Etoile Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 There can be no debate about the relative prices of cars in the UK and France. One year ago I bought a RHD HDI Citroen Synergie people carrier on Ebay in the UK, 80,000 miles, eight years old. The price was £2,500. Since then it has not missed a beat. Every Friday here we get the local paper through the door and I laugh when I look at the prices being asked for cars. One like ours would be circa 8,000 Euros. (I even saw a 20 year old Peugeot 309 petrol saloon for £1,200 Euro.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I always used to say to myself "yeah but the cars that you see up for the silly prices dont sell so they dont reflect the market", and this was/is certainly true of the UK however in France I am beginning to think that here in France they actually do.If you never see anything but silly overpriced cars and dont know any better then that is the price that you pay, my neighbour certainly paid €800 for his knackered 14 year old escort and he is nobodies fool, actually he is in many ways (in a naive but nice way) but not when it comes to brader pour une bagnole.I still have a hunch that a well priced, say sub €3k RHD cars would sell like hot cakes in France especially to the young, and remember that we are talking about a £2-300 buy.I have been stopped (more like forced over to the side of the road) a couple of times by youngsters who wanted to know how I managed to register my RHD car as they knew they were loads cheaper and thought it would be cool to drive one.When people who know a little about the world beyond the next village and are motivated by what they see dont know how to register an import, and they had asked everybody that they knew, is it any wonder that without the help of forums like this ex-pats either dont know of the requirement to register their car or cannot find out how to? I certainly was in that siuation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I would agree with that, Chancer.A while back, I secured a very good deal on some equipment in UK weighing about a ton, and needed it shifted to France. I bought an P-reg Vectra and a cheap twin axle trailer and brought it down myself.Once here, the trailer was useless on the roads here - homebuilt in UK and impossible to register here and very obviously over 750kgs laden weight so no getting away with not registering it. However it does sterling service on the farm hauling firewood behind the tractor. It cost me £300 in UK, and would probably sell for €500 or so here, even san papiers.The car however....It was a very good car indeed. Bought with a new MOT, full service hstory and some road tax for a shade over £500, it had a V6 engine that ran perfectly, sports seats, electric everything including cruise control and working air con. I originally planned to re-register it here and use it as a daily hack, but never got round to it, it languished at the bottom of the garden, being consumed by nettles. A year on, I cleaned it up (it still ran perfectly) and stuck an add on leboncoin for €1000, which I thought a little cheeky. However, the phone simply didnt stop ringing. There were a few false starts with people who hadnt read the advert or looked properly at the photos, who were unable to comprehend a RHD car, but one lad simply asked to be emailed a photo of the engine. He agreed to buy it straight away, asked a few details so he could insure it, and travelled from northern France by train to collect it.He was over the moon with it - he owned a french V6 vectra with a dead engine and the quoted rebuild costs were astronomical. It was much better for him to buy mine for parts, also allowing him to recoup a few other bits bobs for his own. However once he saw it, he proclaimed it much, much better than his own, which he would sell, and asked me about re-registerig this one. He didnt give a damn about RHD. Oh how we laughed (!) when he exclaimed that he would happily have paid double my asking price. He paid his money and drove off very happy.£500 gets you a lot of car in the uk....[IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc297/dave21478/short/DSCF0026.jpg[/IMG]A quick look on leboncoin shows that today, the best that €500 would get me is a crummy old renault19 with a blown head gasket and intergalatic mileage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I'm sorry Dave but you are talking twaddle, everybody knows that RHD cars are worthless in France [:D][:P][6]I know what I say it must be true because I read it on a forum (many times) [:P]In fact I think that I will use that as my signature! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etoile Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 Re. Above: Are you saying that Dave is lying then, as he is only saying what happened? The price difference between used cars in France and the UK is so great that many British, and even the occasional Frenchman, will consider RHD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 [quote user="Etoile"]Re. Above: Are you saying that Dave is lying then, as he is only saying what happened? [/quote]IMO the smilies [:D] are saying what the words do not ...Sue [;-)][;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 And chancer has a wicked sense of humour! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimi Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 On BBC news today:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8251920.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krusty Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 Thanks Mimi , just when I was getting ready to go to the UK to buy a used car .........sods law [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigears Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 hiI've just bought a very nice one owner golf mk5 sdi not yet 4 years old in the uk for 3500. Its to stay in the uk as our uk based car. If I wanted a car for france I would look on ebay uk for a lhd. Rhd in france is for me not the way to go even if uk secondhand prices are cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom240 Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Hi, We are a taxi company . We provide Airport Transfer service from all london airports. We are in need of good second hand or used cars. Can anyone please advice us where we can buy best and cheap Used cars. Is it more cheaper in Uk or it will be cheaper if we import it Thank you tomPost Edited by moderator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 British Car Auctions.....[Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panda Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 [quote user="Chancer"]I'm sorry Dave but you are talking twaddle, everybody knows that RHD cars are worthless in France [:D][:P][6]I know what I say it must be true because I read it on a forum (many times) [:P]In fact I think that I will use that as my signature![/quote]And.. the same goes for LHd in the UK, just sold both mine on UK ebay, one had 295,000km on the clock!! Got enough to buy two much younger and higher spec also on ebay. Both my LHD's are going back to France and will proably make my buyer a nice profit, everyone is happy! UK dealers have obviously seen the market opportunity as both cars were bought by dealers for shipment back to France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Interesting Panda.Were they French or English plated if you dont mind me asking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panda Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 HelloThey were both French plated, we were really shocked at the price both achieved, we assumed we would have to drive them back to France to get anything like a decent price but this was not the case at all. The bizarre thing about it is that no one would have touched the car with 295km if it had been a RHD drive I'm sure, my brother who is 'in the trade' could not believe the price and actually came to check it was gone (and not a joke bid) on the day the guy turned up to get it!Panda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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