5 ms·

You can still import a car with wrong tail lights, half a car, just the tail lights or a car without the tail lights. You just can't register such a car in eur

You can still import a car with wrong tail lights, half a car, just the tail lights or a car without the tail lights. You just can't register such a car in europe to be used as a "local car" (have plates of the current country) and driven on public streets. You can also drive into europe with such a car (as long as it's legal in it's main country, and there is a treaty made by EU-that_country). While US cars are a rare thing to see here, there are a bunch of british right-hand drive cars all around europe driven by british drivers, that have bliding headlights for everyone else (becase the shape of the beam is different), and EU has no issues with that. You can even buy one in EU... but to register it under eg. german plates, you'll have to modify (well, replace) the headlights (not sure about the wheel).

camtarn 3y ago
> there are a bunch of british right-hand drive cars all around europe driven by british drivers, that have bliding headlights for everyone else (becase the shape of the beam is different), and EU has no issues with that. I'm not sure whether the EU has a law about this, but most mainland EU countries mandate that UK cars crossing over to the EU mainland must fit headlight beam deflectors to prevent this issue. British drivers with cars that blind people are probably ignoring this law.
- jen20 3y ago
  Many cars have a switch on the lights to redirect the beam for exactly this reason.
mcv 3y ago
Wait, is it legal to drive a car that does not meet safety regulations as long as the car is registered in another country? That sounds like a really bad idea. What if a country allows you to drive any sort of thoroughly unsafe Mad Max vehicle without seatbelts or airbags, and an excess of unsafe spikes everywhere? There's got to be a point where that kind of car can't be legally driven in other countries, right? I would expect that, to drive in a country, your car has to meet the safety standards of that country.
- lesuorac 3y ago
  In general, the only thing your car needs is insurance for the country it is being driven in. Its quite trivial to take rental cars into other countries (but talk to the employees first they generally have to give you additional papers to prove insurance).
  - mcv 3y ago
    Things can be easy without being legal, though. Of course in practice most countries will tend to have very similar car safety laws, and if they don't but travel between two countries is likely, I would expect most cars will just obey both. To allow cars that violate your country's safety rules seems weird.
    - lesuorac 3y ago
      Laws generally only exist as a knee-jerk reaction to something. So, if you want to mass import and sell vehicles that don't meet the safety standards you'll run into trouble. But an individual temporarily working in another country bringing a personal/company car for their use with them doesn't. The USA does enforce that you take that vehicle home with you though or at least that's what foreigners tell me when others want cars from their country that aren't sold in the US.
- ajsnigrutin 3y ago
  I heard that some US states don't require yearly inspections, and that people there drive rusted through cars to the point of almost braking in half, and it's still legal to drive them across the whole country. My personal experience is europe, EU countries and the balkans, and all those countries allow all cars from all other countries to drive there (temporarily, when visiting or driving through), although some require additional equipment (snow tires in winter in some countries, extra pair of glasses in greece etc.). For example above, EU mandates separate turn lights and brake lights, but you can still drive a US car in EU: https://www.a1autotransport.com/can-i-drive-a-us-plated-car-in-europe/ https://www.a1autotransport.com/can-i-drive-a-us-plated-car-... (for 6 months max, if you return home)

camtarn 3y ago

> there are a bunch of british right-hand drive cars all around europe driven by british drivers, that have bliding headlights for everyone else (becase the shape of the beam is different), and EU has no issues with that. I'm not sure whether the EU has a law about this, but most mainland EU countries mandate that UK cars crossing over to the EU mainland must fit headlight beam deflectors to prevent this issue. British drivers with cars that blind people are probably ignoring this law.

jen20 3y ago
Many cars have a switch on the lights to redirect the beam for exactly this reason.

mcv 3y ago

Wait, is it legal to drive a car that does not meet safety regulations as long as the car is registered in another country? That sounds like a really bad idea. What if a country allows you to drive any sort of thoroughly unsafe Mad Max vehicle without seatbelts or airbags, and an excess of unsafe spikes everywhere? There's got to be a point where that kind of car can't be legally driven in other countries, right? I would expect that, to drive in a country, your car has to meet the safety standards of that country.

lesuorac 3y ago
In general, the only thing your car needs is insurance for the country it is being driven in. Its quite trivial to take rental cars into other countries (but talk to the employees first they generally have to give you additional papers to prove insurance).
- mcv 3y ago
  Things can be easy without being legal, though. Of course in practice most countries will tend to have very similar car safety laws, and if they don't but travel between two countries is likely, I would expect most cars will just obey both. To allow cars that violate your country's safety rules seems weird.
  - lesuorac 3y ago
    Laws generally only exist as a knee-jerk reaction to something. So, if you want to mass import and sell vehicles that don't meet the safety standards you'll run into trouble. But an individual temporarily working in another country bringing a personal/company car for their use with them doesn't. The USA does enforce that you take that vehicle home with you though or at least that's what foreigners tell me when others want cars from their country that aren't sold in the US.
ajsnigrutin 3y ago
I heard that some US states don't require yearly inspections, and that people there drive rusted through cars to the point of almost braking in half, and it's still legal to drive them across the whole country. My personal experience is europe, EU countries and the balkans, and all those countries allow all cars from all other countries to drive there (temporarily, when visiting or driving through), although some require additional equipment (snow tires in winter in some countries, extra pair of glasses in greece etc.). For example above, EU mandates separate turn lights and brake lights, but you can still drive a US car in EU: https://www.a1autotransport.com/can-i-drive-a-us-plated-car-in-europe/ https://www.a1autotransport.com/can-i-drive-a-us-plated-car-... (for 6 months max, if you return home)