19 replies to this topic

[Louisemarie]

Was wondering if anyone could help with the following:

Can I buy a left hand drive car in UK, drive it to Turkey and keep it over there for when I visit. I am UK citizen married to a turkish man who usually resides in the UK with me. I know the laws are weird when it comes to foreigners and cars .......or could my husband keep a UK registered car in Turkey.

any help, advice or links to other site would be gratefully appreciated

[Abi]

Louise if you brought a car over from the UK you could only keep it here for 6 months and then it would have to go out of Turkey for 6 months. You would also have to pay a bond and that can be a lot of money. As your husband has now 'left' the UK he won't be able to do it now as you have to be a resident in the UK and have owned the car for 6 months and has to be under 3 years old. Plus he would have visit the Turkish Consulate in London to sort the paper work out.

[Vic801]

Lousie, Don't Do It!! It is more hassle and money than it is worth and I think about the only time in Turkey where it is absolutely impossible to find a loophole to get round the problem. Cars in Turkey are so much more expensive than outside of Turkey, so if it were easy to bring them in and keep them, everybody would be buying cars in Europe, bringing them back and selling them at a huge profit, thus ruining the Turkish automobile industry. Just as an idea, the car we came in was worth nothing in France, Mr P would would have been really lucky if he'd got 500 euros for it in France. On Sahinbinden at the time, the same model, same age, same number of km were selling for 7000 to 8000 TL. But it is impossible to sell in Turkey and Mr P gave it up to the customs with a heavy heart after 6 months.

[KKW]

The short answer to your query is, Don't Do It.

[Louisemarie]

hhhhmmmmm what a pain in the ass!!!!!!!

Guess we will have to just buy an overpriced car over there instead!!! Just seems a waste when it wlll only be driven for 6 weeks of the year.....but trying to get hubby to rent a car is an almost impossible task because he says its soooo epensive (I dont agree).

[Cukurbagli]

It will be a great deal more expensive to buy a car than renting one and you have to pay the road tax for the whole year whether you are driving it or not.

[sunny]

I agree with Cukur. There is car tax and also trafic sigorta plus the upkeep of the car as well. Renting is the better option.

[Vic801]

You can get very good deals on long-term rents. I know many people here who rent a car monthly at quite decent rates and as Sunny says you don't have the car tax or the sigorta or the upkeep. But you do have the petrol/gas cost which is not negligeable.

[Ahududu]

Hi Lm,
Is your husband a 'returning Turk'?
If so, he can bring a UK registered car here for 6 months. Then it must exit Turkey on his passport OR be given to Customs for free!
So, if he brings in a cheap car and runs it into the ground for 6 months - no loss!!!

Do you have a work permit for Turkey as a UK citizen?
If so, then the rules are different for you, and you can bring a car.

The car we brought over for 6 months (as 'returning Turks) cost us 1,500 GBP. We're more than happy with the use we've had out of it, will be sad to see it go, but it saved us having to buy a vehicle immediately, we're not bothered if it get bumped or scratched, drove over with our belongings with it, and used it for transporting furniture etc when we moved in.
Clearly bringing a well-loved, or 'special' vehicle is a waste of money - there is NO way out of giving it to customs after 6 months. BUT, bringing something useful and cheap to save you money in the long run is a pretty good option.
We have found someone with the same vehicle as ours, and are selling him some bits off ours. As long as the vehicle goes to customs looking like a vehicle they won't know what is new or changed on it - that way it doesn't feel quite so bad when we 'give' it away!!!

Good luck.

[Louisemarie]

Thanks for all your help and advice. Will look into longer term car rental. Having explained all the problems to hubby about UK cars in turkey he has agreed I am right (first time ever).........havent got a work permit as am not planning on living out there yet but hopefully in time we will. Am thinking by then we wil have been married over 3 years and hopefully things will be more simplified with visa/permits etc.

[Abi]

Louise once you have been married for 3 years you will be able to apply for Turkish Citizenship even if you are living in the UK with your husband, but to gain that you will be interviewed and expected to speak in Turkish fairly well. Once you have got that you won't need to get a work permit or visa's and will make life easier for you.

[Louisemarie]

Thanks Abi, there is a Turkish course staring in a local course near me in April which I am hoping to enrol in and my plan is to be as fluent as possible before we move over there. Hopefully 3 years will be enough time for me .......ha ha......hubby says he is gonna talk turkish to me at home and ignore me unless I answer in turkish - should be fun.......will definately make for an interesting time at home.

I know this is off topic but.......in general what sort of work is available to English women in turkey, is there anything specific thats easier to get into? At home I work in an estate agents as a negotiator.......but I have done lods of other stuff over the years.

[Abi]

If you have got Turkish nationality providing you are qualified and have experience in what ever line of work you choose to work in and can talk Turkish fluently you will be able to get a job anywhere. If you work in an estate agents already getting getting a job and doing the same sort of thing won't be a problem. The only thing is that you will probably have to take an exam as that is what is required now I believe. Sam's husband is an estate agent and has his own business and would be able to tell you more about it.

[Lizaliza]

Louisemarie, on 04 February 2012 - 10:29 PM, said:

hhhhmmmmm what a pain in the ass!!!!!!!

Guess we will have to just buy an overpriced car over there instead!!! Just seems a waste when it wlll only be driven for 6 weeks of the year.....but trying to get hubby to rent a car is an almost impossible task because he says its soooo epensive (I dont agree).

Hi Louisemaria, excuse me for asking, but why would your husband want to buy and transport a car to Turkey, if he's only intending on using it for six weeks of the year out there? It seems an awfully expensive and troublesome way to go about things - especially when you can hire a Turkish car for a fraction of the price.....

L x

Louisemarie, on 05 February 2012 - 04:02 PM, said:

Thanks Abi, there is a Turkish course staring in a local course near me in April which I am hoping to enrol in and my plan is to be as fluent as possible before we move over there. Hopefully 3 years will be enough time for me .......ha ha......hubby says he is gonna talk turkish to me at home and ignore me unless I answer in turkish - should be fun.......will definately make for an interesting time at home.

I know this is off topic but.......in general what sort of work is available to English women in turkey, is there anything specific thats easier to get into? At home I work in an estate agents as a negotiator.......but I have done lods of other stuff over the years.

Hi again, Louisemaria. Some people may disagree, but I think the only way to become truly fluent in another language is to live in that country. Lessons are very helpful, but I would think you'd have to invest an awful lot of time studying, to become fluent in Turkish. Learning to speak, read and write another language takes a lot of time and dedication, and I think the best way to learn is to live in the country and, more importantly, mix with the locals. Some expats speak almost no Turkish at all - mainly because they only mix with other expats. But those who live in remote villages, or who only mix with other Turks will pick the language up much more quickly.

If you're planning on moving out there, it might be an idea (if it's feasible) to live out there for a year or so, before applying for citizenship.

L x

[sunny]

I thinks it's a excellent idea to go to Turkish lessons before you come out here so that you are aware of the grammar, which is more difficult to pick up correctly if you are just speaking to people. You are more aware of the structure etc. and then when you come here you will be able to practise to increase your fluency.

Why do you think it would be a good idea living here for a year or so before applying for citizenship rather than applying whilst still in the UK, Liza? If LM wishes to work she will be very limited if she only has a RP.

[Abi]

I had a friend who was married to a Turk in the UK. She went to Reading University where they held a night school class once a week to learn Turkish. At the weekend only Turkish was spoken in the house to start with. After a year she was almost fluent so it did work for her and when I went to her house they used to converse mainly in Turkish.

I agree with Sunny that it would be a good idea for Louisemarie to start classes in the UK. If she wasn't married to a Turk I agree it would be harder but as Sunny said at least people would be aware of the grammar and structure.

[Lizaliza]

sunny, on 06 February 2012 - 11:30 AM, said:

I thinks it's a excellent idea to go to Turkish lessons before you come out here so that you are aware of the grammar, which is more difficult to pick up correctly if you are just speaking to people. You are more aware of the structure etc. and then when you come here you will be able to practise to increase your fluency.

Why do you think it would be a good idea living here for a year or so before applying for citizenship rather than applying whilst still in the UK, Liza? If LM wishes to work she will be very limited if she only has a RP.

Hi Sunny, I was thinking more along the lines of LM learning Turkish as fluently as possible; I still maintain that living amongst Turkish speaking people is the only real sure fire way of becoming fluent in the language. Although I'm sure some people can become fluent in another language without living in the country, it would be more difficult, I'd have thought? Of course, you're right, it might not be practical work-wise living in Turkey pre-citizenship, although some people do manage to live there without citizenship.

Of course nightschool etc is always beneficial, and I thoroughly recommend it, but I don't think you can beat living amongst the locals to really pick a language up. And although it makes it easier living with a Turk, somehow it isn't always that simple to suddenly start communicating in a language you don't understand. It's far easier to learn a language when you see a couple speaking Turkish to each other; a little like how children learn to speak - they hear the words and watch the actions.

That's just my opinion; I'm sure other people on here have become fluent in Turkish without living out there.

L x

[swabs]

I think it is good your looking at doing courses. I agree with Lizaliza about picking it up faster when your in turkey but i found that my spoken turkish improved greatly and my written turkish got left behind.

Now im back in england i would love to go to a Turkish course but they dont have any where i live , so now im just studying online and learning everything i learnt before but in written along with many more things! Then i will have to practice it all in spoken context better when i move back! haha.

Ive found the more Turkish you learn the harder it gets (due to all the rules! haha) but i really want to be fluent in time so have to invest as much as i can in it!

Good luck with learning, i hope you can pick it up at a good speed for you xx

[sunny]

Liza, of course to become fluent in any language it is better to be immersed in it and speak it every day, but LM is in the UK at the moment so going to a course there is the next best thing especially if her husband speaks T to her too. Having lessons helps a lot because although her husband is Turkish, unless he is a Turkish teacher, he probably won't be able to explain grammar points to her.

[Louisemarie]

wow - conflicting ideas there but all very helpful. Hubby has tried to explain the grammer rules but of an hour of explanations culminating in him banging the table shouting ebilir - abilir at me time after time, and me bursting into tears it was decided that whilst he can help my vocabulary and simple conversation he most definately cant teach me grammer and written turkish. Just found out the local course is only a holiday turkish course so looks like I might have to opt for something online unless the college decide to run a full course over the next academic year - fingers crossed as it is something they are looking into.