Fun car in Dubai for 100k

[samjlevy]

Hey everyone,

I recently got married and my wife lived in Dubai for 10 years, she wants to spend the winters there and I can operate my business remotely so seems like a no brainer. I'll be spending 6 months of the year in Dubai from October to April and most likely doing this every year moving forward, I should have my resident status soon after I arrive and I would like to get a fun car that I can do some Yas Marina track days with and some fast road driving with a £100k budget.

I was tempted to transport the 720s over there for 6 months then bring it back with me but seems like more hassle than it's worth.

Ideally looking for something I can bring back with me and make a little profit on or at least break even.

So far these are what I've been looking at:

991.1 GT3RS - From £110k
991.2 GT3 - From £115k
991.1 GT3 - From £90k
718 GT4 - From £85k
Lotus Evora 410 - From £60k
C8 Corvette - From £80k
McLaren 650s Spider - From £90k (All seem to have high miles)

The first two are slightly over budget but the GT3RS for that price is looking good, well under what they go for over here so possibly a bit of profit in it?

Is there anything else I should be looking at?

Thanks!

[K50 DEL]

Can't help with the cars but watch your residence permit validity, if you're out of the UAE for more than 180 days it automatically loses validity.
You'll also need to get a local license which (in theory) means handing over your UK one, I never handed mine over and didn't have any issues.

Also, be careful where you're buying cars from, there are many horror story cars in the UAE (my tale of the Viper I almost bought being a case in point) but take the time to learn which parts of the city to avoid buying from and you should be OK - obviously best to ignore all the "performance dealers" and either buy from the franchise or (perferably) from a private individual.

Edited by K50 DEL on Friday 27th May 11:13

[samjlevy]

K50 DEL said:

Can't help with the cars but watch your residence permit validity, if you're out of the UAE for more than 180 days it automatically loses validity.
You'll also need to get a local license which (in theory) means handing over your UK one, I never handed mine over and didn't have any issues.

I'm good on the 180 day period.

I did ask my wife about the license situation, she said the same thing, in theory you are meant to exchange the license, but that never happens.

That's interesting, so you would recommend buying privately over one of the car dealers? Private seems to be cheaper which is good.

[K50 DEL]

samjlevy said:

K50 DEL said:

Can't help with the cars but watch your residence permit validity, if you're out of the UAE for more than 180 days it automatically loses validity.
You'll also need to get a local license which (in theory) means handing over your UK one, I never handed mine over and didn't have any issues.

I'm good on the 180 day period.

I did ask my wife about the license situation, she said the same thing, in theory you are meant to exchange the license, but that never happens.

That's interesting, so you would recommend buying privately over one of the car dealers? Private seems to be cheaper which is good.

I really would. Over the course of 5 years of living there, myself and colleagues bought dozens of cars, the only time people ever had issues was with cars bought from dealers - those bought privately were fine.
As a for example, a colleague bought an XFR from the Jag franchise dealer, it turned out to have been written off in Oman, repaired cheaply in Sharjah and had a chassis bent like a banana - dealer didn't want to know.
The Viper I mentioned earlier, written off twice in the US (water & crash) repaired cheaply in Shj and sold (with nothing declared) by a high-end prestige and sports dealer - he knew it was bent, I watched him deflate when I said I was going to Carfax the VIN

There are some great dealer cars in the UAE I have no doubt (Tomini classics) but very much eyes open when buying, and don't rely on an inspection, I had my 360 inspected by Al Tayer before I bought it, cost me $1000 told me nothing I didn't already know and missed quite a lot that I did.

[K50 DEL]

As an aside, if you decide that a GT3 is the way forward, talk to Alex Renner at ARM (Alex Renner Motors) he's one of the oracles on GT3s in the UAE and may well know of cars on sale that don't make the Dubizzle adverts.
I'd also look to use him for maintenance (he looked after my Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette and various other cars for colleagues)

[samjlevy]

K50 DEL said:

As an aside, if you decide that a GT3 is the way forward, talk to Alex Renner at ARM (Alex Renner Motors) he's one of the oracles on GT3s in the UAE and may well know of cars on sale that don't make the Dubizzle adverts.
I'd also look to use him for maintenance (he looked after my Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette and various other cars for colleagues)

Thank you very much for the advice!

What do you think about importing the car to sell when I come back to the UK?

Would you mind if I PM you closer to the time for some advice?

[K50 DEL]

samjlevy said:

K50 DEL said:

As an aside, if you decide that a GT3 is the way forward, talk to Alex Renner at ARM (Alex Renner Motors) he's one of the oracles on GT3s in the UAE and may well know of cars on sale that don't make the Dubizzle adverts.
I'd also look to use him for maintenance (he looked after my Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette and various other cars for colleagues)

Thank you very much for the advice!

What do you think about importing the car to sell when I come back to the UK?

Would you mind if I PM you closer to the time for some advice?

I imported my 360 into the UK when I left so I'd say go ahead!!
PM no problem, happy to give all the help I can, might cost you a ride in the GT3 when I come over for the F1 in November, I've never been in one 🤣

[samjlevy]

Awesome, thanks!

And of course, more than welcome to come for a spin in whatever I end up buying, I’ll be at the F1 as well.

I’m pretty set on a 3RS now.