American vehicles-YOU
ARE IN SAFE HANDS!! If you’re paying thousands of pounds for an American
Import it makes a lot of sense to know that the modifications for SVA are undertaken
by real professionals. Our members employ specialist automotive engineers with
unrivalled experience in carrying out the necessary modifications-don’t
leave it to amateurs !
AIAA MEMBERS ARE THERE TO GIVE YOU PEACE OF MIND
WITH:
First class “blue-chip” warranties,
Competitive and flexible Finance Packages
Insurance quotations
Servicing , repairs and spares
Favourable Part Exhanges
With American vehicles , you can TRUST
the AIAA
Since December 1996, American Car Imports has led the representations with the Department of Transport on behalf of the "American Import Agents Association", on the implications of the Single Vehicle Approval test for American vehicles and on the issue of Number Plates and other matters.
Anthony Cohen (Chairman of AIAA) with Minister of Transport accepting exemption for American Sized Number Plates-pointing to the front of a new Ford F150 Pickup.
As a direct result of our involvement and the substantial support received from many other businesses, clubs and individuals, we even managed to secure several debates on American Cars in the House of Commons.
EXTRACT FROM HANSARD: "The Government are full of talk about better regulation, but they must be judged by their actions rather than their words. The first action of the Government's better regulation task force was to publish five key principles of all good regulation to be used, in the words of the chairman, Christopher Haskins, as a ``template'' or critic's guide for judging the quality of Government regulations.
Those five principles are: transparency, accountability, targeting, consistency and proportionality. Against that background of tests, there was correspondence over a long period between the DTI and Mr. Anthony Cohen of the American Imports Agents Association. He sent a letter on 30 March this year to the Minister for Small Firms, Trade and Industry, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche), which he copied to Ministers and officials in other Departments. That letter was a plea for help, and followed many previous letters expressing concern about the enormous financial hardship and loss of jobs that would result from the adoption of the regulations. The letter states that the business is" ``in need of your urgent assistance in standing up to the DETR's policy. Thousands of representations have been sent voicing opposition to the MVAR 1996. The negative effect on small businesses is enormous. It is now time for the Ministers in the DTI to take control of this situation and prevent a legislative catastrophe from being introduced.''
This has raised the profile of our representations and has helped to protect the right to import American cars into the UK. Having made a considerable investment, we can now carry out all the Homologation work required to pass the new Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) Test for our customers vehicles. To ensure a successful outcome with every vehicle, however, we now have our own in-house Type Approval and Engineering consultants in addition to the mechanical workshops equipped to undertake the required assessments and modifications.
