Changing car - rhd to lhd

[Alanc]

I am in the all to familiar position of having settled in France, I have a RHD three year old Audi which I want to exchange for a similiar make new vehicle but LHD. Does anybody have positive experiences of this? If so with which company? I have raised the possibilty of such an  exchange with the main dealer in the UK from whom I bought the car and who has serviced it but they were not interested in supplying a LHD car - in fact the actual words from the Sales manager were ' too much messing about for us'! I also raised the matter with Audi UK who initially ignored my emails but then, when pushed, informed me that my query would be referred to their 'export dept' - whatever that is !!!!! Anyway, 12months on, I have heard rien !!!  This was something of a surprise to me as I have been a Audi fan for a number of years and in my previous dealings with the company have always found their customer service and their willingness to help first class.

I should add that during the course of a recent trip to the UK I again raised my query with the main dealer thinking that perhaps there might have been a change in policy but the response was again in the negative. This time however it was couched in terms ' we don't do it in this dealership' which I took to mean that there are dealers who might be willing to do a deal but he merely shrugged his shoulders when I asked where else I might try. I'm not really inclined to set about contacting every main dealer in the UK.

 

So over to you. I have to say that I have been  an infrequent poster of requests for help on this site but whenever I have posted messages, somebody out there has come up with a solution.

 

[YCCMB]

We have a friend who is an Audi fan. He has been very positive about the help he's had from the Audi forum [url]http://www.audiforums.com/forum/[/url] . Might be wort a punt to ask on there.

[Pickles]

Sometimes the "Diplomat Sales" or "Tax free sales" dept can help.

In the case of Audi, they give the following as a contact for Diplomat/Tax Free sales emma.fowler@audi.co.uk:

she might be your best bet. However, the trade-in side might be a problem unless she can put you on to a dealer who will take your existing car - perhaps one of the London dealerships might be interested.

Good luck!

[dave21478]

Sell it outright in Uk and buy a replacement in France.

Anything else is likely to be a bad deal for you. The garage has to make their profit on their sale and want the least amount of hassle possible. No garage is going to be very willing to do this sort of deal... If you do it in UK, the garage has the trouble, hassle and expense of sourcing you a LHD model, and if you do it in France, the garage then has the hassle of trying to sell on a RHD model, which is hugely less desirable.

These costs WILL be passed on to you.

[Pickles]

[quote user="dave21478"]Sell it outright in Uk and buy a replacement in France.

Anything else is likely to be a bad deal for you. The garage has to make their profit on their sale and want the least amount of hassle possible. No garage is going to be very willing to do this sort of deal... If you do it in UK, the garage has the trouble, hassle and expense of sourcing you a LHD model, and if you do it in France, the garage then has the hassle of trying to sell on a RHD model, which is hugely less desirable.

These costs WILL be passed on to you.[/quote]

I think that the OP will find that your suggestion will work out a MUCH better deal than that which would result from going down the route I proposed: my route MAY be possible, but as you say, the OP will end up paying through the nose and not getting a good p/ex if following my suggestion.

[Hereford]

For some reason that escapes us all the Brits in Normandy seem to want to use RHD cars even when they live here. We easily sold our RHD privately and then just bought a new lhd one.

Much the simplest.

[Judith]

[quote user="Hereford"]For some reason that escapes us all the Brits in Normandy seem to want to use RHD cars even when they live here.

[/quote]

 Always popping back to good ole blighty????

[PaulT]

[quote user="dave21478"] If you do it in UK, the garage has the trouble, hassle and expense of sourcing you a LHD model[/quote]

What trouble, hassle and expense - Audis are not made in the UK so instead of taking a RHD car from the production line in I assume would be Germany they take an LHD one.

As for the dealer and Audi UK negativity I would be looking for another make.