reccomendations on whether to export your uk car or buy your car in france

[mole67]

hi

could anybody advise whether it is better to sell my car in the uk before moving to france and buying a french car when i get there.

my present car is only one year old and i will lose quite a lot if i have to sell it.i also understand cars are more expensive in france.

kathy

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]hi could anybody advise whether it is better to sell my car in the uk before moving to france and buying a french car when i get there. my present car is only one year old and i will lose quite a l...[/quote]

Hello and welcome

This subject has been covered several times (do a search) but;

a) New cars are about the same price, but cars do not devalue as fast as they do in the UK, so recent s/h cars are much dearer here, less so older ones.

b) Your RHD car will be easy to register in France (assuming it is not too out-of-the-ordinary) - you will need a certificate of conformity, which should be in the from of the hand/service book.

c) One you register it here (which will cost between 100E & 200E, depending on power rating - about 30E per "Fiscal" horsepower), it will be worth even less that it was worth in the UK.

If you can put up with a steering wheel on the wrong side, and are intending to keep the car for some time, I would recommend that you bring it.

 

[Iceni]

Totally agree with Nick.

Resale price is irrelevant unless/until you are ready to sell - do as the rural French do and run it until you can no longer keep it on  the road.

John

not

[Babnik]

Having broght my car over, I'd agree with the previous posters....but only do so if it's not too old and still in good condition. Driving a rhd car is no problem. We actually have bought a small van since we've been here, and i find no problem going from lhd to rhd and back again.

Only problem is if you ever want to sell your rhd car, I doubt you'll do it here, at least not at a decent price! I'm planning to run mine till it falls apart!

[opas]

Babnik, it is not necessarily the case when selling a RHD here, I suppose it does depend on the car and perhaps even the area, but, we sold one within weeks of advertising it for sale. We advertised it at more than we would have even dared in UK, but it was a good grand less than the French would have advertised that car for if it had been LHD, so we were happy and the buyer was happy....or so we thought, 9 months on and it is for sale again.....perhaps he hopes to make a killing!

Mrs O

[Babnik]

Mrs O,

did you sell it to someone French or English?

[opas]

Babnik, forgot to mention that in my post,I did mean to, She was French. Oh and it had been imported and re-reg by us some months previously.

Can I just add here that I never realised the amount of paperwork to be filled just to sell a car.

Mrs o

[Babnik]

good to know...I had resigned myself to run our car till it died...(the other option was to take it to Malta and sell it there! we drive on the left too, and 2nd hand cars go for much more than they do in the uk!)

Steve

[Teamedup]

We didn't bring our car over and doubt that we will be taking our french car back.

I simply do not like having the wheel and view of the road on the 'wrong' side. I prefer LHD here and RHD cars in the UK. I have done both driving RHD cars in France and LHD in the UK and know what I am happiest with and what  I feel safest with.

[bigjimbishop]

I just went back to the UK to buy a Xantia for 500 quid in great shape and will import it.

Where I live you need steering in the middle like all the other tractors.

Same Xantia in france is 2000Euro+

I am getting the cam belt replaced but I intend to run this car for ever and ever amen. (I have 2 others in pieces in the garden like most french blokes:hehe

[Bobdude]

Or even better - buy a left hand drive Xantia off Ebay for about the same price and bring it with you! We imported our top spec Volvo, as if we had sold it we couldn't have bought a car in France half as nice for the same money. I wouldn't recommend RHD for anyone who does a lot of driving alone - it's handy to have TOH in the left seat to check if there's owt coming!

[Ariegoisie]

I would say that it is much better to have LHD in France.

If you don't want the hassle of re-registering a UK car in France then why not part-ex this for a french registered LHD here in the UK and drive that down. These are often real bargains as they are not in demand here (for the same reason as it's hard to sell RHD in France). If you search the web there are a number of LHD specialists in th UK, several of which can even source you a car in France whilst taking your old RHD in part-ex in the UK. Phone around and ask what they can do for you.

G.

[just john]

I hate to spoil any illusions you may have about cheap LHD in UK, but cheap they ain't;  we have been looking for some time now, in all sorts of places including belgium and german e-bay, Try the link below.

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk

Certainly the cheapest and lowest mileage cars are in UK but of course RHD
Next cheapest are belgium or germany, (though what I have seen so far is slightly higher mileage). I don't think I would buy off e-bay since there seems to be few with warranty. Without doubt the most expensive place to buy is France, but worse than price the mileages are usually much higher, and so are declared faults.

UK 2000 Renault Megane Scenic, lots of choice around 5800 Euro

Same spec, LHD in one of the Specialist garages 8800 Euro
(but Uk reg so would need to be CT and registered

BELGIUM e-bay.be same spec E8K

GERMANY e-bay.de same spec E8K

FRANCE e-bay.fr same spec E10.5K

The above is just a sample, if you picked something like a Citroen C5 the difference is even more astounding. Has anyone out there has used dealers in belgium or germany who would assist with registration in France?. please let us know!

John & Sue

[Motorhead]

Don't you have to have it registered in your name at a foreign (not French) address for at least six months to avoid import duties (not to be confused with TVA)

0K there is a loophole to this but you need to get a car with at least 7 months remaining t&t and (if already resident in France) you'll also have to arrange temporary insurance cover or trailer or lorry it to the ferry company car park and you can't do it often or you'll be consdered a trader

Dunno about the rates though, never had to find out, probably less than the price differential.

 

[just john]

I don't know how, but the dealers offer the facility to register wherever you like, check out this link, (especially the prices!), All OF THESE VEHICLES ARE VAT PAID and are Registered in either Spain, France or UK.  Vehicles can be re-registered in any country of your choice.
Is there import duty between countries in the European community?
Has anyone ever bought a car from France or Germany

http://www.lhdautos.com/

 

John & Sue

[just john]

[quote]I don't know how, but the dealers offer the facility to register wherever you like, check out this link, (especially the prices!), All OF THESE VEHICLES ARE VAT PAID and are Registered in either S...[/quote]

Oooops that should have been

Has anyone ever bought a car from Belgium or Germany to France?

[Motorhead]

"All OF THESE VEHICLES ARE VAT PAID"

Nope their new ones aren't

 

"and are Registered in either Spain, France or UK.

Only one of their cars is registered in France.

 

 

  "Vehicles can be re-registered in any country of your choice."

Yes but it doesn't say if registration costs are paid by buyer, there may even be a facilitating fee involved. This site is a paragon of termolgical ambiguity, which is generally for a reason.

 

"Is there import duty between countries in the European community? "

I've heard so but that it depends on the vehilcle's age.

[Bobdude]

[quote]I hate to spoil any illusions you may have about cheap LHD in UK, but cheap they ain't; we have been looking for some time now, in all sorts of places including belgium and german e-bay, Try the lin...[/quote]

But you can still get cheap LHD cars on Ebay - i.e. Under £1000 - like the Xantia. At those sorts of prices I don't suppose anyone will be expecting a warranty. Our old Xantia took us 230,000 miles in 8 years on the same clutch! She went to North Africa and back at least half a dozen times, and when we finally parted company, she passed on to our son, (who said it was like driving along the road in a boat!) who promptly P/Ex'd her for a another car, and the last we saw of her she was happily chug-chugging away along Lincolnshire's country roads! Not every one can afford a nearly-new car, you know.

[just john]

I agree entirely with Motorhead and Lurcher21, just to clarify 'VAT paid' was for the used car section, but their prices were something else, the Alfa sportwagen is TWICE the price for a LHD example of exactly the same age and model with less miles available through a UK dealer (RHD); demonstrating that LHD through UK dealers are not cheap.
We currently run a variety of ancient cars (1970 peugeot 204 in france, which came with the house, and a 1977 stag and 1992 Rover 214 in the UK amongst others) but we have had our share of depannage!. MOH thinks especially since our visits and loads are likely to increase while we sort our property in France we should at least consider a more reliable bus, and this sort of exercise at least delays things and gives me more reason to use the Stag. While we're on, what is the classic car movement like here, is it possible to import things like Stags?

I'm sure all this has not improved the ease of decision for you Kathy but at least it gives you a few more options to consider!

John & Sue 

[Motorhead]

'77 Stag currently easy peasy check out www.ffve.org but the age limit goes up to 30 next year and a 5 yearly CT will be required but the movement restrictions will be scrapped.

Classic clubs just about everywhere.

[just john]

Hi, Great news, thanks for your info Motorhead, pity my poor french will take me ages to translate the site! and as its a pdf I can't cut and paste to a translation site!
Is it good or bad news that the limit goes up next year? Is a 5 year CT tough?
Is there a short english version of the classic registration route?, has anyone done it in 16 recently?

Thanks again

John & Sue

[NannyP]

I'm sorry now that I sold my LHD Audi 2 years ago, on Ebay for £100.

She went to France and when I last heard, was happily driving into town to fetch du pain, du vin etc and coping very well up and down the farm track she had to negotiate. I missed her, wonder whether I could buy her back

[Paul Bradford]

Hi,

There are bargains to be had on new vehicles in France. Earlier this year I saw a new VW Golf TDi advertised in euro's at what we would pay for in pounds in the UK. Used cars can be very expensive, but there are dealers that sell cheaper cars. Looking at one site advertised in this magazine I found a Hyundai Tuscon (4x4) advertised for under 18,000 euros. My father in law paid £18,000 for one just before Christmas. You have to check the wording of the advert to see if it includes tax, but even so they can still be cheaper than the UK. One last example. A friend has just returned from France having to extend his stay as his people carrier engine failed with a blown gasket. Everyone was on holiday and the repair could not be done. He is moving over in the next couple of years so he decided to buy another vehicle in France. He purchased a ten month old Fiat Ulysses TDi. Top spec including satnav for £12,000  (around 17,000 euro's). He was offered a Renault Espace for a similar price but this only had five seats and he couldn't wait for the additional seats to arrive. My advice would be to consider the costs of changing the headlights and paperwork required to import the vehicle, plus your time to accomplish these things, against the price of purchasing the vehicle that you require in France.

Regards Paul

 

[Motorhead]

Yes you can. In Acrobat click on edit then on copy file to clipboard then paste into Babelfish, I know it's too long but it worked for me. If that doesn't work paste into a word cruncher prog and then divide it up into bite sized chunks.

The change in legislation is coming about because of the new national number plates which will make the present geographic restriction unpoliceable. So the gouvernment are making out they are doing a deal by scrapping this but raising the qualifying age and imposing the CT.

You can usually get a sympathetic tester for old cars. The local classic club will know them.

[Paul Bradford]

Hi me again,

I saw an ad in Friday's London Evening Standard for a company selling new left hand drive MG & Rover cars. Example; Rover 75 2.0 Connoisseur (131 ps) X Power, full leather, conn pack (don't know what that is!) dip (?) climate control. £11755 inc vat.  Rover 45 2.0 turbo diesel club (auto's available) £7995 inc vat. They advertise they can be sold vat free for export.

I understand that Rover is highly regarded in France.

I do not have any affiliation to this company.

Regards

Paul