The good news is that you will always be able to find insurance for an unofficial import, somewhere. Such cars are more common that you might think; the Eunos Roadster, a type of upmarket Mazda MX-5, was never sold here but there are thousands on UK roads nonetheless, imported from their native Japan. Indeed Japan is where many cars imported into the UK start life, because Japan is a major car-market where they also drive on the left.
There are two main types of import:
The Grey Import: Vehicles that are not built to European standard and are not EU approved. They are usually second-hand cars and you will have to shop around. For common imports, such as the Eunos, it should be fairly easy, as a market has been established and they are a known quantity being almost identical to the MX-5. For more obscure cars, insurers do not know what they are taking on, and will charge accordingly or even refuse to offer cover. Even if they do quote, they may also demand detailed information on the vehicle. If you are thinking about buying such a car, get a quote beforehand.
Parallel Imports: These are vehicles that are right hand drive and purchased outside of the UK. However, they are built to EU Type Approval, and compatible with UK specifications. In addition, parallel imports are new cars imported from Europe and should be far easier to insure than grey imports.
Generally speaking, you should expect to pay a higher premium than a standard car bought in the UK. In some cases the cost of the inflated premium, plus the cost of buying and importing a car from outside the UK, can result in you not making any savings; buying a UK car in the first place might have made more sense…
