UKC

Looks like we need to buy a car to use in France. From a quick Google, it appears that second hand cars are pricey in France, so we'd be better off buying an LHD model in the UK and driving it over there. It's likely to be an MPV or estate.

Does anyone have any experience of doing this? All help appreciated.

In reply to steve taylor:

Correct, second hand prices in France are expensive and the French don't do haggling. Customer is always wrong etc...

Lived in the Alps for 10 years and always ran a British and British insured car, never found LHD a problem. I did try to import it but it was such a hassle I gave up. Assuming it's not a problem to round trip it to UK once a year for MOT then I would say it's the way to go. As long as you have a UK address to insure it from. I think unlimited European insurance is standard with policies these days but will be 3rd party only in Europe even if you have fully comp. Best check though!

In reply to steve taylor:

I've only done it the other way, having brought a LHD car back to the UK and gone through the import process. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy - although the converse process of importing into France is supposed to be less onerous, not least because you can take a UK-registered car to the continent and be allowed to drive it around whilst you do the paperwork; but as a British citizen, if you bring a French car to the UK, you're not even allowed to drive it off the ferry until you've completed the import minefield. And it takes a long, long time, with forms rejected on a whim, three different agencies who won't talk to each other and a whole bunch of chancers who make money off you (many of them work for the government).

Anyway, looking on the cheery side , you've got two good options: look at how much it'll cost and how long it'll take and then decide whether the extra cost of buying a car in France outweighs these; or start trawling ex-expat sites for people who've brought their LHD cars home and completed the importation. They're likely (like me) to still have their LHD headlights and random bits of paper like the European Certificate of Conformity. You could save a few hundred quid right there, and it's also a buyer's market for LHD vehicles in the UK.

HTH

In reply to steve taylor:

There's left hand drive specialists in the UK.

In reply to steve taylor:

LHD cars in the UK are more expensive than RHD, so by the time you've done everything to import it to France, you might just as well have purchased a car in France.

I've imported 2 UK cars into France (both RHD) and it's fairly hassle free to be honest and I don't really find it to be a problem not having LHD.

To import a car, you need to get the European certificate of conformity from the manufacturer. You can do this yourself or use a site like EuroCOC. This can cost anywhere between £75-200 depending on manufacturer. You need to go to the local tax office and declare that you're importing the vehicle. I thinks it's tax free if the car is over a certain age or done more than a certain amount of miles. I never had to pay import duty on my 2. You need to change your headlights to European ones because you can't get through a french controle technique (MOT) with just the stickers on the lights. Some makes of car allow you to do this without changing the whole lamp assembly, others like mine need the lamp assembly changed. For my RAV 4, buying the lights and getting a garage to change them cost about €400 in total.

When the car has passed the CT, you then take the CT certificate, Certificate of Conformity and import document to the prefecture who will issue the carte grise. Again, depending on make, model and age of the car the fee for this varies. They have something which translates as fiscal horsepower which they use to calculate this. Each car has a fiscal horsepower which is a calculated by some crazy formula and then they multiply this number by a fixed amount depending on what department you're in. For an average car, this is usually about €250-400.

Once you have your carte grise, you can then get some French number plates and French insurance wnd then send the your V5 back to the DVLA to let them know that you have exported the vehicle.

Simples.

In reply to steve taylor:

Can anyone recommend any companies in the UK that sell LHD cars?

In reply to crisp:


I bought our LHD Passat estate from a specialised dealer up near Northholt a few years back. Can't say I would strongly recommend them or otherwise - they were a typical used car dealer - but the car is still going strong after 4 winters in the alps. If you're interested I can dig the info out of the log book but it will have to wait until the end of the week because I'm traveling right now.

My car was originally German, but had been fully registered in the UK. This means the speedo and all the other stuff is in miles etc and the lights needed changing (around 500eur) to European spec.

You can buy French cars in the UK that are still registerd in France, with French plates and carte grise, controle technique (MOT) etc. This would have been easier but we preferred this car. You have a good six months or so before you really have to start registering the car in France.

Echo what others have said - LHD are more expensive in UK, but second hand is more expensive in general in France. Buying in the UK takes the hassle out of looking, especially if like us, you wanted to drive the car one-way and go and live in France.

In reply to steve taylor:

Duh - I meant RHD drive in previous post! I have never really found RHD car a problem in Europe. Always get confuzzed between the two...

In reply to steve taylor:

We've bought a LHD car from one of the specialist dealers in the UK. Price was midway between British RHD and French LHD prices. Import isn't much of a hassle as long as the car is fairly recent (i.e. maybe within 10 years or so old) as the standards were all harmonised at one point so it's only the headlights that really need changing, and a lot of LHD cars have their original headlamps anyway. I'd do it again if in a similar situation.

Check out the prices though, since the strong pound may possibly have made French car prices more competitive again.