Buying RHD UK registered car

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littleeak
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Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby littleeak » Mon Oct 01, 2018 10:19 am

We're seriously considering moving back to the UK and, as we have 2 cats, think driving would be the best option. Does anyone know of the best place to purchase a RHD estate car or similar as the idea would be to use it once back in blighty?

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costakid
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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby costakid » Mon Oct 01, 2018 1:08 pm

What is your budget? Petrol or diesel?

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby 1bassleft » Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:57 pm

I don't know of anyone's history in your area. Can you travel a bit for the right car? Bill Brady has been dealing in cars on the Costa del Sol for as long as I've been here (30 years) and often has RHD, Spanish and UK plated. Carsinspain.es are in Murcia and also get RHD in. I have seen various vehicles of theirs on ebay and other sites over the past year and they seem legit, but I haven't got personal experience.

Can I throw a curveball at you? Why not travel up in a Spanish registered LHD rather than RHD - especially if you have one? If you switch it to UK plates once settled back it's relatively straightforward and you can sell the car at a premium to people doing the opposite to you. I've recently bought a UK plate LHD vehicle and paid about 30% more than it would be worth as a right-hooker. OTOH, RHD drive cars here are worth a lot less than an equivalent lefty so it's swings and roundabouts. If you have a look at the online version of Euro Weekly News, Bill Brady always has a number of classified ads with them and RHDs are amongst them.

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby Miro » Mon Oct 01, 2018 6:16 pm

We moved back to the UK last year with our cat. We drove our Spanish reg LHD - knowing the history of the car and it's reliability were important factors, especially with moggie on board. We almost sold the car privately (via a forum contact) to someone heading the other way, but that fell through at the last minute. You could advertise yours (this is assuming you have one!) and maybe strike a similar arrangement, but if not, there's definitely a market for left-hookers in the UK: I put ours on e-bay and was inundated with enquiries. Ultimately, I sold it (still on Spanish plates) to one of the LHD dealers, who travelled quite some distance for it, paid a very decent price, and dealt with all the paperwork. I then was free to choose exactly which car I wanted in the UK, rather than pick from a limited pool in Spain.

Another tip from our experience: there are a very limited number of pet cabins on Brittany Ferries, and they get booked up very early - especially the Bilbao route - so if you are thinking of going that way, plan well in advance.
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littleeak
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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby littleeak » Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:36 am

Thank you...... didn't realise there was a market for LHD in the UK. Whether anyone would want to buy a 2007 registered one though....

.

Miro
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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby Miro » Tue Oct 02, 2018 1:11 pm

Mine was 2003, albeit with only 50,000 Kms on the clock.
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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby 1bassleft » Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:17 pm

Absolutely, Littleleak and that's where the 25+% hike kicks in (it might be a bit less for a higher-value car). I was looking for an estate as an occasional trans-Europe trotter. Something diesel, reliable, low tax and with toys like cruise etc. Then I saw this 2002 LHD Opel Combo Tour and the lure of the left-hooker took over. It was on eBay, I travelled 3 counties to take a look, and figured it was about £600 worth as a RHD but up to £900 as a lefty. I wasn't wrong; I had to pay £840. It helped that it had Spanish service history (!) and the seller had dropped in a 50k mile replacement engine but it would have shifted anyway.

Many people in Blighty have swallowed all that "Place in the Sun" stuff and bought some place to do up. Getting a £20k semi-new lefty is out of the question, but a cheap load-lugger with the wheel on the correct side (with a few hundred quid left over to get it bulletproof) makes perfect sense for that type of buyer. As Miro says, ES, F or (to a lesser extent) P or I plates are not a put off at all. It's worth considering getting a V5 and a transfer on return to UK, though. I saw a LHD Fiat on ES plates with (not applicable in your case, I'm sure) some missing paperwork and I messaged the seller about how difficult that would be. Sure enough, it went through three auctions and each "buyer" realised it would be more complicated than they thought and backed out. A UK seller, UK buyer, UK plates reduces the frustration of starry-eyed compulsive buyers who haven't looked into the detail although, again as Miro said, there are LHD dealers snapping up these cars and dealing with the paperwork as part of their (profitable) service.

"It's just brought us back from Granada" is as good a recommendation as any, for a lot of people.

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby D1ckyS » Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:03 am

Personally, I'd avoid the hassle of taking a LHD car back to the UK and just go for one of the many RHD cars advertised on the net by people who have done what we have. We bought a late model RHD Kangoo in the UK which easily fitted our 3 cats, dog and loads of clobber and motored down through France in luxury with air con and cruise in 3 days. The cats went in a large dog crate in the back with enough room for cat boxes and litter tray and we all arrived in one piece. We've kept the car for a couple of months whilst settling in and it's now ready to do the return leg for someone else....

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby Miro » Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:24 am

Obviously a question of personal preference, and I guess littleeak will do his/her own research and arrive at the best solution for their circumstances. Don't really see what the hassle would be in taking the LHD to the UK - after all, the majority of the journey will be on the right. As 1bassleft says, it's swings and roundabouts, because you can pick up a UK reg RHD cheaply in Spain - but for me in the end it was decided by the fact that there's a very limited choice of RHD cars available in Spain, and if I'd bought one there I'd almost certainly have sold it immediately once back in the UK in order to get something I actually wanted. On the other hand, the limited supply of LHD cars in the UK does, as already pointed out, create a market with a premium; in my case, it was far more pronounced than 1bassleft's example: I found a similar make, model, year and mileage vehicle to mine on Autotrader, going for £700; I sold my Spanish reg LHD version to a dealer for £2750. I think they sold it on to a waiting buyer, because it was only on their website a few days - naturally for a considerable mark-up!
Perhaps it would be worth contacting a few dealers for estimates on what you might get from them. You can find them easily on Google, there's about half a dozen or so that have been operating for years. The one I sold to is based in Nottingham. (I also bought a LHD from one in Basingstoke about 21 years ago, and they're still going)
Also plug the details of your Spanish car into compramostucoche for a rough (probably overly optimistic) idea of what you may get for it if you sell it in Spain.
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby 1bassleft » Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:51 pm

I think I know the Nottingham dealer to which Miro refers; they have a number of LHD cars on Gumtree and emphasize that they have the necessary paperwork to smooth the transition. If you take your vehicle back, there's more playground equipment regarding the matriculation. A UK plate (as I mentioned) makes the sale less complicated and can open up the target market for UK residents with a holiday home anywhere in Europe, but keeping it on ES plates will be an advantage to someone planning on driving it down and keeping it there.

A working, running 2007 vehicle in Andalucia has considerable value of course. I spent considerable time and effort before paying €2600 for a (low km, service history) 2005 car here. Going right back to what Miro first said, knowing whether you can rely on your vehicle or another one to make a long trek is more important than which earns a few more euros. I find driving a LHD briefly in Blighty less onerous than a RHD in EU, but I'm more familiar with UK roads so, again, it's a personal thing.

As an aside, my car's seller had written an unfortunate description that probably depressed the bidding. One factor in your "sell it here or sell it there" decision is that body dinks and flaky lacquer have far less effect on the selling price in Andalucia than the UK market.

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costakid
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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby costakid » Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:11 pm

Google the phrase: The Loach Brothers. Nottingham based lhd dealers who scammed thousands of customers. Wouldn’t touch them with a barge poll.

Miro
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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby Miro » Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:29 am

The stories that come up on that search are quite old. Never heard of them, or any of the company names mentioned. It does seem a little coincidental that they were operating in Nottingham, however - there's not many LHD dealers, so there could well be a connection, but the company I dealt with has a website that you'll find by Googling LHD car buyer.
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby 1bassleft » Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:29 am

I was thinking of Pentagon, who are actually Spondon, Derbyshire not Notts. Noticed them a lot on Gumtree and they seem to know what they're doing with paperwork but I've never used them. Speaking of "dodgy", though, there is a Gumtree seller who is always selling "his", "very nice" car and lists a few locations within a 6-mile radius in Notts. The name changes, but the mobile doesn't and he/she has "owned" quite a few lefties over just the past year.

Sharks are out there (on MilAnuncios, Gumtree you name it) and a spider-sense helps.

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby Miro » Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:08 am

Yep, Pentagon is the one I sold to.
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby spanish_lad » Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:36 am

The buyer for pentagon here in spain is called mark, portly older chap in his 50s. Normally travels with his wife. We used to do a bit of bodywork for him, and he used to park the cars with us until a transporter picked them up :)
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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby Lasky6600 » Thu Dec 13, 2018 7:52 pm

If I sell my Spanish plated LHD car in the UK to a dealer, how to I ensure the paperwork at traffico is completed. I mean I can't contact them with the dealer's name as I would have to have the NIE/NIF of the purchaser.
So how does this happen.
Confused.com


Update: All sorted. One of the forum members suggested the lhdcarbuyer.com who have offered to buy my car and do all the paperwork (yes including de-register)

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Re: Buying RHD UK registered car

Postby 1bassleft » Fri Dec 14, 2018 4:54 pm

That's the website for Pentagon Motors in Spondon, as used by Miro. Does look like they are worth trying for a convenient way to offload the LHD on return to the UK - for anyone else who comes to this thread via a search.

Glad you're happy, Lasky. Any problems down the line, just throw in a message


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