Wanting to buy a new car and thinking of going abroad for it

Mrs_Moc

Hi

I am looking to purchase a new car, which must be a seven seater and have quite a large boot.

I have been advised by friends that I may save several thousand if I go abroad to buy and save on the duty.

Has anyone any experience of doing this or can give any advice.

I have googled this and there is some guidelines which look quite complicated.

I would also welcome any suggestions on what type of car i might be able to make the best savings on and where to buy.

Thanks very much in advance.

Kilty_2

You won't save on the duty because you need to register it when you come home.

vikingaero

The days of importing cars for personal use is long over given the £ & € values.

Mrs_Moc

Kilty wrote: »

You won't save on the duty because you need to register it when you come home.

According to customs website, you can save on the duty (though not sure how much this would be considering I dont even know which model of car to go for ) but the car will be liable for vat.

vikingaero

What car is it you're looking for? Have you tried the broker sites such as Drive The Deal, Carfile, Broadspeed etc?

gilbert_and_sullivan

Worth checking if you get the same warranty with a parallel import, before going to all that trouble.

Then you have the fun of finding a proper UK spec car, which if it isn't will be worth considerably less than the genuine article should you decide to sell, and the local main dealer may not want to play ball in the event of warranty claim...who can blame him.

As said, those days are over.

You will probably save just as much buying through one of the online sellers.

victor2

Go for an almost new car, like an ex demonstrator. VAT will already have been paid, the initial depreciation (always the worst) will have hit, you'll still have the balance of the manufacturer's warranty, you'll get a UK spec model and the steering wheel will be on the right side!:D
Demonstrators are usually well kitted out with the optional extras too, and you won't have to go far to get one.

Kilty_2

vikingaero wrote: »

What car is it you're looking for? Have you tried the broker sites such as Drive The Deal, Carfile, Broadspeed etc?

+1.

Find the best online price then hit the dealers with it. I did this and bought the car I wanted (Kia Picanto 1.0 '1') for £5550 OTR after finance deposit contribution which is a few hundred quid cheaper than the online best.

Ian_W

Mrs_Moc wrote: »

I have been advised by friends that I may save several thousand if I go abroad to buy and save on the duty.

I think your friends are a little behind the times. In the 90's and early noughties importing from Ireland and Continental Europe could result in good savings on new cars but it's been quite a few years since that was the case.
From Honest John motoring site:

PERSONAL IMPORTS: I want to personally import a car from Europe. What do I need to know?
First point.
Unless you are buying a high ticket car, it is usually better to buy UK supplied via a broker than to attempt to import one yourself.

Martin used to have an article listing quite a lot of brokers but I can't find it on the site despite searching. As well as the ones already mentioned off the top of my head there is autobytel, deal drivers, perry's. The best to use are those where you are guaranteed 1st owner, with no log book retention, no fees to broker and deposit paid direct to the dealer you're going to buy from.

Also, as has been said, you can use the online price as a bargaining tool to try to get a local dealer to price match or beat.

Inactive

So where " abroad " is the OP planning to buy?

There is only Southern Ireland, Malta and Cyprus within reasonable distance, that drive on the left. ( as far as I am aware ).

None of them is cheaper than the UK, once you have changed the weak GBPound in to Euro's

nexus2011

Some of the big car supermarkets in the uk used to import their fords from cyprus but the specs would be a lot worse than the Uk.