Dilemma - Converting Headlights For European Driving / Registration

fredsmith · July 22, 2011

Can someone help or advise please?

I am living/working in Switzerland at the moment, and brought my UK-registered IS 250 with me.

Now, after a year driving on UK plates I need to have the car properly registered in Switzerland. This means an inspection, which in turn means getting some work done in advance.

The main issue is the headlights. Designed for driving on the left side of the road, the lamps point left. In driving on the other side, the lamps need to point the other way. So far, so obvious.

So I take the car to the garage to have the conversion done and they tell me there is no way of adjusting the beam. I have to have new lamps fitted, which will cost 2,300 CHF just for the parts. At current exchange rates this is around £1700.

Part of me thinks I should sell the car in the UK and buy again in Switzerland. But car prices here are horrendous. About £40K for a new IS 250. About 18 - 19K for a 3-4 year old which is the age of my car.

What to do??

Does anyone here have any experience of replacing headlights for European registration?

Perhaps it could be done much cheaper in Germany or France?

Is there really no alternative to replacing the whole unit? Naively, I thought perhaps the beam could be manually adjusted.

Could I buy the unit myself elsewhere for much less, I wonder?

Any thoughts / advice / or even just sympathy would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

LexIS200Sport · July 22, 2011

I'm assuming that headlight converters won't suffice for permanent registration in Continental Europe.

Maybe you could buy a used pair from eBay and install them yourself? I've seen American-spec ones go as low as £100 a side and I'm guessing the beam should be pointing in the right direction.

Just a thought...

Boxbrownie · July 22, 2011

Maybe you could buy a used pair from ebay and install them yourself? I've seen American-spec ones go as low as £100 a side and I'm guessing the beam should be pointing in the right direction.

Just a thought...

Exactly.....our american friends are always changing/upgrading thier lamps, buy a pair of thier discarded lamps on eBay.....or put a wanted on the US Lexus site.

steve2006 · July 22, 2011

Is it different in Switzerland because in the Greek islands you can bring your UK registered car in for 6 months before you have to register it with the Greek authorities but if you take it off the island for a day then bring it back the 6 months starts again, so can you not do the same in Switzerland by popping into say Germany for a few days?

fredsmith · July 22, 2011

I'm assuming that headlight converters won't suffice for permanent registration in continental Europe.

Maybe you could buy a used pair from ebay and install them yourself? I've seen American-spec ones go as low as £100 a side and I'm guessing the beam should be pointing in the right direction.

Just a thought...

Sadly not!

fredsmith · July 22, 2011

Maybe you could buy a used pair from ebay and install them yourself? I've seen American-spec ones go as low as £100 a side and I'm guessing the beam should be pointing in the right direction.Just a thought...
Exactly.....our american friends are always changing/upgrading thier lamps, buy a pair of thier discarded lamps on eBay.....or put a wanted on the US Lexus site.

Thanks - good idea. I guess I have to be sure that the US ones are the same spec as the Swiss authorities demand. They are notoriously picky.

Is it different in Switzerland because in the Greek islands you can bring your UK registered car in for 6 months before you have to register it with the Greek authorities but if you take it off the island for a day then bring it back the 6 months starts again, so can you not do the same in Switzerland by popping into say Germany for a few days?

Hmm. Interesting, but sounds too good to be true for Switzerland. I'll inquire, but would be astonished if it was that easy.