French-plated LHD BX "Millesime" - London!

mountainmanUK · Post by **mountainmanUK** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:03 pm

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Excellent-1991-Le ... dZViewItem

Could be a very nice bargain?

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:24 pm

And the winner gets that extra glovebox!

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:26 pm

...and probably has to pay import duty on it too.

mike st gilles · Post by **mike st gilles** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:35 pm

Why on earth would they want to sell this car over here when its worth at least 1800 Euros over there? Something don't add up here......also the fact that the original importer 'should' have paid the import duty when he brought it in and certainly before he sold it as it was illegal to sell it without that duty paid certificate.......lots of probs here I'm afraid.
Used to have a colleague who specialised in this type of 'crime' and you should have seen the cars that he got taken off the road by Customs and Excise.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:30 pm

It has aircon too! I quite fancy that!

Basically its a french athena with a/c?

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:36 pm

It hasnt got the aircon slidey controls?? does it have aircon?

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:40 pm

According to the add it states "airconditioing blows cold" it could be a retro fit one and the controls are mounted on the centre console as seen on a few others.

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:41 pm

There you go then, if (and I'm not) I was going for this I'd be asking the seller to register it over here first and let him cop for the fees.

Adrian E · Post by **Adrian E** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:14 am

Getting it registered in the UK won't be a problem - it will need to be de-registered in France first though if it hasn't been done already.

To get it registered here, the speedo head will need to show BOTH mph and kmh (odometer doesn't matter) - in practice fitting a new UK speedo would be a relatively cheap and easy option.

The headlights will need to be replaced with ones that are suitable for left hand traffic.

Since the BX has 2 foglights you don't have to worry about them - if they had one it'd have to be fitted to the offside or centreline for UK use.

The customs and revenue form will simply state it's of nominal value and that it's come from another member state - almost certainly nothing to pay whatsoever.

You need to get it MOT'd once all the work's been done - MOT will be issued based on the VIN rather than registration.

You take the completed forms to the local Vehicle Registration Office, along with EVIDENCE of the work carried out, be that receipts for parts or a garage bill for carrying out the work. Doing it yourself is a tricky option unless you can get someone in the trade to knock you up a 'bill'. The alternative is that the car will need to be inspected at the VRO (but don't drive it there!)

You pay them the fee for registration (about £50 IIRC) plus the cost of a tax disc, they then issue you with the tax disc and a letter authorising a company to make you a set of number plates. At this point you're registered and can start driving the car (once the plates are fitted!) and the V5c will appear in the post in a couple of weeks.

Adrian

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:24 am

Ah, not too bad then Adrian. I had visions of that costing someone a small fortune in import duties.

Adrian E · Post by **Adrian E** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:49 am

No, not bad at all - we have to reel off this info at work on a daily basis.

Where it starts to get tricky is if it comes from outside Europe, which usually means there's no COC (Certificate of Conformity) so unless the vehicle is over 10 years old it has to go through Single Vehicle Approval.

Most of the info is covered on this page:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Bu ... /index.htm

Adrian

mike st gilles · Post by **mike st gilles** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 1:34 pm

I think the point missed is the 'proof' of the ownership of the vehicle and the fact that it should not have been sold in the first place in this country as it would only have been entered on a temporary basis and not for permanent import without the duty having already been paid according to its value. Same as we all do when we go to France etc for a holiday ...if when you got off the boat/train and got stopped by the customs who asked you the purpose of your visit you said. 'I've come here on holiday and to sell my car' then you would get a different reaction to the one that most of us get when we get there.....
'Nominal value'.....Thats fine if you have a form and a person who can state categorically the date of entry into the country......ie the original importer (thats why it should be them who do all the paperwork) if not then it might just be that the good old boys in the C and E decide that its been here since it was new/ish and can/will demand the appropriate fee.
A good friend of mine bought a french Twingo off a guy who assured him all was OK and he ended up running around the country gathering forms as it hadn't been sold or registered by its original importer....all ok in the end as he had enough paperwork including its last CT to prove that it couldn't have been in the country very long as it had a CT from just over a year ago. He was just so pleased to find that as the C and E were not helpful at all and just kept pointing to the fact that 'when new the vehicle would have been worth ???? sir' and thats what we will base our valuation for import duty on with no other 'proof' of the date of the vehicles entry into the country.
I am just pointing out the probs with these vehicles. No probs if you just want a cheap car to evade the Congestion charge round here but if you want it to be a legit car that you can keep then better off looking elsewhere.

mike st gilles · Post by **mike st gilles** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 1:35 pm

Double post; don't you just hate it when that happens!

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 3:54 pm

Biddings strong considering its a left hooker!

Ian_Fearn · Post by **Ian_Fearn** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:23 pm

LHD cars always sell for good money for some reason.

Perhaps its got something to do with the quantity of migrant workers here these days?