I am relocating my UK registered Mini to France and understand the rear fog light - currently on the right-hand side of the bumper - needs to be on the opposite side to be compliant with French driving law. There are two lights built into the rear bumper - one for reversing and the other, the fog light. I assumed you could just switch them around as they are the same sized units and without changing the wiring because they will still perform the same functions (but I am not a mechanic!).
Have spoken to a Mini main dealer but they’ve never dealt with such a request and are asking for £120 just to work it out!
Has anyone else dealt with this issue (regardless of car make) and if so, how did you resolve it?
Not always necessary. When you bring it over (with an EU certificate of conformity) and get the CT done you will know if its needed (I’ve imported 3 uk vehicles and its not been necessary)
Thanks Mark. I’ve got the certificate of conformity so perhaps I’ll wait for the CT. A little nervous as I’ve read in another forum where the car failed because of this issue. Out of interest, did your vehicles have the light in the centre of their bumpers - as I believe this is compliant.
If you do need to move the lights side-to-side then most garages could do that fairly easily.
IF the lights reverse/fog are “swoppable” then extending the wiring should not be too hard.
If the lights are not swoppable then getting EU-LHD rather than UK-RHD may be necessary. That was the case when I had a car with reverse/fog built into the light clusters.
If you cannot tackle it yourself, than any half-way competent garage should be able to do it.
Main dealers might want to sell you a section of wiring loom or similar, but for most cars that should not be necessary in my own (non expert) experience.
In the past, some manufactures build cars with a loom ready installed for both as this was cheaper than making a loom for LHD and RHD cars. There may be enough wiring tucked away already to do this, worth a check if you can.
My CT must have been stricter than yours. I bought 2nd hand EU rear clusters for a UK Shogun, and ummmm re-engineered the rear cluster on a Passat. In both cases a bit of wiring extension was necessary. No great skill involved just a basic knowledge, and in the case of the Passat stinginess.
A lax CT tester might let it go but if the car has to go to DREAL then it absolutely won’t be accepted and, if ANTS asks for the CoC, then it’s almost certainly going to DREAL.
@Hilly the top tip is to not submit the CoC unless ANTS specifically asks for it. Sometimes UK cars will slip through just on the info on the V5C.
Have re-registered several right hand drive cars over the years,rear fog light usually gets mentioned on the advisories on the CT,but never been a problem or a fail.