Thank you. I have looked. Promising so I will monitor it. The Volvo driv’E’ is my first choice followed by the Honda and, finally, the Freelander 2.
or various FB groups. We sourced ours through a now defunct expat (hate that word) site that was quite popular at the time.
@Jovis we used my-lhd.co.uk when we were moving from the UK to France last year.
We found the exactly car we were looking for ourselves online, in a garage in France. my-lhd.co.uk then arranged to temporarily import it to the UK, dealt with the VAT/import duty exemptions, delivered it to our house, and arranged for the Carte Grise. I think they charged about £1,200 on top of the French garage’s price, to include all of the above items/steps.
I don’t know if this is the company that you’ve heard shocking feedback on, but bar two issues, we had no concerns at all. One issue was the slightly menacing, very well built non English speaking delivery driver, who parked the newly delivered car still on the trailer, across our drive, until we could actually prove to him, and his boss via the phone, that we’d paid the balance due - in real time.
The other is that the Carte Grise failed to arrive for weeks, and my-lhd initially dismissed our concerns. Eventually, after repeated messages from us, they checked and found that they’d tried to pay for the CG with a UK credit card.The Service d’Immatriculation Particuliers (or whatever it’s called) apparently wouldn’t accept non French cards and had rejected their application. It was rapidly resolved.
The car itself was excellent, and without it, frankly we wouldn’t have been physically able to move to France when we did, with dogs, plants etc at the height of COVID restrictions.
If you do buy from another EU country (not sure about EEA but I think so too) then if car is less than 6 months old or has less than 6,000km on it then it counts as a new car in France.
If so then the seller in the other country should not charge you his county’s VAT but sell it as an export with no VAT. You are then obliged to pay the French rate of VAT on it here, in France, soon after you import the car. (I think you have 30 days?). I am unsure if you have to get the papers stamped or some other certification at the border when you bring it here but suspect not if you are a private importer?
Obvs if it’s an older car and has more than 6 000km on it, that you’re buying off a private individual then practically no VAT would apply so far as France is concerned as not a new car.
Several years ago I purchased a French registered lhd car from lhdplace in Basingstoke. They couldn’t have been more helpful. I actually bought it over the 'phone for our daughters as they were learning to drive. Full list of service parts and cambelt included. New MOT which had flagged up a couple of issues that they rectified. I had a friend collect it and then drove it back when I was next in the UK.
The MOT was valid here, but just for one year and was accepted by the Prefecture when I registered it in my name. I would buy another car from them.
After retiring from the Police, I sold cars for a while. The first company I worked for did employ sharp practices and I left after six month. Two of the directors that I’d had run ins over their actions were subsequently fired, but now run another large dealership.
The second company were great. I was happy with how lhd place did business.
“No VAT is payable or customs declaration necessary if you are bringing your existing car/vehicle into France from within the EU.” This is what I am relying upon as someone applying for residency inasmuch as some, one of which has been listed in the replies to my two penny worth, of the UK companies have their EU plated vehicles in a specific - not to be mentioned - EU country, hence no VAT payable when bought as it has been paid. It is also the case that where, for example, an EU vehicle on it’s EU plates in the UK is sold and driven to France, for example, VAT should in this case not be charged.
Bradders, I have had dealings with the lhd place and I concur. When you refer to the second company and being great is this another?
Sorry, @Jovis, I’m not quite sure what you’re saying. Is it that you’re buying a car in the UK that’s currently registered in France (i.e. it still has a French number plate)?
The UK is no longer in the EU (or hadn’t you noticed).
Hi Jovis,
I didn’t make that clear, so my apologies. It was the second company that I worked for and the used car manager had a great outlook. His philosophy was that ‘We do not need to slap people’s a***s when they buy a car’. It worked. Out of the group of five main dealerships, ours was the busiest. We had a lot of word of mouth business.
With regard to selling you RHD car here, I think you will find there are quite a few people that are happy to drive a RHD car. We’ve sold two of our old one’s here. If the price is reasonable, someone will be interested.
For your new, second-hand car you could consider another Skoda. Our daughter’s Fabia 3 is fantastic. Ok, sourced here and lhd, but I’d quite happily have a VW under another name!
Hyundai are very good too. We had one that we replaced with a VW and that was a mistake. We needed it for towing a horse trailer. The Hyundai never failed us. The VW Touareg is a Chelsea tractor. Couldn’t pull an empty horse trailer off a wet field with the standard tyres. Don’t get me wrong, it is a comfortable car, but more than twice the money for half the value.
However, it’s what you like. We can all make suggestions.
We still have two rhd cars and if we were to change again, I’d still consider rhd.
Hi @Jovis - my tuppence in this thread
a) the Volvo XC60 is far and away the best car for comfort, handling, safety and fuel economy out of the 3 you mention. Never consider a 2nd Freelander unless you are a mechanic.
b) buy LHD from UK will be unlikely to work out cheaper given the import duties and extra paperwork
c) consider LHD cars from Belgium if you can’t find something locally to you, this can sometimes offer a bargain. If you look carefully.
Have fun looking.
Our local garage here in Manche tends to get good second had cars with low mileage from a number of other European countries. We’ve bought two that way…
Our local garage here in Manche tends to get good second had cars with low mileage from a number of other European countries.
Hi Angela, I wonder if you can share the name of the garage. We are in Calvados and are looking to trade-in our high kilometrage gas guzzling Qashqai. (LHD French registered which we bought from a UK garage just before the pandemic). Its served us well and we’ve had no issues but are looking to change it when we find the right car. I like Yeti’s as our old one in UK was the best car we’ve owned, but they do all tend to be high milage or expensive here…
Thank you for the tip Dr Mark, we shall look at Reezocar.
Gareth, Finding that buying in France is so expensive and mindful that when one applies for residency one is not liable for tax when bringing in ones existing car I would rather buy from a reputable UK dealer. That is to say buy a LHD with EU plates. The same company has been mentioned in members responses to my posting and this company actually have stocks on the continent as well as in the UK. Another reason for this is that they generally have less mileage.
Ah, gotcha… I was worried the car you’d be buying was on UK plates, as I believe you have to own a car on non-EU plates for longer than 6 months for it to be exempt from tax.
I agree with your points about how expensive cars are here. I was surprised when I bought a LHD car over here… I wish I’d done what you’re doing.
I thought I had stated that the vehicle bought was registered in an EU country or, rather, that the intention would be to buy an EU plated vehicle through or from a Brit. Co. in which I interpreted the law/customs statement as referring to the vehicle rather than the origin of the person applying for residency. This seemed the sensible interpretation: the vehicle being EU tax paid by virtue of its plate.
Now we’re talkin: Volvo XC60 Station wagon in Grey used in HEERLEN for € 7,795.-. This suggested site appears to be one worth monitoring. Just an example. I mean the site: autoscout.