Bringing my Tacoma to the UK with me?

4 years in Edinburgh. Only Hiluxes I'd see were run by farmers. Are you going to be a farmer? If yes, buy a Hilux there. Otherwise, hard no to any pickup there.

 

Can you say GR Yaris!!! So many killer wagons and hatches over there, go live it up.

 

And a full set of teeth.

 

Was just being sarcastic bud. Just some light humor is all I was after

 

I’m coming up on 14 years in. They’ve only sent me to shitholes. Like a junkyard dog haha

 

OK, you're USAF active duty or civilian. You have special privileges in transporting a vehicle and outfitting it to the local conditions. You do not have to have a completely legal truck, like the locals do. There are agreements between the countries as to what the US military are required to comply with, and they are lax. The light adjustment is to change the headlights from pointing to the right in the US to pointing to the left in the UK to avoid headlights in the eyes of oncoming vehicles. I've driven about 250,000KM though out Europa and while in the UK I never had a problem with the lights being set for the mainland. But Europa's general requirements for all vehicles are different from the USA.

My main problem was having to drive on the wrong/left side of the road; it is very easy to do when there is lots of traffic and you're following other vehicles but get out on the road early or late when there is no traffic and your innate response is to drive on the right. An example of what can happen is like the US Woman that killed the motorcyclist just outside a US Base there in England within the last couple of years.
Harry Dunn: US citizen Anne Sacoolas pleads guilty to causing motorcyclist's death | CNN

The use of a left-hand drive vehicle in the UK I actually felt was an advantage (didn't do a lot of passing on two lane roads) to be able to look to your right from the left lane before pulling out to pass on the multilane roads and not have two of more pillars block your view is really nice.

There are plenty of roads in the UK just like we have here in the US, but those countryside roads are indeed narrow and claustrophobic, often with high hedges. I took plenty of those narrow roads, but most driving was on the major roads.

Overall, I agree with most of the commenters about getting a smaller and more economical vehicle once in country. If you are going to take advantage of where you are and do a good amount of travelling elsewhere, i.e. outside the UK, one of your decisions needs to be do you get a right- or left-hand drive vehicle? If you buy a vehicle and want to bring it back to the States it will need to meet USA requirements, the common vehicles in Europa do not meet the US requirements, but US spec vehicles are built there and allowed to be used during your tour of duty and then exported back to the US. Some good deals are available.

There has been some talk about the ease of traveling in Europa by public transportation. The transportation networks are indeed better than in any part of the US I have been, but it still does not get you into the countryside easily. If all you want to do is see the touristy places public transportation will do. Yes, gas is more expensive, yes on base fuel will be cheaper, but once you run out of that tank during your travels you are on the local economy.

I spent four and a half years traveling to 50 different countries, breakaways, divided countries and protectorates, there are two European countries I did not get into, Belarus and Russia. My vehicle was a diesel Mercedes Citan, not available here in the US.

 

I shipped my 2015 Tacoma from Colorado to the UK. I’m a Brit with no special US Gov privileges. This was in 2018.

As a Brit, to avoid tax implications I had to prove I owned the truck for a year before I imported, and that I would continue to use it for my own personal use in the UK for a year. Otherwise import duty is due. This is where working for the US Gov may make things differ.

Making it UK road legal was not difficult. Headlamps were no issue, as they have a flat beam pattern already. Turn signals need to be yellow. Back of a 2nd gen already have yellow bulbs. Front ones were a drop in bulb for the drl lamp that flashes. Also need turn signal on the sides, so mine had to be drilled into the wing mirrors because 2nd gen OR doesn’t already have lamps on the side. There needs to be a rear fog lamp at the back wired into the cab. If I remember right 3rd, gens have red signals on the rear? Not sure how that would be addressed tbh.

if fitted, bigger tires will make the speedo readout wrong (it can read over true speed, but never under) and it will fail the initial testing. This was my only hiccup. Keep tires stock and swap out once the first certificate is issued, the speedo doesn’t get checked again in subsequent years.

The Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency will take your US Title off you during registration. So you need title in hand, not a copy. I had to tape the title to the windshield for the duration of the shipping process.

truck’s been fine for the last five years, until I busted a front spring this week, hence I’m here looking up part numbers.

happy to answer more if you’re still thinking about a Tacoma in the UK.

 

You would be the coolest cat on the block! There are no Tacoma in the UK or Europe for that matter (assuming NA didn't bring their vehicle over). Not sure about registering a vehicle that isn't in the UK database though.