[Xose]

I've recently had to source some Left Hand Drive headlamps for my car, which I brought with me to Spain, registered and have passed 3 ITV's with no problems whatsoever.

It appears, that "whilst a few years ago it might have been OK to use light deflectors, it now isn't" - quote, unquote the ITV tecnico de inspeccion.

So, me being me, I asked, so that's the law here is it? might have been OK?
He, clearly surprised at my rather logical approach to the subject, bearing in mind that this thing went through full homologation, ficha tecnica etc., et bloody cetera., looked at me and said "I'm sorry, I have checked the system and there are no warnings on record, but the bottom line is that I can't simply let it go". With that, he passed the ITV, as it was their fault in the first place for not telling me at year zero, and told me that I had until the next ITV to put things right.

So, I called my local dealer - not much change out of €500 to get the pair

Looked on the web - Spains web is absolute sh!teman for this sort of thing. Not a spares search engine anywhere that wasn't main dealer based.

As a last resort, I called the UK dealer that dealt with my car when we were there. To my amazement, the cost is £180 for both LHD headlamps. The chap was most appologetic as "they're not cheap sir". I do miss that about the UK that's for sure - although I don't miss the "Can't help you, have a nice day!" ones.

Moral of the story - always check with blighty for spares if you find the Spanish suppliers are a bit steep. You could be pleasantly surprised.

Xose

 

[jojo]

I've recently had to source some Left Hand Drive headlamps for my car, which I brought with me to Spain, registered and have passed 3 ITV's with no problems whatsoever.

It appears, that "whilst a few years ago it might have been OK to use light deflectors, it now isn't" - quote, unquote the ITV tecnico de inspeccion.

So, me being me, I asked, so that's the law here is it? might have been OK?
He, clearly surprised at my rather logical approach to the subject, bearing in mind that this thing went through full homologation, ficha tecnica etc., et bloody cetera., looked at me and said "I'm sorry, I have checked the system and there are no warnings on record, but the bottom line is that I can't simply let it go". With that, he passed the ITV, as it was their fault in the first place for not telling me at year zero, and told me that I had until the next ITV to put things right.

So, I called my local dealer - not much change out of €500 to get the pair

Looked on the web - Spains web is absolute sh!teman for this sort of thing. Not a spares search engine anywhere that wasn't main dealer based.

As a last resort, I called the UK dealer that dealt with my car when we were there. To my amazement, the cost is £180 for both LHD headlamps. The chap was most appologetic as "they're not cheap sir". I do miss that about the UK that's for sure - although I don't miss the "Can't help you, have a nice day!" ones.

Moral of the story - always check with blighty for spares if you find the Spanish suppliers are a bit steep. You could be pleasantly surprised.

Xose

My husband has done this with our car, we've needed a fair few bits for my Picasso over here and he either gets them from the dealership in the UK for a fraction of the cost, or he goes onto E-Bay where alot of the left hand stuff can be found! So far its been easy for us as the parts have fitted into his hand lugguage and he brings em over when comes over

Jo xxx

 

[Hombre]

My husband has done this with our car, we've needed a fair few bits for my Picasso over here and he either gets them from the dealership in the UK for a fraction of the cost, or he goes onto E-Bay where alot of the left hand stuff can be found! So far its been easy for us as the parts have fitted into his hand lugguage and he brings em over when comes over

Jo xxx

Let's hope you don't need a new exhaust then Jo...

 

[jojo]

Let's hope you don't need a new exhaust then Jo...

I do need a new wing and door panel actually, which I think I'm gonna have to put up with getting in Spain. They just wont fit into a suitcase!!!! That said we're getting estimates in from the local garages at the moment to see if it may be cheaper to ship the parts over here and do the repair ourselves, or even get the garage to fit them!! They did that for me a while ago when I needed a new "something" for the steering column, the part in Spain was 80+€, in the UK it was 14 pounds. So my OH got the part from the UK and the garage fitted it. The labour charges over here are less than the UK

Jo xxx

 

[Joppa]

As all Citroen parts are presumably sourced from France, they may be cheaper in France? 10+ years ago (before euro etc), when a part for my then Citroen needed replacing, it was actually cheaper to order them at a Citroen dealer in Chamonix (where I was staying) than getting from local garage in UK.

 

[carswizard]

hi,
i use carparts4u in the uk and they send anything i need to my door as when i'm in spain i'm working on cars so they are a life saver and they can help with ebay uk items getting sent to spain. would put the ulr up be it wont let me