export on land rovers? really?

[ronnie_rotten]

I keep seeing old discos and the occasional defender being sold as suitable for export. I suppose it makes sense, 200 and 300'shave no electrickery to screw them up, so like old bedford 330's and mercs there could be a market for them. But has the export market really overtaken the domestic demand yet?

[Smego]

USA have a 25 year rule, ie once it's 25 you can ignore all the regs that originally stopped them being sold.

[Eightpot]

Lots of slightly misguided and money hungry dreamers now think their old quarry monster is now worth a fortune in some far off land as a mate of a mate down the pub has sold a Land Rover to Narnia for a vast sum, and the old rotting turd on their drive is just what a well to do Californian would want to take out on the Baja.

People are now even putting fake adverts on ebay, then changing the listing to 'sold' so they can try to make people think they have a waiting list

Amazing as well how much stuff is being pulled out of barns these days

[disco2hse]

They won't take your dirty diesels, regardless of age. Petrol is OK.

[Nigelw]

I have noticed recently here the sheer volume of Land Rovers for sale into Belgium from the Netherlands, shocking really!!!

Many have massive problems which will render any unknowing buyer furious, and I'm not talking rotten or dodgy mechanicals, I'm talking about non standard engine transplants, many of the Defenders are for sale with Daihatsu engines and the likes but here that is a big no no, it is now not permitted in the Netherlands but until last year it was perfectly legitimate to do.

On another note, "EXPORT" here generally means out of technical inspection and won't pass another without serious work needing done, so sell it to Poland for them to sort out

[FridgeFreezer]

As DD said, a lot of the MOT failures from the posh end of Europe end up in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, etc. - when we were in Bosnia every other car was a Mk2 VW Golf, and there's no way they were bought new in-country. You see car transporter-loads of them going across the borders.

There's the 25 year rule for the states, but they are getting VERY hot on dodgy practices out there now, someone posted a video a week or so ago of them crushing a very (suspiciously) smart 110 that had been imported under the 25-year-rule.

My next-door-neighbour flits between UK and South Africa and has told me cars are worth about 5-10x UK prices out there if you can be bothered to do the shipping or drive it there. Given he's got a knackered P38 I don't see him taking it for a drive like that any time soon

[Brian]

My next-door-neighbour flits between UK and South Africa and has told me cars are worth about 5-10x UK prices out there if you can be bothered to do the shipping or drive it there. Given he's got a knackered P38 I don't see him taking it for a drive like that any time soon

It doesn't matter if you ship it here or drive it here. The chances of being able to register it locally and drive it legally are very small, with few exceptions. It's more likely to end up seized and crushed. Relative values are about right, but, if you can't actually sell it to anyone legally (probably), there's not a lot of point.

[Nigelw]

It doesn't matter if you ship it here or drive it here. The chances of being able to register it locally and drive it legally are very small, with few exceptions. It's more likely to end up seized and crushed. Relative values are about right, but, if you can't actually sell it to anyone legally (probably), there's not a lot of point.

Why is it so difficult to register an imported car there? Or is it more cost prohibition than legal high jumps?

[Brian]

It's not the cost so much as the legal fiery hoops. It's illegal to import a vehicle not approved by the manufacturer, due to some protection of their local market, but also due to real difficulties in sourcing non-standard parts for servicing and repair. The insurance companies back them up for the same reasons and are unwilling to insure anything that does not appear on the register of vehicles supplied through regular sources.

There are exceptions and personal imports are allowed, for new immigrants, or returning residents, provided they can prove they have owned the vehicle for at least two years prior to import. They cannot sell them for at least two years after import either. Insurance is, again, very difficult to get, even for something that is the same spec as a locally made or supplied one.

Show cars, or cars intended only for motorsport or other uses where the vehicle will not be driven on public roads are OK too. But they will never be allowed to be registered.

Rally cars and collectors items can also be allowed, but you might be in for a couple of years of documentation and fiery hoops before getting approval for something very desirable that can be proved to be otherwise unobtainable via normal channels. Plus, of course, finding insurance once successful is still a problem.

It can be done, but not casually, just because you can find a good price in the UK.

2nd hand spares are also fine, for anything.

It is easier in many other African countries though, as they do not have the manufacturing base. Imports from Japan are popular, due to their savage scrapping laws for older vehicles. You can buy a good LHD Disco, three years old, with low mileage and a startlingly good price in Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho and most of East Africa. As long as it stays registered there

Engines and gearboxes, also very low mileage, from a large variety of scrapped Japanese cars, at excellent prices, are allowed all over, even in South Africa. Lexus V8s are popular here for conversions.

[reads90]

Amazes me why the hell would anyone want a rust buket from the uk

[disco2hse]

Cos they are cool and in the US, you can't get new ones.

[reads90]

Cos they are cool and in the US, you can't get new ones.

Does not matter how cool they are if they are full of rust.

Better places than the uk to export them from. All the uk ones are rusty and terrible.

[disco2hse]

Does not matter how cool they are if they are full of rust.

Better places than the uk to export them from. All the uk ones are rusty and terrible.

Doesn't seem to matter to the buyers. Anyway, there are also large numbers being exported from other countries too. Seen a lot going from NZ and Australia.

[Nigelw]

An interesting side note is that a lot of cars are bought and stripped and containerized, shells scrapped and components are often more lucrative to keep old motors going, I knew an Estonian guy who was doing this with Clios and Corsas and small/medium hatch backs, he was making good money on the parts too, scrap the shells and turn in a good bit of profit.

Lot of work stripping them out hence why a lot of them are simply sold as "suitable for export".

Thing with a lot of Freelanders here is that they mostly have seized VCs and or blown IRDs so it costs either way to get them running again, I looked at loads before settling for my heap of rust project car.

[stobbie]

Hi Nigelw,

Here in Holland it is still no problem whatsoever to put another engine/gearbox/axles etc in a Defender (as long as it is older than 1998).

As long as it has been changed on the documents here in Holland, this is the best way to get a Defender with changes registered in Belgium.

We are one Europe, and Belgium is obliged to register any car that has been previously registered in another EU country.

Kit cars are not allowed in Holland, if we build a kit car, we have it registered in the UK, and then have it registered in Holland, because it has a UK registration Holland will register it as well (and all other European countries as well)

You see a lot of Dutch cars for sale because of the very high road tax in Holland. About 2500 euro's each year over here. Cars used to be tax excempt when they were 25 years old, but as of 01-01-2014 they have to be over 40 years old. So for most people a Defender is too expensive now.

[Nigelw]

Hi Nigelw,

Here in Holland it is still no problem whatsoever to put another engine/gearbox/axles etc in a Defender (as long as it is older than 1998).

As long as it has been changed on the documents here in Holland, this is the best way to get a Defender with changes registered in Belgium.

We are one Europe, and Belgium is obliged to register any car that has been previously registered in another EU country.

Kit cars are not allowed in Holland, if we build a kit car, we have it registered in the UK, and then have it registered in Holland, because it has a UK registration Holland will register it as well (and all other European countries as well)

You see a lot of Dutch cars for sale because of the very high road tax in Holland. About 2500 euro's each year over here. Cars used to be tax excempt when they were 25 years old, but as of 01-01-2014 they have to be over 40 years old. So for most people a Defender is too expensive now.

They will do so only if they conform to the CoC, no CoC = no kuering, no keuring = no registration!!!!

Could be wrong but I am having to listen to our farms garage guy who imports cars to Belgium and has a lot more knowledge than I do, and he says it is a veritable mine field.