Ship or Buy A Car...What do you recommend?

Is it better to ship your American car over to the UK or buy one once you get over there?  I've price checked the shipping on my vehicle and it would be about $1,500 - $2,000.  I like my car and I think it would cost me a lot more to buy one like it over in the UK.  But then I'd have a left-hand drive car in a right-hand drive world!  Any opinions?

There are a lot of threads on this.  Unless it is a classic car it jsut isn't worth it.

Aside from the shipping costs you would need to spend quite a lot of money getting everything changed to make it road worthy in the UK. 

Agree with bookgrl.  I don't know all the ends and outs but the "inspections" here are different and the cars have to meet different standards than in the US.  I also think it takes around 3 months for your car to arrive (that's how long mine took on the way to and from Europe anyway).

There is also the "driving on the wrong side of the car" thing you mentioned earlier.  I've heard it's much more difficult to judge distance from the centerline and things of that nature (since you'd be sitting on the "outside" of the car)...so it would be a lot easier to side-swipe someone.  Of course, I'm sure you could get used to that...just like with anything else. 

How long are you planning to stay in the UK/drive that particular car?  It would probably be pretty hard to sell later on when you decide you want another car.  What kind of car is it?  A lot of US cars aren't available in the UK but there are different brands that are similar.  Aside from the fact that there are a lot of cars available in the UK that don't exist in the US...so you might find something you like even better that you've never even heard of.  Perhaps you could find a car similar to yours...or something you like better?

Do you own the car?  It's been a few years since I looked into this (so it could have changed or could depend on your financing company) but when I shipped my car over, you were required to have the title in your possession.

As someone who will be moving to the UK soon and was also faced with the "ship or buy" decision...

Definitely sell in the US then buy in the UK unless you have a valuable antique car or whatnot.  Otherwise, it's not worth it.

Someone on here, sorry I can't remember who it was, shipped their Volkswagen Beetle from the US and was really happy that they did. There are a lot of threads on here about this, so definitely have a look around. If your car is paid off, you love it, and you have the money to ship it and have the proper safety conversions made to it (there are a lot more costs than just the shipping), I see no reason why you shouldn't ship it!

I don't know the answer, but would insurance premiums be higher if one was driving a left-hand car?  I believe they are higher to begin with because you wouldn't have any UK driving experience, but would they be even higher if your car is left-handed instead of right-handed?  Perhaps companies might believe drivers would be more prone to accidents when driving left-hand cars in a right-hand world?

If so, that might be something else to consider.

I don't know the answer, but would insurance premiums be higher if one was driving a left-hand car?  I believe they are higher to begin with because you wouldn't have any UK driving experience, but would they be even higher if your car is left-handed instead of right-handed?  Perhaps companies might believe drivers would be more prone to accidents when driving left-hand cars in a right-hand world?

If so, that might be something else to consider.

I'm not sure if it is a specifically left-hand vs. right-hand drived issue, but imported cars will generally be more expensive to insure because replacement parts may not be available from within the UK. My brother almost bought a Japanese-import convertible on ebay last year and then discovered that his insurance would be over £2,000 per year! He had to cancel the sale and go with a different (UK) car instead which only cost a few hundred pounds to insure.

Bear in mind also that it's usually more expensive to insure US licence holders because they will have no driving history in the UK, so couple a non-UK licence holder with an imported, left-hand drive car, and you could be looking at really high insurance premiums.

Hi there,
Yes, please have a search through the site, on this sub section and also in moving issues as I've commented quite a few times about it!

In short, yes, only a special, sought after, interesting, a classic USA car will be worth bringing over here. If you're car is a model of car that's considered 'bread and butter' then 'generally' it's not worth bringing and also if the same model is available here. If you pockets are deep enough, then of course do bring it !

Also, depending on where you ship from in the USA, the times quoted are quite far off. From the West Coast, it's a 21 day sailing time, and if from the East Coast, it'd be a 9 day sailing time.

Be aware that you'd also be liable to import taxes, VAT, a SVA test fee, and the cost of any modifications needed to make your car UK road legal.

I imported across a 2003 F150 Harley Davidson Anniversary Edition truck in 2004 when it was 9 months old and I do have a business contact who does this type of service.

if you'd like more information, including a quote etc then please let me know and can help you out.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!