I am giving serious consideration to buying a MH in Germany, on the basis that we do most of our camping in Europe so the LHD element doesn`t worry me, and the savings are substantial.
Does anyone here have experience of this, and can recommend a dealership?
My experience is buying old VWT3 campers from German ebay a few yrs ago now. How it works is that that owner has to log out vehicle & buyer has to have temporary export number plates fitted, these last for one month & include insurance until you reach UK. UK insurer will insure vehicle once you reach UK but you need to get it re-registered & onto UK plates asap.
If you buy from a dealer they will fit the export plates & get van all ready to roll, plenty of dealers speak English & are well used to selling used vans to export customers. Best way to pay is by bank transfer, It used to take a couple of days but possibly it is quicker now? You need to check all this with your bank.
As for dealers, look on mobile.de that way you can search the whole of Germany.
Once you collect van you can drive it back to UK & home in the normal way, no stopping at customs. Your first job will be getting a UK MoT which may require headlamps to be changed or may be ok on benders, same with speedo, some testers will allow kph only. Rear fog light needs to be on UK side. When I did it Dvla supplied a registration pack & the job was done in a few days with UK age related reg no. supplied.
I doubt they would take rhd vehicle in part ex. Any vehicle sold in any EU country meets Euro type approval so it is legal in UK apart from a few bits like headlights, speedo & rear foglight. All it has to do is pass a UK MoT test. It's US & Jap imports that need the much more complex & expensive test.
Rear foglight if only one fitted must be in centre or UK offside which is only a minor detail easily fixed. As for headlamps & speedo, it's always was down to finding an ok MoT tester. It's possible things have been tightened up now but it always used to be possible to get lhd van through with beam benders & kph speedo. Speedo can be rectified with mph sticker so main expense would be a pair of UK headlamps.
Just a brief up-date on my search in Germany, to say that we drove our new MH back from there yesterday and to this point the whole thing has been very simple. Obviously the UK registration process starts now but doesn`t look that complicated so far. I notified the VAT dept. this morning, and ordered the replacement headlights and speedo inlay which will be fitted next week.
When the whole thing is completed I will write an update, but if any of you would like chapter and verse of doing this, e-mail me at - - fletcher.kevin203 at gmail.com - -and I will pass on details.
I bought an Adria Twin 640 SPX, registered in June 2015, 5000 miles, and paid a shade under 30k, including the awning, bike rack, and solar panel.
Can probably get you info re UK Adria dealers as well as their take on imported vehicles. Also Club Adria, as mentioned in another post, could be helpful. (We are attending their Christmas rally in mid December.)
Perhaps best to email me if you would like further info?
Iggy
------------- The older I get the better I used to be.
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Topic: Buying MH from Germany
