jonathanlailey said:Also no tax or VAT if second hand and over 6 months old, just registration costs at DVLA
Mobile.de is much more interesting than Autotrader - you could be on it for weeks getting side tracked!!
Good luck
Jonathan
The advantage to UK residents buying on the continent is that most countries have a luxury tax on cars and some a higher VAT rate. So when we buy new we get the car tax free then pay UK VAT at 17.5%. If, however, we buy 2nd hand then the original tax has been paid by the 1st owner who naturally passes a portion of this onto subsequent owners i.e. us. There are some markets where the 2nd hand price of vehicles is weaker than the UK so there are bargains to be had but the benefits of buying on the continent are mainly from buying new UK spec right hand drive models. Rather than 2nd user left hand drive.
It was great to do this a few years ago but there has been a shift since the glory days. The Euro is stronger against the £, the manufacturers have loaded the right hand drive premium and in some markets priced top spec models out of the reach of locals just to stop UK residents from fleasing the system.
The best place for new cars used to be Denmark as the Danes pay approx. 180% car tax (yes one eight zero) then a further 25% VAT. Hence the Danes tax free price had to be rock bottom to make cars affordable and in general they only bought low spec cars. I imported 3 Alfa Romeos over a 4 year period (2000 to 2003) a pair of 156 Selespeeds and a 147 Selespeed all top spec. I saved £10,000 on the 1st one, £7,000 on the 2nd and £4000 on the 147...the Euro is stronger now (Danish Krona more or less follows the Euro rate) so I imagine the difference is negligible. Which is a shame as all the Danish car dealers I spoke to / met were lovely people, excellent service - much better than the UK.
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