Buying a Car in Europe

[Lagerlout]

Has anyone done this, and driven the car back to the UK?

I have just bought a car in Portugal, and I want to bring it into the UK but a) you are not allowed to drive a foreign registered car as a UK resident - at all (DVLA) and b) I can't get insurance to drive it from Portugal unless I'm living in Portugal. If I could get it to the docks in Portsmouth, I could get it collected from there and driven to my house which is only a few miles away.

All of this sounds nuts but it's true. I have tried transit/export plates but you can't use them as the car is second hand.

Any thoughts, or do I have to give up my dreams of an awesome road trip and stick it on the next transporter?

 

[Mike Walker]

Interesting topic. I was at Techno - Classica in Essen recently and at least 3 people on the trip bought cars there for use in UK. I understood that at least one was going to go back and collect his car and then drive home. Will try and find out how he did this.

The other two certainly had their cars delivered to the Ferry Port , put on the ferry and then drove home from there.

 

[SLKGirl]

I am a UK resident and have a place in Spain, I also have a Spanish registered / inusred 911 that I brought back only recently with no issues, I've since taken it up to Hartech to get some work down after which I'll drive it back to Madrid. Am struggling to see where the problem is?

 

[John Jones Jr]

Largerlout as far as insurance goes, I'd never a problem doing a temp transfer of my insurance (either U.K. or Irish policies) on to a foreign reg'ed car. I've taken cars back from Portugal, Germany and driven U.K. reg'ed cars back to Ireland also. In actual fact next month I'll be transferring an Irish insurance on to a U.K. reg'ed car again. I've a feeling your insurance company is not being as helpful as they could be. Get the insurance sorted and your laughing, good luck.


P.s did you buy?

 

[Lagerlout]

Hi SLKGirl, If you have an overseas address, you can get insurance in that country, if you have insurance, you can drive it anywhere you like - except in the UK where you are resident. I have confirmed this with the DVLA, that if you are a UK resident, it is illegal for you to drive a foreign registered vehicle on UK roads, it must be re-registered as a UK vehicle and this doesn't matter if you are driving it for even one day. In my case, I can get the car to the docks, but I'm not allowed to drive it from there home! DVLA suggested I get a transporter to collect it from there. I know this sounds like baloney but unfortunately I've triple checked all this and it's true.

I will try my insurance company again JJJ they will only insure it when it is in the UK at the moment.

I bought something like what you've got just with a big stupid wing on the back..

 

[Liquid silver]

I recently purchased a Pagoda at Essen. Dealer will be delivering the car to Calais on 4th June for my collection. He will put the car on some form of dealer plate which allows you to dive the car in any EU country for 10 days, but you do need to get it insured on the Vin to drive in UK.
Once in the UK you will need to contact HMRC to obtain a NOVA (notice of vehicle arrival) form. This can be filled in on line and once you have paid HMRC their pound of flesh (if applicable) you will be issued with a password to give to DVLA. You will then be able to obtain a UK registration. Hope that explains everything.

 

[Lagerlout]

Hiya, I'm afraid that plate doesn't apply to all European countries. Those are transit plates used heavily in Germany you're talking about and yes they are perfectly fine Germany outbound. In Portugal, you can only use these plates on new cars. I did exactly the same when I bought a Merc in Bremen years ago.

I think my only option is to find an insurance company that will cover me driving it myself from Portugal, otherwise stick it on a transporter. Can anyone recommend a company to do that?

 

[John Jones Jr]

I bought something like what you've got just with a big stupid wing on the back..

Awesome! You'll have to drive that back, it would be a great trip for such a machine - seven & half thou here we come!

Great time to buy with the weak Euro and I suspect no b/work issues of major importance thanks to the climate. You'll have to do a write up and of course photos too please.

 

[Lagerlout]

Ideally I'll post up my road trip if I can get the bloody insurance sorted!! I'm going to be gutted flying over there to leave it where it sits.. flights booked.. gah

 

[st13phil]

I have confirmed this with the DVLA, that if you are a UK resident, it is illegal for you to drive a foreign registered vehicle on UK roads, it must be re-registered as a UK vehicle and this doesn't matter if you are driving it for even one day.

This may or may not help, but here goes.

I've done two Factory Collection purchases of Mercedes-Benz cars which I picked up at Sindelfingen. They are registered on "Transit Plates" in Germany, and then I drove them home, across the Channel (well, through the tunnel actually), and then to my home address before taking them to the supplying UK dealer. This means that there is an established process to do this that flies in the face of what the DVLA have told you.

 

[Lagerlout]

I know, you can do that because the transit plates include insurance, insurance in Germany, the car is not on a German plate either, it's on a transit plate, that's why it's OK as it's not technically registered anywhere it's insured "in transit". I did exactly the same thing, bought an SLK from Mercedes in Bremen whilst they were still doing factory collection.

The issue with Portugal, is they will not issue these sorts of plates unless the car is new. I can actually get transit plates, issued from Germany, insured in Germany for my car in Portugal. However, to do that, I need copies of all of the documents to send them to process it. That's fine and dandy but I can't get those until I collect the car so I would be waiting the best part of a week to get it all sorted out in Portugal.

Silly me, I just thought I buy the car, it's in the EU, no worries!! hahaha yeah right! lol

 

[tec]

The import procedure changed about a year ago due to the increasing amount of unpaid fines by foreign registered vehicles in the UK.

Before the change, you used to be able to drive an imported car into the UK to a pre-booked MOT and then drive straight home.

It's quite a long winded procedure now with lots of paperwork.

Some more info here on what is required.
Vehicle importing

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Why not just get it delivered here, sort out the paperwork here and then set off driving wherever you fancy, drive it back from whence it came even?

Beauracracy drives me crazy at the best of times so in your position I'd simply have it dropped off in the UK.

 

[Lagerlout]

SPX, it screws up my road trip that's why. lol.. Seriously, I'm resigned to getting it transported unless my insurer comes up with a miracle in the morning.

EDIT: Just to top off the thread, here's the link to the German company that will issue the transit plates from any country in the EU to any destination. The only issue is you need all of the documents in advance and then you have to wait for the plates to be delivered. Don't jump the gun like I did and book the flights... cough

http://www.export-plate.com/

 

[AnimMerc]

Hi Lagerlout, I send Sprinters to Ghana and usually buy them from Germany and have done the same with some cars, they usually supply plates to drive them to the UK. However on a couple of ocassions I got temporary insurance to cover driving them to the UK, I can't remember who I used though but it can be done providing you are going to register them here.

I suggest you try a search on google importing lhd car insurance and have a look at the results, good luck.

 

[Mike Walker]

^^ seems a good idea to me and saves sitting around in Portugal waiting no?

 

[Lagerlout]

Struggling to find someone to do this..

 

[SLKGirl]

Try Abbeygate or Stuart Collins, they specialise in in this sort of thing, Abbeygate insure my porker and I bring that back and forth

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Not to sound too much of a jinx, and I've driven plenty of new to me cars for hundreds of miles when I've collected, but I wouldn't fancy driving any car back let alone a circa 25 year old one without a good check over.







(I sounded like a big rain cloud then, didn't I?!)

 

[SLKGirl]

Not to sound too much of a jinx, and I've driven plenty of new to me cars for hundreds of miles when I've collected, but I wouldn't fancy driving any car back let alone a circa 25 year old one without a good check over.







(I sounded like a big rain cloud then, didn't I?!)

I'll get my brolly