½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Hi, Jax,

Bulgaria is one of the very few countries in Europe which haven't banned yet the right-hand drive cars import. You can struggle somewhere in paid parking's where there are tickwt barrier, but most of them become automatic.

And yes, overtaking on the road is a challenge.

Mind up your safety!

What countries in Europe have banned it? I saw some countries have restrictions (e.g. need certain changes made to lights etc), but no bans?

I have to drive basically the width of Europe to get where I'm going to be living. It may be that the extra costs of bringing my own car are offset by just paying more for a car in BG.

I recall that Poland and Germany made some moves in this direction, but the EU Commission said that as long as the vehicle had EU type approval, then it must be accepted ().  I'm not aware of any subsequent judgements.

Personally, I drove a right-hand drive car in Germany for 5 years without a problem.  As some have pointed out, overtaking can be a challenge and you will probably have to have your headlights changed  to ones that dip to the right if they cannot be altered from within the vehicle; using stick on filters will not be accepted.  Car parts may be problematic to get as the vehicles are configured differently; for this reason, car insurance can be more expensive.

@Jax Hammer

You can take a UK vehicle to Bulgaria, and drive it here, as a tourist. You need to be a Bulgaria resident in order to get a local driving license or re-register the vehicle (in your own name). You should note that once you have been granted Bulgarian residence, you can apply for tax-exemption (of import duties and VAT) under ToR (Transfer of Residence). For non-EU vehicles this is about 30%, and applies to used vehicles you've owned for over 6 months.

Yes, LHD is more convenient. Most of the time it's no problem, and driving slower (and not overtaking as much) is probably a good thing. :-) At least, that's what I've found.

I had tried-and-trusted vehicles in the UK, all Ebay bargains (2 cars, 1 motorcycle, 1 trailer, couple of bikes) I was very happy with. I bought them all over, and financially it was a great deal (instead of selling them cheap in UK and buying expensive replacements here). I've been driving them for nearly 8 years here, so that's made them an even better deal! :-)

The re-registration itself is not very expensive (especially if you get the ToR exemption), but the LHD lights can be pricey. For my older car, Ebay had cheap LHD replacements... but for the newer one, I had to get brand new ones.

@Jax Hammer

Hi Jax,

Spotted this a bit late but heres my thoughts that may help. I came out here in 2019 and brought a RHD car from the UK. I dont know if its because I've driven in other European countries, or because I have a Bg wife who has a backseat drivers licence but its pretty straight forward. I would recommend learning a few of the more common signs you see around the place. I live in Plovdiv so there are many to watch out for.

Make sure before you make your move, you have evidence of your High School activity for the licence swap. Get your headlights changed or at least buy replacements ..... I had to have mine shipped from the U.S.

I would recommend all weather tyres right off the bat ...... you have to have winter tyres on your car here in the winter so all weather .... all year round. Make sure you have a valid receipt for your car ..... you will need one to get it switched over. They got tough on MOT's late last year so make sure your car has a CAT and can produce a clean omissions test. You of course will need Vignette for going outside of your city or village ..... these can be bought on line ... either a 3 day, weekend, month or yearly ..... my advice would be print out the receipt and have it in the glove box. Insurance is pretty reasonable here and easy to get ....... so all good.

Hope this helps ... feel free to ask questions .... there are some pretty knowledgeable people on this forum ..... I'm not one of them, but have been thru everything concerning a move as I am from a non UK non EU country.

Personally, having had a hire car here, I would only want a LHD. Not just because it’s hard to overtake but to be able to see drivers three cars behind who pull out to overtake which seems very frequent. It’s also easier to adapt as if you are on quiet roads, which is more often the case, in a RHD it would be easy to slip back into driving on the wrong side.

Husband is waiting until his late Mothers house sells in the UK before he buys a new car because we've both heard that buying a used car in Bulgaria isn't the best thing to do.

@Kath948381

Not really true: you can buy used leased cars (or warrantied ones that have been P/Xd) from the main dealers, or you can buy second-hand from Germany (or whichever country has the best prices for the make/model you want) and then either import direct or have an agent handle it for you. There are even companies that will find/import from the US for you.