Last weekend we drove to Cologne for the Christmas markets (any excuse to get away from the kids) and had a great time.
One thing I did notice on the motorways was quite a few German registered car transporters laden with UK registered cars, at least 10 years or so old and mostly VW/Audi or Japanesse, all clean and straight, heading East.
I couldn't help but think who in Europe would want 10-year old right hand drive cars? Are used cars in Europe so expensive that it makes sense to import cheaper UK cars, depsite the wheel being on the wrong side? Are these cars scrappage cars heading for a new life? Does this explain why carp cars fetch so mutch on e-bay?
Does anyone in the trade know the answer?
Last edited by: Boxsterboy on Wed 22 Dec 10 at 09:38
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I met a Latvian in Belgium a few years ago - he was rounding up well looked after used cars in the UK and was doing very well. Loads of them go to Ireland an well.
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Many cars that were supposed to have been scrapped under the British and German srappage scheme have ended up in the East also many accident damaged expensive cars come the same way.They are used to clone stolen cars ,dismantled for spares,exported to Russia,Africa,India its a mega business in Dresden alone there must be 20 massive bits of spare land full of cars which are systematically taken by transporter to the east.You often hear on the news the German and Polish police have broken up a car cloning ring they normally show you wharehouses full of stolen cars ready to be cloned or dismantled.
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I'm quite sure that a lot of the Ukrainian or Bulgarian gangster-types will happily settle for RHD if it's a free/nicked/cloned Merc or Beamer.
And there are lots of BBD-types out that way who will probably settle for a cheap RHD from home too ;-)
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I've always hoped the 1997 A3 I traded in under the scrappage scheme last year somehow escaped the crusher and is now enjoying a second life somewhere else :-)
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>> Are used cars in Europe so expensive that it makes sense to import cheaper
>> UK cars, depsite the wheel being on the wrong side?
There was a story on the HJ forum from a guy who sold an old Mondeo on eBay to a buyer from Poland. Buyer flew over and drove car home. Surprisingly (to me) the buyer said it would be converted to LHD, but even with the cost of doing that he could still make money selling it in Poland.
The UK seems to have about the lowest priced used cars in the world. Colleagues of mine from Germany and Scandinavia have commented that they're amazed at how cheap used cars are here.
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I agree. Ebay'ed our warehouse man's 51-plate Rover 45 diesel with a blown engine last year for him, it made almost £500 and was collected without question by a Polish chap in a V-reg Rover 600 with a trailer. He said the same thing, he would take it home and sort it out to sell it.
One of our old trucks was sold to a dealer in the summer, and we inadvertently left the tracker in it. The trace showed it going from our yard to Leatherhead on the Monday, then non-stop from there on the Wednesday to Dover, then through France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland before disappearing off the edge of the map at the border with Ukraine. I wonder what it's up to now.
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>> I wonder what it's up to now.
>>
Does it still have your name on the side? :)
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There used to be a firm in Bedfordshire that bought all the ex-MOD vehicles it could get hold of,quick coat of paint and on the boat to the third world.
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I understand that in the 90's there were high import duty on new/second hand "western made" cars in Poland. However, there was no import duty on scrap/written off cars - so there was a steady procession of transporters across Northern Europe to Poland with scrap cars which were then rebuilt as "new". Suppose this still happens in some non-EU countries such as Ukraine, Russia etc.....
For information, there is quite a market in second hand buses such as Volvo single deckers and Mercedes minibuses in some parts of Africa. I remember seeing a picture of a Mercedes minibus still in Stagecoach livery plying the streets of Narobi, but looking slightly tired!
Lastly, on this theme of second hand stuff being transported around the world reminds me of all the ex-Japanese domestic vehicles that end up in the Carribean - docksides full of Japenese cars/vans straight off the boat. Also recall in New Zealand, hoards of ex Japanese domestic vehicles in the docks waiting for resale. I think that there is a big market in Vladisvostock, being so remote from Europe, for ex Japanese cars - so much so that there was a campaign to change the rule of the road from driving on the right to the left for all these secondhand RHD cars....
Happy new year.
Routemaster
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>> There was a story on the HJ forum from a guy who sold an old
>> Mondeo on eBay to a buyer from Poland. Buyer flew over and drove car home.
>> Surprisingly (to me) the buyer said it would be converted to LHD, but even with
>> the cost of doing that he could still make money selling it in Poland.
That was me a couple of years ago now.
Him and his mate were buying two at a time, getting a cheap flight to the nearest airport to the first car, taxi / public transport to collect it, drive to the second car and collect that, then drive them back to Poland to sell on, as you say.
When they came to pick mine up, they arrived in another Mondeo, same year, same model that they'd bought in Luton.
Really nice chaps. Totally hassle free sale.
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