How to buy a new RHD VW T6 California Ocean abroad and is it worth it?

[rrollins]

Hi

I guess some of these questions have been asked before but wanted to pull together the latest information for myself and others? I'm looking to purchase a new/nearly new RHD VW T6 California Ocean DSG (or equivalent) with a few options.

1, Which are the cheapest and most convenient EU countries to buy RHD?
2, Within those countries, who are recommended dealers/companies to contact directly?
3, What is the approximate saving?
4, What is the additional cost for import tax, registration, what is the process and how long does it take?

Thanks

 

[WelshGas]

You do realise that the Warranty on such a vehicle bought outside the UK would be 2 years only. In the UK it is 3 years , so I understand.
Your first problem would be finding a Dealer prepared to order a RHD vehicle. I very much doubt you would get the same discount on a new purchase as you can get in the UK. I could be wrong.
Are you hoping to make a significant saving?

 

[mccp]

I bought a Land Rover Freelander 1 many years ago from a Dutch dealer. That was in the days when car manufacturers thought that they could get away with charging 25% more for a RHD car in the UK than elsewhere. The EU commission took a dim view of that and forced all car manufacturers to sell RHD cars across the EU for the same price as the LHD ones.

I seem to remember that the euro was about 1.40 to the £ then. I doubt if there is still a big difference in list prices between EU countries and the euro is only about 1.25 to the £ now so it may not be worth it. I think I saved about 20% overall, but I'd be surprised if you saved that much now.

If you go ahead then I would suggest a Dutch dealer - usually they speak very good English, and there seems to be an excellent dealer in Amsterdam I think (look for some of Hotel California's posts with dealer videos).

Also consider getting an advance purchase contract on the Euros you will need, so that the exchange rate is fixed. If the UK votes to leave the EU, who knows what will happen to the exchange rate (having said that, an advance contract might not be good value because of that uncertainty).

As far as warranty is concerned - when I bought my Freelander, I took it to my local Land Rover dealer and they registered it on their system as a UK registered vehicle. I don't remember that there was any difference to the standard warranty. In fact the only difference with the car was that the handbook was in Dutch. I just put that down to Land Rover trying to be awkward.