Importing..

[Jhonno]

How would you go about importing a car from the continent? how does it work with insurance, tax etc?

Just out of interest..

[gazza]

depends on what you buy and its age is very important as to weather or not it needs to pass a sva test to get an mot
on the insurance front some companies will load you as cars from abroad have different spec ie engine size and the parts are not available as freely
then there is the dreaded vat which you will have to pay before the dvla will issue a log book .....if you know what age/car you are looking for be more precise and you will get more accurate answer

[Jhonno]

it would be a late e30 so 88 - 91

[gazza]

you will have to pay vat on it but that is only a percentage of its value and due to the age of any e30 that would not be too bad make sure you get all the relevant docs ie log book/registration doc for that country

will you drive it home or have it delivered as you will have to pay the vat at the docks before its released and if you drive it it will need insurance from the port of entry if you buy from germany for instance they issue a export number plate to get it out of the country...but this they will only do so on production of the insurance cert and will even put your uk address on the registration docs, so you now have it at home ....mot next over 10 yrs old it will not require sva testing but you will need to mot it it may fail if the speedo is in km only. the lights will need sorting(headlights)as they will face the rd centre and not the n/s
then with your vat reciept and mot got to your lvlo(local veh license office)and fill in an application for a log book you could be there hours and they are like dss offices
they will carry out checks on a central computer that will check records to see if its not stolen in europe etc. then you will pay for your tax and they will issue the paperwork to go and get your number plates made

thats basically it im sure someone will correct anything i have left out