Anybody know anything about this? Kevin has done it before I think, and I think others did.
It suggests that vehicles over 10 years old do nto need approval;
www.gov.uk/vehicle-approval/exemptions-from-vehicle-approval
"You do not need vehicle approval for:
.
.
cars and minibuses with 8 passenger seats or less (not including the driver) over 10 years old"
Is that true? seems unlikely.
Also, is there any site where one can input your car make/model/year and find out what it needs done? Or VIN for that matter.
Are there any changes which must be made to all cars? I am thinking about lighting, for example.
It's an American car. I've owned it for years.
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I think you might be in the wrong bit of the site, that seems to mainly deal with manufacturing or adapting a vehicle?
Last edited by: sooty123 on Fri 11 Dec 20 at 17:21
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Having had a better look I think you are in the right bit but it does seem a bit odd doesn't it. Probably best to ring them and check, 0300 330 5797.
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>>Probably best to ring them and check, 0300 330 5797.
You're right, probably best, but such an a*** from so far away.
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>> I think you might be in the wrong bit of the site, that seems to
>> mainly deal with manufacturing or adapting a vehicle?
I didn't notice that in the header, but you're quite right. Thing is that was a link from the "Importing a Vehicle" page entitled "check here to see if you need an approval"
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I imported my '96 Z28 but did not have to go through SVA/IVA. Chevy had Type Approval for the Z28 because it was marketed in Europe. All I had to do was get it through an MOT (it was exactly 3yo when I imported it). That just needed the lights sorting out - change rear lights for Euro spec, add rear fogs and front marker lights. Luckily the test station didn't realise that although the exhaust is the factory unit, it is, ahem, a little bit louder than Euro spec.
The only real bureaucracy involved was proving that I'd lived and owned it long enough in the States to escape paying import duty. They'd had loads of people trying to avoid the duty by using fake documents so they checked everything very closely.
That exemption seems pretty clear, I don't think you would need Approval if it's more than 10yo.
A mate of mine put together some info of his experience importing from the USA. There are some links on there to businesses who will know the regs inside out. Give 'em a call.
www.import-car.info/
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>>www.import-car.info/
Very interesting, thank you.
>>That just needed the lights sorting out
That was what confused me, I assumed all cars would need that, irrespective of age.
>> front marker lights.
Marker lights?
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>> Marker lights?
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Parking lights, I would assume.
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Makes sense.
I think the rear light cluster with its combined rear light / indicator is going to be the headache.
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Also, how has it been with an LHD in a RHD country? I'll be in Europe enough of the time that I'm not unduly worried, but I do wonder.
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>That was what confused me, I assumed all cars would need that, irrespective of age.
I think it depends on the year of first registration and what standards and regulations a vehicle first registered in the EU on that particular date would comply with. For example, a 1960s vehicle would not need rear fogs but a 1990s vehicle would.
What is the vehicle and age that you are thinking of importing?
>Marker lights?
Sorry, aka parking/side-lights. The ones on the Z28 are integrated into one unit which curves around the front and acts as indicators and combined front and side marker/repeater lights with a single amber lens. In the EU, front-facing side-lights must be white so I needed to add white lamps at the front. Easy enough to do now with the range of white LEDs available.
The rear lights were just changed for Euro spec units I bought from a Chevy dealer in Austin before I shipped it. It's a single plastic unit secured with three nuts so dead easy to replace and only cost about $40 per side IIRC.
A couple of tips:
My car was shipped to Folkestone and I called the agent the day after it landed. I had to wait a few days before it was released because another car in the same container did not have the correct paperwork so the whole container was held. So, be prepared for holdups at this end. If you don't have it trailered from the port to home/workshop take a small toolkit, bulbs and jumper leads with you to fix anything minor resulting from a few weeks of shipping. And give it a check (fluid levels/tyres/lights etc plus any damage) before you take it away. Mine had a piece of rope hanging from the front subframe and one rear tyre down to 10psi but everything else was good.
When I collected it I insured it on the phone in a few minutes with Adrian Flux Insurance who specialise in unusual vehicles. They understood exactly what the car was, that it was just imported and on US plates. No problem. All they needed was the VIN until it was registered. Try that with your average insurance company and you'll be out of battery before getting it insured.
>Also, how has it been with an LHD in a RHD country?
Driving it over here hasn't been a problem. Like everything, there are some advantages and disadvantages and you subconciously adapt to them. No thinking required. Advantages are that you can see all the way down the inside when following other vehicles. Handy on motorways when everyone else is staggered over to the right trying to peer down the offside. Similar on left hand bends. Doesn't really make much difference either way in today's traffic procession though. Insurance is cheap. Parts are US prices and can be shipped from the States in about a week.
Disadvantages are barrier protected carparks. Invariably the ticket machines and intercoms are on the RHS. Have you got long arms?
The only other things I can think of aren't due to it being LHD but due to it not really being designed for cramped European cities. The car is wide so it's tight getting in to the average parking space. That's compounded by the very wide doors on my car.
The wheel and tyre combination on mine is unusual in Europe in that the tyre acts as part of the suspension so it has 16" wheels with a 50 profile tyre. I couldn't have the OEM Goodyears shipped from the States because they don't have an "EU" stamped on the sidewall so I had to look around for an "EU" equivalent that was also rated for 150+mph. Fit new tyres before shipping it, they're probably cheaper outside the UK anyway.
Importing and running a LHD car in the UK isn't as difficult as many people believe and you've now got me thinking of importing a ragtop before we move to somewhere warm and sunny.
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>>What is the vehicle and age that you are thinking of importing?
A Ford Explorer. I have two 2010 and 2018. In reality I much prefer the 2010, but the 2018 is perhaps more sensible.
I expect you know but for others they're a little bit larger than a Landcruiser Prado.
My current tyres are 285 65 17 I think. Not too difficult to find.
Barriers will be a problem. I do have long arms, but not long enough. Perhaps I'll get one of these.
tinyurl.com/yxabygc6
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 12 Dec 20 at 16:21
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The Explorer was sold in Europe and Asia and it was a '96 Explorer that my mate imported so rear lights with amber indicators should almost certainly be available. No idea what the cost would be.
Here ya go..
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Explorer-Passengers-Side-Late-Rear-Light-Cluster/324340060074?hash=item4b842c8faa%3Ag%3AhnkAAOSwkEFeRk1m&fits=Car+Make%3AFord%7CModel%3AExplorer%7CCars+Year%3A2000
Ford definitely made 'em with non-US lights.
Last edited by: Kevin on Sat 12 Dec 20 at 16:50
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Well I didn't find an example of EBay, which is more down to my searching than anything, but I did find an 2010 Explorer for sale with European lights so they are available.
Do you know if I need to get the headlamps (dip) changed also?
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...large number of ME (Dubai) imported Explorers here:
directfromdubai.co.uk/#/interests/cars
(you'll have to use the search menu, I think)
Sold UK registered, so it is patently possible to do the appropriate work for the ME versions.
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A good point. I also considered the point that I could simply buy a car in the UK.
However, and I know this sounds daft, I like *my* Explorer so I want *my* Explorer in the UK even if I could buy an equivalent or perhaps better one.
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>> However, and I know this sounds daft, I like *my* Explorer so I want *my*
>> Explorer in the UK even if I could buy an equivalent or perhaps better one.
Pfffttt buy one of these
www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010305595708
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>> Well I didn't find an example of EBay, which is more down to my searching
>> than anything, but I did find an 2010 Explorer for sale with European lights so
>> they are available.
>>
>> Do you know if I need to get the headlamps (dip) changed also?
Yes you do, and it will fail a UK MOT if you dont.
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...you can stick tape over LHD dipping headlights, and it will pass the MOT.
Catch 22 is that you can't register an import with the self-same lights.
Whether you need to chanhe the headlamps will depend on whether they are a "flat dip" as I understand some US vehicles are, and i believe will pass the registration process, or whether they do in fact "pattern dip" to the "wrong" side (which definitely won't).
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A quick play (in very bright sunlight) suggests that neither of my Fords dip to one side where as the Dodge, Nissan and Toyota all dip right.
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...American headlights may meet the requirements of the IVA under certain limits. An extract from the wording applying to some fairly detailed specification -
Note 6: American headlamps that dip to the right are
deemed to have met this requirement as long as all of the
upper edge of the beam pattern is between the dip beam
parameters.
I know you're hoping that IVA might not apply to one of the vehicles, but it probably will to the other. Whatever, the lighting requirements are related to C&U and RVLR legislation, and the requirements of the IVA are likely to be definitive for headlights, regardless of whether the IVA is required or not.
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Several of my British walking friends here in Spain, second home owners, have transferred their RHD cars onto Spanish plates. I think there is a considerable amount of paperwork involved, but there are agents who will do this specific task. I’ve been told it costs between €800/1400 for the full job, which includes new headlight units if your cars headlights are not switchable.
Most of them are diesel cars....a local fuel station is selling diesel at 89.7 cents/ litre..BP/Repsol are considerably more. RFL is decided at a local level...my friend pays €45pa for her Focus 1.6 Tdci . MOTs ( called the ITV test in Spain) becomes due at 4yo, up to 10yo it’s done every two years, over ten years it’s an annual ITV test.
Quite a few of my friends prefer driving a RHD car here...I found that strange but they tell me that on narrow mountain roads they can judge ‘close to the edge’ better. These are people who have driven a RHD car in Spain for up to 35 years so who am I to argue.
Diesel isn’t a dirty word here in Spain, and it’s worthwhile financially to buy a diesel privately in the U.K. ( fly back to the U.K.) transfer it onto Spanish plates, run it for a few years, put on 24 months ITV, sell it locally for a small profit, repeat before returning to the U.K. in the summer months.
I do believe that if you put a car onto Spanish plates you must take a driving test, submit your U.K. driving licence and have it replaced with a Spanish licence.
And Spanish plates are very old fashioned, letters and numbers standing proud, black on white, not like the smooth effect ones in the U.K.
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>> how has it been with an LHD in a RHD country?
At my previous job we had a LHD Dodge Ram which I used occasionally for towing. Overtaking on 2-way roads with a trailer was out of the question so I can't comment on that, but in general use it was no different to driving a RHD on the continent - drive-thru restaurants, tollbooths and gate entry phones were a pest but otherwise it isn't a problem at all.
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Sorry if I've missed it, but no-one seems to have mentioned speedometers. It must have mph on the speedo. I live in Austria, and some Scottish friends wanted to take back their relatively new Honda to the UK, which only had kph on the speedo. They couldn't find anyone in the UK to undertake changing the speedo. One dealer went so far as to say that, with the electronics so deeply embedded in the car, they couldn't guarantee that the car would ever work again if the dash panel was changed. So they sold it here and bought an identical car in the UK.
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Good point, Mike H, but US cars will surely have mph speedos as standard? Certainly an issue for bringing European cars in to the UK, although fortunately not the opposite because don't all UK cars have speedometers that show both mph and km/h?
And of course digital speedometers can surely be changed in a settings menu somewhere?
I took a UK car to Belgium 25 years ago. The rear foglight (on the right, under the bumper) had to be repositioned to the left hand side too...
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I had in my mind that UK miles were a different size to UK miles, as some american units are, but of course they are the same.
As you were :-)
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I had a grey import motorcycle twenty odd years ago and the kph speedo had a transparent sticker on it with the equivalent mph. That satisfied the legal requirements but it was murder to make out the numerals in the dark.
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...these people are specialists, with a good few replacement dials "off the shelf".
lockwoodinternational.co.uk/dials/fascias-mph-scale/
Don't have the Explorer on file, but, as has already been mentioned, US version should be OK (but not if it's been converted for Chile).
They will do "custom", though.
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I'm sure that I've mentioned it before but when I impored my car from the US I had to have the speedo changed to read in Furlongs per Fortnight. I think that's just for Basingstoke though.
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>> I'm sure that I've mentioned it before but when I impored my car from the
>> US I had to have the speedo changed to read in Furlongs per Fortnight. I
>> think that's just for Basingstoke though.
Talking about Basingstoke.......
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-55346154
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Importing a vehicle into the UK - sooty123
