Car for Poland for 9 months

Greybottle

I've been offered a contract which woukd involve me working in Poland for about 40% of the time from January until Sept/Oct next year. Essentially 4-5 days there, then one or two weeks in Ireland and the UK and doing this on a rotational basis.

The option open to me is to buy a car here, drive it there and park it up when I'm not there. I'll be doing 800-1200 km every week that I'm there, possibly a lot more. This will almost all be motorway or dual carraigeway. Public transport not an option due to the amount of gear I have to carry and most clients are in out of town industrial parks. I will have secure parking in Warsaw when I'm not there.

I was thinking of a Lexus GS300/450h or an RX, for up to €5000, so about 10 years old. I've no issue with a RHD car there as I've driven for a long time in France, Germany and the Benelux with RHD and it didn't bother me.

I'd be prepared to take the car back here every 3 months to cover the car being out of the country and would have it fully insured, taxed, NCT'd etc. (cleared this issue with the insurance company).

The thinking behind the car is that I want a decent sized comfortable car for the poorer quality roads and something that's quiet on long journeys to combat fatigue and safe in case of an accident. I ran this by a Polish guy who I will be working with and his first idea was to convert it there to LHD, but I'm discounting that.

I'd also be prepared to take an S-Class W220 or 221, or an A8, LS430 or similar.

Potential is also there to sell the car when I'm finished, but I don't want to be stuck with something that I can't sell.

So any thoughts on this? I don't want to rent one either.

Dravokivich

Greybottle wrote: »

Essentially 4-5 days there, then one or two weeks in Ireland and the UK and doing this on a rotational basis.


So any thoughts on this? I don't want to rent one either.

You've secure parking arrangements sorted?

grogi

Greybottle wrote: »

I've been offered a contract which woukd involve me working in Poland for about 40% of the time from January until Sept/Oct next year. Essentially 4-5 days there, then one or two weeks in Ireland and the UK and doing this on a rotational basis.

The option open to me is to buy a car here, drive it there and park it up when I'm not there. I'll be doing 800-1200 km every week that I'm there, possibly a lot more. This will almost all be motorway or dual carraigeway. Public transport not an option due to the amount of gear I have to carry and most clients are in out of town industrial parks. I will have secure parking in Warsaw when I'm not there.

I was thinking of a Lexus GS300/450h or an RX, for up to €5000, so about 10 years old. I've no issue with a RHD car there as I've driven for a long time in France, Germany and the Benelux with RHD and it didn't bother me.

I'd be prepared to take the car back here every 3 months to cover the car being out of the country and would have it fully insured, taxed, NCT'd etc. (cleared this issue with the insurance company).

The thinking behind the car is that I want a decent sized comfortable car for the poorer quality roads and something that's quiet on long journeys to combat fatigue and safe in case of an accident. I ran this by a Polish guy who I will be working with and his first idea was to convert it there to LHD, but I'm discounting that.

I'd also be prepared to take an S-Class W220 or 221, or an A8, LS430 or similar.

Potential is also there to sell the car when I'm finished, but I don't want to be stuck with something that I can't sell.

So any thoughts on this? I don't want to rent one either.

Selling a RHD in LHD market? No, not really...

And driving in Poland is slightly different from driving in France or Germany. Thee are far more N-class roads out there, motorway network is nowhere as comprehensive as in Germany. The quality of national roads is reasonably good today though.

I personally think that you'd be insane to do 50kkm/year in a RHD car there. Rent something long term or buy now - 2017 sales - and sell a year later. Cars in Poland depreciate much less than in here.

Greybottle

Dravokivich wrote: »

You've secure parking arrangements sorted?

Yes, can park it in the partner company's car park. Guarded 24 hours.

grogi wrote: »

Selling a RHD in LHD market? No, not really...

And driving in Poland is slightly different from driving in France or Germany. Thee are far more N-class roads out there, motorway network is nowhere as comprehensive as in Germany. The quality of national roads is reasonably good today though.

I personally think that you'd be insane to do 50kkm/year in a RHD car there. Rent something long term or buy now - 2017 sales - and sell a year later. Cars in Poland depreciate much less than in here.

I've driven over there a fair bit with RHD for 3-4 weeks at a time and had no issue. Most of the places I'm visiting are in the main 7 or 8 cities and are usually on the outskirts. I've no issue with RHD.

If anything I'd be tempted to go towards a Lexus RX because of the extra height. Long term rental would be more expensive over the 9 months, so it's a last resource. There's also the issue of loading and unloading it everytime I go there. It's one of the advantages of having my own car there.

CiniO

Hi Greybottle. I hope I'll be able to help a bit here.

Greybottle wrote: »

I've been offered a contract which woukd involve me working in Poland for about 40% of the time from January until Sept/Oct next year. Essentially 4-5 days there, then one or two weeks in Ireland and the UK and doing this on a rotational basis.

The option open to me is to buy a car here, drive it there and park it up when I'm not there. I'll be doing 800-1200 km every week that I'm there, possibly a lot more. This will almost all be motorway or dual carraigeway. Public transport not an option due to the amount of gear I have to carry and most clients are in out of town industrial parks. I will have secure parking in Warsaw when I'm not there.

I was thinking of a Lexus GS300/450h or an RX, for up to €5000, so about 10 years old. I've no issue with a RHD car there as I've driven for a long time in France, Germany and the Benelux with RHD and it didn't bother me.

I'd be prepared to take the car back here every 3 months to cover the car being out of the country and would have it fully insured, taxed, NCT'd etc. (cleared this issue with the insurance company).

IMO there's no point in doing that (taking car back to Ireland every 3 months).
Firstly there's absolutely no problem in keeping your Irish registered car in Poland for the whole year or more, provided it's still insured and NCTed.
Secondly, your Irish insurance policy will have to cover you thrid party there anyway for the whole period of policy, as that's EU wide requirement.
They can refuse fire/theft/comprehensive cover though if you keep car abroad for too long (usually more than 1 to 3 months).

The thinking behind the car is that I want a decent sized comfortable car for the poorer quality roads and something that's quiet on long journeys to combat fatigue and safe in case of an accident.

In that case your Lexus seems like a good idea.
Especially that you can buy really decent ones in Ireland for peanuts, due to high tax.
Motorways, expressways and main national roads will be of very good quality.
Rural and city roads might not be up the the standard though.

I ran this by a Polish guy who I will be working with and his first idea was to convert it there to LHD, but I'm discounting that.

While converting cars from RHD to LHD is a real thing in Poland and some people do that to cars imported from UK/Ireland, I would definitely discourage that. It can't be done without severe integration into main car structure, very often requiring cutting, drilling, welding, and cutting and soldering wires. I can't see tha point.

I'd also be prepared to take an S-Class W220 or 221, or an A8, LS430 or similar.

Potential is also there to sell the car when I'm finished, but I don't want to be stuck with something that I can't sell.

If you manage to buy a car cheap enough in Ireland, you should have no problem selling it in Poland after you don't need it without making loss.
Do your research though first before you buy, and check similar cars on otomoto.pl and olx.pl
Assume that you won't get more than 30% - 40% of similar LHD car in Poland, so if you buy a car for €4k in Ireland, you'd want to be sure that similar LHD cars sell in Poland for over €10k (42,000 PLN) so you can get your €4k back.



So any thoughts on this? I don't want to rent one either.[/QUOTE]
Would cost you fortune to rent for such long period.


Few more words for me.

1. Insurance - as mentioned above - Irish insurers might insist that they don't want to cover you abroad for such long time, but they are obliged to do so under EU laws (only third party though, so no cover to your own car).
2. NCT - would be good idea to do voluntary early test before you leave, so you'll have full year NCT for the journey.
3. Motortax - don't bother paying it, when car is out of Ireland. No one is ever going to ask you for it. All that Polish police will be interested in during checkpoints, will be your VLC, Insurance cert, and possibly NCT.

If I were you, I'd find something with ridiculously high tax (like GS450h) and take it. Those cars are worth nothing in Ireland, but will present real value in Poland, so you might even make few bob on reselling after you don't need it. All that is assuming you won't bother taxing it, which will be more savings for you.

Also consider option of registering that car in Poland. In that case you could obtain VRT refund, which on some high tax lexus might be actually pretty penny. If you register that car in Poland, you will be able to insure it there (which is really cheap) and will be also much easier to sell it on.


If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
I have some experience, as I've visited Poland with 6 different cars, travelled over 60k km on Polish roads with Irish regsitrerd cars, and impored three cars from Ireland to there, and registered them there, and sold two of them

CiniO

grogi wrote: »

Selling a RHD in LHD market? No, not really...

Why not.
Plenty of market for RHD cars in Poland. Just price needs to be right.

And driving in Poland is slightly different from driving in France or Germany. Thee are far more N-class roads out there, motorway network is nowhere as comprehensive as in Germany. The quality of national roads is reasonably good today though.

I personally think that you'd be insane to do 50kkm/year in a RHD car there.

Since 2009 I've done probably close to 100k km in RHD cars in Poland, and by now I can't really see much difference.
It feels completely natural.
It's not as bad as people say.

Rent something long term

It's going to cost few grant to rent a car for a year.

or buy now - 2017 sales - and sell a year later. Cars in Poland depreciate much less than in here.

Yes, but he would need to stretch the budget.
With his €5k he has real chance of buying a nice lexus in Ireland and selling it in Poland for similar money year later.
In Poland for €5k he won't buy anything new.
He could get new Dacia Sandero for €7.5k but I'd definitely prefer RHD lexus to that.

Del2005

Greybottle wrote: »

I've been offered a contract which woukd involve me working in Poland for about 40% of the time from January until Sept/Oct next year. Essentially 4-5 days there, then one or two weeks in Ireland and the UK and doing this on a rotational basis.

The option open to me is to buy a car here, drive it there and park it up when I'm not there. I'll be doing 800-1200 km every week that I'm there, possibly a lot more. This will almost all be motorway or dual carraigeway. Public transport not an option due to the amount of gear I have to carry and most clients are in out of town industrial parks. I will have secure parking in Warsaw when I'm not there.

I was thinking of a Lexus GS300/450h or an RX, for up to €5000, so about 10 years old. I've no issue with a RHD car there as I've driven for a long time in France, Germany and the Benelux with RHD and it didn't bother me.

I'd be prepared to take the car back here every 3 months to cover the car being out of the country and would have it fully insured, taxed, NCT'd etc. (cleared this issue with the insurance company).

The thinking behind the car is that I want a decent sized comfortable car for the poorer quality roads and something that's quiet on long journeys to combat fatigue and safe in case of an accident. I ran this by a Polish guy who I will be working with and his first idea was to convert it there to LHD, but I'm discounting that.

I'd also be prepared to take an S-Class W220 or 221, or an A8, LS430 or similar.

Potential is also there to sell the car when I'm finished, but I don't want to be stuck with something that I can't sell.

So any thoughts on this? I don't want to rent one either.

Definitely don't get a GS450h if you have a lot to haul around as the boot is tiny, you only have the bit under the lid as the section under the parcel shelf is for the batteries.