Mainland Europe Headlights (Ford Fiesta)

Fat_Boy

Hi,

We're about to move to Denmark for 3 years and we're taking our 2013 Ford Fiesta Titanium X with us. To get it registered over there we need the headlights changing to those that are suitable for driving on the right. I've had a quote from a Danish Ford garage of almost £1000 for the job which seems just a little bit expensive!

Is anyone able to advise me where I might be able to purchase the correct headlights from in the UK (or who will supply to the UK)?

Cheers

topdaddy_2

Are they xenon? I would guess buying lhd set off ebay or similar.

forgotmyname

If they are xenon then flip the lever and your sorted.

Are the standard beam benders not acceptable?

Ebay europe for a spare set of lights?

Fat_Boy

Hey, thanks for the advice. I've checked EBAY but not found anything so far.

Don't know about the Xenon thing, I'll have to check that out!

Cheers

Iceweasel

Are you absolutely sure they must be changed/converted?

Anyone bringing a LHD vehicle into the UK just need to have the lights changed so that they do not dazzle oncoming vehicles.

For a UK vehicle in a LHD country it is acceptable to have black tape on the headlights masking off the 'kick-up' to the left hand side of the road.

I went through all this a few years ago with a LHD vehicle in the UK of a type not sold in the UK - so RHD parts didn't even exist.

My local MOT guy was unsure but on contacting the VOSA he discovered that masking the lenses was OK.

Get a Dansk speaker to contact their local test centre and find out - £1000 will buy a lot of black electric tape. LOL.

Next point - who says you have to register it in Denmark.

This is the EU don't forget - you and the vehicle have complete freedom of movement.

Surely you are not going to be in Denmark for the entire 3 years without crossing a border or making a visit to a neighbouring country if you are not coming back to the UK for a holiday.

The UK (and every other EU country) has loads of foreign workers with their vehicles - do you see all the Polish folks for example registering their LHD vehicles here? Not a chance.

None of them keep their car in the UK for more than the legal maximum of 6 months - all they need to do is go out of the UK for a short time and then return to get another 6 months.

You may need to change you insurance company to get cover for an unlimited amount of foreign trips every year.

Fat_Boy

Hi Iceweasel,

Thanks for your post. Unfortunately due to the nature of the job I'm going to be doing the car will need to be registered over there (on special plates etc). To get all that the lights have to be Danish spec.

I've been through all the options with the guys at the place I'll be working and it's a tried and tested route (short of buying a new car tax free out there - chance would be a nice thing lol!).

I agree the quote I've had so far is bonkers which is why I'm trying to source the lights in the UK before I go - to just get them fitted out there isn't too bad.

Hintza

For three years, are you not tempted to sell and buy a car over there?

AdrianC

Iceweasel wrote: »

Next point - who says you have to register it in Denmark.

This is the EU don't forget - you and the vehicle have complete freedom of movement.

Nope. Assuming it's the same as the UK, if you are resident in a country, the vehicle should be registered there - with a few exceptions, which I doubt the OP will fall into. Given that the Danes charge _huge_ import/registration fees, I very much doubt they'll be keen on letting people sneak around them.

I wouldn't worry about trying to source the lights in the UK - eBay et al cover all of Europe, don't forget. If you can't find a pair of LHD Fiesta headlights in a breakers in France/Germany/Wherever that're willing to ship to the UK, I'll be VERY surprised.

Iceweasel

Residence can be a difficult subject - as we have workers from all over the EU moving around all the time.

I agree with AdrianC to an extent - if you went to live in Denmark or any other EU country and the car stayed there without leaving for any holidays or periods out of Denmark I reckon that you would have to get all the car docs changed over after 6 months max, perhaps less as the Danes, like the UK have several 'opt-outs' of EU rules.

A specialist ex-Pat forum would be the place to ask.

But again I agree with Adrian that somewhere in the scrapyards of Europe - on the way to Denmark - there is a set of headlamps waiting for the OP.

Assuming they take the cheaper overland route rather than the direct, longer, much more expensive, ferry crossing.

knightstyle

EU rules state you must register the car there. One thing to get before you go is the CoC from the manufacturer as the V5 does not have all the info. you need to re-register the car.
Then I would go to a breakers yard over there and ask if they could find and fit the headlamps, keep the rhd ones obviously. I did that for my Scenic in France.

Iceweasel

knightstyle wrote: »

EU rules state you must register the car there. One thing to get before you go is the CoC from the manufacturer as the V5 does not have all the info. you need to re-register the car.

Untrue - There is no blanket EU wide rule - each country has it's own - so we are generalizing here. It's often 6 months but it's the Danish rules which will have to be consulted.

Secondly a Certificate of Conformity is only required for a new car. Registering a used car in a country you are permanently moving to requires only the registration papers from the previous country.

The confusion in many of these cases is the difference between 'staying in' and 'moving to'. I for example lived in Spain for several years, but still had a house available in the UK and never stayed more than 6 months in Spain - sometimes I just went to Portugal or France for a couple of weeks holiday - that was enough - I didn't have to return to the UK every 6 months.

If you have a permanent residence in the UK and you don't stay in another country for more than 6 months at a time you do not generally have to register your car in the 'foreign' country. Hence my comments on the many Polish, Latvian, and other EU cars belonging to the Nationals of those countries who are currently working here, but not registering their cars here. They are staying here, but have not moved here.

I re-read the OP's first post where he says he is 'moving' to Denmark so I take that to mean that he will be selling his property/house/flat in the UK so in effect he is emigrating to Denmark. How long he intends having his permanent residence there is of no importance as he will need to register his car in Denmark, like any other Danish resident, or foreign immigrant, as opposed to a migrant worker.