Originally Posted by Bloody-Brit

Not sure about France, but for the U.K. you just need to get the equivalent of an inspection done (M.O.T. in the U.K.) fill in some paperwork and take it to the local registration office. However you will need rear fog lamps operational anywhere in Europe to be able to pass the inspection (in the U.K. you need to have your headlights dip to the left instead of the right too). The process for vehicles coming from the U.S. is a lot less stringent than cars coming from other countries (such as the Middle East).

As long as you have owned the car for more than 6 months there is no tax/import duty to pay.

I shipped my Land Cruiser from the Middle East to the U.K. and it cost about $1000. If you can drive to an East Coast port and ship via a ro-ro (roll on roll off) it will be a lot cheaper; $4500 is a ridiculous quote.

Having said all that; I quickly sold my Land Cruiser in the U.K. as I had a longer commute than planned and the cost of gas was just too high. I am about to move to the U.K. again and will not take my X5 back; but will consider a diesel X5. In France gas is about twice the price of diesel.