Iconic Auctioneers will sell Jenson Button’s 2004 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG at the NEC in Birmingham, England, on Saturday, Nov. 14, with an estimate of £400,000 to £500,000 and 11,321 miles on the odometer. The buyer pays for more than the car. Iconic’s lot page says that if the car stays in the UK, “import VAT at 20% and import duty at 10% will be payable by the buyer.”
Lot 181 is one of 100 coupes that HWA AG built under the AMG badge as a road-going tribute to Bernd Schneider’s 2003 DTM Drivers’ Championship, according to Iconic. The auction house says the car was delivered new to Button on Jersey in December 2004 and stayed with him until 2019, when it went to a Japanese collector who has now consigned it. The history file includes a Guernsey registration certificate in Button’s name. Under the hood is a supercharged 5,439cc V8 rated at 582 bhp, paired with a five-speed automatic.
What the lot page documents about the miles
The odometer reads 18,114 km, which Iconic converts to 11,321 miles. The service invoices on file are at 4,519 km, 5,054 km and 9,659 km, all before the car was exported to Japan in 2019. Subtract the last invoice from the odometer and about 8,450 km, roughly 5,250 miles, sits past the newest service record the page lists. The page does not say where those kilometers were driven or when they were added.
Three RM Sotheby’s results to measure the estimate against
RM Sotheby’s has sold three CLK DTM AMG coupes that give the estimate some context. At its Paris sale in 2024, a 2005 car with 18,367 km on the clock, 253 km more than Button’s, sold for €460,625. RM’s page does not say whether that figure includes the buyer’s premium. At the European Central Bank’s reference rate of 0.83785 pounds per euro on Oct. 28, that is about £386,000. Iconic’s £400,000 low estimate sits roughly 4% above it, and the £500,000 high estimate about 30% above.
Cars with almost no miles have brought far more. RM’s Las Vegas listing for a car with 270 km shows $720,000, and its Monterey 2024 listing for a car with fewer than 875 miles shows $665,000. Neither page says whether the premium is included. On these three results, mileage separates the prices more clearly than the first owner does, and any Button premium would have to fit inside a range that opens only a few percent above the Paris car. Three sales are a thin sample, and RM’s pages do not tell the whole history of any of them.
The tax stacked on top of the hammer price
Iconic charges a 12.5% buyer’s premium plus VAT, 15% in all. On a £400,000 hammer price that is £60,000. For a UK buyer the import taxes come on top. GOV.UK says VAT on an imported vehicle is charged on its total cost, including delivery and customs duty. If HMRC used £400,000 as the customs value, an assumption Iconic’s page does not confirm, duty at 10% would be £40,000 and VAT at 20% would be £88,000, or £128,000 together. That is Backfire News’s arithmetic, not Iconic’s or HMRC’s. With the premium, a £400,000 bid becomes about £588,000 before transport and the first-year Vehicle Excise Duty that the lot page also lists.
The lot page carries a sale-room notice about amended VAT details and does not spell them out. It also does not say where the car sits now; it was exported to Japan in 2019. The tax wording is tied to the car staying in the UK, so a buyer shipping it abroad would be dealing with the destination country’s rules instead.
The American buyer’s calendar
For a US buyer the number is 25. NHTSA says a vehicle at least 25 years old can be lawfully imported without regard to whether it meets the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and that the 25 years run from the date of manufacture, not the sale or registration date. Iconic gives no build date, but the car was delivered to Button in December 2004, so it was built in 2004 or earlier and clears the 25-year mark no later than December 2029.
Until then, the route RM’s American examples took was different. RM’s Monterey listing says the consignor imported that car in 2021 under the Show or Display exemption and had it federalized by G&K Automotive Services in Santa Ana, California. The addendum on the Las Vegas car describes a 2,500-mile annual use limit, NHTSA access to the car and NHTSA approval of any title transfer.
Viewing, bidding and collection
Viewing runs Friday, Nov. 13, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. The sale starts at 10 a.m. in Hall 2 of the NEC, and the lot page lists Button’s car for 11 a.m. Saleroom admission is by catalogue only, £20 on Saturday. Lots must be collected by 2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 16, so the VAT and import questions need answers before the bidding, not after. Backfire News has covered Button-linked cars at sale before, including the McLaren MP4-12Cs once owned by Lewis Hamilton and Button. The Nov. 14 hammer price will show whether bidders pay more for Button’s name than RM’s Paris buyer paid for a car with similar miles.
At £400,000 to £500,000, would you pay for Button’s name and 11,321 miles, or for a CLK DTM AMG with a few hundred miles and no famous first owner?
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