My employer has assigned me to London for the next two years. They will pay all vehicle shipping expenses but I am responsible for any vehicle conversion costs required by the UK. From my research the most common conversions required seem to be vehicle lighting. Does anyone have any experience with the costs/difficulty of converting a US spec 2008 Prius to meet UK MOT standards? How about availability of parts to fix a US spec Prius? Thank you!
How to Import a car to the UK from the US A 2008 may have one of two types of Headlights Halogen or HID. Be sure which you have as costs may vary wildly.
I don't have experience with the conversion costs. If any parts unique to the North American Prius fail (for example, coolant heat recovery system pump, canister, engine coolant valve) then you'll probably have a long wait for the parts to be shipped from Japan. I would be more concerned about trying to drive a LHD vehicle on roads where you drive on the left.
Thanks for the links. The lights are halogen which I believe are cheaper to modify. It looks like it will need a red rear fog light and perhaps changes to the aim of the headlights. I'll have access to APO/DPO so I'm hopeful that I could order parts from a US dealership if the US parts of indeed different--but that is certainly an issue to consider. If anyone has any more ideas, I'm all ears. Thanks!
I agree. I'm from England but learned to drive in the USA after I moved here many years ago. Since then I've visited the UK at least once a year for two or three weeks, renting a stick-shift car each time and driving a thousand miles or more each time. While I have no problem switching sides of the road and using the gear shift with my other hand, I would be very nervous about doing it in a LHD car. Traffic is *very* different now in the UK from what it used to be, with far more cars on the road and far less attention to lane discipline and common courtesy.
Thanks. I had the impression that with it's proximity to many EU countries with LHD cars that this was somewhat common in the UK. I'll have to reconsider.
it an 08, sell t now, buy some thing cheap there. by the time you come back it will be 10 years old and not worth the trouble, bring back a nice jag e type
That is quite possible since the headlight pattern is optimized for the side of the road that it is assumed the car will be driven on. Need to make sure that the car to be imported into the US has stickers which shows it complies with US Federal safety and emissions standards, or else forget that idea.
OP is apparently a US military or other US government employee and the vehicle transportation is likely part of his relocation allowance.
