MTFCA Forum

Just got an email from UPS customs wanting a nhtsa hs-7 form for my 1 tire and 4 tubes. What the F now? Says if I don’t get it back asap going to start charging me storage. Just giving yous guys a heads up. Dan

Tariffs.....used to be you could avoid them if total less than $800 - that loophole has been cancelled.

Yeah, a friend told me just yesterday that he had to pay UPS $190 in duties to import a set of tubes from Blockley. No mention of customs forms, but we have discussed the inconsistency of government enforcement on this topic before…

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 17, 2025 8:03 pm

Just got an email from UPS customs wanting a nhtsa hs-7 form for my 1 tire and 4 tubes. What the F now? Says if I don’t get it back asap going to start charging me storage. Just giving yous guys a heads up. Dan

Not sure what's going on but a HS-7 form isn't about tariffs it appears to be related to Federal Safety standards. Are Blocklely Tires DOT rated? Maybe that's what its about. It also could be that UPS made a mistake i their thinking. OR need to identify the proper tire description for a tariff. Motorcycle tires might be tariff free


§ 591.5 Declarations required for
importation.
* * * * *
(j)(1) The vehicle or equipment item does not conform with all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety and bumper standards, but is being imported
solely for the purpose of:
(i) Research;
(ii) Investigations;
(iii) Show or display;
(iv) Demonstrations or training; or
(v) Competitive racing event

This is the Hs7 Declaration see check box 7
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/f ... ecured.pdf

Seen it before more stupid gov regs that serve no purpose .

Dan, keep us posted on this, I was getting ready to order some tires. I just took a look at that form, I wound not know how fill that out!. I will hold off until its figured out. I wonder how this will effect other things.

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 17, 2025 8:03 pm

Just got an email from UPS customs wanting a nhtsa hs-7 form for my 1 tire and 4 tubes. What the F now? Says if I don’t get it back asap going to start charging me storage. Just giving yous guys a heads up. Dan

Did some more checking and see that Blockley tires are DOT certified. Don't know about the inner tubes, but they need DOT certification if for highway use. So, you'll need to ask UPS, "specifically", why the declaration is required because you can't fill out the hs-7 form out without that knowledge

I received my 5 tires and tubes today from UK.
$1800 all in.

big2bird wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 18, 2025 1:13 pm

I received my 5 tires and tubes today from UK.
$1800 all in.

That doesn’t seem too bad… think I was at $1400 for a set of 4 clinchers with tubes several years ago. About $80 duties at that time

Jeffrey

What did you do different that Dan is not able to do?

A friend in the UK bought them and arranged the shipping.
He imports Corvettes and parts, so he knows all the ins and outs.
The tubes came over in his carry on luggage last flight here.

I said this many years back concerning tires without DOT Approved listed on the tire, accessory brakes, etc. No one wanted to listen. Now here comes your fun, insurance companies have their lobbyists and have pushed law makers into the magic word of…,”not covered items” and “not recommended” . Just like new vehicles, if add on, modify beyond manufacturers recommendations then you accept the liability…, PERIOD!

Just like everyone else buying cheap IRC motorcycle tires, non DOT tires are the first thing law enforcement will be looking at during a crash investigation.

Like Paul Harvey said…,”now you know the rest of the story”, good day.

Hank is correct about the “man”.
That is why I run trailer tires on my trailer. Sure they cost more , but I take mine out if state. If I get into a wreck my fault or not, first thing join law does is look at equipment. Car tires on a trailer are a Nono in most states.
Now back to UPS, their website bites.

If your friend brought them in UK he had to pay their VAT. That is as much as our tariff or more. I think ours is 25%.

So Im assuming that any tire we buy for are cars are going to be Non DOT. This is going to put a big problem for us in are hobby. Dan, as soon as you figure out the red tape let us all know how you made out.

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 18, 2025 3:38 pm

If your friend brought them in UK he had to pay their VAT. That is as much as our tariff or more. I think ours is 25%.

This is my total.
Last year I restored a 68 E Type for a dear friend. My UK buddy brought the entire set of wiring harnesses back in his carry on luggage.

Our VAT in the UK is 20%
France calls theirs TVA and it is 19.6%
When you buy stuff to export, you can claim the VAT back.

Blockley tires are U.S. DOT approved. Another added benefit.

UPDATE. If you get the email wanting that information
DO NOT DO ANYTHING TILL YOU EMAIL BLOCKLEY.
That information should come from them. Dan

Mark, your Blockleys appear to be 21" straight sided tyres. I donT know if any BE clincher tyre is DOT approved. There was mentioned in a previous thread that BE tyres were not considered for car use and as such, are not required to have DOT certification. Someone will know.

Allan from down under

Thank you Jeffrey. That is reassuring. It would indicate that Blockley have specified their tyres should be rated if they are to be a quality product. Good on them. I have never noticed it on their BE tyres I have fitted. Now I will have to check them.

Allan from down under.

No problem Allan.
Makes me feel better about them.

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 17, 2025 8:03 pm

Just got an email from UPS customs wanting a nhtsa hs-7 form for my 1 tire and 4 tubes. What the F now? Says if I don’t get it back asap going to start charging me storage. Just giving yous guys a heads up. Dan

Dan, have you resolved your issue with this form? I ordered a couple of tires and tubes Thursday, supposedly to be delivered this past Monday, but I’ve been getting notices each day since that delivered is delayed a day. Finally today I get the notice that “more information” is needed before they can be delivered. Following the the links I find that customs needs the NHSTA form HS-7, yet the UPS link to download it doesn’t work. I was able to download the form the NHSTA website but have no idea how to fill it out So far I have found it impossible to reach UPS by phone. I have no idea how to proceed. Meanwhile UPS has since sent another one day delivery delay notice.

Miles: How strange that as I opened this to read, UPS drove up with my last package from Blockley.
I ordered them in early September.
READ THIS PART.
Do NOT SEND THE FORMS TO UPS YOURSELF.

Yes I was shouting. That is where I messed up. Once you submit the forms to UPS you can not change or add anything.

You should email Lee at Blockley before you do anything.
My understanding is Blockley should submit those documents.
If it had not been for him I may never gotten mine out of customs.

Email Lee and see what he says.

Now with the shut down no telling what will happen.
Good luck .

If you need more info email me by forum. Dan

Steve, that's what happens when the mouth starts flapping before the brain is engaged. Now there is a mess to be negotiated while a plan is made. To do that requires some expertise, rather than just acceding to a whim.

Allan from down under.

I like the thickness of the tubes. I dislike the valve stems that they use. I wish they would offer rubber stems tubes for us people who like to have the correct original valve stems. It doesn't seem important to Mr. Blockley. I also think his tires are ugly. My favorite tread design is Firestone.

I got the HS-7 form from Lee at Blockley yesterday and forwarded it to UPS (as soon as I could find a Microsoft computer to do it on), and got three simultaneous emails from UPS at 2:44 this afternoon saying my shipment had cleared customs, then two hours later another three simultaneous emails requesting payment of the tariff. I just did that, so I MAY have a couple of new tires and tubes in the next couple of days. We’ll see… Hopefully, Lee at Blockley will start sending the HS-7 form with the shipment and avoid this hassle.

The biggest part of this nightmare has been the UPS website, which only seems to work with windows computers (thanks for that tidbit Dan!). I tried multiple times each on my iPhone and iPad, and at a certain point in the process the website ceases taking input. I tried a computer with a Linux system and it was even worse. Once I got on an actual windows computer, it went through with minimal aggravation.

I'm a refugee from the Twentieth Century. I miss it every day.

This is all down to the new administration.
Announce first for effect sort it out later, maybe ! Everybody, world wide, is grappling with this issue, not just USPS.
Allan from down under.

It's about reforming gross trade imbalances.

I wonder if the same thing is happing with Coker tires as most of them come from Vietnam also.

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 05, 2025 8:41 am

It's about reforming gross trade imbalances.

I have a trade imbalance with my dentist. He never buys anything from me.

So, sue him.

I'm inclined to agree with Steve Jelf. I haven't had a chance to use a Hartford tube yet. I only hope I'll be able to remove the rubber stem as I've been doing for years. I think Blockley is wrong to be using valve stems that are incorrect for our cars, but doesn't seem to give a damn, and many of our members don't know the difference!

Many of our members don't care, including me...Blockley makes a quality tube with well-affixed brass valve stems. There are period-looking caps in brass or Nickel to complete the look. It has been suggested to remove the Blockley stem and replace it with a salvaged "correct" type which I find ludicrous. Do you really think you can do better than the factory-installed valve stem? If I was going for a major award like the Stynoski (MTFCI) I might do different but my car is optimized for safe and reliable touring.

Well said..
Show n shine. Been there, done that, not my thing.
You can make any repop perfect, but at what cost?

Perfect for what crowd…? I’m sure Blockley markets tubes to far more than just us T guys, and the stems are likely off the shelf. Doubt they are looking to develop a valve stem business just to sell a few tubes a year

It is not about addressing a trade imbalance. The trade imbalance between Australia and the USA is vastly in favour of the US, but that hasn't stopped us being included in this achemozzle.
It is about seeming to be doing something which curries favour with the people. That's politics.

Allan from down under.

I don't recall ever seeing anything for sale here marked "Made In Australia". Virtually everything for sale here is marked "Made In China". Is Trump requiring Australians to pay duty on British products manufactured in Viet Nam?

I bought a set of 7.00 X 16 reproduction Firestone tires recently. They were marked "Made In USA". No duty or hassles. I'm not sure exactly who made them or where.

Pat, do you really think the president of the USA has the power to make Australians pay a tariff on stuff they import from anywhere? I still have that bridge for sale if you are interested, but you'd better check if there is a tariff on its importation first.

Allan from down under.

He is perfectly evil, and he makes Hitler look like a prim little nun!!!

I'm not in the market for Blockley tires or tubes but I think it's baffling that there isn't at least one Blockley dealer in the U.S. so tires could be shipped in bulk directly from the factory in Vietnam and the tariff calcuated on the wholesale, not retail price.

When my father bought English-made Dunlop tires for his 1910 IHC many years ago, he didn't have to import them from England, he bought them from Kelsey Tire.

We all buy imported goods on a regular basis but we purchase them from domestic retailers.

If Blockley were to establish or authorize U.S. distributor, I'd buy a set of 5 tubes ASAP. In the mean time, I have no desire to deal with governments, my own, or any other, as an individual.

It's become very difficult in the USA these days NOT to buy imported merchandise... of any sort. But major importers/exporters have legal staff to keep up with the ever-shifting minefields of regulations, exchange rates, language diversity, feuding between governments, and other sundry other complications that often arise when doing business across national borders. I don't have such resources at my disposal.

We are fortunate in Australia to have a long time stockist of Blockley tyres for collector vehicles and vintage racing cars. It was easy to add BE tyres for T models to the inventory of a known and trusted dealer.
I understand hands were put up to act as intermediaries/stockists in the USA but to do so just for 30 x 3.5" BE tyres was not likely an attractive proposition for Blockley. It would add another layer of adminisrtation and costs. These offers were not from the usual suspects, as that would undermine demand for the tyres they were marketing.

Allan from down under.

I my case my problem was with UPS not Blockley.
UPS way of doing this was the problem. Once I contacted Lee at Blockley things started working out.
Again, I will say. If you buy some tires or tubes and UPS sends you anything. Do nothing with UPS till you contact Blockley.
UPS is the problem!!!!
Yes I will order more from Blockley. Dan

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 06, 2025 9:46 am

If Blockley were to establish or authorize U.S. distributor, I'd buy a set of 5 tubes ASAP. In the mean time, I have no desire to deal with governments, my own, or any other, as an individual.

I believe Seamus Hnat tried to become a dealer in the US but Blockley would not respond to his inquiries.

Since Mr. Blockley is only offering one size valve on his tubes, that creates a problem for those with period correct wire wheels that don't have a felloe, either wood or steel. I'm not aware of a current rim nut to hold the valve in place, and still be able to screw the dust cover in place without bottoming out on the top of the valve stem.

Its interesting, About a year ago I was taking to someone on the phone at Blockleys and we talked about just that, A Blockley dealership here in the states. I told him if I had been in my 30's or 40's I would had considered the idea but at almost 70 today there would not be much of a chance of that happing with me. There must be some people here that have the business sense to take on the idea of doing a Blockley dealership here. I think it would be a real money maker as Coker seems to have the US tire market.

Pat, I am inclined to agree. When questioned by an Australian reporter about how fabulously enriched he and his family have become since he took office, the questioner was ignored, except to make a thinly veiled threat that such questions could have repercussions for Australia. It is hard to get the measure of this behaviour.

Allan from down under.

In case anyone is interested in reality and not making smug political jabs, Blockley has clearly stated that they sell directly to consumers, eliminating the middle-man and therefor saving their customers a bundle. I for one (and maybe the only one) appreciate their strategy.

A distributor makes his money through an increased price, and apparently that is still a tough idea to get through to some folks - especially when their time is primarily spent attempting to somehow strangely twist every "price" question into a political bashing game. That's pretty well played out on the Forum and is really really tiresome.

Since most folks apparently have only spent their life equally being an employee and a consumer, then I suppose that a profit/loss statement or balance sheet could be a foreign concept?

Lucky for us, Henry was a "do-er" and not a whiner, or we'd all still be pissing and moaning about the price of oats and horse-flesh.

If you mean Trump, rumor has it he was born rich. Unlike many very rich American politicians, he came late to politics and was already rich when he entered.

I have no doubt that both manufacturers and retailers sell products at a markup. Henry Ford did. Interests up and down the retail chain do likewise. To the extent that these interests provide a service to me in making products readily and conveniently available to me at a reasonable cost, I don't mind paying them for services rendered. I have an idea it would cost me a considerable amount of time and money and aggravation if I, as an individual consumer, were to attempt to buy goods directly from an overseas supplier.

It amazes me that some have forgotten history. Starting in the late 1940's the shoe was on the other foot with UK and other Commonwealth counties and USA made items were tariffed to death, Now that the USA wants "Protectionism" to keeps "Us" as a superpower, everyone has hurt butts! Who are you going to call when it hits the fan?

I believe that Ford was compelled to build cars within the British Empire in order to sell cars there ... which was darn near everywhere but here back then.

There was no compulsion, it was just sound business. The British empire was far reaching and advanced in the early part of the 20th century. The motor car was usually affordable and seen as a necessary item in the British colonies by the people in those countries as most had ex pat English in them and the countries were advanced compared to other countries outsde the Commonwealth. Those British colonies received a lower rate of duty on goods if they were from another member of the colonies so it was a smart move to set up a factory over the river in Canada and then claim as they were a member of the British Comonwealth the lower duty prevailed, making it cheaper in price than if it came from the USA.
The strange thing was often people thought as Ford was American they missed the fact they actually came from Canada . During the war the Australian Govt banned Fords when Henry Ford went on his peace mission as it was seen he was a traiter about the war, they found out quickly the Fords were made in Canada and Canadians were fighting in the war alongside Australians.

Scott_Conger wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 07, 2025 6:36 pm

In case anyone is interested in reality and not making smug political jabs, Blockley has clearly stated that they sell directly to consumers, eliminating the middle-man and therefor saving their customers a bundle. I for one (and maybe the only one) appreciate their strategy.

A distributor makes his money through an increased price, and apparently that is still a tough idea to get through to some folks - especially when their time is primarily spent attempting to somehow strangely twist every "price" question into a political bashing game. That's pretty well played out on the Forum and is really really tiresome.

Since most folks apparently have only spent their life equally being an employee and a consumer, then I suppose that a profit/loss statement or balance sheet could be a foreign concept?

Lucky for us, Henry was a "do-er" and not a whiner, or we'd all still be pissing and moaning about the price of oats and horse-flesh.

Could not agree more Scott keep the political jabs to yourself facebook not this forum is where you should be.