Daft idea?

[bixy]

Within the next year or so we will have to get another car. In the UK I always bought Japanese cars about three years old, about 30,000 on the clock, which, because of the the incredible build quality were like new cars. Looking on the net at UK sites I find that the car I want can be bought for 9-10,000 pounds - main dealer, manufacturer approved, 2-3 years old, 20-30, 000 miles. Same car new in France 25,000 pounds[at current rates of exchange]. If I buy a car from the UK I will need to immatriculate it, change the headlights and CT it. I will also need to go and get it - say an extra 1000 pounds. It seems like a no-brainer to me. In addition I will be using capital that is in the UK and so do not have to worry about the vagaries of exchange rates.

What about the disadvantages? Well, the main one is the the right hand drive, but I've been driving rh drive cars on the continent for 40 years, without much problem. Has anyone else come to the same conclusions as me? It might be worth some thought, especially if your income derives from the UK, given the rather awful present rate of exchange.

Oh,and before that person who's got a thing about the Japanese and their products starts ranting on, please don't bother as I've heard it all before.

Patrick

[Benjamin]

No downside at all, except the value of a trade in when you've finished with it.

In fact some friends did exactly what you're proposing to do last year when they purchased a one year old vehicle from a main dealer in the UK at thousands below the price it would have cost in France.

[Iceni]

bixy

Di & I both drive her RHD car here in France and in our opinion there are no disadvantages, just occasionally a minor inconvenience. On the positive side it helps to be next to the steep, unfenced hillsides and the ditches.

So go with yr no-brainer, buy yr Jap in UK (provided that it is kosher and not a grey import) and run it into the ground. At 15/20k miles p.a. it should last you 7 or 8 years at least.

BTW congrats on making a big decision based on head not heart.

John

 

[Ron Avery]

What about the disadvantages?

Well, I believe there is far more chance of you driving on the wrong side of the road, I have never done this with an LHD, but a few times in a RHD.

Fully comp insurance costs will be much higher as it is a "foreign car" and parts are more expensive, also if you do have problems the car will be off the road longer waiting parts.  

Apart from that, consider carefully what Benjamin says about depreciation,the value here is very much reduced should you have an accident and write it off, do not expect anything close to the UK valuation.so it could be short term gain long term pain

Personally I would look on French Ebay and go for a LHD,  far safer.

[Anton Redman]

Minor supply problems on 'handed' parts like clutch cables. I would not run a RHD panel van n France but other than that do not find RHD a problem. Combination of dual carriage ways, far faster trucks and speed limits mean that overtaking is not almost a thing of the past apart from the odd VSP.

[allanb]

[quote user="bixy"]I find that the car I want can be bought for 9-10,000 pounds - main dealer, manufacturer approved, 2-3 years old, 20-30, 000 miles. Same car new in France 25,000 pounds[at current rates of exchange].[/quote]I don't disagree with any of the comments, but you're comparing a used car in the UK with a new car in France.  Have you looked at prices in France for a "main dealer, manufacturer approved, 2-3 years old, 20-30, 000 miles" car? 

I've been doing a bit of searching myself recently, and it looks as though the depreciation of the first 2-3 years is just as heavy in France as it is in the UK.  And you would avoid several of the disadvantages that have been mentioned.

[dave21478]

I do this, but at the lower end of the spectrum. Ive always been into "bangernomics" and hate the thought of a newer car. Im a mechanic though so repairs are no problem, if they are needed.

Last month I decided to change cars, and here in France, a few hundred pounds gets you a clapped out old renault 19 or similar with low spec and plenty of dents and monster mileage. Last trip back to uk and for £500(£500 is my upper limit for buying a car!) I got a 1-owner 50k miles, full history Vectra SRi, with air con and electric everything. A similar car here would have cost me between 3 and 5 times what I paid.

Ebay France turned up a pair of LHD headlights so thats it to spec now. Im waiting for the CoC from vauxhall, and will be taking it for its CT soon.

Disadvantages? I have no problem at all driving RHD here. On motorways it makes no difference, and even on small roads, overtaking is still easilly possible as long as you position yourself correctly and look well ahead. Leaning across the passenger seat to operate toll booths or carpark barriers is a tiny price to pay for significant savings.

I dont have a problem regarding re-sale value...i will either return this car to uk and re-register it there to sell it on (bangernomics generally means you recoup most of your costs as the cars value generally cant go much lower) or sell it here for parts when I have had a few years use out of it.

 

:)

HA, the forum blanks out the"c0n" in air con !

[Ron Avery]

"On motorways it makes no difference",

No?  Well try staying in the L/H lane all the way from Paris to Toulouse and see if it makes no difference.[:D].

Joking apart, it does actually because rear view vision through the N/S  mirror is not as good as with a LHD and the overtaking bit is a real problem if you use many RN roads that are heavily used by lorries, like the D 840 from Brive to Rodez for example.

[Beemer1150]

No, not a daft idea - a great idea!

After looking at the economics we decided it was far more sensible to re-register our one-owner three-year-old here. Agreed it has zero resale value in France, but that's not a problem - we'll run it til it drops, or take it back to the UK to sell and still be in profit. Spares are not a problem - run-of-the-mill RHD-specific parts are minimal.

We have a RHD car, a LHD camper and a middle-hand-drive moto and I can't say that I'm bothered about which I'm driving/riding - apart from the performance difference between an 1100c moto and 2.5 diesel camper...! Tolls are a bit inconvenient in the car but we rarely use them, trips back to the UK are weird in the camper, but we rarely do that either. Fishing tolls out of your leathers on the moto is a real pain - but that's middle-hand-drive anyway!

 

 

[bixy]

Sounds like a general nod of approval. As for depreciation, it doesn't matter as I always run cars into the ground. I have investigated second hand cars in france and for the same age/mileage [if you can find them] they are far more expensive. A lot of people in the UK like to change their car every two or three years. Not so in France so there are far fewer decent, second hand cars around, especially if you want to buy non-French.

I forgot to mention one other advantage - since resale value is nil, who would bother to steal a RHD car?

Patrick

[AnOther]

I'm much of the same school as you Dave although perhaps not quite so close to the bottom of the market [;-)]

In UK we (well mostly 'er indoors that is) would regularly be doing 20k + PA so I would buy 4/5 year old miley ex company lease cars which almost invariably would come in excellent nick with full detailed service histories, stuff that the trade wouldn't touch unless it was to give them a "haircut" and sell on. Rather than drive them to complete death though I'd out them when they still had a bit of life left and critically I would make sure they had a good wodge of MOT and a bit of Tax left to make them easier to shift.

We have only had 3 cars over about the last 9 or so years. The last one was a Golf MK4 Diesel Estate which I picked up in mint condition with 140k on it for £3.5k, took it up to 240k in under 3 years and then got £2k back for it when I sold it just last October. Prior to that we'd had a couple of Sierras which we piled something like 200k onto. Together the pair cost me I think about £5k to buy and I got £1K back when I sold the second one off. I do all my own repairs and servicing and outside of routine parts such as tyres, brake pads, oil etc. etc. I think if I said I'd spent much more than £1k on all 3 of them over the 9 years or so I'd be exaggerating !

I've currently got a somewhat newer left hooker for France, a diesel estate from the VAG stable but sourced in the UK. Our mileage has dropped to maybe a 1/4 of what it used to be and the intention is to keep this one for the forseeable future also, as I'm away workin for a couple of weeks at a time, reliabilty for the OH, in what it still for us a foreign land, has taken on a greater importance.

PS: When I'm ready to throw it away for £500 I'll give you a call [:-))]

[:D]

 

[RicandJo]

I don't think it's such a bad idea.  I also don't think you're any more likely do drive on the wrong side of the road just because you're in a right hooker.

I drive a RHD for me but when I drive the works vehicle it's a lefty.  I'm continually jumping from left to right hand drive.  I've been working in Central Europe now for nearly 18 months, the only time I've ever driven on the wrong side is back in UK, in a RHD!!!!

 

 

[Mme poivre]

hi guys

just call me a woman but why dont you try and get a left hand drive car from England?  I'm sure there are lots here![8-)]

J x

 

[AnOther]

Indeed there are but equally the market has cottoned on to the fact that there is a strong demand for them, especially diesels, and prices are inflated correspondingly.

I did actually source my car from UK. It had been brought over from Belgium by a returning expat specifically because of the value uplift in the UK. I probably paid 10% more for it than I would have for an equivalent RHD but still much less than I would have had to pay for the same vehicle for in France [:D]