Returning to the fold

VonB

VonB

Member
Spain
Hey guys, just a quick hello. Back in 2009 I would be found whizzing around Somerset in my complete bog standard base model 1.4 petrol and logging into this forum frequently. I sadly had to say goodbye to the car due to bent steering rack discovered after a slide into a kerb on an icy snowy day in Bristol.

Since 2012 I have been living in Madrid, during which time I’ve married and become a father. The time has come to add a second car to the family and when looking for something small, safe and economical to set along the Seat Ateca, I quickly remembered my little aluminium friend from ‘The Shire’ so the hunt began, and I am now in the process of importing a very nicely speced example from Germany.

I’ll be posting details in the projects soon on my journey with my second A2 and how I plan on making it my own.

Salud,

Stuart
 
Hello Stuart - I live in France near Limoges and brought 2 RHD cars with me here - one I have had to return to the UK last year. I also wish to bring a car from Germany over to France - ideally a red or blue colour storm. Did you experience and problems at all moving the car from Germany to Spain ? Anything I should take note of ?
 
Hi! I’m still in the process and I haven’t had the car delivered yet. I’m using a specialist agency as a middleman who help with checking documents, delivery, paperwork etc.
Once I receive the car I’ll PM you and let you know how it all went.

Until then, have a look at Mobil.de and maybe set up some email alerts for the car you want. I was blown away to see on average 3-4 A2’s are listed every day!

Are you finding any A2’s in France? You can find them in Spain but generally they all have very high mileage, are not we’ll cared for, and none have nearly none have the OSS which I wanted this time round.

Cheers,

Stuart
 
Hola Stuart, que tal, hace un tiempo compre mi primer A2 tdi 75 y me he preguntado todo el tiempo si hay algún club de A2 en España o alguien por este foro que hablase español, he visto tu "Project Madrid FSI" y me gustaría saber tu opinión sobre las pulgadas de una llanta, realmente el peso que añade una 17" respecto a una 16" o 15" sale rentable en términos de manejo, en el mío llevo las 15" forjadas, pesan muy poco y se nota en la aceleración pero me parece y noto que el flanco del neumático al coger curvas algo más fuerte de lo normal flexa demasiado y me gustaría hacer la conducción mucho más rígida, estaba pensando en una 17" pero creo que si lo hago bajare muchísimo las prestaciones del coche. Muchas gracias, un saludo!!!

Saul
 
JWT said:
Hello Stuart - I live in France near Limoges and brought 2 RHD cars with me here - one I have had to return to the UK last year. I also wish to bring a car from Germany over to France - ideally a red or blue colour storm. Did you experience and problems at all moving the car from Germany to Spain ? Anything I should take note of ?
Click to expand...
Did you import from Germany to France in the end?
 
Hi there, i have never posted on here previously but i thought i would contribute. I currently own an 05 Audi A2 TDi 1.4.

I am a UK national but I lived in Germany between 9/99 and 4/21 in Cologne. When living there i purchased an old Alfa Spider 2000, which i imported into the UK. It was the time when many people were buying new cars abroad then importing by themselves. The process for new cars was a bit more arduous as tax becomes an issue, but with an older vehicle it was not an issue.

As the car was 2nd hand and my personal property, it was really straightforward. There was a booklet available at the time (probably on line now), which detailed what you have to do. In summary it focussed on ensuring that your vehicle was safe to use in the UK (which any TUV approved vehicle was more so than if it had an MOT), and i assume any EU tested vehicle should be. From the German side i had to remove the plates (In Germany they also show car tax etc on the plates) and purchased some short term official 'trade plates' equivalent which they had a 5 day option package to allow enough time to drive home. I cannot remember all the details but i essentially drove the car on trade plates to the UK and did not have to declare anything at the border as it was a personal vehicle of normal value. (N:B: I could probably have driven it over on normal German plates but if memory serves that would have involved some correspondence to and fro after i reregistered it here, which i didnt want).

In the UK you clearly cannot drive forever on foreign trade plates. Additionally you cannot drive with a foreign registration and headlights indefinitely if you are resident in the UK.
You will need to contact insurance once the 'trade plates' expire - you can insure on the foreign license plate but not for long as the insurance companies are not too keen to do this as it implies that the car is not to UK standard i.e. headlights/tax/MOT.
Therefore you will have to source UK headlights and have them fitted. You will also need to have a speedo that shows MPH as well as KM/H. Clearly parts would be available to do this as Audi A2 was sold in both countries. My old Alfa was a classic and i managed to obtain headlights easily enough but instrument dials were expensive. What i did was obtain stick on MPH speedo numbers from a motorcycle shop (people import motorcycles too) and fitted them to the speedometer which as long as it was clearly visible and didn't peel off the MOT station was OK with as it satisfies construction and use regulations.
Once the car satisfies UK parts regs you are about a third of the way there.

Then take it for an MOT with your existing trade plate. The MOT certificate will be issued on that number plate. But once you obtain the UK license plate the MOT cert can be stamped to show that it has been changed to the new number. (Mine was on the old MOT cert but new ones will be updated on the DVLA computer system and probably just print you a new MOT certificate off. Ask at the local MOT station to check)

Next step contact DVLA and apply for a new V5 supplying the appropriate details, and MOT certificate if necessary to obtain the UK license plate. There will be a document available in the local post office to help you with that. They buy some UK license plates once you have the number and fit them.

Return to the MOT station and have the MOT system updated. Then contact the insurance company and advise of the new license number.
That should then be finished i think.

As i say there will be a DVLA or government document/webpage to explain the current system. It was 22 years ago that i imported my personal car. Check it out and it should be nothing to be afraid of.

Good luck with it all.
Gordon
 
Thanks Gordon - my experience of importing from Germany to Spain was relatively straightforward, although expensive due to the use of middlemen taking care of the paperwork for me.

In all honesty I probably wouldn’t do it again, but I’m still very happy with the FSI that I’ve brought accross - I got lucky there👍

Cheers,

Stuart
 
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