[Flashy09]

I will be moving to England in the future. Husband says bring the car and sell it in France (they are LHD) and since prices are so much higher in Europe I probably will make out ok in the depreciation area. But seeing as I probably can't afford to replace the car in England due to it being almost double the cost, I was thinking of converting the car to RHD. Is this possible? Any idea how much money?

[Beyu]

Idk anything about converting LHD to RHD but can't you just keep the car the way it is and just drive on the other side of the road instead? I'm not sure if there's any laws dictating which side the driver needs to be physically sitting on, just which direction your car travels.

[Lotus7]

Although theoretically "possible", this would be a very expensive job on a X3. The steering rack, dashboard, foot cluster, wiring harnesses, headlights, and much more would need to be replaced. You’d probably be looking at ten’s of thousands of dollars of parts and a hundred hours of labor if you could find a dealer that would tackle such a job. Also, it’s unlikely that you would wind up with a warrantee with such a “bastardized” car. BMW has enough trouble getting cars that have parts that were designed to work together to function without “glitches”. A car that was converted would be an open invitation to problems.

I’d sell it in the US and buy a new one in the UK.

[sfax]

Originally Posted by Beyu

Idk anything about converting LHD to RHD but can't you just keep the car the way it is and just drive on the other side of the road instead? I'm not sure if there's any laws dictating which side the driver needs to be physically sitting on, just which direction your car travels.

It isn't against the law in the UK but it is annoying and awkward. When you're trying to see if you can overtake, you have to lean across the car to look round lorries etc. If you stop at a toll booth, car park barrier etc you're on the wrong side when you have to pay so if you're on your own it's not easy.

Switching can be done I'm sure but it would be very expensive.

This site might be a useful read. Where it talks about 17.5%, it's now 20% (VAT).

http://www.import-car.info/import-a4.pdf

[Flashy09]

Thanks so much, seems like more hassle and money than it's worth.