USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[Emirahouston]

Send that to Lotus Dallas. The FB groups say that Earth Motor Cars isn’t releasing them yet for some reason. Not sure how true; anyone pick up at Dallas yet or any Texas dealer?

I just got off the phone with them and they said they just got approval this morning… I’m STIILL waiting for paperwork to be able to send payment… you would think they would want to get paid ASAP..

 

[Fasttoys]

So strange that CARB states never got any cars shipped to the US-Port. I purchased my first new Lotus Evora back in 2010, Lotus is still the same unorganized company, I am just so surprised after 14 years & new ownership.

 

[netsinah]

I wonder if we should start a separate thread just on PPF?

Anyway, I got a quote from the place I've used in the past in Dulles, VA for $2700 for PPF front areas (Suntek Reaction film), and $1800 for full ceramic + paint correction so that's $4,500 total. I'm waiting on a quote from a vendor I found in Indianapolis.

I'm a bit torn as I'll be picking up the car in Indy and driving it back home. If I get PPF done in Indy, then I'm protected for the 500+ mile drive back. On the other hand, if I get it done locally near my house, I can easily go back there should any adjustments be needed, and I've used that company twice in the past so I know their work quality.

I plan to split the drive back into 2 days. Perhaps I should just time when I'm on the road to avoid certain times of day on I-70 and I-68? Or I could take US-33 and US-50 backroads via WV instead of PA.

Some will clip on a front bra cover, for the trip home. Others will apply some temporary wrap to the front areas. That way there's some protection until you get home to have it done locally. Still others will do nothing and take a chance on rock chips. Wrap jobs vary, so my preference is to have it done locally so I can more easily go back for any warranty or corrective work, but that's just me.

 

[Nova]

As I said, that website (importinfo.com) said 12/20/23 in Newark, NJ!

Okay, I did more research on this. We saw it back in December. Unfortunately, here's the shipment details:

NEW UNPACKED VEHICLE S LOTUS EMIRA FIRST EDITION V6 LHD MANUAL TRANSMISSION VEHICLE, FUEL CELL, FLAMMABLE LIQUID POWERED COMMODITY CODE 8703.24.01.50 PERMANENT EXPORT CARS LOADED ON VESSEL IN ERROR STAYING ON BOARD VESSEL FOR RETURN TO THE UK

How frustrating that the car was in the US already but got sent back.

 

[Fasttoys]

Okay, I did more research on this. We saw it back in December. Unfortunately, here's the shipment details:

NEW UNPACKED VEHICLE S LOTUS EMIRA FIRST EDITION V6 LHD MANUAL TRANSMISSION VEHICLE, FUEL CELL, FLAMMABLE LIQUID POWERED COMMODITY CODE 8703.24.01.50 PERMANENT EXPORT CARS LOADED ON VESSEL IN ERROR STAYING ON BOARD VESSEL FOR RETURN TO THE UK

How frustrating that the car was in the US already but got sent back.

My concern as this is not my first rodeo buying cars from overseas.

The more times it gets transported the more opportunity for it to get damaged. Same with shipping from B-Port to the dealer then not allowed to fly to California and drive it home because of new California laws. Now it has to be shiped it again.

 

[showtime]

Does anyone have any pics of their car in Meridian Blue yet?

 

[VL3X]

Does anyone have any pics of their car in Meridian Blue yet?

Any photos of Meridian Blue Yet?

Just curious; have an order down for the color but haven't been able to find a photo of the car in that color anywhere.

www.emiraforum.com

 

[Nova]

My concern as this is not my first rodeo buying cars from overseas.

The more times it gets transported the more opportunity for it to get damaged. Same with shipping from B-Port to the dealer then not allowed to fly to California and drive it home because of new California laws. Now it has to be shiped it again.

Yea, I don't understand why these six couldn't have been trucked to Michigan and stored at Lotus USA's facility like the other Gator cars.

 

[Coreyalert3]

Most paint jobs have some lemon peel that is accepted by people. The paint correction knocks all that down so it's mirror smooth.

This. There's definitely a good amount of orange peel in the factory paint job. I've never had a car fully paint corrected but doing it on this one.

 

[SPoivre]

I was very surprised when I heard Lotus shipped any CARB state cars without CARB being passed.

My thought was the cars couldn’t be released and would need to be stored at the customs warehouse. Having had smaller stuff stuck in customs and charged for storage, I can attest that the fees are stupid and eye watering. 20 years ago I had a 5 foot statue stuck in customs because I was out of town. The daily charge was about the price of a hotel room, LOL.

The charge for storing a car must be insane.

 

[Nova]

I was very surprised when I heard Lotus shipped any CARB state cars without CARB being passed.

My thought was the cars couldn’t be released and would need to be stored at the customs warehouse. Having had smaller stuff stuck in customs and charged for storage, I can attest that the fees are stupid and eye watering. 20 years ago I had a 5 foot statue stuck in customs because I was out of town. The daily charge was about the price of a hotel room, LOL.

The charge for storing a car must be insane.

I believe in this case, the cars are legal to import in to the US, just not into CARB states. So Lotus didn't need to store these in a bonded warehouse, which is like purgatory for goods that have been received at a port but not legally imported into the US.

However, it's for certain that storage for the cars in UK is a lot cheaper and easier to manage than in the US and this is why I think they opted to hold the CARB state cars back. In logistics, the key to lowering cost is to reduce the number of moves and the distance of moves. Also, moves closer to the source is usually cheaper than moves closer to the destination.

 

[Barcino2012]

I found the CARB staff really friendly and responsive as previously stated by others as well….below their reponse when I asked for confirmation last Friday

 

[1stLotus]

Can’t recall if we found definitive information on what is different between cars in non-CARB states as opposed to CARB states, if any?

 

[netsinah]

My concern as this is not my first rodeo buying cars from overseas.

The more times it gets transported the more opportunity for it to get damaged. Same with shipping from B-Port to the dealer then not allowed to fly to California and drive it home because of new California laws. Now it has to be shiped it again.

One experience I had with a Mercedes shipped new "across the pond": driving it away from the dealership I noticed an annoying intermittent background front end noise, which I mistakenly thought was road noise from new tires. But it never went away. It was one of those sounds that pester you, once you know it's there and hear it again and again. A month later, a shop tech at the dealership said he couldn't hear it and dismissed my concern. A few weeks after that, I returned and this time, the 25+ year shop foreman drove my vehicle. He verified it existed within 2 blocks of the dealership, agreed it wasn't normal, and said he thought he knew what it could be: a front wheel bearing (each side) that was damaged. He'd had this 2-3 times before and said it happened when the vehicle wasn't tethered or tied-down properly on the boat. As the boat rocked up/down with the waves, the car did the same, with the front end constantly coming down on the same spot on the same bearings. They replaced both sets of front bearings and voila! Problem solved; leaving me with a blissfully quiet ride, as you'd expect with a new Mercedes.

I mention this since some Emira owners may find the same thing and if so, you now know what it could be. Not that I expect the Emira to have the same quiet ride as a Mercedes sedan, but it's an example of damage that can be caused by overseas vehicle transport.

 

[Dr.JDK]

Anyone wants to bet on when will the first CARB state car be delivered to the CARB state customers? My Guess is April 1st!

 

[VL3X]

Can’t recall if we found definitive information on what is different between cars in non-CARB states as opposed to CARB states, if any?

No difference. All cars just need to be flashed with the latest software.

 

[ameeriklane]

Some will clip on a front bra cover, for the trip home. Others will apply some temporary wrap to the front areas. That way there's some protection until you get home to have it done locally.

Are you suggesting to use an Emira-specific clip-on cover, or they have some kind of generic cover? Never heard of these before, but sounds like a good idea!

 

[Arkham]

Yay . 3 months to do PDI and just found this out.

 

[netsinah]

Are you suggesting to use an Emira-specific clip-on cover, or they have some kind of generic cover? Never heard of these before, but sounds like a good idea!

I don't know of a specific Emira clip-on cover. They make generic ones for different vehicle sizes, where they stretch over the front bumper area and clip-on underneath the front end and in the front wheel wells. Some people like to use them whenever they're highway driving, so a fair bit. However there's some controversy about them: some claim that "sand/road grit" can get trapped between the cover and paint, scratching the paint with the inevitable movement you'll get with the cover at highway speeds. Others who use them, claim this doesn't happen. That said, it's unlikely to be a problem if you're simply using it temporarily to get you home. Good luck!

 

[niterida7]

Still? I have not gone there recently in order to keep myself pure (LOL!) I've driven near it many times on my way to getting food. It was literally a used car dealership lot. I've seen some clean photos of social media posts from that dealership so I thought maybe they finished building it.

Of course, they could just be delaying expenditures and paying interest on that until they actually had cars to sell. Makes perfect business sense and it's exactly

OEM paint quality varies from car to car, especially for low-volume producers like Lotus. Dust, orange peel, runs, and other imperfections may have already been corrected at the factory but maybe that correction was not absolutely perfect as it's a manual process and workmanship varies. The cars may also pickup scratches, nicks, contaminants such as water stains, iron and feline particles, and other imperfections during the shipping/delivery/holding process.

Feline particles