I want to buy a left hand drive Cali

Rovert · Oct 21, 2017

Hello all

In a few weeks I'm moving to Spain. I want to buy a LHD California and wanted to know the best way to go about this. Is there anyone who has experienced this already and may be able to share their experience.

Another option is to buy it in Germany and pay Spanish tax later. There is an old thread on this forum that stated the German spec was better than anywhere else. Can someone confirm?

westfalia · Oct 21, 2017

I think all LHD californias have the same spec.
The early t5 LHD had a few different things to the RHD drive, i.e. dashboard was
from a multivan on LHD and from a transporter on the RHD and the LHD had integrated blinds on the windscreen.
I don´t know about the latest models.
I would say the easiest would be to buy one in spain.

frenchie · Oct 21, 2017

Hi. Look on mobile.de. lots of vans on that site

blondebier · Oct 21, 2017

If you want to buy new have a look at these guys...

https://www.mycalifornia.eu
(He's got a youtube channel and looks pretty clued up)

VW could learn a thing or two. His configurator is a stroke of genius.

See here: https://www.mycalifornia.eu/configurator/

I would have bought ours from here except they can't do RHD. Pity.

Hotel California · Oct 21, 2017

blondebier said:
If you want to buy new have a look at these guys...

https://www.mycalifornia.eu
(He's got a youtube channel and looks pretty clued up)

VW could learn a thing or two. His configurator is a stroke of genius.

See here: https://www.mycalifornia.eu/configurator/

I would have bought ours from here except they can't do RHD. Pity.

One of those two guys (maybe both of them ...not sure ) worked at Camper Centrum Nederland in Amersfoort ......
Or they are a spin-off from CCN or they started theire own business .

Not sure if many would order a +50.000€ verhicle online ....i would not !

parrot2 · Oct 21, 2017

Have you noted the thread about sick of insurance companies if you intend to insure it in the uk

blondebier · Oct 22, 2017

I personally wouldn't have a problem buying a vehicle online. (My last 3 were bought this way) If you're sensible and don't pay with a suitcase of fifties you'll be fully protected.

Insurance is pips. See the FAQs.

https://www.mycalifornia.eu/faq/

"We arrange European-approved insurance plates, which allow you to drive home within 7 days."

It's included in the price.

Crisvb · Oct 22, 2017

Hi! We are waiting for our California which will hopefully arrive in the next few days. We did look at many different options before taking the plunge and buying, including checking in Germany. From what I could see, calis in Germany are significantly more expensive than in Spain (excluding dealers discounts, but I doubt they make very impressive reductions). The specs are really different in every country and there are good and bad things in both. Unlike in Germany, in Spain the standard specs include basic things for me such as parking sensors, cruise control (non-adaptive), multifunction steering wheel, awning (in Germany it only includes the rail as I believe is the case in UK?), sliding window on both sides in the living area (as opposed to sliding window only on the left-hand side). Then you also get not so basic things but which I believe are pretty handy like the composition media radio including app connect.
As for good things included in Germany that you have to pay extra for in Spain I can only think of alloy wheels right now, in Spain you get steel wheels as standard. I'm sure there were more things in both countries but that's all I can recall now.

I would advise you to check the online configurator in both countries (volkswagen-comerciales and volkswagen-nutzfahrzeuge) and see what is best for you.

Romke · Oct 22, 2017

I don't know which model you're looking for but the California Coast is available in France but not in Spain. The French version is fairly complete, including the electric roof and parking heater as standard equipment. Despite that it's still around 6000 euros cheaper than an Ocean.

CDinFrance · Oct 28, 2017

While you are at it, check the prices in Switzerland. Depending on what you want, their Liberty models have a deep discount over even discounted prices in other countries, even after the tax calculations.

s2bear · Oct 29, 2017

parrot2 said:
Have you noted the thread about sick of insurance companies if you intend to insure it in the uk

Hi. That was me. In the end I got fully comp transit insurance (at a price) for the journey home and there were many obstacles to my satisfactory insurance nirvana once back here but oddly enough, LHD wasn’t one of them. NFU worked.