Cyprus - Car Shennanigans

EdGey

EdGey

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My family and I are moving to Cyprus until mid 2027.

It's a long shot, but I'm hoping one or two of you might have done this (or similar) before and are able to share your experiences.

So far the advice seems to be that I should sell my car in the UK and buy one locally in Cyprus, but I have reservations about that. Car prices in Cyprus seem to be slightly higher and there's a much smaller pool of cars, so we'd have to settle for what ever was available at the time. I'm personally leaning towards shipping our car and paying the associated shipping/duty costs.

Aware that it'll vary - have any of you shipped a car before? If so, how was your experience?

It's early days and I've only just started looking into it, so advice and opinions welcome.
 

geekman

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I would also bring a UK car if I were in your position. Apart from anything else, I imagine that Cypriot cars have a considerably harder life in terms of standards of maintenance, road quality etc so not only would you be paying more, you'd be getting something in worse condition.

I've never shipped a car to Cyprus, but I have shipped a lot of cars from the UK to the US and I pay around 1700GBP including insurance. I'd be surprised if shipping it to Cyprus was any more than that.

Personally, I'd make a road trip of it and drive the car from the UK to Greece and then get a ferry from there. I imagine the ferry would be relatively cheap, and you'd get to visit a lot of countries on the way.
 

EdGey

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geekman said:
I would also bring a UK car if I were in your position. Apart from anything else, I imagine that Cypriot cars have a considerably harder life in terms of standards of maintenance, road quality etc so not only would you be paying more, you'd be getting something in worse condition.

I've never shipped a car to Cyprus, but I have shipped a lot of cars from the UK to the US and I pay around 1700GBP including insurance. I'd be surprised if shipping it to Cyprus was any more than that.

Personally, I'd make a road trip of it and drive the car from the UK to Greece and then get a ferry from there. I imagine the ferry would be relatively cheap, and you'd get to visit a lot of countries on the way.
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Thanks for your comment.

I love the idea of road tripping it and it's something I'd not considered, but last night the idea did not survive contact with my wife! Perhaps on the way back?

It's nice to have a ceiling price in mind but of course I'm hoping it'll be cheaper than that - I'll report back my findings either way.
 

the_worrier

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As a serving RAF serviceperson I have been lucky to be posted to Cyprus twice, from 03-05 and 07-09. If you have a decent car here I would take it out there as long as its not a soft top or red in colour as both will be ruined by the sun. It will need working air con as in August it’ll nudge 35 degC. AWD is a good idea but not essential. Cars in Cyprus are very expensive, the roads are decent but the sun and dry, dusty air wrecks.
 
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Scougar

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Enjoy. My sister was born in Cyprus and I was there as a little kid having fun in the sun for some years.

It isn't the same as it was in the late seventies/eighties, as it has a ridiculous amount of Russian money there now unfortunately :(

If I recall correctly, my Dad bought a Datsun Bluebird there as the version there was better spec'd than in the UK. He drove it back to the UK when they left. We had that car well into the 90's, maybe 2000's.
 
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Lopéz

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Incidentally, physically getting the car to Cyprus is probably going to be the easiest part of this plan.

Once you have paid the import duties, Cyprus gives you only 10 days to complete the registration process (it's 30 days here) - and there are quite a few requirements to fulfil for this; the car has to be under 5 years old is one of them I believe.
 

Scania

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My ex's parents live in Cyprus, when they were planning their move out there they asked an English (Cypriot resident) neighbour about bringing a car over from the U.K. and was told - having done it - is an administrative headache and a lot less hassle to buy a car out there, especially if your spending a reasonable amount on it, dealers of most marques are on the island.

Having been there many times, I was surprised by just how good most of the cars out there actually are.

The bad ones though are unbelievable!


You may find this helpful.

What you should know before transporting your vehicle to Cyprus - Ship Cars Ltd News

Is it cost-effective to export your car to Cyprus? When moving to Cyprus, you will want to save as much money as you can. The cost of transporting your car from the UK is frequently far cheaper than replacing it. It is undoubtedly something worth seriously considering given that people utilize...
www.shipcars.co.uk www.shipcars.co.uk
 

Begbie

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....
Bought two cars in Cyprus (done 4 years) both cars were pieces of ****, I loved them.

Remember that in Cyprus people WILL crash into you, and then drive on like it's normal. If they crash into you in a supermarket, they might apologise whilst lighting a fag and get back into their car.

I left my handbrake off on my second car while food shopping once, came out, it had rolled into and smashed up the shops car. Went to speak to the manager, and he just laughed. 'no problem my friend, have a beer' and off I went.
 
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