1369 Car advice

....we've had a quick look at this too and the marekt is not too large; sometimes is more a case of what's available, than which car is best(!)

We have bought a Zara Picassa left hand drive - look on internet for suppliers of lhd cars - ours came from Basingstoke - the problem is now to get insurance though we hope that once there we can do something about it. It is registered in UK for a year, I think. any help welcome from good insurance companies in italy - is it all thrid party only for comprehensive is vv expensive?? Janet

[QUOTE=Angie and Robert]I am toying with the idea of buying a left-hand drive car in UK and taking it to Italy, when we move in November. Can anyone suggest which makes are best to take , with regard to the difficulties or otherwise of getting them serviced, repaired, getting parts etc? Obviously any italian make is not going to be a problem, and I had heard that any German make would be OK too. But what about others - French makes, or Fords as an example ?
Any advice welcome .[/QUOTE]

in all honesty, if you are moving out there, dont know why you would want
to buy a lhd car here [unless it is a real bargain, which they usually are not]

atleast out there you can access all different makes, and buy the one which
you like best.

and remember just because you buy a lhd car here, doesn't stop all the
possible extra hassles of getting it registared there.

[QUOTE=McCarraher]....any help welcome from good insurance companies in italy - is it all thrid party only for comprehensive is vv expensive.....[/QUOTE]

As I understand it, all UK car insurance covers European destinations for an unlimited period. Some claim to only cover you for a limited period, but if you phone then and ask for clarification, they will profess that if you have Full Comp insureance, you're covered for Europe on a 3rd party basis.

Try [url]http://www.stuartcollins.com[/url]

oh and [url]http://www.norwichunion.com/car-insurance/faq.htm#drive-abroad-policy[/url] is useful!

[QUOTE=Angie and Robert]I am toying with the idea of buying a left-hand drive car in UK and taking it to Italy, when we move in November. Can anyone suggest which makes are best to take , with regard to the difficulties or otherwise of getting them serviced, repaired, getting parts etc? Obviously any italian make is not going to be a problem, and I had heard that any German make would be OK too. But what about others - French makes, or Fords as an example ?
Any advice welcome .[/QUOTE]

If you are moving here i'd strongly recomend not buying the car in the uk but buying it once you're here.This will only mean a brief delay until you do your residency but you won't have to reimmatriculate the car with italian plates which you would have to do once you're resident idem your insurance coverage from the uk would not last for more than a limited period.As far as vehicles go you can get all the french ones,Fords etc.It is worth noting also that whilst the German made Fords and Opels (vauxhall in uk) are sold repaired normally here they sometimes have different components from the English assembled ones thats why it's better to get them here for the french stuff it's the same.

Thanks for the replies. The reason I was thinking of buying in UK was because of the problem of having to get residency before being able to buy in Italy , and believing that residency would take months to get. However I have read through an archived thread on the subject of residency and the consensus seems to be that it doesn't necessarily take as long as that . It seems to depend on where you are ( like so many things ! ). I guess the problem is you won't know how long until you get there and apply and it would be very costly to hire a car for several months if you had to.
However taking the advice offered I am now leaning towards buying in Italy !
As regards the make of car - anything Italian, German, French will do ?

We have lived in Italy for 15 months, We bought a lhd before we left uk thinking it would be easier than buying here.
I would not recommend to anyone (however patient) to do this.
The most important thing is to get your permesso and then you can buy here.
It took me 6 months and E600 to get the new plates and a further 5 months to get insurance, that was with 3 Italian friends helping!
To re-register here you have to de-register in uk so not drive car until paperwork is finished here, when they say its ready on Wednesday they don't tell you which month that Wednesday is in.
They won't even give you a quote unless they have a faxed copy of every document you have and some that you havent!
I thought the best option was to change to direct line before leaving uk, as they have a branch here and it should be easy to swop, unfortunately D L Italia think we are from Mars not another european country so forget them.
Anyway I am now legal at great expense (at least double what you pay in uk)
But I like my car despite the fact that its 18yrs old!

[QUOTE=tuscanhills]oh and [url]http://www.norwichunion.com/car-insurance/faq.htm#drive-abroad-policy[/url] is useful![/QUOTE]

I phoned ACI in Rome and was told that as an EC citizen (resident in England) frequently in Italy but not resident that I could register a car in my name at my Italian address provided I could demonstrate that I had a permanent address in Italy. However, local ACI office say that nothing bar residency would do. This seems to be similar to the confusion over Banca Posta: some people having no problem opening accounts and others been told that without residency it was not possible. What constitutes an "officialised address" ... ownership, rental agreement or as in UK: utility bills going back 6 months? Any thoughts anyone?