Selling a Ukraine registered vehicle

Selling a Ukraine registered vehicle

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Towny82

Original Poster:

3 posts

24 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
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I need some help working out the best way to sell a foreign registered vehicle.

I am British but until February I was living in Ukraine, now back in the UK probably permanently but at least for 3 years. I own a Ukraine registered 2019 Hyundai Elantra Sedan, it's currently sitting in a friend of a friend's shed in Romania. I'm trying to work out what to do with it as it is worth £10k. But doing anything with it is really tricky.

The model is not sold in the EU / UK, so there is no certificate of conformity. Any sale in the EU will require Vat and Customs duty (about 30% in total) plus the local equivalent of the IVA test.

Bringing it to the UK, I can avoid tax & duty by getting Transfer of Residence relief but I have to pay for modifications to pass the IVA test, buti don't really want to use a LHD drive in the UK and my wife is against it too, so using it here is not an option.

I can also take it back to Ukraine to sell, but prices there are weird at the moment because they scrapped import duties on foreign cards plus I don't have a current residence permit - I was due to collect my new one in early March - so selling it there is likely to be a problem and not that lucrative as I will have to sell quickly.

I don't really want to leave it in the shed too long because I think that is bad for cars too.

Anyone have any clever ideas or do I just need to take the financial hit and forget about it?

foliedouce

3,067 posts

232 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
There are a few LHD specialist garages around, give them a call to get a ballpark price they'd pay for it then make a call on whether it's worth investing in the mods to get it through an IVA

daqinggregg

1,530 posts

130 months

Wednesday 25th May 2022
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The Elantra currently sells in Moldova (new retail EUR 15,600) could your Romanian friend help you to sell it there.

Towny82

Original Poster:

3 posts

24 months

Friday 27th May 2022
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Thanks for the suggestions, whichever way I go, I'll have to take a financial hit, i'll probably leave it in storage for a bit and see if things improve in Ukraine.

Shnozz

27,502 posts

272 months

Friday 27th May 2022
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As has been said, seem to be quite a few UK garages that specialise in LHD cars. Also seem to be reasonable demand on ebay. There is also a LHD cars for sale group on Facebook you could try.

Is there anything that requires a Ukrainian vehicle to be deregistered in the country before ownership can be transferred abroad? Similar to the Middle East etc?

The legalities of ownership transfer will prove the potentially tricky part I would think, particularly with a vehicle without a Certificate of Conformity etc. I should imagine one of the LHD UK specialists would be able to advise and probably the easiest route if its possible, albeit the least profitable from your perspective.

Krikkit

26,544 posts

182 months

Friday 27th May 2022
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Get your Romanian friend to use it one day a week, then sell when things settle down in Ukraine (whenever that might be! Hopefully sooner rather than later).

Silvanus

5,265 posts

24 months

Friday 27th May 2022
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Just looked it up, very decent car. Shame 3 box family cars have lost their popularity in the UK and Western Europe (unless its German)

Towny82

Original Poster:

3 posts

24 months

Friday 27th May 2022
quotequote all
Price quoted from LHD centres are around £7000 after mods and IVA, or £5000 without, the cost for mods and testing from a specialist LHD importer i've been quoted is £1400, but I would also need to find a suitable replacement headlight unit on top - so basically it costs the same either way. Anyway, £5000 lower than what I think it is worth (and £3k below my lowest price) is a bit much. I prefer to sit on it and wait and see, I don't think car prices are coming down at all so I will try to sell it in Romania or back in Ukraine.

@Krikkit once a week will probably be asking too much, once a month is probably doable. There's no annual tax and MoT in Ukraine so there is no real cost to leaving it apart from a little fuel / goodwill from my friend / depreciation. Also the lack of MOT means that residual values stay very high on cars if / when i can take it back to sell.

@Shnozz it seems when you register it in Britain you have to hand in your Ukraine reg documents but there is no formal process to deregister in Ukraine.

@Silvanus Yes, very comfy especially for adult passengers, the rear seats have lots of room, would probably make a good taxi. I've just checked and it is the same length as the 2016 Seat Leon Estate i've bought to use in the UK.