Better deal: Sell 996 in california or UK ?

Hi folks, Assuming $0 as cost of vehicle transportation, would someone get a better deal selling their 996 here in Southern California or sell it in UK? How easy is it to sell the car in UK given its right hand drive here vs left hand drive in UK? Do dealers move the cars across the channel to sell such cars or do they just avoid the whole hassle? What about the paperwork?

Sell the car in the US. Cars designed to drive on the opposite side of the road sell for less in the UK.

There is a reasonable market for lhd (left hand drive) cars in the UK, especially performance and specialist cars. A good number of the cars offered in 911 & Porsche World magazine are lhd. It looks like there is a ~15% reduction in price. Bear in mind that most of these cars are from Germany, where vehicle regulations are very similar to the UK. To register a US car in Britain, it would need to have its sidelights reconfigured as turn signal repeaters, and if it doesn't already have it as part of bixenon, it would need some kind of headlight levelling refitted. With higher car prices in the UK, you might still make a little more by selling a CA car there, but at the cost of significant hassle. Edited to add: From memory, once a car is more than about a year old, import tax no longer has to be paid. There would still be significant paperwork, though. If you're interested in doing this, there are plenty of Brits who like to import American muscle cars, so a bit of Googling should get you a lot more information.

NNH, To clarify your comment that if the car is more than a year old, no import duty has to be paid: I belive the correct statement for the UK is that if the vehicle has been owned by the person importing it for more than 1 year, and the importer is relocating their residence to the UK, then the import can be duty (and I believe VAT) free. Regards, winovin

Consider myself to export my 2000 996 Cab to D, A or CH one day. The regulations in the EU and CH foresee that you can avoid VAT and customs if you own the car at least for 6 months in the US and do not sell it before 1 year in EU. That's the only way to get a car qualified as moving good. Keep in mind that there are quite a few changes that you need to do to your car to get it licensed in the EU. I know that in Germany under there are some Chicago cars offered, so there is already an established market in EU for US P cars.

I'll second Simon - UK prices for re-sale are generally higher than the US for Porsche, with LHD models being worth less than UK spec RHD cars. You should take a look at the UK Autotrader website, and look for LHD 996's - that will give you a picture of current prices. AUTO TRADER UK You'll need to input a UK post code (zip code), so get one from any London address online and use that. LHD models are not uncommon, as they are imported from mainland Europe as LHD cars. The British DVLA (DMV) has lots of useful info on importing: DVLA WEBSITE This website will explain all of the paperwork etc required, and the vehicle test that the car will have to pass to be registered. Hope that helps! Chris.

Sid So, what's the story?

You don't even want to know! The car runs great BTW. Once the dust settles down, I'll probably come back here and narrate the story! So it appears there is a market for RHD cars. Hmm, so if the time comes I can research a bit ... Thanks folks !