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RHD + Nissan


Alpinemist
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I'm talking with a dealership in the UK about the purchase of a Nissan X-Trail for my impending move to France (can't wait). As an expat you don't have to pay VAT :-)   They will supply COC and it will come with UK plates. They specialise in cars for expats and said to me to check that the car can be registered in France if it's a RHD. I read on this forum all the time that many people buy RHD cars. Is there anything to be concerend about by importing a RHD. I will arrange for the delaership to swap the lights or buy some on-line off the various websites that have been mentioned before.

Not sure what happens about insurance as I will have it for a few weeks whilst visiting family in the UK before going to France? Can you take out a short term policy in the UK for 2 months to cover until you get the french insurance arranged ? I'm an expat now so I'm thinking an english company might not want to know me.

If anyone has any feedback on Nissan X-Trails (good or bad) would love to hear about them.

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I think the cut-off point for VAT is 6 months - anything older and the VAT is payable in the country where you buy it.  Newer and you pay to the country it's being exported to. But Mr Driver will confirm.

The X-Trail was a class leader when it was new but is a little long in the tooth in terms of design these days.  I still don't think there's much in its price range which is up to towing such a big weight though.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/grouptests/203724/nissan_xtrail.html

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You surely didn't think that you could buy a car in UK VAT free and that would be the end of it did you [blink]

As Coops says to avoid TVA in France a vehicle has to be over 6 months old and have at least 6000km on it.

If you are buying new why don't you order in LHD/French spec ?

I'm astonished that a dealer who claims to 'specialise in cars for expats' should be telling you to 'check that the car can be registered in France if it's a RHD' [:-))]

As for driving it in UK between delivery and export below is the official HMRC policy but again your 'specialist' dealer will no doubt have told you all this, as he will have the insurance position [Www]

Exporting your motor vehicle to another EU country from

the UK

If you buy a new motor vehicle in the UK to take to somewhere else in

the EU, you'll have to pay VAT on the vehicle in the other country when

you arrive there. You won't have to pay UK VAT when you buy the car if

you do all three of these things:

  • you or your authorised driver personally take delivery of the new

    vehicle in the UK
  • you export it within two months of its supply to you
  • you and your supplier complete and sign form VAT 411 and send it

    to the address on the form
If think if I were buying a new car for export then I might seriously consider instantly piling the 6000km on it then driving or trailering it to France and laying it up until it was 6 months old [;-)]

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It hasn't changed much over the years, it was always such a pity getting so little use out of a vehicle before leaving yUK. I remember in the early 70's after finishing my Masters in Administrative Sciences at the Cass buying a little yellow mini cooper driving it down to Lisbon and sticking it on a boat to Beira in east africa. Then driving it through Mozambique, Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia to the Copper Belt. But I think, if I remember correctly, it was called purchase tax in those days.
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I looked into this a few months or so ago and I can confirm that it is 6 months AND (not OR) 6000km.  That's what stopped me from going over and buying a new car as I didn't think I could just drive around for 6000km and somehow park it somewhere until the 6 months were up.
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Why not solve all the VAT and mileage problems by buying a nearly new vehicle, you will get the residue of the manufacturers warranty and save yourself lots of hassle. You also will save a considerable amount of money. Buy yourself a set of LH drive headlights and off you go.[I]  Also a lot cheaper than driving to Mozambique
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[quote user="NickP"]Why not solve all the VAT and mileage problems by buying a nearly new vehicle, you will get the residue of the manufacturers warranty and save yourself lots of hassle. You also will save a considerable amount of money. Buy yourself a set of LH drive headlights and off you go.[I]  Also a lot cheaper than driving to Mozambique[/quote]

....driving it down to Lisbon and sticking it on a boat to Beira in east africa....

boat docked at madeira, sao tome, luanda, mossamades, cape town, durban and lourenço marques...minimal petrol consumption.[:)]

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That road trip sounds really good but I'm not sure our pooch will like it. She likes her home comfort too much.

I was so naive thinking there was a legal way of avoiding tax. How stupid was I. It just seemed such a good deal without the VAT. I guess car dealers just tell you the good bits. Thought about the new LHD at the time but the dealer said minimum 24 weeks delivery as they have to be custom built and also didn't put a price against it...... (that seemed ominous)

I think the 2nd hand route is the best. Thanks for all the info. 6 - 24 month old car it is.

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[quote user="Alpinemist"]I think the 2nd hand route is the best. Thanks for all the info. 6 - 24 month old car it is. [/quote]Good decision, let some other sap take the depreciation hit [;-)]

God bless 'em I say though, without people fixated on buying new where would us more sensible folk find a lovely pool of pristine secondhand motors cars to choose from [:D]

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I was kindly sent some more info which directed me to another site where i pulled off the info below. According to this, if you buy a 2nd hand car in the UK (Therefore VAT paid) AND you have not owned it for over 6 months you will still be liable to duty in France. Has anyone come across this ? I would only be in the UK for 1 month.  Also what would the duty rate be?

Vehicles from the European Union

No duty is payable on a used vehicle imported for personal use, provided that VAT has been paid in the EU country where it was bought and it has belonged to the registered owner for over six months and driven 6,000 Km prior to entry into France.

For a new vehicle bought in another EU member state, the TVA must be paid in France unless the French Fiscal Services are provided with the original receipt stating that VAT has been paid and, and you have proof of a valid foreign registration of the vehicle.

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[quote user="Alpinemist"]

I was kindly sent some more info which directed me to another site where i pulled off the info below. According to this, if you buy a 2nd hand car in the UK (Therefore VAT paid) AND you have not owned it for over 6 months you will still be liable to duty in France. Has anyone come across this ? I would only be in the UK for 1 month.  Also what would the duty rate be?

Vehicles from the European Union

No duty is payable on a used vehicle imported for personal use, provided that VAT has been paid in the EU country where it was bought and it has belonged to the registered owner for over six months and driven 6,000 Km prior to entry into France.

For a new vehicle bought in another EU member state, the TVA must be paid in France unless the French Fiscal Services are provided with the original receipt stating that VAT has been paid and, and you have proof of a valid foreign registration of the vehicle.

[/quote]

Not sure which other site you got all that from, but here's what the Douanes have to say about it:

La taxe sur la valeur ajoutée (TVA) est due lors de l'acquisition d'un véhicule neuf (c'est-à-dire un véhicule âgé de moins de 6 mois à la date de livraison ou ayant parcouru moins de 6 000 km). Elle doit, de ce fait, être acquittée dans le pays de résidence de l'acquéreur. Pour les résidents français, conformément aux règles nationales en vigueur, elle doit être acquittée auprès de l'administration fiscale (il faut se rapprocher de la recette des impôts du domicile pour les particuliers et du centre des impôts du principal établissement ou du siège social pour les assujettis et les personnes morales non assujetties identifiés à la TVA).

If you could just turn up in France with a new car plus a UK VAT receipt and a V5C and be exempt from French TVA, then someone should tell HMRC that their procedure for the treatment of VAT on new cars for export within the EU and their associated customs declarations are a waste of time......[;-)]

 

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Just curious, but why would you want to buy a right hand drive to import to France? I could understand bringing over a RHD if you'd had it a while and it was in excellent condition for it's age.

We brought our old LHD over to the UK but it was so much easier to drive and insure when we swapped it for a RHD. Now that we are planning on moving back I'll be looking at the best way to swap to a LHD as soon as possible - despite loving the car we have (Honda CR-V).

Have I missed the point?
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It's mostly about cost, imo.  I have a couple of friends who have lived round here for nearly 20 years.  She is English and he is Francophone Tunisian and they met in Paris (I only tell you this so that you don't think this is necessarily always purely a Brit thing.)  They buy all their cars second hand from the UK and they are always RHD because they are so much cheaper.  They can drive around in a relatively smart car for far less money than if they bought them second hand here.  Insurance premiums are not affected by the position of the steering wheel (although the odd case has been reported on here where some companies have paid less in an accident for an RHD write-off).
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Once you become used to it it makes not a jot of difference which side of the car you are on. My MG is RHD my Skoda LHD and I swap between them without a thought, neither do find any difficulty in overtaking with RHD, you just need to plan it a bit more sometimes.

I do still occasionally get caught out going to wrong side to get in though [:D]

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I drive a RHD, I find that I make the most mistakes when driving back in the UK, near mistakes that is, I usually pull myself up short of driving on the wrong side of the road, it happens rarely but even after 5 years it still occurs due I guess to driving regularly in both countries.

This morning I made one of the rare mistakes over here, I was approaching a cedez le passage junction to turn left, I think the fact that it my road was one way and hence I was over to the left may have tricked my sub-conscious, anyway I looked to the right before taking my priorité (which I didnt have!) to turn left, I didnt even look to the right.

This in itself is normal (were I to have prorité) as I am blind to the left side,  luckily my sub-conscious radar caused me to stop and hence apologise to the lady in the Clio who had done an emergency stop, she shouted at me that I didnt have priority, quite right too but if only she knew that but for her I might have set off on her side of the road.

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I got away with my mistake yesterday.

Didn't cause any accidents and I don't think anybody noticed but I did feel a bit silly.

Came out of the gym and into the carpark.

Zapped my zapper to unlock my (left hand drive)car and........

got in the right hand front seat!

Sat there for a few seconds trying to work out why it didn't seem quite right.

When the penny (sorry, cent) eventually dropped I got out and tiptoed very sheepishly round to the other side.
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I love deliberately getting in the passenger seat of my RHD when offering a lift to a French person, they get in, look puzzled by the steering wheel, look to see if I have one as well, and then wonder if they are dreaming!

The look on their face is exactly the same as when I stop to let pedestrians cross on a crossing, they are totally bemused as no-one else ever does, then suspicion creeps in "who is it, do they want to run me over" then shock horror "there is no-one driving that car"

So many people stop me and ask me how do I drive a car with the controls on the wrong side, I ask them "do you mean drive this car on the the French side of the road" but no they cannot comprehend that a car can be built like that let alone driven, I have been asked if the pedals are reversed, is the gear lever still on my right, and then why not?  thats bloomin dangerous, surely they can move it to your right, also are the gear positions reversed.

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LOL I love the breathalysed tale!

We drove around for quite a while in our LHD in the UK but it definitely was easier when we got a RHD - overtaking (in particular tractors wagons and caravans) but also car park ticket machines!

I'm planning on swapping our RHD for a similar LHD in the UK before we come over. You can pick them up relatively cheap compared to the same second hand RHD. Quite a few ex-pats returning from Spain...

Mind you, even after 13 years I have been known to grab the door handle not the hand brake! ;o) It was more difficult when we had one of each - thank goodness the pedals are the same way round is all I can say!!!
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