Owning a LHD car is much the same as owning a RHD model. Of course, the only difference is that your steering wheel is on a different side to most other cars on the UK's roads.
There are many reasons why one would like to seriously look at purchasing a left hand drive car. Firstly and most importantly, cost. Budget comes into play with every major purchase these days, and with the escalating inflation rate in the UK, is there any wonder why the left hand drive market is so bouyant?
Of course, I'm talking about American Cars. Gas guzzlers you say? I say, not neccesarily. In the US, you can buy European and Japanese cars there too. Take for instance the VW Golf GTI.
I went to Volkwagen's website and configured a car online. I chose the VW Golf GTI in Black Metallic, which cost me £365 extra and I'm a leather man, no, I don't resemble David Dickenson, I like the finer things in life, so I added leather at a cost of £1,645. So, the total price I would pay in the UK is £23,590. To be honest, if I didn't know better and I really wanted a VW Golf GTi, I would pay that price. Well, I'd haggle, of course I would!
The same car, coming in Right Hand Drive from a specialist importer, such as ourselves would cost £20,500 plus delivery. However, when we look at a LHD import from the USA, things become a lot better.
The same car, supplied in the US, which actually comes with Sirius Satellite Radio and 18" Alloys instead of the UK standard 17" Alloys, is $26,200 - That means nothing to you? Ok, allow me to translate. Using the currency conversion at the time of writing this article ($1.94 = £1.00) which is £13,437... Wait!!!! Before you start getting excited and heading off to order one, let's look at the shipping and import duty first.
Ok, the following other aspects need to be addressed and included in the price:
Buying the car: |
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£13,437.00 |
Import Duty (10%): |
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£ 1,343.70 |
Shipping: |
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£ 1,500.00 (approx) |
SVA & Registration: |
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£ 750.00 |
Importer's Fee: |
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£ I'm sure you can work it out for yourself if you're that bothered! |
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So for less than £18,000 you can get the same car as you can in the UK, the only differences are the steering wheel is on the wrong side, you'll have to invest in a warranty, as the US warranty isn't trasferrable to the UK and you'll be the envy of your friends. They may laugh at you for having a left hooker, but you'll have the last laugh when you tell them how much you paid for it!
I'll leave you with one last thought. If you can save around 8 grand on VW Golf, what do you think the saving is one a higher prices vehicle like a... Porsche?..... Ferrari?...... Lamborghini?.....If you'd like to find out, by all means, contact us - just click here! |
