Shipping policy

Shipping is one of the hardest parts of what we do.

Car parts come in almost every imaginable shape, size and weight, and trying to send them safely, reliably, quickly and economically to more than 70 countries never stops being a challenge. There still isn't a single courier service which is best for everything we send.

We use a mixture of Royal Mail, DHL, FedEx and other carriers, sometimes using services such as Parcel2Go to find the most appropriate service and price for a particular parcel.

The method we choose will depend on the size, weight, value, fragility and destination of the order. A packet of carburettor gaskets and a windscreen clearly need rather different treatment.

Packaging and insurance

We take considerable care over packaging, particularly because many of the parts we send are old, rare or irreplaceable.

Value is not always the same thing as replaceability: an item may have quite a modest monetary value but be very difficult, or impossible, to replace if it is lost or damaged.

We will therefore sometimes choose a particular carrier, service, packaging method or level of insurance because we consider it the safest sensible way of sending the goods.

Glass and other fragile items

Glass is probably the greatest shipping challenge we have.

The safest way to transport a piece of classic-car glass is on the back seat of a car, well wrapped and secured so that it cannot move. Sending it through a parcel network is considerably more difficult.

Where glass has to travel by courier, we will normally need to have a wooden crate made for the particular order and pack the glass appropriately inside it. Unfortunately, both the crate and the resulting shipment can be expensive, but this is often the only sensible way to give the glass a reasonable chance of arriving safely.

Other particularly fragile, valuable, heavy or awkwardly shaped items may need similar individual arrangements.

If an item requires special packaging or a shipping method which cannot sensibly be calculated by the online shop, please contact us for a quotation.

UK deliveries

For smaller and lighter UK orders we usually favour Royal Mail. Larger, heavier or bulkier parcels will often travel with DHL, FedEx or another suitable carrier.

The shipping options offered at checkout depend on the goods in your basket and the delivery address.

Typical Royal Mail parcel classifications include:

Large Letter
Maximum length: 35.3cm
Maximum width: 25cm
Maximum thickness: 2.5cm
Maximum weight: 750g

Individual gaskets, washers, small seals, booklets and similar items will often travel this way.

Small Parcel
Maximum length: 45cm
Maximum width: 35cm
Maximum depth: 16cm
Maximum weight: 2kg

Medium Parcel
Maximum length: 61cm
Maximum width: 46cm
Maximum depth: 46cm
Maximum weight: 20kg

These dimensions are intended as a guide to the shipping options used by the shop. Carrier limits and available services may change, and some items cannot safely be packed to the theoretical limits of a particular service.

International deliveries

We regularly send Lancia parts throughout Europe and to customers around the world.

International shipping is particularly difficult to automate because rates vary considerably according to destination, parcel size and weight. An order may also contain parts which are heavy, fragile, unusually shaped or difficult to insure.

For smaller orders we offer a number of Royal Mail international services through the online shop.

For larger, heavier, valuable or unusual orders we will often obtain a specific quotation from FedEx, DHL, UPS or another suitable carrier. Please contact us if no appropriate shipping option appears at checkout, or if you would like us to obtain a courier quotation.

If the shop does not offer shipping for your order to your country, this does not necessarily mean that we cannot send it to you. It normally just means that the combination of parts and destination is too difficult for the automatic checkout system to price sensibly.

Contact us by email or telephone and we can work out an appropriate shipping solution. For some orders we may need to pick and pack the goods first so that we know the final dimensions and weight before obtaining a quotation.

Import VAT, customs duty and local charges

Goods sent outside the United Kingdom may be subject to import VAT, customs duty, customs clearance charges, postal or courier handling fees, or other charges in the destination country.

Unless we expressly state otherwise, international shipping prices charged by us do not include these destination-country taxes, duties or clearance charges. They are payable by the recipient.

The amount charged is determined by the destination country's rules and, in some cases, by the postal service or courier carrying out the customs clearance. We do not receive these charges and cannot control their amount.

Import rules vary between countries and can change. If you are unsure what charges may apply, we recommend checking with your local customs authority before ordering.

We will complete the required customs documentation using an appropriate description and the genuine value of the goods. We cannot declare an artificially reduced value or describe purchased goods as gifts in order to avoid tax or customs charges.

Refusing import charges

If import VAT, customs duty, clearance fees or other local charges are payable, the postal service or courier may hold the parcel until they have been paid.

If you refuse the delivery, decline to pay the charges or fail to collect the parcel, it may eventually be returned to us.

Once the parcel has safely arrived back with us, we will inspect the returned goods and deal with any refund under our Return and Refund Policy.

Where an international delivery fails solely because the recipient refused or failed to pay applicable import or clearance charges, we will not normally refund the original carriage cost or other shipping costs that we have incurred, except where applicable consumer law requires us to do so.

If the carrier charges us to return the parcel, that reasonable cost may also be deducted from any refund where legally permitted.

This is different from refusing a parcel because it is visibly damaged or because we have made an error with the order. If that happens, please contact us as soon as possible so that we can investigate.

Delivery times

Delivery times shown at checkout or provided in a quotation are estimates unless we specifically agree otherwise.

Once a parcel is in transit, delays can occasionally occur because of customs clearance, weather, transport disruption or other circumstances within the postal or courier network.

Tracking information will be provided where the chosen service includes tracking.

If a parcel appears to be delayed or lost, please contact us and we will investigate it with the carrier.

Delivery address

Please check the delivery address carefully when placing your order.

If you notice an error before the parcel has been dispatched, contact us as soon as possible and we will try to correct it.

Once an order has been dispatched, it may not be possible to redirect it. Additional carriage or return costs caused by an incorrect or incomplete address supplied with the order may be chargeable where legally permitted.

Damaged deliveries

We package orders with the intention that they should arrive safely, but occasional damage in transit is unfortunately possible.

If a parcel arrives visibly damaged, please photograph the outside of the parcel before opening it if you reasonably can, and retain the packaging until we have investigated the problem.

Please contact us promptly with photographs of the packaging, the damaged goods and any carrier labels. This helps us resolve the problem with you and, where appropriate, make a claim against the carrier.

Your statutory rights in relation to damaged or faulty goods are not affected.

Questions about shipping

If you are unsure whether we can send a particular item to you, please ask.

Online shipping calculators work quite well for ordinary parcels. Classic Lancia parts are not always ordinary parcels, and we are very used to finding individual solutions for unusual orders.