Jeff Jones

Hi,

I'm getting ahead of myself but it is likely that my family could be moving to London in the near future. I have a beautiful 16 GTS Targa that I have been planning on keeping for many years. I can see several options and I would love some advice, especially from anyone living and working in or around London.

Keep the car in the US in storage. My least favorite option. I'll be in London for at least 2 to 3 years and I would be paying for storage while the car depreciates.

Sell the car. Seems like the most practical solution. I would be working in central London and likely living in zone 2 or at least in an area with easy access to work. We could sell all three cars and spend a few years living car free taking the great public transportation available.

Bring the car. Obviously the wheel is on the wrong side for London but I'm having fantasies about great driving trips throughout Europe. However, I'm not sure we will end up in a place with a good garage and I would drive the car pretty infrequently. I have a wife and two young kids so the driving tours may be more of a pipe dream than a reality.

If you are a London local any advice on great family neighborhoods with easy access to central London would also be appreciated

Thanks for any advice.

Jeff

Dewinator

Personally, I'd make sure to take the car before the wife and kids, but I don't have a wife or kids.

You have the rest of your life to make sensible choices, but this might be the only chance you'll ever have to spend 2-3 years driving a 911 around Europe. Don't pass it up. You don't get a mulligan in life to go check out the experiences you skipped.

Porscheforever

is it 2 years or 3 years? 2 years...I would keep the car in storage.

3 years or maybe longer...sell the car now and buy one when you return. You can always buy one in Germany - only a swim away from London - and send it to US

shake-em-on-down

If you're living in zone 2, you won't need a car and parking space is likely to be at a premium. If you don't have a private off-road car park then don't get a car at all - I wouldn't park it on a London street.

I have private off-road parking and get out of London and down to Devon every 2 weeks and drive out of London at the weekend, otherwise I wouldn't need a car at all (though with a Porsche it's never about 'need', is it?), and it into central London (from Richmond in Zone 4) very rarely.

My recommendation would be to sell-it and tuck the money away until you return to the US and buy yourself something nice then.

spiderv6

Sell it. London traffic is just gridlock. On street parking will have you on edge. Driving with the wheel on the wrong side IS a nightmare (been there done that) and it's dangerous.

If you have fantasies about driving around Europe then go to sixt.com and rent one for a week.

STG

Even if you store it for 3 years, keep it!!!

You won't save any money selling it and then trying to find another similar car later (which won't happen). Assuming you want to stick with a .1 GTS Targa.

Even if you buy something else, you'll get killed on the sale, and have a lot more to spend on something new or have a hard time finding anything close to it to replace it with

3 years is nothing. Coming back to a "keeper" is worry it in my opinion.

Like mentioned, use Sixt and rent a car for your fix.

R_Rated

You'll have to settle for one with a tiny engine when you come back. Not many people with Targa's with engines ordered from the men's section for sale.

duxsi

Absolutely take it with you.
I took 2 left-hand-drive cars to London and driving was fine.
I lived in St John's Wood (NW8) and rented an off street garage.
There are lots of very nice neighborhoods, but it all depends on your needs. (Schools for kids etc)

The only pain was getting receipts (via the passenger window) when driving through parking barriers etc. Overtaking on narrow country lanes was sometimes tricky, but the European road trips through gorges and alps we're always amazing.

The importation process is simple and insurance is a non issue.
What would be the difference in storage costs here vs renting a parking garage in London.

pvr

Do you have to live in central? I am 30 minutes by train outside central, but live in the middle of the country side.

I love my cars so I would not move to Central.

MagicRat

I have parked two Porsches on the street in London over the space of four years, and other than foxes climbing on them (yup) have had no problems. Yeah it's bad in rush hour but sensible people take public transport then. There are fine roads if you drive an hour out of town, Europe is a train ride away and if you go west a couple of hundred miles you're in Wales. Wales is very good for driving indeed.

I've never driven LHD in London but I've done RHD across Europe and the states multiple times and it's fine. Also attitude to Porsches here seems pretty good. Most people don't know the difference between a thirty grand one and a hundred grand one and the ones that do think the hundred grand one is great.

As far as awesome family friendly neighbourhoods in zone two go, you could do worse than look at Herne Hill. Do wave to the guy in the grey GTS cab if you come here though, and don't say I didn't warn you about the foxes!

LexVan

Is this a corporate move? Keep the car. Your company should be paying for the storage expenses.

Brian Meek

Three years back I went through almost the exact same situation. If just taken delivery of my dream Cabrio, silver in red, x51, msrp $168k, way overbuilt but all the things I wanted. Six months later I relocated to central London, same dilemma. I chose to sell. Our 3-5 year adventure ended in 2, now we're back in the states and I'm shopping for a replacement. I super bummed I can't have that car, but overall I have no regrets.

Driving a lhd in the uk isn't impossible, but on the two lane country roads that would be the most fun, lhd makes it impossible to pass and creates more blind curves than you'll like.

You can take the Chunnel to the continent to drive there, but it's a long day trip.
drive.

Spyerx

Sell it. I would negotiate with your company to cover the depreciation loss given its brand new. You'll be worse off keeping it in storage.

Buy a car there to enjoy.

LCW

In 1997 I was relocated from New York to London on what was to be a 2 year assignment. For a variety of reasons, it ended up being 6 years... I loved it and miss my time in London. It is a fantastic place to live. However, this is all to say that unless you have very firm return date, you have to assume your 3 years may turn into several more years, so you may factor this into your car equation... good luck !

Brian Meek

Heh, last post was cut short.

We lived in Notting hill (nw11). No garage, but plenty of street parking. Lots of cars far nicer than mine left out for weeks, kind of silly, but apparently very safe. My son and I enjoyed the car show on our morning runs, though I did feel bad for a new Bentley gt that was abused by pigeons for an entire month. There should be a society to prevent that type of thing from occurring.

For a few months we took a company car, a nice new x3. Found we never used it and turned it back

Uber lux in central London is great. Late model 7 series and s-class, with the occasional A8 or Jag.

For the weekends we would rent from Avis Prestige. Once they get to know you upgrades were common, rent a RRS base, get the Supercharged, or rent a full size RR, and get Autobiography. For trips to the country with the kids this was the way to go, and in Germany when visiting my wifes family we'd get an M5 or a nice 7 series.

So logistically it could work, as others have said, but I'm glad I didn't make it work. Economically, at best it's a wash, in our experience it was cheaper to let it go. Emotionally, only you can decide if you can accept the loss of your dream car. As other have said, these were the last of the NA cars, and if you have a special build as I did, finding a "replacement" can be hard. Maybe we need a society for those unfortunate souls who have to suffer this way as well. ;-)