Does anyone know how easy this would be for me (I'm from the UK)? I'm thinking of buying a car in Germany and driving it to Georgia. I have been told that Germany is the easiest place to buy used cars but I speak no German and I'm not sure where I could buy it from and how I could negotiate the sale, especially having no address here.

I have driven cheap cars long distances before, but always UK registered cars.

In 2010 I drove this to Georgia:



In 2012 I drove this to Albania:



And in 2015 I drove this to Kyrgyzstan:



So I'm wondering if for my next adventure, I could save some time by buying one in Germany?

Are you in a hurry, as it's unsure, how long Britan will stay in the EU?

No big deal at all. If you want, I can help you, with translation and especially with the organization of the export-license-plates*. I've done that several times before, with my Swedish fellows and my Romanian K 70-friend. In my K 70-club it's common to trade cars between different EU-countries.

If you have a favour for a special model od a specific price-category, let me know before, that I can ask my wife - she's working in the claim department of a car-insurance, so she has a good knowledge about the correct prices. And last but not least: in opposite to me she has an interest for newer cars

Let me know, what models you are thinking about. Maybe I know some guys, who know someone, who...


*only necessary, if you drive the cars, not by transporting the car on a trailer.

P.S. You know, that in Britain used cars are averagely cheaper than on the Continent, although the GBP became stronger in the last weeks? This was one of the reasons, why I bought my Vauxhall Vectra MkII in London back in 2011. Successful, although I got it from the worst crook in Southern England (unfortunately the BBC-video of him is gone)

Haha, well I'm thinking about doing it in July/August.

That would be awesome if you could help with that kind of stuff. Where in Germany are you?

Well, I was looking at something rather cheap, like a Ford Escort or something else from that era! I looked at them on mobile.de and there's many for just a few hundred Euros. Info is in German but I would assume they are roadworthy? I would something old and simple like that which can be easily fixed. I had some unfortunate experiences with the silver 2003 Ford Mondeo TDCi. I paid only £230 for the car in an ebay auction and it ran fantastic until the clutch went in Krasnodar in Russia. I was hit with a £700 bill to fix the clutch, which I had no choice but to just pay. Then I bought bad quality diesel fuel in Uzbekistan which damaged the fuel injectors and nobody there could fix it. So next time I thought I'll just go for something older and more simplistic. The Mondeo is still quite valuable in those countries so that means big bills when something goes wrong, unfortunately. Other cars that are popular in those areas I would consider like 90s Opel Astra, Vectra, Audi 100/A6 and VW Passat. There are so many of those around there that parts will be in abundance.

Haha I do indeed know that used cars in UK are some of the cheapest in the world, but unfortunately because we're so throw away, it's hard to find anything that's old and simple to fix here nowadays. I figured that a cheap flight to Germany and buying a car there would work out cheaper.

Thanks

P.S I found the rotting remains of a VW K70 here in the Scottish countryside. First one I've ever seen here to my knowledge.

Got a picture?

Should be possible. Better in August than in July, because the july-weekends are filled up.

Fortunately for you I live in the Northwest of Germany, 40km away from the Dutch border and just 40min from the Düsseldorf Airport

Opels are generally cheaper here than VWs and Audis, because they are interesting for export-dealers. Ford is even cheaper.


About the K 70-wreck I please you for some pics and the VIN-number (front right, on top of the shockbreaker-house, on the panel right there is the aluminium-plate, also with the VIN-number.

August would be my preferred time actually :). I just looked at cars in that area on mobile.de and there seems to be a lot of choice there.

Would it be possible to buy one in advance before going there so that I could just drive it away when I arrived (obviously after going through the export paperwork)?

Here is the VW K70 wreck:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aqualite/16105720965/

It's located in a rather remote area of Argyll in Scotland, beside Loch Awe. I haven't been there since but I may return at some point in the summer months as it's a beautiful area. Would the VIN still be on this? The entire front end seems to be gone :D. Back when I was 10 in April 1996, I stayed at a holiday park at Loch Awe with my family. I remember this property being absolutely full of old cars but unfortunately had no means of taking photos back then. Almost all of the old cars are gone now, save for this, the remains of a 1980 Datsun Sunny and what looks like the remains of a Fiat Panda.

Registration number: XSR 100K
✗ Untaxed Tax due: 01 April 1985
MOT No details held by DVLA
Vehicle make :VOLKSWAGEN
Date of first registration :01 June 1972
Cylinder capacity (cc) :1605cc
Fuel type :PETROL
Vehicle status : Not taxed
Vehicle colour :GOLD

So derelict for 30 years. Should polish up nicely with a bit of Sunday afternoon effort .....

Hmm, without the front it's not possible to note the VIN-number. Maybe there are some papers left in the glovebox...

Finally an absolute typical UK-car-wreck: the tin-parts felt into dust, but the plastic and rubber bits are still fine - note the floor mats (aftersales market stuff), the door panels, the skai-leather-seats and the coolingwater-hose. Even the radio is still there.
In other, hotter and dryer countries, even in Germany, the rubber/plastic parts would be gone.


About your envisaged car: should be possible to pick a cheap clunker for you in advance. Let me know your max. price and the accepted models.

Do you have a chance to take a pair of British dealers-plates with you, resp. are they vaild outside the UK?
AFAIK it became annyoing with the export-plates (red bar on the right and red sticker) here, that you have to bring the car to the authority for checking the VIN-number. The other choice would be easier and cheaper, the 5-day-plates (yellow bar on the right, blue sticker), but they are not accepted in some other countries. When we sold my wife's Polo bluemotion to Poland, it was o.k. for the Polish authorities, but I was told, that Belgium -which you have to pass on the way back home- does not allow them.

It looks like someone has attempted to move the VW K70 and the front has just come off due to the rust. It's quite common in the west coast of Scotland for the bodywork to be almost completely eaten away by rust yet the non-metal parts remain fine.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/aqualite/6263579432/

Although not *that* old, the bodywork on this is in a horrendous state and it has collapsed at the rear, but the interior and dashboard remain fine.

Well, here's one example which looks attractive enough for the price I think. There are a number of cheaper Ford Escorts but I assume they'll probably be unroadworthy. I guess up to 700 euros is how much I would pay but preferably less if available.
http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/ford-escort-16v-bochum/208413496.html?lang=en&pageNumber=2&__lp=6&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=s- earchNetGrossPrice&makeModelVariant1.makeId=9000&makeModelVariant1.modelId=11&makeModelVariant1.- searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.- searchInFreetext=false&ambitCountry=DE&zipcode=40597&zipcodeRadius=50&damageUnrepaired=- ALSO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&export=ALSO_EXPORT&noec=1

I have no idea about the validity of UK dealer plates, although I think they only apply to vehicles that have been bought in the UK. However, I wouldn't be intending on taking the car back home. With the other cars I sold them at the destination, and I would intend to sell this in Georgia (I have done it before). My idea would be to drive Germany - Poland - Belarus - Russia - Georgia. Perhaps also visit Armenia where I have never been.

Thanks

Sounds not bad,a younger lady (according my google-search - it's quite unusual, that private sellers put their name in the advertise), who offer her grandfather's car -only in good hands-

But I haven't the time right now, to take care of it, not before end of July. I'm too busy with other things. But I can ask my brother-in-law, too. He is dealing a bit with old cars. Mainly he pick them on auctions, where authorities sell their vehicles - so if you are interested in an ambulance or a police-car, no problem But not exclusively, often he catches such granddaddy-cars.

Well that's no problem thanks, July would be a more appropriate time as I intend to go away in August.

She knows how to present it well. "Retro Kassettenradio"... I have one of those. Saab put them in until 1998.

I actually prefer to have cassette players than CD players as I can use an adaptor to connect them to my phone/mp3 player! In the two Ford Mondeos that I bought, I took out the CD players and put in Ford Cassette players. Did the job well!

In my current car I use a cassette adaptor also. It has a six CD changer which I haven't used in years:

My 1999 Bundeswehr-Omega also had one. We changed it to the original Opel-CD-Radio. At eBay I even got a few Euros for the Kassettenradio.

Downsizing at German authority-cars is usual. As I told, last year in Gent/Belgium the taxi was also a former Bundeswehr-vehicle, a VW T5 - with manual window lifter, no AC and simple cardboard door-panels.

My wife's 2000 Bundeswehr-Astra G had no radio - and even no speakers in the doors (just empty frames), no antenna (in combination with the back window-washer on the roof) - and not even cables to antenna and speakers. It cost 250€ just for the montage, to place a radio in there.

This hyper-naked version is named "major customer-edition" at Opel, no kidding.


P.S. Why not a real stylish 70ies-radio, even without FM? Ask your local IMCDb-fellows for it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aqualite/16105720965/

I had no idea there were still cars made in the 2000s without a radio. I seem to remember the most basic models of Ladas sold in the UK in the mid 90s were the only new cars in the UK that didn't have them.

BTW do you have Skype or anything else I could contact you on?

The Mercedes C-Class didn't either at that time. I only know that as it was always given as an example of stingy spec!

My grandfather's Lada 1200 had a Sonolor radio, in fact I still have it. I don't know if that would have been standard though. In Belgium car radios were taxed then. A whopping 1000 francs (25 euro) per year.

No Skype, but by PM and email.




In Italy, too. I still have the 1997 tax-sticker in the little cover at the frontscreen on my K 70.
And the 2011-MOT-sticker at the Vectra, too..

They still are in Walloon Region

@ingo did you get the PM I sent?