Hit the road!

So, you have done the right thing and bought a property in North Cyprus! Once you settle in, you will probably need a car.

Buy car in North Cyprus

Buy a car in North Cyprus is a fairly simple process. If your budget will stretch to it, you may sample the joys of a top model such as Range Rover or Mercedes – even Ferrari or Maserati. Most of the world’s major marques have showrooms here, BMW/Mini and Ford dealer, Cangar Motors, has been operating for more than 20 years. The VW/ Audi group is also represented, as is Citroen, Renault, Jeep, Opel and Hyundai.

Most popular cars are Japanese hatchbacks

But the most popular cars on the road are Japanese hatchbacks. As a former British colony, North Cyprus drives on the left – as do the Japanese – meaning big imports of low-mileage makes such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda etc.

Whichever car you might have you eye on, expect to may more than in the UK or mainland Europe.

Ibo Kumanci, the genial proprietor of Kings Cars in Alsancak, says these are the result of high import taxes, and a recent worldwide shortage of cars, old and new.

Car values have risen since COVID

“During Covid, in the Far East especially, manufacturing went down, so we are left with a shortage of new cars, while around the world, the cost of shipping has gone up, so second-hand car values have risen 20 to 30 per cent,” Ibo says. “Small Japanese cars are what customers want at the moment. It’s what most people can afford. Japanese cars are (built to) a  good standard.”

Buy from UK

If you would prefer to buy British, Kings Cars will seek out your chosen car from the UK, ship and import it, taking care of the bewildering array of charges and paperwork, which includes shipping, entrance fees, Customs and stamp duty, before handing it over, taxed and registered in your name.

Ibo says: “If you give us an idea of what you want, the model, mileage, the colour, and set a budget, we will try to find the right car. We’ve got different options in the UK. We’re quite flexible. You can source your own car, there is nothing to stop you from finding what you want on the internet. The logbook first has to go into our company name, then we charge £1000 commission for the running around. There’s a lot of paperwork with the Customs and, it would probably take you weeks to do.

“You need to be really careful. There’s finance fraud, stolen cars, playing around with the mileage. For us, customer service and good feedback is the most important thing.”