Change Right Hand Drive to Left Hand Drive
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:29 am
Dear All,
I will leave South Africa and go to Ethiopia for my next contract. As it was impossible to sell my Pajero (3.5 GLS F/LIFT LWB 7 Seater) in South Africa for a good price under the pressure of time (I went even down to 69.000 Rand), I decided to simply take the car with me. That makes sense for me, as I get the costs for transport from my company and am entitled to import one car free of tax.
BUT: In order to import the car, I need to change the right hand drive to a left hand drive. My trusted garage recommended me to do so as a good alternative to selling the car for a very low price to a car dealer. They roughly estimated the costs at 10 000 to 20 000 Rand, depending on prices for special parts like the main console and so on. They already assessed the project roughly and are convinced to be able to do without problems.
Does anybody in this forum have experiences with changing right hand to left hand? Are there risks involved or is it straight forward?
I further thought, that I spend additional 5000 to 10000 Rand, to get all the delicate parts exchanged as well (cambelt) and maybe take a few spare parts with me. Any recommendations for that - which parts to change and what to take with me? There should be Pajero Parts in Ethiopia - but I do not expect them to be cheaper, as the market is smaller and burdened by high import taxes. But I did not do research on that yet...
Any advice appreciated
best regards
Christian
I will leave South Africa and go to Ethiopia for my next contract. As it was impossible to sell my Pajero (3.5 GLS F/LIFT LWB 7 Seater) in South Africa for a good price under the pressure of time (I went even down to 69.000 Rand), I decided to simply take the car with me. That makes sense for me, as I get the costs for transport from my company and am entitled to import one car free of tax.
BUT: In order to import the car, I need to change the right hand drive to a left hand drive. My trusted garage recommended me to do so as a good alternative to selling the car for a very low price to a car dealer. They roughly estimated the costs at 10 000 to 20 000 Rand, depending on prices for special parts like the main console and so on. They already assessed the project roughly and are convinced to be able to do without problems.
Does anybody in this forum have experiences with changing right hand to left hand? Are there risks involved or is it straight forward?
I further thought, that I spend additional 5000 to 10000 Rand, to get all the delicate parts exchanged as well (cambelt) and maybe take a few spare parts with me. Any recommendations for that - which parts to change and what to take with me? There should be Pajero Parts in Ethiopia - but I do not expect them to be cheaper, as the market is smaller and burdened by high import taxes. But I did not do research on that yet...
Any advice appreciated
best regards
Christian