I am in the Middle East and have a Landrover Defender, left-hand drive and with 2.5 litre diesel engine, registered here, which I'm considering taking to the U.K.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who's taken a foreign-plated vehicle into the UK and "nationalised" it there. I want to know about the bureaucracy involved, the hassles and pitfalls, and, of course, the cost. Please be as specific as possible.

In case it's relevant, it's a 2005 Landrover Defender Td5 110 County Station Wagon.

if it is a car which has exactly the same name and spec as a model available in Europe it is I believe fairly simple.. an MOT and a cost to register it. You need an export certificate from the country you are removing it from..

if there is not exactly the same model available in Europe then you will need an SVA instead of an MOT for which you will need a vehicle type report which has to be 'hired' for some extra dosh and the test itself is a little more stringent..

mad question perhaps but why do you want to import it rather than flog it and get another one when you get here?

No problem, ask away.

Because we intend to drive to the UK.

Have you any idea of the costs of the things you mentioned?

popotla said:

I am in the Middle East and have a Landrover Defender, left-hand drive and with 2.5 litre diesel engine, registered here, which I'm considering taking to the U.K.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who's taken a foreign-plated vehicle into the UK and "nationalised" it there. I want to know about the bureaucracy involved, the hassles and pitfalls, and, of course, the cost. Please be as specific as possible.

In case it's relevant, it's a 2005 Landrover Defender Td5 110 County Station Wagon.

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Hi,
Sorry I don’t have a full answer for you but can tell you the most important thing you will need to check is if you can get a European Certificate of Conformity for your LR, this can be gained from LR in the UK. I was in the process of buying a 2005 110 that had been made for the "Rest of World Market" this had the 300 tdi engine fitted instead of the TD5 that was fitted to the European models of the same year - it was not possible to get the COC for this vehicle to register it in the UK as it didn’t meet some European criteria. Hope this helps and good luck! Steve

SteveDefender said:

Hi,
European Certificate of Conformity for your LR, this can be gained from LR in the UK.

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that's the puppy...

costwise I don't know... I imported a japanese motor a few years ago and paid an agent £300 to do the whole thing for me... so presumably less than that if you do it on your tod...