2014 Defender Seating problem

[71tuscan]

Hello all,

Little problem here. My sister and brother-in-law had their new Defender delivered last friday.
Problem consists of the fact that she recently found out that she's pregnant, in combination with ridiculous belgian tax regulations.
In belgium, the registration fee is about 300 euros to register a new defender as a van, which requires you to remove the rear seats and seat belts and have the seat belt fixing points removed. If you don't remove all that, it is considered a regular car, and with an emission of 295grams of CO2, the registration fee is around 10.000 euros (yes, you just read that correctly).

I have thus been searching for a front row centre seat, in order to fix a child seat, but it seams this is only compatible with pre-2007 models.
Does anybody have an idea how to make this possible for a 2014 car?

As adding seats does not meet legal regulations, the dealer probably wont't be willing to help with this, because it can cause him quite a bit of trouble.

Edited by 71tuscan on Sunday 26th October 13:41

[andyxxx]

Is there a reason you can't take the kit out, register it, then refit the kit?

[andyxxx]

I was about to swap my 9 year old Defender for a new one, but will not do it since I discovered the middle seat is no longer an option - it comes in very useful with young children and occasionally 3 adults in an squeezed short distance 'emergency'

[Salterns]

Hi. I've been a Defender van owner myself and I've read up on this. The short answer is that you won't be able to get around the regulations without breaking the law. The only answer is to pay the tax and make it a car or sell it and buy a car. I'm sorry as thats not what you want to hear.