weishuhn

This is kind of a random question but we are American expats living in Italy but we are moving to the UK in a month. The move would be a lot easier if we had a car before entering the UK (we have a dog, two kids, etc). So we were wondering if anyone had any recommendations on where we could buy a right hand drive car in Italy or if anyone here wanted to sell their car? Thanks!

Listen Very Carefully

You will need to go through a re registration procedure when you arrive in the UK in an Italian registered car One of the conditions is that you cannot use the car in the UK until the re reg procedure has gone through which may take a few weeks.Personally I would buy one on arrival If you have a LHD now there are companies in the UK that buy LHD cars and sell RHD
An example here

https://webuylefthanddrives.co.uk/?g...SAAEgKDX_D_BwE

C.2s

Hmmm...you're right. It is a bit random! :-)

Assuming you absolutely HAVE to move at the moment and can't put if off for a while longer you have all the Brexit issues and the coronavirus ones mixed together...we're still trying to work out what it means for any sort of travel...so it's quite hard for us to be certain what the rules are/will be.

But in general there are 2 possibilities:

1. Brits have been supposed to reregister their cars as Italian for some time now. So you might find some right-hand drive cars with Italian number plates that you can drive to the UK and reregister as British when you get there. If you search on this forum you'll find whole threads talking about taking cars from Italy to the UK and registering them there. In fact there is nothing to stop you buying a left-hand drive car and taking it to the UK and registering it. There's lots of left-hand drive vehicles there. But Brexit means that anything you read iin the old threads might have changed - do you have to pay some sort of import tax now? Also buying a second-hand Italian registered car (right or left hand drive) would mean you have to register it here and buy insurance here (which would be realy expensive) - before doing the same again when you arrive in the UK. You couldn't (as far as I know) buy/register/insure it in the UK until you get there, and you couldn't get it there without this...

2. Some Brits haven't actually reregistered there cars (despite the fact that the law says they should have done) and are still driving on UK plates. If you are luck to find someone in that position then they might be happy to sell the car to you. It would probably be a good solution to their problems and you can register it in the UK when you arrive for free. It would be really simple. Or the registration part would be...but the iinsurance...my question is how you would get insurance for the trip? I'm not sure it would be possible to find any company that would insure you

weishuhn

That's an interesting option. We do have a LHD car and were planning on selling it here. I just figured it was going to be hard to sell it in the UK.

I wish... It's probably one of the worst times in recent memory to be planning move to the UK. It's actually because of Brexit that we can't wait, new rules make it impossible for my wife to start her job "internationally" despite the fact that she'll have to be working from home. Go figure. Pre-Brexit it would have been fine.

This is kind of what I'm hoping for, I didn't know if there were places where British expats went to sell cars to one another The insurance question is definitely a big one I'll have to figure out.

Listen Very Carefully

Be careful with buying a Brit registered car Some Brits have used all sorts of dodges to avoid re registering their cars and this includes making false declarations to the DVLA in the UK to say that the car has been "off roaded" (known as SORN) and have been driving round with no insurance and No MOT meaning that the car may not be safe to drive Or the vehicle may have been sold on a couple of times so that the person on the registration form is not the person who has possession of it now and no uk road tax has been paid for some time Also be aware that every port and eurotunnel have ANPR cameras which check number plates and trigger a police response if the DVLA computer indicates that there is something dodgy about the vehicle which could result in huge fines and the vehicle being seized

C.2s

Well. the buyer always need to check that logbook (registration document) is correct and that the details on it match the person they are buying from by checking they have ID that proves this. Exactly the same as you would if you bought the car in the UK. As you say the ANPR reads your registration as you enter the country but if there is no MOT you are entitled by UK law to drive to a pre-booked test. So you can legally enter the country and drive to a test center and get the car tested. I've done it before in Folkestone and the guys there said that people do it a lot. Then the buyer can tax the car and automatically declare it back on road (cancelling the SORN) when they register it, so whether it was really off road or not previously wouldn't really be a problem for them. I don't see why the new owner would have any responsibility for any fines.

One should get evidence of the MOT. Thought it is never proof of whether a car is safe to drive or not . It only states that it meets the minimum legal requirement at the time it was tested.

HOWEVER I'd expect you would find that any insurance you do have is invalidated if the car doesn't have a valid MOT and/or has been declared off road.

Personally, in the OP's situation I'd take the Italian car and reregister it in the UK. I don't see a problem with driving a left-hand drive car in the UK. The process of registration is somewhat simpler than it is in Italy. Though you might well have to hire a car for a few weeks whilst it's being done....and besides you're not likely to be driving as much as normal given the national lockdown! (trying to look on the bright side)

weishuhn

Thanks for all the help! We are starting to lean towards just driving our car from Italy to the UK and selling it there. I talked to a few different places that buy LHD cars and it seems like it'll be relatively straightforward. There is enough happening between now and when we move that it probably makes the most sense to put this problem off until later. Thanks again!

GeorgeYoung

If you've recently purchased the vehicle abroad, you can be assessed for VAT when you try to import it. Also, the law states that as soon as you become resident in the UK you cannot drive a foreign-registered vehicle - this means that your insurance would be invalid, although given you're not going to be resident at the address on your insurance docs, it would probably be invalid anyway!

Personally, having recently imported an Italian vehicle in the UK, I can tell you it took me 2 months to complete the process (last autumn) during which time the vehicle had to be kept off the road. Given the current complications of Brexit & noone knowing what the rules are, it could be even more time-consuming now.

Sorry I can't provide better or more positive advice!

GeorgeYoung

If you do decide to import your Italian LHD car, you will have to get the headlights changed so they are correctly aligned for UK roads, plus ensure that the speedometer is marked in MPH.

If your car is under 10 years old, you may always have to go through a process called "mutual recognition". My car is old enough that this rule doesn't apply so I don't have any experience of it but I can only imagine it adds to the time required. https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicle...al-recognition

When you get to the UK, you can insure your car with some insurers using the vehicle's chassis number. However, the coverage only applies if you are using the vehicle legally, which basically means taking it for an MOT (if your vehicle's over 3 years old, you will need to get a garage to do this before you apply for the UK number plates). My insurance company, Admiral, covered me for an initial month but said I had to get UK plates fitted within 30 days. I think if you ask for an extension of a further 30 days you will get it. If the car's off the road, you don't legally need to have it insured but obviously you wouldn't be covered in the event of theft.

Hope that's all helpful, sorry if it's a bit of a scatter-gun post!