Bringing Lexus LX570 to the UK, steps?

[EskimoArapaho]

Faxo said:

We sell right hand drive brand new high powered petrol/RS models to a guy that has them in the UK for 6 months, then exports to Dubai. Buys 6 or 6 at a time, all massively specced. The last 6 he bought were 6 Q7 3.0 TFSi petrols, all with £1000s of pound of options

I wonder where they end up? My guess is that they are sold onwards to another country (Africa or Near East) that has long-standing trade links with Dubai and it's just a in-out hub. (Perhaps to help circumvent very high import duties in the actual destination country.) The 6 months they spend in the UK may provide a way to use a 'used elsewhere' loophole.

Dubai was (in 2000, anyway) an exclusively LHD country. Mine was the only Skyline GT-R on the road there. I'm sure the well-connected car collectors who really wanted a vintage RHD car would have been able to find enough 'elastic' in the law. It's that sort of place.

[dxbtiger]

Yup, you don't see RHD drive cars here on the roads at all.

The guy that buys them in the UK then exports them here is certainly not using them here.

[EskimoArapaho]

dxbtiger said:

Yup, you don't see RHD drive cars here on the roads at all.

I'm pretty sure that if bin Sulayem wanted to use an old RHD Aston to pootle to Jumeirah Spinney's, there'd be a way.

[dxbtiger]

EskimoArapaho said:

dxbtiger said:

Yup, you don't see RHD drive cars here on the roads at all.

I'm pretty sure that if bin Sulayem wanted to use an old RHD Aston to pootle to Jumeirah Spinney's, there'd be a way.

Agree, still don't see them!

[Remagel2507]

nd12345 said:

Appreciate all the responses. The vehicle is being sold at a bargain price in the UAE as it is RHD. I was mostly asking about the changes that would need to be made such as fog lights etc etc, can anyone shed some light?

A family member imported an Infiniti FX35 some years ago, like most UAE cars it was US spec meaning it needed a foglight adding and the rear indicators changing from red to orange. The same as was required when we imported our F-150 from the US.

With it being identical to the landcruiser, it may be better albeit more expensive to swap the rear lights from a UK model.

[EskimoArapaho]

nd12345 said:

Appreciate all the responses. The vehicle is being sold at a bargain price in the UAE as it is RHD. I was mostly asking about the changes that would need to be made such as fog lights etc etc, can anyone shed some light?

Is it now on the road in the UAE? Meaning Dubai-plate/registered/insured/etc? If so, it's presumably been tweaked for headlight aim, etc, and would need to be untweaked. Foglights would be cheap and easy, but I don't know about the rest of the IVA/SVA thing.

Or is it on one of those strange parking lots come sales 'showrooms' - perhaps in an Emirate other than Dubai?

I'd really want to know the backstory - just in case it has been stolen. (I'm pretty sure that a pre-Shaken 2013-year car would not be cheap enough on the JDM to be worth exporting for a few years yet.) In 2000, UAE car dealers doing ex-Japan cars were a pretty shadey bunch. Has it changed?

[The Moose]

Ultimately, I imagine the answer will stem from where in the world it originated as to what's required to get it through a SVA/IVA/Whatever it's called test. I'd also imagine because we sell the Landcruiser Amazon here most/all the parts should be readily available.

[TooMany2cvs]

The Moose said:

Ultimately, I imagine the answer will stem from where in the world it originated as to what's required to get it through a SVA/IVA/Whatever it's called test.

Not really... Unless the manufacturer can provide an EU Certificate of Compliance for it, then it will need an IVA. No matter where it's from. Unless you wait until it's 10yo.