Should I bring a new car with me....

Cod · Post by **Cod** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 3:40 pm

...its still a little vague on this topic even after the posts below...

...should we buy a car out here in the UK (left hand drive totta-kai), and then take it back to Finland (paying no tax cos of the 6 month thing and the one year thing)....

...or since these new Finnish tax laws came into play, is the saving we're gonna make on a tiny new car (like a Vauxhall Corsa) which may need new lights etc, going to be minimal?

...in a nut shell, are small new cars in Finland still really really expensive compared to mainland Europe..?

taa heaps

David

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Majava · Post by **Majava** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 4:40 pm

I think it depends. If you ask a NEW small car, you may find that they are in fact even cheaper here than in many other EU countries. Second hand cars in Finland simply lose their value in the way some radio active isotopes only do; very slowly... If the car you're driving in now is not too old (like older than '94) it absolutely pays to bring it with you as part of removal goods, even with the costs of shipping.

Give us the make, model and build and I can look in the local paper what they are selling for here.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:31 pm

Or maybe buy shiny new car in Germany/Denmark where the car prices are lower than UK, bring it into UK and own it there for the 6 months, then bring it to Finland??? I'd get myself committed though after double paperwork. I'd guess a "wrong hand drive" 2nd hand is cheaper in the UK though. A RHD resale value in Finland is zilch.

dusty_bin · Post by **dusty_bin** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 10:33 pm

Given that the least expensive way to own a car is to buy a recent secondhand car and keep it with full maintenance until it can no longer pass road safety tests; then I would say, bring it along. Resale value will be low here, but if looked after, a car can last longer than 20 years anyway, so that becomes a moot point. To drive the car back to the Uk will cost less than 400 pounds in any case.

To get on and stay on the new or nearly new car treadmill here is ridiculously expensive if you wil be earning your salary at local rates.

Cod · Post by **Cod** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 1:01 pm

like in the way of a small car...(second hand).....with four doors

I do fix my own car at the moment (Fiat Uno) but thats at the end of its useful life now...and the thought of being under the car in -20 degress is somewhat unappealing...

so..is it a Toyota hands down...like a late 90's model (man I'm outta touch with the models they put out in those years...)

..or is it worth upping to a VW Polo..or are cars like this likely to be expensive to put through a shop...

...ideas?

taa folks

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 4:10 pm

Toyota is about the most usual car here. As is a vw. No trouble finding a garage. Of course everything costs here...

Cod · Post by **Cod** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 7:55 pm

..(tried the search but couldn't find an answer to...)

If we get a tax-free car from Finland (like a this http://www.toyota.fi/showroom/tax_free.html) then what happens...
..does that mean we have to pay tax on it in the uk? The gent at the web address seems a bit biz to get all answers out of...

I guess that it is registered in uk like they say with Nissan http://www.nissan.fi/taxfree/english/de ... ndpayment/ but that seems all a little too easy...no mention of paying tax here..

..is it really possible to buy a car completely tax free just because you live out of Finland for a year?

thanks
Dave

dusty_bin · Post by **dusty_bin** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 8:24 pm

OK, within the EU, one pays car tax at various levels. When one buys a car, one should only pay it once. What is more, we should be able to choose where we pay; in the country of purchase, or the country where the car will live.

So, you will pay car tax in the UK, of course on a second hand car, there is none to pay (is there in Finland? I dunno!).

The rule about living abroad for a year is to discourage Finns from buying cheap elsewhere. If it is not an illegal mechanism seeking to take the effect of a tariff or duty I don't know what is... IIRC the EU did have something to say about this as it tends to restrain trade.

If you buy a car in the UK you could choose not to pay tax in the UK, but do so in Finland. This would be madness, if for no other reason than the money, but also, you could not drive the car to the port, it would have to be delivered.

If you buy in Finland, you pay in the UK, but again delivery problems. There are ways around this issue though as Finland is regarded as being about the cheapest place to buy a car in the EU, (EX TAX). It was a thing a few years ago to buy a volvo here and take it to the UK, cars were almost half price at the time. Under harmonisation regs, the differences should be much less nowadays.

Cod · Post by **Cod** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 2:50 pm

taa muchly ...

...reckon when its all said and done, we'ld lose money...on the journey (they can deliver the car with export plates- but its a long drive!), on getting the car to meet uk standards (speedo needs to show MPH etc) and cars seem cheaper across europe these days so a new car in finland isn't far off a new one in UK

......and all this to then take it back to finland and have to change it all back again in a few years time....

......must be someway around all this, will let u know what I find out....

Dave

Geri Bush · Post by **Geri Bush** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:03 pm

My thought on bringing a car is that it is like a 3 year savings fund. At the end of the 3 years you sell it and have a good chance of making money. Its a risk just like buying into a mutual fund.

So if you bring a car to Finland. Bring one that will sell with a profit. Then take the cash and buy what you want back home.

I don't think bringing a car back and forth is worth it.

kidoskanidos · Post by **kidoskanidos** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 6:06 pm

Hi! This is my first post here!

I’m from Portugal, and there’s a possibility of me moving to Finland and work over there for about a year. I was thinking of taking my Land Rover Discovery 300 TDi with me.

I have to make many changes on it? I have reading about changing lights and stuff… And what about 6 months thing??

By the way, what’s the cost of Diesel, over there?

marco

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 12:00 pm

Diesel fuel is some 20c lower than gasoline, but there is "Diesel Tax" levied on the weight of the car (for Finnish cars that is) so you need to drive a lot to compensate.

If you keep it in Portugese registry this is possible for some time:

Customs office rules:
http://www.tulli.fi/english/files/touristenglish02.html
Has the 6 months rule.

grahamb · Post by **grahamb** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 12:01 pm

Hi kidoskanidos and welcome!

Diesel here is about 77c per litre here in Helsinki today (I just happened to notice the price when I was out in the car...) There is a website that shows petrol/diesel prices but I can't remember the address.

You shouldn't have to change the lights on a Portugese car because you drive on the same side of the road as Finland. If you are bringing a UK car, you have to modify the lights because they point to the wrong side of the road when they are dipped (i.e. for driving normally)

I don't know about now (no doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong...) but in the mid 90s, it was possible to bring a car from overseas and use it for a year without any need to change registration, etc. I brought a car from the UK, used it for 51 weeks and then took it back to the UK (I was only here on a one year contract at the time so I booked the ferry tickets carefully to make sure the car wasn't here for a year). I don't think there was even any restriction on how long you had owned it before you got here (I bought it about 3 months before I came because I didn't know I was coming here...) IIRC, I registered it at the port in Turku so they knew it was in Finland but they didn't care beyond that. If you're going to be here for about a year, it may be easier to make sure that is less than 1 year and drive it as a Portugese car.

I brought it to Finland just before it joined the EU and Finland was in the EU when I left.

kidoskanidos · Post by **kidoskanidos** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:03 pm

Thanks for your help...

I've another question: anyone here has experience with off-road vehicules? I'm thinking about tires price, I know that, by law, you have to use specific tire model during Winter, and I'll like to have some opinion on that... If there is anyone that owns a Discovery or similar, please PM.

This forum has been most helpful for me. Congratulations for you all, and I expect to be over there soon.

marco

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