Bringing UK car to Finland

[Clarky78]

Well, I am back from Finland, and it seems that without a doubt I won't be buying a car there! We visited a load of second hand car dealers which reiterated two things I was aware, 1; Cars are overpriced and 2; Finnish people in general really don't see to care about cars!

We visited about 6 dealers and for 13k euros, you will get no a lot! I was amazed to see that something like a 2003 Seat Leon is 9-10k! That would be 2k here! Anything that looked interesting was always 20k+ . Also, normally when you see cars in a dealership, you expect them to look as good as possible, but they were not even cleaned properly, some indoor cars were filthy! If people buy these cars then surely that just proves Finns generally consider a car as merely a mode of transportation and appearance is low on the agenda?!

I then spoke to a few people at a party, and consensus was, don't buy in Finland.. Either bring the Mondeo, or even being suggested to buy in Germany or the like and pay the import tax! Combined with the hassle of the move, the fact I don't know where to look in Germany, and calculating the import tax, we will probably stick with the Mondeo.

We visited a Ford dealer, they knew nothing about the lights, and when asked about diesel tax, he quoted me on the new line of Mondeo's, which I said weighs 2 tons! So about 400e or so. Now just waiting a reply from Ford UK about the lights, but I think the Mondeo will most likely be living in Finland soon.

And it's a bloody long way too! Just drove 3000miles there and back.. and did it in just 4 days!

[Cod]

..agreed, buy scrap rims. Winter salt will make a new set or rims look like scrap in a few years anyway. I had a set of winter rims that I couldn't even sell recently so I gave them to a yard...as an indicator of their resale value.

[sinikala]

Finnish people in general really don't seem to care about cars!

Don´t think that´s true, but given the much lower level of disposable income and a far higher cost of new cars, they tend to change their cars less / hold onto them until they´ve done 100 - 150 000km, and so used cars here are not only more expensive, but those *available* will generally be higher mileage and have taken a lot more hammer than cars of a similar age in the UK.

We visited about 6 dealers and for 13k euros, you will get no a lot! I was amazed to see that something like a 2003 Seat Leon is 9-10k! That would be 2k here!

Sounds about right. In 2005 we had a €10k budget to buy a car. That didn´t stretch far in Finland.

Online search showed that there was a better selection of used Fords in the Hamburg area (pop 4-5 million) than in the whole of Finland. Eventually I bought an 8 year old Mondeo with 72 000 km on the clock from a Ford main dealer in Haarburg - cost €5.5k. With all travel and import, taxation & registration costs, the grand total was a bit under the €10k budget... In Finland that money would have bought a similar age, lower spec model, but with 150 000+ km on the clock.

If people buy these cars then surely that just proves Finns generally consider a car as merely a mode of transportation and appearance is low on the agenda?!!

As you now understand how expensive they are over here (historical reasons for the high taxation of cars) you´ll perhaps also understand that for many in Finland, although it would be *nice* to buy a car for its looks, for most folk it is *mainly* a mode of transportation, appearance comes a distant second.

As an aside - when I was finishing up as a postgrad student in the uk, the Ford garage I used told me that my 8 year old Orion had blown its head gasket, without blinking I went from the service department to the sales forecourt and bought a 2 year old Escort to replace it, cost me £6500. That was 1999... I´d never have imagined that 13 years on I´d still have the same car I arrived in.
We're better off than most, but I refuse to pay the ridiculous prices over here for a nice looking car when our geriatric cars still go.

[Clarky78]

Yeah, I understand more now why Finns have much older cars that they run into the ground, but also I noticed as mentioned earlier, that there has been an influx of newer cars in the last 2-3 years.. Probably due to the taxation changes no doubt. One thing is for sure, buying in Finland is not at all likely, now or in the future. If we stay in Finland, I will probably buy elsewhere and import. Heck it might be cheaper to to move back to England for a year and buy a car to import tax free!

I will start again looking at options for wheels. I found a place that will supply steels with winter tyres for £100 a corner fitted with Avons. Non-studded, but that doesn't concern me too much. For a small amount more, I can get alloy's, which I know everyone says will get trashed, but seeing as they are removed every 6 months, that gives me time to clay them down and hopefully keep them respectable.. I thought the Finns weren't big on road salt due to the low temperatures? In England the roads are salted nearly constantly for 2-3 months, but wheels don't tend to get thrashed too badly if looked after... Except when you slam into the curb in snow on summer tyres!

[Upphew]

I thought the Finns weren't big on road salt due to the low temperatures?

Low temperatures are in the north. South coast is slush and salt.

[DMC]

For a small amount more, I can get alloy's, which I know everyone says will get trashed, but seeing as they are removed every 6 months, that gives me time to clay them down and hopefully keep them respectable.

I recently bought a new car that was supplied with alloys and steels. For some odd reason the winter tyres are supplied on the alloy wheels and the summer tyres are on the steels. I'm going to get them swapped over so I run the alloys in summer and the steels in the winter.

[Clarky78]

Does anyone know if insurance prices are more for right hand drive cars in Finand?

[sinikala]

Does anyone know if insurance prices are more for right hand drive cars in Finand?

Nothing mentioned about RHD on my insurance documents.

Make sure you have as much documentation as possible. Whereas in the UK you get full discount after 4 or 5 years over here I think it's 7 years.
I arrived with 8 or 9 years worth of old insurance documents, which showed an unbroken chain of UK NCDs... the insurer here "If" recognized the UK NCDs ....

which was nice.

[aguinness]

As I mentioned earlier, I now have a spare set of steel wheels to suit your Mondeo, on the boat from Stockholm now and will be back in Finland tonight after 6500 km in my mondeo this week.

[Clarky78]

aguinness: will they fit my car? What offset and stud BCD are they? How much you want for them? They were steel's right?

I thought insurance in the UK recognized 7 years as mac NCB? Either way, I hadn't had a car for several years so we had to start again, and I think we will have only 3.. I only ask because english insurance companies are arsey about foreign vehicles.

[aguinness]

They are 5 x 108 if I remember correctly, anyway they are my old winter wheels from my ´04 Mondeo. Make me an offer, I also have the CD 6000 single cd player and a clock if per chance....

[aguinness]

Clarky78, are you interested. I am today putting them up for sale elsewhere.

[ccowley]

On top of changing the headlights, sump heater and a spare set of wheels, they made me change the rear fog light to the other side.

[Pariah]

I am living in Helsinki for a while. I am a UK national and contributing to the Finnish economy through the enormous taxation on alcohol and ham.

Anyway, I have found several decent left hand drive Audis and BMW's & Porshes for sale in the UK. These cars were originally imported into the UK or were brought in by expats, Europeans working in the UK or were embassy cars. These are cheap in the UK because nobody wants a LHD car. for example:

2009 A4 Audi 2.0 TDi 120K km estate FSH excellent condition 10K euros (probably less after haggling)

I'd need to swap over the lights from a Euro model Audi but there has to be some sense in me bringing one of these over rather than buying a used car here. Any thoughts from the Suomi?

[Pursuivant]

Well, you just go onto the Tulli website and look at what the taxes on a similar model and make, and you know an approximation of how much you'll end up paying taxes. And then looking at the mileage and prices on Nettiauto. Lights are cheaply obtained underway in Germany, as is the block heater. The LHD has a better resale value as well, so you can live with the dream while running it down.