Bring car to London from Spain?
Discussion
Hello everyone, i've been a long reader of pistonheads since evo time but never registered just because I live overseas and english is not my native language; now i'm a johny foreigner and living the dream of living in london for one year. Miss my car and specially talk about cars but all for my wife and his career.
So, enough of me, and i need some advise:
I was thinking of buying a car but with all the insurance costs for a foreigner, plus the hassle of buy and sell for only a few months i think is non-sense, but anyway i really need a car to travel, i do a lot of mountain bike and the car is something required to approach to the appropriate places to ride and not runover pedestrians at hampstead and because drive.
A very good friend in spain have an old vw golf mk2 with diesel engine. Is running ok, insured in spain and he is willing to lend to me to bring it here to london (i know the max time for a foreigner car is six months so im thinking in bringing here in april until we left in september).
Now things gets a bit complicated: i have a chilean driving license, i have uk resident permit and the golf mk2 is from spain. If a cop stops me for sure he will ask WTF is this clusterf
k. If any have been in this situation i will appreciate some advise; seems that the figure is the same if i've rented a car in other EU country and bring it to UK, so i'm thinking on make a rental contract with my friend and that could be enough but the uk resident status is giving me some doubts about bring an EU car.
Thanks in advance and sorry for my grammar errors!
So, enough of me, and i need some advise:
I was thinking of buying a car but with all the insurance costs for a foreigner, plus the hassle of buy and sell for only a few months i think is non-sense, but anyway i really need a car to travel, i do a lot of mountain bike and the car is something required to approach to the appropriate places to ride and not runover pedestrians at hampstead and because drive.
A very good friend in spain have an old vw golf mk2 with diesel engine. Is running ok, insured in spain and he is willing to lend to me to bring it here to london (i know the max time for a foreigner car is six months so im thinking in bringing here in april until we left in september).
Now things gets a bit complicated: i have a chilean driving license, i have uk resident permit and the golf mk2 is from spain. If a cop stops me for sure he will ask WTF is this clusterf
k. If any have been in this situation i will appreciate some advise; seems that the figure is the same if i've rented a car in other EU country and bring it to UK, so i'm thinking on make a rental contract with my friend and that could be enough but the uk resident status is giving me some doubts about bring an EU car.Thanks in advance and sorry for my grammar errors!
Hey mate, thanks a lot, really helpful!
Just arrived from Spain and checked more in detail the golf, is very well maintained (5 doors, diesel engine) but after deliberate, reading the content of your post and many beers and tapas we conclude that we will look to another option, including buying a more convenient car in Spain and pick up from there to travel around (registered to my friend).
About the driving license in Spain, yes, is a good idea but seems that i have to take a complete course and give a full exam, i will take it if we move to Spain later. Edit: is possible to convalidate! but i need residence in Spain first, damn!
I was aware about LEZ and ULEZ, and yes, the purpose was to use the car only on weekends and outside London, but also i don't have parking and was trying to get a permission to park in the street of my borough (Islington) and is like 250 pounds a year and seems that the car must be registered in UK, at least in the online form.
I wish things were a bit less complicated.
Just arrived from Spain and checked more in detail the golf, is very well maintained (5 doors, diesel engine) but after deliberate, reading the content of your post and many beers and tapas we conclude that we will look to another option, including buying a more convenient car in Spain and pick up from there to travel around (registered to my friend).
About the driving license in Spain, yes, is a good idea but seems that i have to take a complete course and give a full exam, i will take it if we move to Spain later. Edit: is possible to convalidate! but i need residence in Spain first, damn!
I was aware about LEZ and ULEZ, and yes, the purpose was to use the car only on weekends and outside London, but also i don't have parking and was trying to get a permission to park in the street of my borough (Islington) and is like 250 pounds a year and seems that the car must be registered in UK, at least in the online form.
I wish things were a bit less complicated.
Edited by junk on Thursday 16th January 11:46
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