From just looking at photos of 2010 Escapes online,I think you will need to add side indicators. Your rear indicators will need to be changed and you will also need to alter your headlights for driving on the left.
Is there a white reversing light? I can’t see one on either of the rear light fittings. Same thing for a rear red fog light. You will need to fit those.
Oh and your radio won’t work, so you’ll probably want to change that, but check that you can get the wiring loom in the UK.
Once you find out if you are going I recommend seeing if you can contact your outgoing counterpart. I know that when my dad was posted to Australia the outgoing counterpart was a font of information. In addition someone a few postings back had purchased a car and it kept getting past along to the incoming personnel for a small fee. Much easier than shipping a car and ensuring it was compliant to local regulations.
Might I ask WHY you want to take your car with you? Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not exactly “special” in any way, and the cars you will be able to buy here are much better adapted to our roads.
Then again if you end up at Mildenhall or Lakenheath, the roads in the Fens are BUMPY as fook.
P.S. Please drive at the speed limit at an absolute minimum. There are a lot of very slow American drivers around the bases who are a considerable nuisance.
No…
You drive at the speed at which you judge safe for the road conditions using the speed limit as the upper bounds, regardless of what other people say is a nuisance.
Anyone who suggests otherwise, in particular to someone unfamiliar with driving on the left, is being foolish.
Of our 2 vehicles it’s the smaller and more fuel-efficient; I can’t think of anywhere I’m comfortable storing it as it’s not paid off and will still need at minimum storage insurance; it’s special to ME, I spent a year researching this vehicle and its purchase, not to mention the updated model has serious issues; it’s cheaper to ship it (at the Air Force’s expense) than for us to buy and insure another car. I’d much rather have it here and used little than left in the States for up to 4 years where I can’t be sure it’s secure. We expect to live on base at least our first year so Tripler will ride his bike to work, I’ll ride mine or walk or use local transit and we’ll break out the Escape for long trips, camping or large items/groups that need moving.
At some point I’d like to see how far into Europe I can drive it, just to say I did so (w/ a straight face).
Get some quotes for motor insurance before you ship it, it’s quite pricey but mandatory here, although no doubt if you live on base you’ll get a good discount as it will be securely stored overnight. Also, check what the regulations are for your driving licence, you can drive on a foreign licence for 12 months, but after that you may need a UK licence, which involves passing theory, hazard and practical tests.
You will have to register and MOT the car though, and you might not get insurance until you do those.
Familiarise yourself with the Highway Code before you start driving here. It’s all the rules you’ll need to follow.
Insurance is a good point. My brother is a respectable 40-year-old with a wife and kids who lives in a very, very nice area, and his insurance is nearly triple what mine is in suburban Florida (and would still be double if we had the same cars).
Another benefit to bringing your car (as I learned in an earlier thread) is that you can fill it with belongings from home that you’d otherwise have to ship separately.
One other drawback to a left-hand drive car in the UK (especially a larger one, I imagine) is toll machines for carparks, bridges, etc. They’ll all be on the wrong side to reach from the driver’s window. So either make sure you’ve got a passenger who can help, or practise leaping out and running round the car.
You will need to arrange for a barbecue airlift.
Hooray, somewhere to store my lithium battery items for shipping!
Honey, **I am **the barbecue airlift.
I have no idea what that means, but it sounds filthy. 
If you enjoy your bbq ribs like you don’t care who’s looking, you might could get filthy.
Buy a new car every time you go abroad. Got it.
Everytime you live abroad, yeah. It makes more sense if the USAF is paying to ship it, though.
Exactly.
I brought my car with me when I moved here in 1995. I found a mechanic who specialized in converting American car lights to pass the MOT. He had to rewire a bit at the back, but the headlight alignment was fine.
If you’ve had no insurance claims recently have you current insurance company write a letter for you showing your no-claims history. You can save a lot on insurance with a clean history.
Are you sure that will work? I moved from America to the UK last year, and having a clean driving record of many years in the US did me no good whatsoever with getting a “no claims bonus” in the UK. Admittedly, I did not have a special “letter”…
I’m a civilian employee of the U.S. Department of Defense. I worked from 1987 to 1990 in the U.K. The process of moving to and returning from the U.K. was basically the same for me as it was for military people. The people who arrange the shipping of your car are supposed to provide you with a list of all the conversions that are necessary to do on your car. I decided to sell my car before moving to the U.K. and then sell the three-year-old one on moving back to the U.S. That was definitely more expensive, but it meant that I avoided having to drive with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. Being military, you doubtlessly will have to do more moving around in your career, so you’re going to have to decide for yourself what’s cheapest and most convenient for you. Insurance on the car will be tricky. You can’t transfer your No Claims Bonus, I believe.
Most of the possible transition problems are things that the Department of Defense have long experience with and know how to get around. They know, for instance, how to take care of getting you a British bank account very quickly. One of the other civilians among the ones who worked there with me took me, on my first week there, to the bank that had agreed to immediately accept all of us as customers and introduced me to a staff member there. They arranged to immediately set up a bank account for me, something that would be more difficult for a random American moving to the U.K. Talk to the military support people at your base who arrange for moves. They should have a list of how to take care of such things.
Cell phones (called “mobile phones” in the U.K., I think) became common in the U.K. earlier than they did in the U.S., but I suspect that now there’s not much difference in how common they are.
Do not put any bumper stickers on your car until you get a feel for how common or uncommon they are in the U.K. Try to avoid deliberately sticking out as an American in how you dress and such. I suspect that it will be less bothersome for you than it was for me. I spent nearly all my time with British civilians. You will, I suspect, spend a lot of time with other American military personnel.
…swiss dot??..
…Swiss Dot! Not a clothes maker, are you? Polka dots are the larger dots, swiss dots are smaller.
