njf

As I have said in another thread, my wife and I are likely to be moving early next year.

I love our car - an Audi A3 with very low mileage. I even tried to find out about converting it to LHD but the price I got today is unrealistic. Not too keen on selling and finding a secondhand LHD car so was wondering how people get on with keeping their RHD cars in Spain. I know I would have to get it registered after six months and get the lights changed etc. A long time ago I took a previous car to Europe and I know overtaking and paying at toll booths or using car park barriers can be difficult but do you get used to it? (PS Are there mirrors available to make overtaking easier?)

norm

bil

Me personally, the last thing I wanted was to stand out as a guiri if there are any xenophobic civis around. Overtaking is worse, etc etc with RHD too.

lizzy1955

i brought my car to spain no problem with it been a rhd as long as my husband or somebody been with me when going through barriers ect shopping getting a ticket and getting out of car park ect but appart from that ok

lyric030250

We both drive our RHD car that we couldn't sell. It is absolutely no problem for me, my wife does have a car park barrier problem. No other aspect is difficult three years on, and we both actually find it an asset on tracks where you can get closer to the edge.

With reasonable performance, and I guess the A3 qualifies, overtaking is no problem either, just hang back enough to see.

pwwm

as long as you plan to keep the car, should you decide to sell, prices fr rhd are very low. we bought over lhd, which we bought in UK and used for some months before the big move, have gone from sublime to ridiculous, we have a landrover Discovery and also a Smart

Domino

what is the feeling about just adjusting the lights to suit the different side rather than actually changing the light housing ? ?

angiescarr

As far as I know, to be legal you have to fit different lights to pass the ITV and to re-register. A complicated and expensive business, but worth it if your car is low mileage.
Why not bring your car over for 6 months to see if you can get along with it. If not ..take it back and sell it. Mine is RHD. I brought it over for similar reasons; low mileage and local second hand cars Soooo expensive! We're totally used to it. Just remember, if sliding across to put tickets in barriers. Put the handbrake on and the car out of gear! Just been watching 'Worlds craziest fools'. Plenty of examples on there of people forgetting that one! We haven't had any probs being picked up by traffico (touch wood).

njf

That's eactly the way my mind was working. Great to get reinforcement. Thanks.

Dxf

Hi

If you want to avoid import tax then rematriculate you car with 60 days of the date on the empadron certificate which is used by the British consulate and the Hacienda alike to calculate the days

Davexf

billgates

Bringing your RHD car over and matriculating it is no problem, can cost about 1000€ though.
We did that more than once.
Driving a RHD over here is easy and there are benefits to being closer to the edge of the road. Overtaking is only really a problem if you want to do a lot of it. Living in the campo we don't have that many opportunities to overtake.

However, a RHD vehicle singles you out. You are immediately recognisable as a foreigner, and a Brit as well. Generally the locals are fine with foreigners but sometimes you just wish you could be a little more anonymous. You will also get other Brits looking down their noses at you because they drive a Spanish car and have the "we are more Spanish than you" attitude. You will also get whispered comments made about whether your RHD car is legal or are you just another Brit who thinks he can get away with not matriculating his car.

We've been through it all and eventually just went out and bought a Spanish car. Hidiously expensive compared to its UK equivalent, but just the anonimity makes for a much more relaxed feeling. We can go to the supermarket and be treated as just another local. We don't get cut-up in traffic as much. It really does make things easier to buy Spanish.

angiescarr

Do you really care who looks down their noses at you or who whispers comments? I wouldn't let any of that influence my decision! As for cutting you up because your car is RHD I'm questioning whether this is just coincidence. ? Sure, if you can afford a new Spanish car....... go for it.

paintermujer

Ive got to admit I like the anonymity also but they are ridiculously expensive.Depends what your happy with.

Domino

agree

IMHO too many road accidents are caused by jealousy "he's got a better car than me!" "his car is different to mine" "how can he afford that car"
Jeep had an offer of a car for the weekend and I got a Wrangler lwb (bit smaller than a humvee) with a Jeep personalised number plate.
I sat at abt 65 on dual carriageways and motorways with a whole string of peeps who had to overtake, cutting in on me, if I had the audacity to overtake them they had to speed up whilst I was level with them or once past overtake me again.
looked on it all as a game, smiled and just enjoyed the drive and actually looked down on them.
(after I got to destination)
took it into work and it was wider than the parking spaces so needed 2, with large overhang. Got S**t for that as well.

billgates

Maybe it is my imagination, maybe not. I can say with certainty though, the anonymity of a "normal" Spanish car is worth the price. Not that I can afford a new car, an older car is just fine with me, and if it's got a few small dents in it then all the better.

missile

For me, the convenience and safety afforded by driving a car with the steering wheel on the "correct" side is worth the price.

FYI, my A3 2.0TDI was cheaper to buy in spain than it would have been in the UK.