110 purchase in UK

[vanroth]

After being away from Land Rover's for several years, I'm looking to get back into one. My company has decided to send me the UK for 2 years starting in January, working just outside of London. I will certainly miss the Sonoran weather (and food), but it should be a great new experience and I'm stoked about the possibilities.

Right now I'm busy working the living arrangement details, but the next step is to start exploring vehicle options. I figured this would likely be my only opportunity to legitimately convince myself it would actually be a decent investment to acquire a 110tdi. And the plan would be to ship it back to the US when I repatriate. This of course would limit my options to a pre-94 truck.

Any recommendations or experiences learned from buying vehicles in the UK as a foreigner? I know finding one that isn't rotting from cancer will be challenging and I'm aiming to find one with a current MOT. Anything to steer clear of when buying used cars there?

I'll still need to figure out a suitable car for my wife as well. Freelander's are tempting given how cheap they are (we are talking cheaper than a set of tires), but I'll probably get something a bit more reliable.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

-vanroth

 

[Paddler Ed]

Decide if you're going to be going in to London - the reason why older LR's are falling out of favour is because of the Low Emission Zones; some of the older Landies aren't able to be used in there. One of the guys who is based in the UK will chirp and correct me - when I'm in the UK, I'm 3hrs NW of London and avoid it at all cost!

Be prepared for a shock with insurance costs, you're likely to have no No Claims Bonus unless you find a decent broker is happy to accept your American history (our UK NCB has disappeared as we've been out of the country for the last 3 years, so we'd be starting with nothing).

Purchasing a car in the UK is simple... give seller money, get V5, send off paperwork (no need for ID as far as I know), get insurance, and then you can pay VED for the car (if it has an MOT)

Personally I'd avoid buying anything from the Coastal areas, Scotland/high counties (due to rust - cold areas use salt on the roads ALOT) and in the case of Land Rovers anything that looks like it's come off of a farm (livestock piss is very corrosive, and they are likely to have been used to tow a full livestock trailer a lot)

 

[wuntenn]

What Ed said. Big killer is rusty chassis from road salt or from boat launching into the sea. However that's a general warning - in reality there are few reasons NOT to buy a coastal or Scottish vehicle if its in good condition, as it all comes down to maintenance and service histories.

My suggestion, unless you are in a desperate rush to buy, is to take enough time to look around for a galvanised chassis vehicle as this will give you a lot more longevity than the standard chassis. There are some around for sale - just needs to be suitable for importing to the USA so will probably be a 200 or 300tdi.

Be prepared for some silly prices, whilst Defenders have retained their value compared to say Discoverys some vendors think they are made out of platinum and have attached inflated price tags, so have a good look around at age/condition/price to get a good sense of what you might be able to get within your budget.

Plenty of them sat in garage forecourts so you should be able to get plenty to poke around at!

 

[vanroth]

Thanks for the inputs. I'll be about an hour north of London and I'm more than happy to take the train in, so no worries here on driving it in the city.

I've started searching and I've found a couple of galvy trucks but I'm not getting too hung up on any individual one until I get out there. I may do a one year lease for my wife's car and use it temporarily to search out for the right 110. I've seen some decent ones in the £7K range (and many Freelanders in the £700 range!). I did a galvanized chassis swap on my SIII and I'd rather not repeat it, so maybe a galvy one is the way to go in the long run -- great pointer.

Time to start watching those Wheeler Dealer reruns again....

 

[wuntenn]

Wheeler Dealers? Good fun to watch but not for gaining any ideas on pricing and realistic profits. They NEVER EVER factor in their time - makes what they're doing a pile of nonsense. Even my 8 year old says "they're doing ALL that work for free daddy".

 

[LR Max]

If you are going to buy a truck and bring it back, start looking for a 24 year old defender in Spain/southern france/Italy, etc. Rust free, many have AC, and LHD. It'll be too new to import when you buy, but when you are ready to come back, it'll be of the right age.

So buy there, bring to England and have it worked on as needed. Any heavy repair, get done beforehand (such as head gaskets, transmissions, axles, suspension, etc) since it'll be reasonable. Also you'll have time to drive the truck and determine what needs to be done. But yeah, getting an Ashcroft R380 is cheaper and easier than getting it put on a pallet and sent to the US.

There are a couple of guys on the east coast who do imports. Get with them.

Just make sure two things: Original chassis with legible VIN number. CORRECT engine. Those two things right there, if not correct, will bite you hard.

Otherwise, do other research and look at US based brokers.

 

[vanroth]

Wheeler Dealers? Good fun to watch but not for gaining any ideas on pricing and realistic profits. They NEVER EVER factor in their time - makes what they're doing a pile of nonsense. Even my 8 year old says "they're doing ALL that work for free daddy".

Yeah, it was a bit tongue in cheek. Love the program, but yeah Ed China is a slave worker. But in the end it is all for entertainment :wings:

 

[Bigplum]

90's seem to fetch more money than the 110's , but there's a lot to chose from , pre 94 chassis have good chance of being rusty ,
Are you thinking of a county / station wagon five door or a commercial type 3 door ? ,
Tidy Station wagons of that age will be hard ( but not impossible) to find .We use so much salt on the roads corrosion is a problem on older stuff. One thing to be really careful of is Defenders disappearing overnight , easy to steal and dispose of , So when you buy one , lock it up well .

 

[Red90]

Do not get a galvanized chassis as that will make it not eligible for import.

 

[Thon]

Do not get a galvanized chassis as that will make it not eligible for import.

What happens if the original chassis is grit blasted and galvanised? It doesn't seem to make sense that a different coating would make it ineligible? As far as a replacement galvanised chassis is concerned, it would be stamped with the original VIN so would be virtually indistinguishable from an original chassis, so i'm wondering on what basis just galvanising would make it ineligible? When I imported my 90 into Ontario they only seemed concerned about its cleanliness.

On another note, I purchased my last Defender in the UK from someone that specialises in U.S export, and sources his LHD vehicles from Italy in particular. He isn't especially cheap but the vehicles are typically high quality: - http://www.manorhouseautomobiles.co.uk/Home/Export

 

[Kgh]

Do not get a galvanized chassis as that will make it not eligible for import.

You may think that, logically, a galvy original chassis or a VIN stamped new chassis is ok.

Logic is not allowed by Customs.

Depends on day of the week.

There are known import standards. Some trucks get around things, but to get rejected would be costly.