New LHD car in the UK

[Pauloclara]

Hi all,

Do you know any dealership where you can order new Left hand drive cars?

I could only find used LHD for sale and they all look a little too expensive when compared with the same RHD make/model.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[blue_haddock]

There used to be dealers who advertised for export and MOD sales that could order brand new LHD cars, no idea if its still a thing.

Also 20 years ago or so we used to be able to order new rhd cars from europe taking advantage of the exchange rate so i wonder if a uk dealer could potentially order a lhd one for you althoug they would almost certainly want full payment prior to even ordering it.

[samoht]

https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/models

Tesla sell the Model S brand new in LHD (only) in the UK

[andrewcliffe]

There are various companies selling LHD cars to US servicemen in the UK. I'd start by enquiring with them, as they may be able to help. It's unlikely you'd get the armed forces discount though.

[AlBondigaz]

Might be worth buying in Germany and importing ?

I've just bought a new LHD motorhome in Germany and am going through the import process.

Basically;

Order vehicle or buy new from dealers stock.

Pay for vehicle in Euro inc 19% German VAT.

Drive or get it transported to the UK. You can get a temporary export registration plate made up to drive home on.

Advise HMRC that vehicle is now in the UK.

Pay HMRC 20% VAT on the net price of the vehicle.

Once done you can reclaim the German VAT from the dealer.

Vehicle needs to be UK compliant. It must have option to display MPH on the speedo, UK spec headlights or flat beam LED's and rear foglight showing on the UK side. My new motorhome, which is Mercedes Sprinter based had all these options as standard even though it was a Euro spec LHD. You will need a statement from a UK garage to confirm that your vehicle is compliant in these areas.

Once you have the garage statement, send it to VCA in Bristol with the European Certificate of Conformity who will then send you back a UK CoC document.

Once you have this you can apply to DVLA to register and tax the vehicle.

It's a bit longwinded but in my case the saving in UK list price was around 20% and I was struggling to find a UK dealer to supply a LHD.

[Pauloclara]

Thanks for your answers all. Will make a few contacts to see if I can buy something without the hassle of importing and go through the legal process.

[nickfrog]

Simpler to buy in France as they can sell you ex vat, well they used to anyway. Might be cheaper too.

I used to pick up cars in Calais regularly, pretty simple, but that was pre Brexit of course.

[butch_]

BMW Park Lane used to have ISSD (something like International, Specialist and Diplomatic sales), which has closed down. However, it's worth asking if they are able to supply LHD cars.

AlBondigaz said:

I've just bought a new LHD motorhome in Germany and am going through the import process.

Are you allowed to drive it in the UK? As far as I know, UK residents can't drive vehicles which are not registered in the UK.

[nickfrog]

^ I used export plates when driving back to the UK and insured the car accordingly.

[AlBondigaz]

butch_ said:

Are you allowed to drive it in the UK? As far as I know, UK residents can't drive vehicles which are not registered in the UK.

Same ... I used temporary export plates when driving back to the UK. These include third party European inc UK, insurance. Once home I'm not driving until the UK registration is completed.

[blank]

Most brands will have a nominated dealer that can supply LHD, usually for military, government etc.

For VW it is Alan Day in London. Or was a few years ago at least.

It was Park Lane for BMW as mentioned above.

[cayman-black]

I dont think UK dealer allow this anymore. I bought a LHD Range Rover from a London dealer back in 2011.

[asfand786]

What you could do is go one those people that specialise in left hand drive car, such as www.lhdspecialists.co.uk , i would have to assume they must have some contacts in the left hand drive market in the uk.