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How Is The Market Of Lhd Cars In The Uk?


sky
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Hi guys,

Just wondering if i have any chances to sell my LHD Ford Focus in the UK. It's not now, but whenever the time comes i will make a post. So how is this going to be in the UK? Hard or easy?

Here is a pic of the car. 1.8 TDCi Ghia with ESP and some other extras. Only 88k km on the clock.

025237002-big.jpg

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any car of any age will sell if the price is right for that model and its age and condition. But you may find people reluctant to buy unless the car has a V5 form (UK declaration of ownership).

hth

Cyb

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Agreed, as the car appears to have a foreign registration its possible that there may be additional fees for registering against a standard uk number plate, i would say that most people would be reluctant to buy it thinking this may be a problem, however the selling point of the lhd shouldnt be too big a problem, besides smart cars can be lhd or rhd!

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Agreed - needs to be registered in the uk with uk plates. As you say when the time comes i expect u will done that already. Only other thing is you won't get anywhere near the price of a right hand drive model - you need to realise this and when u do sell need to reduce the price. Say the same UK model is selling at 5K then yours would be 4.5K for example(all my own opinion of course)

Nice colour though :)

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Bugger trying to sell it in the UK... With the exchange rate as it stands you would be wise to advertise it across the pond.

Having come from another forum where used prices in Euroland command 50-75% more than UK prices, an LHD sale on the continent only makes sense.

Bang it up on French and German eBay and hopefully you should be quids in. Let the buyer do the leg work and just hope that they don't want to pay via Western Union and you should be laughing.

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I think it would be difficult to sell a LHD Focus in the UK, unless the price is very low.

Put simply, having the steering wheel on the wrong side would take a lot of getting used to and the majority of UK drivers wouldn't want to do it. Even after living with such a car for a while, things like visibility when pulling out to overtake etc would always be harder than a RHD car.

Jeebowhite makes a great point about Smart cars being sold in both LHD and RHD, but I believe these are special cases and cannot be used as a typical example of the UK car market. Smart cars were only available in LHD to begin with, and they have a cult following among owners. Their small size reduces the disadvantages of LHD in a RHD market, and their resale potential is pretty high. Finally there is a limited number of Smarts available so potential buyers can't be as choosy as a Focus buyer.

Likewise, cars like Porsches sell reasonably well in LHD form, albeit still significantly (~20%) below the value of a RHD model.

Contrast that with the Focus, which is one of the most popular cars in Britain. A potential buyer has an enormous number of used cars to choose from, and will need a huge incentive to choose the LHD version - and that can only be a low price. I would suggest that the LHD car would need to be around 1/3 below typical market value in order to make a UK buyer put up with the inconvenience of LHD.

In addition, most UK buyers are pretty conservative and would be naturally distrustful of an import - (incorrectly) assuming that it would be an inferior specification. I'd expect that it would cost more to insure too. Unfortunately 99.9% of UK buyers would simply move on to the many other used Foci available.

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I understand your point, but why LHD in the UK cost more than RHD? Even more than in Europe.

How would you comment this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LHD-2006-Ford-Focus-1-6-TDCi-Titanium-LEFT-HAND-DRIVE-/180705692730?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2a12e60c3a#ht_1758wt_1398

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They don't - Not to the normal person buying a car. As mentioned above we as a consumer will only buy a LHD car over a RHD car if the price was considerably cheaper - this is fact. Ask anyone here and they will say the same. RHD car vs LHD car similar spec, mileage, age colour and we will buy the RHD.

Sites like (I Expect) are aimed at people just moved here from spain etc that are so used to a LHD car that they would probably prefer one to a RHD one. Guess these people target that market and due to the low numbers of LHD motors & guessing as well they sell far fewer cars than a normal dealer they inflate prices to compensate. Well that my opinion anyone - could be wrong LOL

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Its a valid point Barry, some prices are just optimistic, and some people prefer LHD to RHD, so dont get too disheartened. But selling abroad is a good idea - you can get the right rate - they come and collect it - your quids in from the off. Selling in the UK wont be impossible, but as has been said - if you have 90% of the UK's drivers are driving an RHD car, and 10% an LHD. If you sell the same car, same mileage, same model, same quality everything - 90% of people will buy the RHD - because 90% of people are used to RHD. If you want someone to convert, then you have to entice them - a discount, an addition anything the RHD is not offering. 10% of people, who may or may not live near you or may / may not want to travel to buy it - may snap it up at the original price - its all down to preference.

Dont be disheartened, try and sell your motor, and you could be surprised by your price - positively or negatively - depending on demand in the area, dont be afraid to go online to sell abroad.

As for those folk - they specialise in selling LHD's - as such you expect visiting that site you will see more LHD than RHD, they can afford to 'up the price' as their target audeince who will visit them, are LHDrivers - if you have to try and sell to an RHD owner who you really want to buy an LHD - you do have to do something to make it more attractive.

Hope this helps, and give it a go!

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