I'm not quite sure if you are asking if it is legally OK or just asking about difficulty driving RHD on the right side of the road.

I have a RHD Seven that I drive on the right without difficulty, although some reports I have read do state a 25% increase in chance of collision by driving an opposite steering wheeled vehicle to the standard in the country.

As far as the legality of driving RHD in Europe :shrug: I don't know.

 

I don't know the road laws in the EU, but I drove a RHD Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud here in the US for many years with no problems. The strangest thing was making RH turns while seated in what would normally be the passenger seat. It didn't take that long to get used to it though and driving from the RH side of the car was great for having quick conversations with curious pedestrians waiting to cross the road while I was stopped at intersections. I would think because of the small size of the Elise, you would have no problem adapting to this at all. The really funny thing was when other drivers in the lane to your left would pull alongside you and try to figure out why there was no one driving the car! anic: The RHD Rolls was also great for picking up my mail from my mailbox before turning into my driveway. It was like being the mailman except I was sitting on a comfy leather couch, easing down the power window, and reaching down into my mailbox!

 

The RHD Rolls was also great for picking up my mail from my mailbox before turning into my driveway. It was like being the mailman except I was sitting on a comfy leather couch, easing down the power window, and reaching down into my mailbox!

I tried that with the Seven once but had to undo the harnesses and stand up in the car to reach the mailbox. It kind of defeated the purpose .

There are definitely some inconveniences to driving from the "wrong side" of the car. At the hospital there is a card swipe to raise the gate to enter the parking lot that I used. It was obviously on the left side of the drive. When I first started taking the Seven there I had to undo the harnesses, stand up into the passenger seat, swipe the card, hop back into the driver's seat and get through the gate before it closed again. It was a real pain (until I realized that I could drive between the gate edge and the bollard because the car is so small ).

Drive throughs (banks, fast food, etc) can all be accessed but it is not easy. Either slide/climb over to the passenger side or drive through in reverse.

 

Yes,

i was figuring that out, too. But the small size of Elise could be a problem while driving on
normal roads, when you can't see what's behind the car in front of you.

I suppose I need to find someone in EU, to give me a test ride with RHD.

 

But the small size of Elise could be a problem while driving on normal roads, when you can't see what's behind the car in front of you.

:huh: You are behind the car in front of you. -poke-

 

Lots of people here in Germany get their cars from the UK.
It's ok to drive it here legally with no issues. But I guess it takes some getting used to.
There are many, many discussions on the German Elise board about RHD and how to get one, and what dealers are willing to sell you one.
Yes, it seems not just every dealer is willing to sell them to non British buyers because it is not good for non British dealers (must be a Lotus internal guideline)
There are also many threads about RHD -> LHD conversions.
From what I've read the conversion was easier on the S1 compared to the S2.
But I haven't followed those conversion threads closely and I don't know what exactly is involved...

 

Hello Folks,
To be honest, i am trying to evade paying premium price just for the LHD model of Elise. I would rather go to UK to get my Elise, than pay 3-4k € more, to get it here. Do you have any advices or instructions i could use?


Thanks

Why not buy a lhd US version. The purchase prices are more than competitive with Euro prices and the exchange rate is in your favor so you should be able to getthe deal you want.

 

Import one from the US!

Shipping from UK to SoCal is only $1,800! Presumably reverse journey is the same. Watch this space to see why I know this

 

I was thinking about that solution, but there is a thing, about finding the car, which is in good condition, without taking the risk of getting some salvaged or overused Elise.

That could be possible, but i would need someone to check it out before buying it.

Are there any regulation issues about USA models of Lotus Elise for EU, or are they same as those models, intended for EU?

 

You would need to contact someone who knows about importing cars into your specific country, but many Federal (US spec) Elises have been purchased and shipped to Europe. The Federal cars are not the exact same as the EU cars due to our government regulations, but they are not so significantly different that you couldn't maintain one in the EU. As far as making sure you find a good one, there are plenty of guys on this forum that would be more than happy to inspect an Elise that you are interested in buying and/or you could have one of the Lotus dealers here that is local to the car do a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) on it before you buy it.

 

Oh,

thats some very good news. I didn't know that folks on this forum do stuff like that.

I will try to do some browsing over the net for USA cars.
Is there any respected website for trading cars, which is used for the entire US, or is it better to just go searching with Google and/or dealers listings?

Thanks to all for the answers.

 

I would start by checking the "Lotus Cars for sale" ads Lotus Cars for Sale - LotusTalk - The Lotus Cars Community right here on Lotus Talk. Most of the Elise enthusiasts in the US are on this forum and many nice Lotus cars are posted for sale here on a daily basis.

 

Hello guys,

i found another issue about importing cars from USA to EU.

What about customs, i suppose that i would have to pay additional taxes for the car,
when it arrives to EU?

If i buy a second hand car in USA, are US taxes deducted from the price,
so EU taxes could be charged, when it comes to EU?
Does anyone have any experience with that?

And thanks to tesprit, i did found few interesting cars on this forum.

 

Hello guys,

i found another issue about importing cars from USA to EU.

What about customs, i suppose that i would have to pay additional taxes for the car,
when it arrives to EU?

If i buy a second hand car in USA, are US taxes deducted from the price,
so EU taxes could be charged, when it comes to EU?
Does anyone have any experience with that?

There would not be any US taxes on the car, as sales tax is only charged at the state level when the new buyer registers the car in that state.
I cannot speak to EU import duties, etc.

 

I've driven a lot of LHD cars on the left in the Caribbean. The safety issues I see are:
- overtaking - you can't easily peek around the car in front of you
- curvy mountain roads - on an inside curve (your RHD on a right hand curve) you are right next to the rock face/wall/fence and can't see very far around the curve

For these reasons alone, I believe RoadDad's statistic of it being 25% more dangerous - I'd even guess that it was understated.

You are probably far better off imported from the US.

 

When I started searching for an elise to use in the Netherlands, ofcourse an LHD would be preferred.

I looked at US cars and the price is very good!! BUT to import in to the Netherlands very expensive..

Purchase of car $26500,00 = apr. EUR 19500,00
Shipping $ 1800,00 = apr. EUR 1350,00
Total in euro's 20850,00
Import duties 10% of EUR 20850,00 = EUR 2085,0
VAT 19% of (20850,00 + 2085,00) = 22935 --> 4350,00
BPM (a tax *only* the netherlands has..) apr. EUR 4000,00
Road test EUR 250,00

Grand total; EUR 31500,00!!!

Import duties and VAT do not need to be payed for cars that are bought within the EU.

I had my 2004 111R registered for a *lot* less that this...

 

When I started searching for an elise to use in the Netherlands, ofcourse an LHD would be preferred.

I looked at US cars and the price is very good!! BUT to import in to the Netherlands very expensive..

BPM (a tax *only* the netherlands has..) apr. EUR 4000,00
Grand total; EUR 31500,00!!!

Import duties and VAT do not need to be payed for cars that are bought within the EU.

I had my 2004 111R registered for a *lot* less that this...

Whooa! :wave:

Even without BPM for Netherlands, this is pretty high, not to mention all the paperwork and similar stuff.

You can get really good deal for that amount here in EU!
Like this, for example:
AutoScout24: Detailseite
or this
AutoScout24: Detailseite

I am little confused right now....

 

I lived in Holland for eight years with my RHD Elise. Drove all other Europe (and America) and had no issues. Need to be a bit careful overtaking since you can't see as well as if on the left. It's not rocket science to convert a RHD Elise to LHD loads of people have done it.

 

Mr. C,

but what modifications are required for federal Elise,
they already have EU direction lights, dial markers with both kph and mph...

 

That might depend on the laws per country.

In the Netherlands the only thing I had to change on my RHD elise were the headlights. The blinds in there had to be flipped arround to get the right spectrum on the headlights. The foglight was on the right side and there is no need to change the speedo (other than your own convinience)

I think a federal elise/exige is very similar to the EU elise with the super touring pack (plastic dash and airbags) Mine has the alcantara dash and no airbags.

Only real differences are the sidemarkers, but they are legal in the EU (see Volvo S40/V50) and your fuel filler cap is behind a door, ours is just an alu part that comes out with the ing. key.

I am not shure lotus will give you the certificate of conformity for use in the EU. If they don't add another EUR 1000,00 to the bill for an individual vehicle test (in the netherlands that is...)

Mind you, the 111R in the spec I have would have cost EUR 66.000,00 in 2004 that is almost $95.000,00 -eek- US cars are dirt cheap!! (for US citizens )

 

The UK cars do have a MPH / KMH scale. So the one I imported from the UK had both scales. I'd love to change over the speedo to just KM/H but they are hard to come by...

Where is the OP from again?

 

If you were refering to original poster, I am from Slovenia,
and yes, i have been looking out at some lotus listings
in the netherlands with RHD. :sheep:

 

RHD Helper

I have some friends with a RHD Seven, and they began carrying one of these, years ago, to grab tollbooth tickets. Not as easy to use for keycard access.

DPTC24, Pick-up Tool, Flexible, Four-Claw, 24" long

 

I bought a new car in the UK last year and ordered it in LHD. It came with all the right documentation and I guess I saved around 23%, even with shipping etc. It was a bit of a faff though as it was leaving the EU and the supplying dealer wasn't aware of the tax situation so it sat on his forecourt for about 1 month. Since this time Lotus have cut prices in much of Europe. Given the price cut and effort involved I'd probably order here if I was doing it again. It'd still be cheaper buying from the UK but the margin now is much lower and probably doesn't warrant the hassle / exchange-rate risk involved.

In many countries insurance will be higher if you are driving a RHD car and the resale value lower. You need to change the lights and possibly the speedo dials, but I'd advise getting advice on local regulations and taxes before doing anything.

 

@dlkoiter:

Thank you very much for this info, i just checked pistonheads.com, really better cars there than those in Eindhoven. But how do you know for sure that those cars are worth less then their price.

I will get in contact with Will, most definitely...

About Elise, i am looking for the entry model elise s2 year model '03-'06 as i cant really afford newer at the moment, with max 100kW, so my insurance company doesn't kill me with payments.

I found one guy from Belgium, Ghoy, Hermes Delbar, and he has some interesting models at his house (AutoScout24: Detailseite).

Do you have some info about this guy too?
Thanks once again.


I forgot, if you are in Slovenia or nearby Croatia, please contact me, i would like to buy you a beer, at least...

 

Hi,

Well here in the Netherlands Target is known to have a lot of formally damaged cars. But think of it, they transport them from the UK to the Netherlands and offer them at quite low prices... What did they pay for them if they still want to make a profit?!

Pistonheads and seloc both harvest loads of info on the elise. especially if you decide to get a rover powered elise. None of these were sold in the US.

The Elise S that was introduced in 2006 I think, has a 99,9kw toyota engine. This would be my choice if I had to stay under the 100kw... They are a lot less popular than the 111R model and therefor a lot cheaper.

The guy in Belgium does what some others do, source out cheaper elises import them and sell them on for a bit more... Although I think his prices are very good, and the cars always look cared for.

Nice one was a 2004 111R in the colour I wanted that was offered via Pistonheads for 13500,00 pounds. (VERY cheap) It looked a bit tatty and it was located in Scotland... Mailed a bit with the guy and he offered to sell it for 13.000,00 pounds. I declined.

It went on Ebay, and did not sell. A dealer in the UK bought it and offered it for 15.500,00 pounds. He sold it to an Italian dealer and the Italian guy asked EUR 20.000,00 for it on autoscout. It was marked sold within a few days!

Cheers for the offer to get a beer with you:up:

 

I have driven lhd cars on the left in the BVIs, kind of what you are talking about. It takes a little practice, but you get used to it.

As to the car itself, if you got a US spec Elise, it would be equivalent to a 111R. You'd need to change the headlight aiming and the shutters that cut off the light beam patterns. I was looking at that on my Elise, and it is pretty easy. You'd need to make sure you can get good quality gasoline, but other than that, you should be fine. I bet you could make a caseagainst the import duty as well, since the lise is built in the UK. Good luck whatever you decide.

 

hello
profesional Conversion RHD -> LHD 1Year guarantee
LOTUS ELISE S2 4200.00 Euros
LOTUS ELISE S2 4500.00 Euros (with airco or abs)
LOTUS ELISE S2 4800.00 Euros (with airco and abs)

www.Conversion RHD to LHD

 

I have a LHD Elise that I need to convert to RHD to take to Hong Kong....
Maybe we can swap some parts?
PM me if you are interested. I am not in a hurry. Car will probably be used in the USA this summer.

As far as driving a RHD car in LHD country, I had 2 different RHD Minis in the USA and didn't think it was a problem. Used to go through drive throughs backwards if I was alone. Only difficult thing I remember was trying to pull out from parallel parking places when I was alone.

 

You could convert these days your car from RHD to LHD and the other way around: Conversion RHD <-> LHD | www.lotus-cars.eu

Could be useful...

 

Yes, i could, but on the other side, the added price matches those for LHD Elises without the need for conversion. :UK: