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buying LHD vehicle
Hi all who know most about everything European.
My wife absolutely refuses to fly and I am not going by train or bus. I want to drive from Bonnie Scotland to much warmer-southern-anywhere-probably- Spain in January coming back April. Will it be better value for money buying a vehicle in France or Holland to drive down. I intend to use it to drive around Europe over the next 2 or 3 years. I was thinking of a big tank like the Toyota Landcruiser Amazon although I m a bit concerned about the meadieval Spanish towns. Done it before in my RHD BMW Series5 and Audi 80- pretty hairy in the mountains. When I was 35 years younger I drove 2000 miles around Spain in a mini--seemed quite comfy--at the time. Looking forward to your advice. Tam |
#2
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buying LHD vehicle
"tam" wrote in message .uk... Hi all who know most about everything European. My wife absolutely refuses to fly and I am not going by train or bus. I want to drive from Bonnie Scotland to much warmer-southern-anywhere-probably- Spain in January coming back April. Will it be better value for money buying a vehicle in France or Holland to drive down. I intend to use it to drive around Europe over the next 2 or 3 years. I was thinking of a big tank like the Toyota Landcruiser Amazon although I m a bit concerned about the meadieval Spanish towns. IME, in a big 4x4, it is almost irrelevant which side the steering wheel is on, unless you are in the habit of driving too close behind other vehicles. So, you could consider buying in the UK and both getting a chance to find out if there are any faults with the vehicle before your trip and getting used to the size in an area you are familair with. I have had an interesting moment in a French village, taking a trailer down a steep 3m wide road, which met a similar width road at a T junction, with a deep ditch on the inside of the corner, where familiarity with where the vehicle corners were was rather important. Colin Bignell |
#3
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buying LHD vehicle
" There is 56% tax on cars in Holland -- Does that apply to used vehicles I will be looking for an 8 to 10 year old machine. Tam |
#4
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buying LHD vehicle
"nightjar .me.uk" cpb@insert my surname here wrote in message ... "tam" wrote in message .uk... Hi all who know most about everything European. My wife absolutely refuses to fly and I am not going by train or bus. I want to drive from Bonnie Scotland to much warmer-southern-anywhere-probably- Spain in January coming back April. Will it be better value for money buying a vehicle in France or Holland to drive down. I intend to use it to drive around Europe over the next 2 or 3 years. I was thinking of a big tank like the Toyota Landcruiser Amazon although I m a bit concerned about the meadieval Spanish towns. IME, in a big 4x4, it is almost irrelevant which side the steering wheel is on, unless you are in the habit of driving too close behind other vehicles. So, you could consider buying in the UK and both getting a chance to find out if there are any faults with the vehicle before your trip and getting used to the size in an area you are familair with. I have had an interesting moment in a French village, taking a trailer down a steep 3m wide road, which met a similar width road at a T junction, with a deep ditch on the inside of the corner, where familiarity with where the vehicle corners were was rather important. Had some exciting times on the coast road in the Beemer at the med Spanish-French border because of not seeing round the corners in my RHD but of course I was low on the road. I see Ford V6 petrol 4x4s are dirt cheap in the UK-if I got one with a gas conversion is gas available in France and Spain. Diesel Toyotas and Nissans appear to be over priced in the UK ie 100000 mile Landcruiser 10 years old £3000-£4500 depending on condition. On the trailer thing- my nephew had a head on coming together with a Transit pulling a builders trailer last week. He was in his Range Rover they had to cut the door off to get him out. He only had bruises and whiplash. Thats a good point about testing/familiarisation in the UK and I have my fully equipped work shop here. Tam |
#5
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buying LHD vehicle
" There is 56% tax on cars in Holland -- Does that apply to used vehicles I will be looking for an 8 to 10 year old machine. The second hand price is proportionately higher than in UK as a result of the extra tax. -- I suppose as a cycling enthusiast I should approve of that. Tam |
#6
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buying LHD vehicle
On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:41:08 GMT, "tam"
wrote: Hi all who know most about everything European. My wife absolutely refuses to fly and I am not going by train or bus. I want to drive from Bonnie Scotland to much warmer-southern-anywhere-probably- Spain in January coming back April. Will it be better value for money buying a vehicle in France or Holland to drive down. I intend to use it to drive around Europe over the next 2 or 3 years. I was thinking of a big tank like the Toyota Landcruiser Amazon although I m a bit concerned about the meadieval Spanish towns. Done it before in my RHD BMW Series5 and Audi 80- pretty hairy in the mountains. When I was 35 years younger I drove 2000 miles around Spain in a mini--seemed quite comfy--at the time. Looking forward to your advice. Tam Two thoughts. Consider a "wanted to buy" ad in your local paper. There's always the chance that someone has driven a LHD vehicle from Europe to your district and would be glad to part with it for a reasonable price. Then it will be registered locally and covered by your own insurance etc. And, just in case you're not a Scot or European national, consider this: http://www.eurodrive.renault.com/ Unfortunately, it's not for UK or EU citizens. Brilliant system for anyone else considering an extended driving tour in Europe. Cheers, Alan, Australia -- http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/ latest: Slovenia http://loraltraveloz.blogspot.com/ latest: Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest |
#7
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buying LHD vehicle
"tam" wrote in message .uk... ... I see Ford V6 petrol 4x4s are dirt cheap in the UK-if I got one with a gas conversion is gas available in France and Spain.... I've not driven in Spain for a good many years. France used to be seen as a leader in the use of LPG - I even had a dual-fuel hire car on one occasion. However, I don't recall seeing any LPG recently in any small garages, so it may well now be limited to Autororute service areas and possibly hypermarket fuel stations. The main LPG supplier seems to be Antargaz; who may have more information on their web site or even be able to supply a map of stations selling it. Colin Bignell |
#8
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buying LHD vehicle
Done it before in my RHD BMW Series5 and Audi 80- pretty hairy in the mountains. When I was 35 years younger I drove 2000 miles around Spain in a mini--seemed quite comfy--at the time. Looking forward to your advice. Tam Hi, then get a MM Traveller 1000 plenty of room. but why the worry about the rhd car on the continent? I drive a rhd saturn here in the states every day and it's not THAT "hairy" even on twisty 2 lane roads... though you may have to wait a bit to pass. that's what passengers are for on those roads... ttyl akia |
#9
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buying LHD vehicle
Following up to "tam" wrote:
I was thinking of a big tank like the Toyota Landcruiser Amazon although I m a bit concerned about the meadieval Spanish towns. it wont fit and it will pollute the place pointlessly (unless you are going off paved roads*). Its also not as good for primary safety as a car. Get something BMW 3 series sized at biggest. * of which there are some in Spain but so few its not worth considering. -- Mike Remove clothing to email |
#10
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buying LHD vehicle
Following up to AnonyMouse wrote:
I drive a rhd saturn here in the states every day and it's not THAT "hairy" even on twisty 2 lane roads... though you may have to wait a bit to pass. in town, what happens when a truck or bus stops and you need to pul out but cant see? that's what passengers are for on those roads... i dont trust passengers with my life! -- Mike Remove clothing to email |
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