I would most likely have to pay out of my ass for the VAT just to receive the new one, so I'd like to keep the old one!
Yep, things get a bit weird in EU. For the owners' sake, they better just repair the old one, so example, offer a mobo replacement. Once the main unit (chassis and frame) is replaced, import tax will hit, probably along with VAT.
My biggest gripe with receiving packages from big companies is their marriage with private (business) courier services (DHL, UPS, TNT, whatever), with these companies you never know what to expect. They are not upfront of what fees you might be charged, they never get the VAT calculation correct, their customs handling fee is high, they have a "prepaid VAT" fee and they always manage to come up some other random fee every time (in my experience they are nothing but vultures). I've never been able to resolve any issues with them over their support, and trying to claim back VAT according to the law is impossible (received a motherboard back after repair).
The national postal service might be a day slower, but I always know what to expect, they never get things wrong, they're always on time, they have no unintelligible fees and the deliveries are much less of a pain in the ass (well-established system).
Rant again..