Osram MK7 headlight housings - interested?

[j_rad91!]

Hey everyone! Quick dumb question. Looking into these headlights from blauertacho4u.de. I assume they are sold in a pair or is it $899 per side? Thanks!

 

[Cuzoe]

Sold by the pair... But if you are willing to pay $899 each I have a pair of used ones I'm willing to sell at only $700/each . Not really, they're awesome and I'm keeping mine. But that should definitely be the price for the pair.

 

[woodardhsd]

I'm assuming there are customs fees at some point? How much have they been getting you for?

I e-mailed blauertacho about the VAT, and they quoted me 718,95€ for the lights, and 24,99€ for DHL Economy shipping. Plus 4.8% if I wanted to use Paypal.

 

[Cuzoe]

@woodardhsd I paid something around $75 for customs. DHL sent me the notice and link to pay when the lights got in the country. I couldn't schedule a delivery/pickup until I paid.

 

[HelloNewman]

I ordered from Blauertacho through Ebay, I don't remember paying any customs fees. Not sure if it is included in auction price?

 

[mopar22]

I ordered from Blauertacho through Ebay, I don't remember paying any customs fees. Not sure if it is included in auction price?

Tbh it's all about luck, some people don't have to pay while others do

 

[HelloNewman]

Tbh it's all about luck, some people don't have to pay while others do

FWIW it did have a customs inspection sticker on the box.

 

[Cuzoe]

It also has to do with how the shipper labels/classifies whatever you bought. There are commodity codes to consider, gift declarations, trade agreements based on where a good was manufactured, fees a shipping company might charge to "deal" with customs on your behalf. I wouldn't call it a game of luck, but paying the customs fee is likely a better use of your $0-100 than spending your time asking the seller/shipper questions and doing research into what you think you'll have to pay.

 

[woodardhsd]

asdfdsf

I ordered from Blauertacho through Ebay, I don't remember paying any customs fees. Not sure if it is included in auction price?

I went and looked at ebay and found the listing. Wonder why the cost is so much higher on ebay vs buying from them directly? Direct from bluertacho it's 754€ (with pp fees) before shipping, and ebay is 999€ before shipping. Ebay fees are only around 12% if I remember correctly. Wonder if that price includes VAT?

@woodardhsd I paid something around $75 for customs. DHL sent me the notice and link to pay when the lights got in the country. I couldn't schedule a delivery/pickup until I paid.

OK, cool. That answers both of my questions. I had no idea how that process actually worked

 

[Cuzoe]

I would guess the eBay link still has VAT (bringing 745 to almost 900, and then the eBay fee is based on that price (bringing it to about 1,000). If you ordered via eBay they could probably send you a custom invoice without VAT. But I would still order direct by if possible. Depending on the seller (not saying bluertacho would do this) they could direct you through eBay if there's an issue.

From the few reported problems with the lights Osram seems pretty good about later/longer support of their product. But (at their discretion) that may only apply if you bought directly through one of their distributors, a list that may not include eBay.

 

[woodardhsd]

I ordered my set on December 15, through Blauertacho (not ebay). I just requested the regular economy DHL shipping. They arrived in New York on December 29, and showed up at my door on Saturday. Less than a month!
All in they were $899, plus a $24 foreign transaction fee for using amex.

Fun fact, you can no longer do the currency conversion yourself to save that conversion fee. It would have been around $35 if I let paypal do it. Amex is the only card that you can use to avoid that. Saves about $10 that way.

 

[averyislost]

I ordered my set on December 15, through Blauertacho (not ebay). I just requested the regular economy DHL shipping. They arrived in New York on December 29, and showed up at my door on Saturday. Less than a month!
All in they were $899, plus a $24 foreign transaction fee for using amex.

Fun fact, you can no longer do the currency conversion yourself to save that conversion fee. It would have been around $35 if I let paypal do it. Amex is the only card that you can use to avoid that. Saves about $10 that way.

Wow I'm surprised you can't do your own conversion anymore!
But good deal on getting the lights, I think you'll love them. It'll be cool to see another GTI in NC with the Osram's

 

[woodardhsd]

Got the osrams installed Saturday morning, took about 3 hours working by myself. I swear I spend 30-45 minutes just figuring out how to remove the grill. Still working on getting the aiming dialed in just right.

I do have a question. When installing, did any of you mess with this large height adjustment bolt? My OEM one was in a similar position. My new ones, however, were much more unscrewed than that. The threaded part was flush with the bottom of the plastic tab, not protruding at all. To get the correct height between the bumper support and the bottom of the housing, I had to screw in that bolt around 2.5 turns. I'm wondering if I didn't turn it enough because I had to make a huge adjustment to the aiming screw to get them close to factory. I probably made 6 full turns of the vertical screw. I was worried I was going to reach a stop somewhere, or the gear was going to pop off inside.

 

[Cuzoe]

Interesting. I didn't adjust anything on mine, although I may have just been excited and not compared my stock lights to the Osrams. Better to be lucky than good I suppose, no one has flashed in the few years I've had them installed.

 

[StorableComa]

Got the osrams installed Saturday morning, took about 3 hours working by myself. I swear I spend 30-45 minutes just figuring out how to remove the grill. Still working on getting the aiming dialed in just right.

I do have a question. When installing, did any of you mess with this large height adjustment bolt? My OEM one was in a similar position. My new ones, however, were much more unscrewed than that. The threaded part was flush with the bottom of the plastic tab, not protruding at all. To get the correct height between the bumper support and the bottom of the housing, I had to screw in that bolt around 2.5 turns. I'm wondering if I didn't turn it enough because I had to make a huge adjustment to the aiming screw to get them close to factory. I probably made 6 full turns of the vertical screw. I was worried I was going to reach a stop somewhere, or the gear was going to pop off inside.

Used it mainly to help secure everything and line up when I had the bumper back on. The leveling screws have a hard stop, so don't worry, just go slow and stop when you hit resistance. I've adjusted mine stop to stop before. Still working on aiming mine, lacking a suitable wall and flat surface to point them so I slowly make adjustments here and there and check while driving. No one has flashed me, but I can tell they need to come in and down a bit.