LHDs in Great Britain....

[VaudiGR]

I was wondering about something.I live in Greece and one of the main reasons i was not thinking of buying a car in general was,because there is a hard possibility of me coming to England for several years,and people who have been there always told me that it is very difficult to drive a LHD car in England due to the inability to have visual contact when trying to overcome a slower vehicle,or due to the fact that everything else is placed on the opposite side of the road,and you are still in the left hand drive,which is confusing....

Now that i found this RS2 and bought it im definitelly thinking of taking the car with me in England,so what a better place to ask about LHDs driven in England,and how hard it is to drive them,than people that own LHD RS2 here in the forum!!!

So what are the main problems driving an LHD car there?
Is it something you can get used to?
Are there any potential dangers involved?
Also my insurance company told me that since it is going to be in England with a greek licence plate,it cannot be insured by an English insurance company,but only by a greek one,and i dont car for that cause its a lot cheaper.However does anyone know what it takes to be able to drive a car with a foreign licence plate in England?I mean are there any strains attached?

The reason i will be in England is because im persuing a place in a hospital for medical specialty training in ophthalmology,and probably will be working there for quite some time.

thanks
Vasilis

[Ghia]

I don't own one yet... but have owned LHD cars in UK.
I don't have a problem driving LHD cars over here, the only things to think about are pulling out to overtake (especially on country roads), Car parks and McDonalds!!
Otherwise its pretty straight forward.
The Police don't tend to take too much notice of foreign cars.. I brought a LHD back from germany still on its German plates and they didn't bat an eyelid!

MG

[eddiecrawford]

i think if the car is in the uk for more than one year, then you are supposed to reregister it in uk etc. i know a few folk who have not bothered and got into no trouble, but it is all computerised nowadays.

[VaudiGR]

but i cannot have it registered in 2 countries at the same time!!!!
it has to be in one!!

[eddiecrawford]

i think you are supposed to permantly export it after a year, ie it will be no longer registered in greece, but will be in uk, with uk plate etc. worth finding out about duty/tax etc first. mate sent a car to australia in a container before finding this out, australian duty was more than he could afford, so he had to send the container unopened back to uk! within europe should be ok...? maybe you dont need to reregister within europe?

another mate shipped an australian car, with "queensland, the sunny state" on the rego plates to uk for a year, before they went back to live there with the car. avoided speeding tickets anyway!

i would probably leave the greek plates on it, especially if you dont know how long you are over here for, and plead ignorance if the police ever stop you. especially if the greek insurance is cheaper... not convinced a fast lhd car is that safe if you like overtaking though, get a co driver!

good luck with getting an spr number, where are you looking?

[VaudiGR]

actually i will be coming with my fiance to the uk,and probably driving around with her all the time!!hehe

Someone had mentioned that if i wanted to keep using the car in the UK but continue using the greek plates that i would have to take the car outside the UK after every 6 months or so.It doesnt make any sense.I will be a greek citizen,in a european country,living in the UK working there which could take as much as 3 to 7 years.I know that if i manage to get a good post i wont mind the reregistration,however i will mind it a lot when i will try to get the car back to Greece where it will be as much as the whole car's price to register it again over there.
There must be another way.A friend who went to germany to study,bought himself an RS2 with german plates,but he knows that in Germany you have to produce evidence if asked (in case you have a different plates than german),that the car has been in germany for less than 6 months.However since the special ticket or something that they use as evidence can be bought anywhere in germany,he wouldnt have to drive off the state,but only go and buy the ticket somewhere(hence just pay the amount of money the state requires for you to have the car in Germany).

If what you say is true,it is kind of stupid to have to register the car in the UK and get uk plates(i guess that deal is going to be expensive too),and then after a couple of years to have to register the car again in Greece(and in the end pay 3 times its price!!!!)
There has to be a route for people just coming to the UK for work and then getting off again...Unless i end up stying forever which is a different story....i may even change the position of the drivers seat in that case!!hehe

Anyway,im trying to get a post in ophthalmology,as SHO but things are so difficult with this specialty i may end up doing much more than intended...
are you in medicine as well??