kiwimagyar

Sziastok!

I am a postgraduate student in London, moving to Budapest in just under a month.

I have a small car-load of belongings that I need to get to Budapest, and I thought the best way of achieving this might be to buy a left-hand drive car in London and drive it across to Hungary (plus it will make weekend trips around Hungary nice and convenient!).

Just though I would ask here on the off-chance that anyone has a very cheap-but-reliable Hungarian-registered car for sale in the next few weeks (budget is around 500 pounds). I'd even consider coming out to Budapest and driving it back to London to pick up my things for the right car

Many thanks!
Rebecca.

fidobsa

You won't get much of a car in Hungary for 500 quid! You would probably be better getting one in UK even though you might have to re-register it in Hungary. I don't know if you have read the previous threads about cars in this forum but you should know that you can only buy and drive a Hungarian registered car when you have a valid registration and address card to show you are a resident of Hungary. You should also bear in mind that a round trip takes about 250 litres of fuel even in a small car.

kiwimagyar

Thanks fidobsa.

Yes, 500 quid isn't a lot ... although I see some good little run-abouts in the UK for that much.

To 'register' a car in Hungary that was bought in the UK ... is that the same thing as having to import it? I understand that can be very costly...

Also, I understand that the cost of insurance is a lot less in Hungary - hence why I thought a Hungarian-registered car might be better than a UK one.

I can't find any rental car companies that do reasonable one-way hires from the UK to Hungary, thus my interest in buying a cheap car. The only other option is shipping everything over in boxes - if anyone has recommendations for a company that does this sort of thing, I'd be happy to hear of them.

Many thanks,
Rebecca.

wolfi

Fidobsa is right!

Used car prices here are relatively high and I wouldn't run the risk of being stranded with my things in a cheap car somewhere in Germany or Austria.
And that rule about being registered is also to be considered - btw it also works the other way round:
I gave my second car (with a German licence plate) to my Hungarian wife's son to drive and the police stopped them and wanted to keep the car - only the fact that there was a baby in the car made them reconsider ...
So I "sold" him the car and he did the necessary paperwork to get it registered in Hungary - it was quite an effort, he told us!

duztee

Cars, even old second hand are one item which are generally more expensive in Hungary than the UK.

Registering a car can be very simple or very difficult, even impossible if the vehicle does not have an EU conformity certificate.

Insurance is generally cheaper but not by a great deal.

and I agree with Wolfi it is a fairly punishing trip to inflict on an old car which has probably only been used as a shopping hack for several years to then subject it to 2000 kms of motorway running. The subsequent cost and hassle of a breakdown needs to be considered.

There are companies who would ship you possessions as a 'pallet' in a groupage truck, it is not cheap and can take weeks. (I had a quote from Britania which was more than the fuel to do it myself)

Will you actually need a car in Budapest? public transport is very good, and like any capital city using a car can be more hassle.

Sending you a pm

kiwimagyar

Thanks all - this is certainly valuable advice.

One of the reasons I would like a car in Budapest is that my partner may have a job opportunity just outside the city in a village with poor public transport connections. But perhaps he will just have to car pool.

Duztee ... thanks for the pm. I want to read it, but apparently I have to "make three posts" before I get the privileges of the pm system! I'm posting this reply in the hope that it counts. If not, I'll go and start a couple of new threads elsewhere, and then try again!

Thanks again all,
R.

Rural Hungary

Have you tried uship or similar sites?

angolmagyar

If you did not buy the car from new and you have a receipt for the care with your address included on it. The whole process is around 250.000 forint.
So a budget car is not woth the re reg / import.
My advise would be to buy a banger in the uk for the sole purpose of just getting to Hungary with your goods and then sell it here whole or as parts. Note the car WILL have a vlue to another Hungarian making the trip back to the UK.
Then buy a hungarian car once you have settled here.
You can run your uk car here on UK Documents for up to 2 years. However I would be sure to have plenty of uk MOT to run and or sell at the timely date to suite you.
regards
AM

jetsam1

Yep cars are ridiculous here. We have a completely knackered 10 year old Astra estate and were offered HUF 400,000 for it as a part exchange. In the UK I'd have just scrapped it frankly but even old and knackered gets over a grand comfortably here. The only cheap cars you will find are the old Ladas etc but even then just knackered ones as people hold onto them. Registration is expensive and one of the reasons I didn't bring my UK car over.

In Budapest you do see UK registered cars around and I have seen them up for sale but I'm not sure if there's a legal issue with selling RHD cars in Hungary? Probably would be. There might be an issue over scrappage too as you would have to inform the UK DVLA and scrappage/breaking for spares abroad may well have some extra things atached. Also if you keep the car you will have to take it back for the MOT every year and insurance is likely to be expensive. It's probably easier and cheaper to have stuff shipped over really in the end. We ended up using a commercial haulage firm for our stuff and worked out monumentally cheaper then using a removal company (Only paid for the space we used). But my wife is Hungarian so the language was not an issue.

Oh, ferries are easily £450-500 and the Eurostar is much cheaper but depending on where you are can cost in fuel. Also factor in that you may well have to do the drive in two stints as I've done it a few times and you really do not want to be tired on the Autobahn............. It's a long way especially in a banger. I would definately recommend at least one stop over if driving.