Anyone here understand vehicle registration laws?

[Larkspeed]

We will be moving back to the UK from the Netherlands at some point in the near future.

After checking flight and ferry prices we have decided that the cheapest option is to drive down to Calais and take the ferry over to Dover and then drive back up north to where we want to be.

I have already checked what is required to re-register the car in the UK and since it's just a Ford KA it's not really worth the hassle.

Can anyone tell me if I drive the car over to the UK can I take it to a scrap yard in the UK without going through major hassle to do so.

[DanceswithUnix]

What makes you think re-registering is a hassle?
Don't you get a year of using the car over here before it has to be re-registered? If you let that time expire it used to be a bit of a faff.

[Larkspeed]

Where it is true that you can use an EU registered vehicle in the UK for 6 months. If you are coming in to take residence, which we would be, then it has to be UK registered immediately because a UK resident is not allowed to drive a vehicle of foreign registration unless it is a rental or if you work for an EU based company and the car is a company registered vehicle.

Maybe hassle was not the best choice of word

Lights would have to be changed.
MOT would have to be done.
Insurance would have to be bought
Tax would have to be paid.
And since you cannot drive it as a resident it would have to be towed to and from the testing station and anywhere else it needed to be.

All this without having the car itself available for use.

it is not economically feasible to go through all that to change the registration, and pay an increased insurance premium because it is left hand drive, on a car that has a book value of about 400 euro

[DanceswithUnix]

Thats fair enough, if a set of lights off ebay are ~10% of the value of the car.

May I suggest you google for some scrap yards near where you are going and email or phone them to ask?

I suspect they will re-register it and try and sell the car on, but that's their choice They will have access to parts and flatbed truck so easy for them to take the car places.

Would contact a few places though when the time comes, its amazing how they can try and outbid each other for a car.