English car in france
Jun 28th 2012, 7:00 am
#16
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: SE Dordogne France
Posts: 982
Re: English car in france
I bought my LHD car from a London dealer. Cost me about £1000 more than the equivalent RHD would have cost but even so about €2000 less than the same car would have cost me in France.
I'm not one for regularly swapping cars but for those who are a higher initial cost in France will of course be at least partially offset when it come to selling .
As footnote IMO anyone who buys brand new cars by definition must have more money than sense and therefore can have no legitimate grounds for arguing relative costs
I'm not one for regularly swapping cars but for those who are a higher initial cost in France will of course be at least partially offset when it come to selling .
As footnote IMO anyone who buys brand new cars by definition must have more money than sense and therefore can have no legitimate grounds for arguing relative costs
Jun 28th 2012, 8:39 pm
#17
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2012
Location: France
Posts: 126
Re: English car in france
Spot on! 
Jul 2nd 2012, 7:16 am
#18
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2009
Location: Bouches du Rhone (13)
Posts: 263
Re: English car in france
Agreed regarding new cars.
There is a LHD place in Chesham which sells s/hand "normal" cars at somewhere between UK and continental prices, many UK registered but also French, Spanish, German registered cars etc (they come up on google). When I look into these, I got the impression they would sell you the car, but the paperwork might not be in full order and that it was the new owner's responsibility to take it from there. Imagine turning up in France with your newly acquired car already on the right plates, but finding it impossible to register it properly due to missing papers! I would know more about what questions to ask now, but at the time I wasn't as confident on the subject.
There is a LHD place in Chesham which sells s/hand "normal" cars at somewhere between UK and continental prices, many UK registered but also French, Spanish, German registered cars etc (they come up on google). When I look into these, I got the impression they would sell you the car, but the paperwork might not be in full order and that it was the new owner's responsibility to take it from there. Imagine turning up in France with your newly acquired car already on the right plates, but finding it impossible to register it properly due to missing papers! I would know more about what questions to ask now, but at the time I wasn't as confident on the subject.
Jul 2nd 2012, 7:43 am
#19
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: SE Dordogne France
Posts: 982
Re: English car in france
An excellent point.
Paradoxically if buying a LHD foreign registered car to bring to France one already on French plates can frequently turn out to be the worst of all possible choices !
Even then it's not all plain sailing. I recently heard of a case where somebody bought an ex German registered BMW in UK. Only after they had brought it to France and applied to BMW for a C of C did they discover that it was actually US built car (US services personal import) effectively making it impossible to register or even drive as the German export plates had expired.
A very expensive mistake !
Paradoxically if buying a LHD foreign registered car to bring to France one already on French plates can frequently turn out to be the worst of all possible choices !
Even then it's not all plain sailing. I recently heard of a case where somebody bought an ex German registered BMW in UK. Only after they had brought it to France and applied to BMW for a C of C did they discover that it was actually US built car (US services personal import) effectively making it impossible to register or even drive as the German export plates had expired.
A very expensive mistake !
