Buying a car abroad is it worth it?

grace2much

Hi all, need some advice on where to begin my research on evaluating if its worth it to buy a car abroad. A handful of years ago there was alot of talk about importing cars.

To my details. I have £12,000 - £15,000 in cash to buy up to a 2/3 max year old car. I am looking at a high spec Saab / Mondea / Volvo etc (but if the value is right I'm flexible) that would have lost a lot of its price within the first 2/3 years. I will keep the car for a further 3 years which by then the resale value will be small so I am willing to sacrifice the better resale value of a BMW or Merc for the cheaper buy price now after 2/3 years

I'm from N Ireland and can take a few days travelling either to the UK or Europe to pay and collect the car.

1. Where in the UK is the best place to have a big selection of quality car to choose from and good prices.

2. Where in Europe and which manufactures / currency etc is the best value place to buy secondhand or even new at the £12-15,000 level.

3. Is there websites/forums dedicated to this importing idea?

Or do you think I'm better just buying in N Ireland? Mine you I don't mind the hassle if I can save a few £1000's and I would enjoy the adventure:-)

Thanks in advance for any ideas and advice. It would be great to hear from some folks who have actually purchased a car from abroad.........

scheming_gypsy

I think the most important question would be: Do you want left hand drive or right hand drive?
If you only want right hand drive you've only really got an option of the UK

grace2much

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

I think the most important question would be: Do you want left hand drive or right hand drive?
If you only want right hand drive you've only really got an option of the UK

Good point! Yes I do want right-hand drive so I guess I would be only interested then in new cars which I can specify this RHD from a European dealer before I buy.

vikingaero

The importing a car from Europe bubble burst years ago. The near parity of the €/£ killed that. You can still buy a RHD car from certain markets that are RHD such as Cyprus. Some companies such as Motorpoint and Trade Sales in Slough still import RHD cars but you have to weigh the savings against the warranty/specification differences.

knightstyle

Be careful to check the tax implications on importing the car. Friends bought a 5 month old car in UK and took it to France, months after they had registered it they had to pay several thousand € as it was classed as a new car import.

grace2much

vikingaero wrote: »

The importing a car from Europe bubble burst years ago. The near parity of the €/£ killed that. You can still buy a RHD car from certain markets that are RHD such as Cyprus. Some companies such as Motorpoint and Trade Sales in Slough still import RHD cars but you have to weigh the savings against the warranty/specification differences.

Yea thanks for that and I thought with the lack of buzz around this now compared to before the savings had maybe dried up. So in the UK is there a few mega car sales venues that I could squeeze the best deal for my money? Or just go down the street:-)

Wig

knightstyle wrote: »

Be careful to check the tax implications on importing the car. Friends bought a 5 month old car in UK and took it to France, months after they had registered it they had to pay several thousand € as it was classed as a new car import.

That doesn't sound right at all. They would have had the option of cancelling the registration and taking it back to Blighty. If they went ahead with the French registration they should have recovered their VAT in the UK.

Wig

You can buy a RHD from any EEC country even if like France they all drive LHD, it's European law that a customer has the right to choose LHD or RHD. When you buy from that country they do not charge their duty and VAT, when you bring it into UK you pay UK VAT currently 20% used to be 17.5%

The exchange rate on the Euro has crashed not in our favour, it used to be 1 Euro > 70 pence for the first 8 - 9 years and for 3 of those years it was under 65p the best was 58.9p in October 2000, the worst it has ever been is 92p and it's now 87p

The best country to buy from has always been Holland because they have 40% duty on new cars, but they (or used to) supply their cars with no radio and no extras to keep them as cheap as possible. However still check other countries pre tax list price as you may find some are as cheap as Holland or cheaper but you have to factor in the journey home and the ferry route.

You should check the price list and the options of Dutch cars add on all the options that would bring it closest to the UK listed model.... subtract the EEC country's tax or look at the pre-tax prices, then add 20% (UK VAT) and a load of hassle and ferry fares etc and work out if it is cheaper. I think there is an exemption from road tax to drive (directly & swiftly) from the port of entry to your off road place of storage whilst you arrange UK registration and road tax, but you should double check this.

You should also check the online UK new car dealers, who usually have prices much cheaper than the UK dealerships anyway....because that is how much you will be saving against not the overpriced dealership prices.

You also won't have a very easy time trying to get any recompense under SOGA if your car turns out to have some problems in the first 6 years of it's life.

grace2much

Wig wrote: »

You can buy a RHD from any EEC country even if like France they all drive LHD, it's European law that a customer has the right to choose LHD or RHD. Whn you buy from that country they do not charge the duty and VAT, when you bring it into UK you pay UK VAT currently 20% used to be 17.5%

The exchange rate on the Euro has crashed not in our favour, it used to be 1 Euro = under 70 pence for the first 8 - 9 years and for 3 of those years it was under 65p the best was 58.9p in October 2000, the worst it has ever been is 92p and it's now 87p

The best country to buy from has always been Holland because they have 40% duty on new cars, but they (or used to) supply their cars with no radio and no extras to keep them as cheap as possible. However still check other countries pre tax list price as you may find some are as cheap as Holland or cheaper but you have to factor in the journey home and the ferry route.

You should check the price list and the options of Dutch cars add on all the options that would bring it closest to the UK listed model.... subtract the tax or look at the pre tax prices add 20% and a load of hassle and ferry fares etc and work out if it is cheaper. I think there is an exhemption from road tax to drive from the port of entry to your off road place of storage whilst you arrange UK registration and road tax, but you should double check this.

If you're buying 2nd hand from a dealer you will save effectively nothing because our VAT is now the same as the rest of Europe and you will have very little RHD to choose from.

Wow.........now that's an answer!! This has got me interested in the Dutch angle I think I'll do some research on that and see where it leads.

Last question. Do you know where are the best forums for buying in the UK....a bit like a Hotukdeals for cars?

knightstyle

Just to answer wig, I can assure you that is what happened, no VAT refund from UK as they purchased it secondhand, French regard it as new car import as it was less than six months from first registration. Ended up costing about the same as if they had bought it in France, secondhand cars are much dearer there.

Sstripey

Wig wrote: »

You can buy a RHD from any EEC country even if like France they all drive LHD, it's European law that a customer has the right to choose LHD or RHD. Whn you buy from that country they do not charge the duty and VAT, when you bring it into UK you pay UK VAT currently 20% used to be 17.5%

The exchange rate on the Euro has crashed not in our favour, it used to be 1 Euro = under 70 pence for the first 8 - 9 years and for 3 of those years it was under 65p the best was 58.9p in October 2000, the worst it has ever been is 92p and it's now 87p

The best country to buy from has always been Holland because they have 40% duty on new cars, but they (or used to) supply their cars with no radio and no extras to keep them as cheap as possible. However still check other countries pre tax list price as you may find some are as cheap as Holland or cheaper but you have to factor in the journey home and the ferry route.

You should check the price list and the options of Dutch cars add on all the options that would bring it closest to the UK listed model.... subtract the tax or look at the pre tax prices add 20% and a load of hassle and ferry fares etc and work out if it is cheaper. I think there is an exhemption from road tax to drive from the port of entry to your off road place of storage whilst you arrange UK registration and road tax, but you should double check this.

All good advice, but when I did this in 2000 the best two places were Denmark and Finland. We went to Denmark as it's closer and saved about £4000 on what would have cost £12500, even after paying the VAT over here. At that time, Danish net prices were lowest. That's because they put on 25% MOMS (VAT) and then another 90% - 180% registration tax on new cars. But UK customers are entitled to buy RHD cars over there - all the better if they're Japanese, as Japan is RHD anyway!

I've come on to this thread as we're thinking of doing it again, as that car is now over 12 years old, and just starting to cost a bit to run each year. If anyone's interested, I've got in contact with a Danish dealer in Esbjerg (just a boat ride away from Harwich, so very easy to get to) and am awaiting news about net prices.

I don't suppose the same advantages would attach to buying S/H, as I assume the original high taxes would be paid just the once.