Buying a LHD car in mainland Europe.

U_Fig · 20-02-2019 01:31AM #1

Hi so at this stage this is hypothetical but I was chatting to some mates and we are contemplating doing a bit of travel around Europe prob next year would be maybe 12-15 months living in each place for a bit and using it as a base to visit a few others around it. I know some people who live across Europe (one in France , Germany , Spain, Italy, Poland and Slovakia) and would stay with them where possible and use short term accommodation air bnb, hostels ect. the rest of the time.

Would I be able to say buy a LHD Bangernomics style car in one of the above countries for a year and use that to get around then sell or give it to one of the mates when I'm done. There would be 4 of us splititng the cost.

Basically would it be possible to tax one and insure one without a permanent residence or could I use my Irish address or any my mates address in any of the countries as "My Address" for to register the car to tax and insure it.

Would this be legal and would there be obstacles to doing this or anything else that I haven't considered that would make this difficult or impossible

I know this is a bit off the cuff and may sound mad but the thoughts of being able to drive round Europe and get to obscure places sounds really cool

Car99 · 20-02-2019 02:16AM

Buy a lhd here and insure it here tpf&t , under European law if you have a European member state insurance policy it must cover you for duration of the policy while driving in any member state to a minimum of third party cover.

The 90 days companies go on about is if you have fully comp it reverts to third party if abroad for longer than 90 days.

galvo_clare · 20-02-2019 09:18AM

I’d imagine there would be a lhd premium though? Dad had a lhd camper van years ago but don’t know how they treated it.

Car99 wrote: »

Buy a lhd here and insure it here tpf&t , under European law if you have a European member state insurance policy it must cover you for duration of the policy while driving in any member state to a minimum of third party cover.

The 90 days companies go on about is if you have fully comp it reverts to third party if abroad for longer than 90 days.

Car99 · 20-02-2019 11:04AM

galvo_clare wrote: »

I’d imagine there would be a lhd premium though? Dad had a lhd camper van years ago but don’t know how they treated it.

And if its a bangernomics mobile prob over 10 years old premium also but split 4 ways should be reasonable compared to the hassle of buying something on the continent which may have unknown problems and then trying to insure it without a permanent address of lhd country licence.

ToxicPaddy · 20-02-2019 11:36AM

Have a look on mobile.de, it's a German car website which has a stack of cars that would fit in the bangernomics territory.

I'm always browsing on there on the off chance I ever relocate to mainland Europe.

Pekarirska · 22-02-2019 11:26PM

Why don't you rather get a Luxobarge here? You can get a nice pre 2008 cruiser here for peanuts - equivalent car will still hold value on the Continent.
Drive it for a while before you head over so you can fix any potential issues.
You won't be liable for motor tax if the vehicle is taken out of the State permanently :-)
Convert to LPG if needed.
Save yourself time and money for petrol and ferry back to Ireland by flying home from Eastern Europe by paying €9.99 for Ryanair ticket, scrap the car or sell on.
Does it really need to be LHD... not sure.

Buying a LHD car in mainland Europe.

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