I realized I never posted the ad captures from my s13, a purchase that almost didn't happen. In trying to sift thru old emails, I found a 27 message long conversation re this car specifically, and that wasn't even the only one. At the time I was still living in the states, didn't even have a UK address, not to mention bank account. This proved to make things difficult on multiple levels.
The seller was amazing though, negotiated on the price, and was upfront about condition, even trying to fix the faulty speedometer that all s13's seem to be plagued with. Something interesting about the UK is that you must have insurance on a car before driving her home, in order to do this I would need an address, in order to get an address, not to mention the whole flat-hunting bit, I would need a bank account, and in order to get a bank account, I would need financial letters of intent from work, along with countless other forms of identification. The funny part of all that was ultimately, I needed an address to get the bank account as well, which creates an interesting catch 22 for someone trying to move to the UK.
I was trying to get at least one thing settled before I arrived to check things off my growing move list, lists growing do seem to be a personal problem of mine, but also so that I would not have to deal with having to find my way around and commute to work without a car in the interim. Having asked around, it turned out most people in the UK with cars bought them new, or at the very lease from a dealer. The secondhand market almost seemed taboo. On top of all this, since there are so many cameras checking everything from mot to tax to insurance on any reg that drives by, you simply have to have insurance. In the States, especially with a private sale, this isn't necessarily the case on the day you buy it and drive home.
Back on track, after yet another long email chain, this time with a friend at work, I was able to get bank details and transfer/convert USD in my account into GBP in his. After a few miscommunications on the other side of the pond between seller and buyer-DE-facto, I finally arranged for the seller to deliver it to a neutral location, the shop at which I was to be working in 2 months time.
My friend isn't exactly a car guy, but one of the work-leaders on the floor was the owner of his own hand-built Caterham. After doing my best to facilitate, everything finally came together, the s13 being delivered from 2 hours away by the owner caravanning with a second car, meeting, and this is important, someone with money and preferably someone to inspect. My friend delivered the quids, unquestioningly accepting that yes, it was a red car. Meanwhile yes, the work-leader quickly jumped in the car taking it for a spin around some traffic furniture and roundabouts, noting will need new tires/pads eventually, but solid car. And yes, the speedo doesn't work. Reg signed over by my friend, my home address being that of the shop, paperwork immediately mailed off by the now previous owner, and the s13 was pulled into the shop's gate to await for my arrival, keys in the work-leaders desk.
MOT was good for a few months, but due to several transatlantic flights, I almost got in trouble with SORN and a lapse in tax. As I would now expect in the UK, the tax, MOT, and insurance systems are all connected and automatic. A car must have all three to drive around and not be a rolling impound time-bomb. One can get away without insurance if the car is simply parked, but it must be parked off the street so that an auto-scanner on a police car doesn't pick it up. MOT is similar to insurance, in that the tires must not be on a public road or anywhere near any type of camera, or potential mobile camera, unless it's valid.
If taxes lapse, however, you have an undetermined amount of time to reinstate it, risking serious daily fines. The system assumes that since you have a reg you are driving. I called the UK DVLA and asked how long I had to tax the car under my name, as it would take approximately a week for me to simply get the new title in my name back via royal mail. It is up to the previous owner to send this off, otherwise he will continuously be billed the tax. Connecticut could learn a thing or two from this system, or just do it the way everyone else does in the States, instead of using all the negatives of each method. Since all the systems are connected though, the DVLA knows when they issue the transfer, letting the tax department know I now am responsible. Nowhere online, or on the phone, or in person for that matter, would anyone give me a date, or even an estimation of how long it took for these organizations to talk to each other and potentially send me a fine for not paying tax.
This mattered because I wasn't even located in the UK, yet owned a car without insurance, and the ownership documents were still in the mail quickly approaching the reg tax date. SORN declaration would be an option once the receptionist checked the mail at the shop, but this would take some fantastic facilitating. This would inform the DVLA that the car is not on the road, but the overlap after the tax was due and when I would be back in the country was so small that I did not want to go through the pain of turning in the plates, and then having to register everything upon my return, presumably they would take the registration and you wouldn't have to pay road tax for this period. Road tax, by the way, is actually based on engine size and emissions, not value as in the States.
I taxed the car three weeks late, and upon my arrival was warned by the old English lady behind the counter that I may have a ticket in the mail, but since nobody knew what triggered this, or more importantly when, I simply had to keep my eyes open. Nothing came.
The rear wing will need to be removed and ultimately replaced or left off. The boot lid will need to be cleaned, and some body work will be needed around the registration light fixture. Other than these areas, and regular maintenance items, the car is very solid and well worth the effort for someone who has never owned an s13. I am beginning to think the dash is crack free because the amount of rain this country see's, but I'm happy nonetheless.
My first ride in an SX was with a good friend, doing 36o's on a 3+lane wide dirt road in college. Over 1o years, countless moves and a country in between, I own my own, true unmodified rhd cadet engine manual trans, 2oo.
The seller was amazing though, negotiated on the price, and was upfront about condition, even trying to fix the faulty speedometer that all s13's seem to be plagued with. Something interesting about the UK is that you must have insurance on a car before driving her home, in order to do this I would need an address, in order to get an address, not to mention the whole flat-hunting bit, I would need a bank account, and in order to get a bank account, I would need financial letters of intent from work, along with countless other forms of identification. The funny part of all that was ultimately, I needed an address to get the bank account as well, which creates an interesting catch 22 for someone trying to move to the UK.
I was trying to get at least one thing settled before I arrived to check things off my growing move list, lists growing do seem to be a personal problem of mine, but also so that I would not have to deal with having to find my way around and commute to work without a car in the interim. Having asked around, it turned out most people in the UK with cars bought them new, or at the very lease from a dealer. The secondhand market almost seemed taboo. On top of all this, since there are so many cameras checking everything from mot to tax to insurance on any reg that drives by, you simply have to have insurance. In the States, especially with a private sale, this isn't necessarily the case on the day you buy it and drive home.
Back on track, after yet another long email chain, this time with a friend at work, I was able to get bank details and transfer/convert USD in my account into GBP in his. After a few miscommunications on the other side of the pond between seller and buyer-DE-facto, I finally arranged for the seller to deliver it to a neutral location, the shop at which I was to be working in 2 months time.
My friend isn't exactly a car guy, but one of the work-leaders on the floor was the owner of his own hand-built Caterham. After doing my best to facilitate, everything finally came together, the s13 being delivered from 2 hours away by the owner caravanning with a second car, meeting, and this is important, someone with money and preferably someone to inspect. My friend delivered the quids, unquestioningly accepting that yes, it was a red car. Meanwhile yes, the work-leader quickly jumped in the car taking it for a spin around some traffic furniture and roundabouts, noting will need new tires/pads eventually, but solid car. And yes, the speedo doesn't work. Reg signed over by my friend, my home address being that of the shop, paperwork immediately mailed off by the now previous owner, and the s13 was pulled into the shop's gate to await for my arrival, keys in the work-leaders desk.
MOT was good for a few months, but due to several transatlantic flights, I almost got in trouble with SORN and a lapse in tax. As I would now expect in the UK, the tax, MOT, and insurance systems are all connected and automatic. A car must have all three to drive around and not be a rolling impound time-bomb. One can get away without insurance if the car is simply parked, but it must be parked off the street so that an auto-scanner on a police car doesn't pick it up. MOT is similar to insurance, in that the tires must not be on a public road or anywhere near any type of camera, or potential mobile camera, unless it's valid.
If taxes lapse, however, you have an undetermined amount of time to reinstate it, risking serious daily fines. The system assumes that since you have a reg you are driving. I called the UK DVLA and asked how long I had to tax the car under my name, as it would take approximately a week for me to simply get the new title in my name back via royal mail. It is up to the previous owner to send this off, otherwise he will continuously be billed the tax. Connecticut could learn a thing or two from this system, or just do it the way everyone else does in the States, instead of using all the negatives of each method. Since all the systems are connected though, the DVLA knows when they issue the transfer, letting the tax department know I now am responsible. Nowhere online, or on the phone, or in person for that matter, would anyone give me a date, or even an estimation of how long it took for these organizations to talk to each other and potentially send me a fine for not paying tax.
This mattered because I wasn't even located in the UK, yet owned a car without insurance, and the ownership documents were still in the mail quickly approaching the reg tax date. SORN declaration would be an option once the receptionist checked the mail at the shop, but this would take some fantastic facilitating. This would inform the DVLA that the car is not on the road, but the overlap after the tax was due and when I would be back in the country was so small that I did not want to go through the pain of turning in the plates, and then having to register everything upon my return, presumably they would take the registration and you wouldn't have to pay road tax for this period. Road tax, by the way, is actually based on engine size and emissions, not value as in the States.
I taxed the car three weeks late, and upon my arrival was warned by the old English lady behind the counter that I may have a ticket in the mail, but since nobody knew what triggered this, or more importantly when, I simply had to keep my eyes open. Nothing came.
The rear wing will need to be removed and ultimately replaced or left off. The boot lid will need to be cleaned, and some body work will be needed around the registration light fixture. Other than these areas, and regular maintenance items, the car is very solid and well worth the effort for someone who has never owned an s13. I am beginning to think the dash is crack free because the amount of rain this country see's, but I'm happy nonetheless.
My first ride in an SX was with a good friend, doing 36o's on a 3+lane wide dirt road in college. Over 1o years, countless moves and a country in between, I own my own, true unmodified rhd cadet engine manual trans, 2oo.
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