VW Car Mechanic in Frankfurt

Hi everyone,

I have recently arrived in Frankfurt and am looking for a reasonably priced mechanic to change the RHD headlights on my Golf to LHD headlights. Volkswagen-Frankfurt quoted me €475 for the privilege which seems to be a crazy price!

Is anyone able to recommend either a local independent mechanic or a non-specialist mechanic who might be able to do this for me? I have only come across Otter VW + Audi Spezialist so far - has anyone used them before?

Many thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Are you registering the car here? If not then I would just get the stickers that you place over the glass. I have been here for 16 months now and have not bothered with it. My car is is still registered in the UK, taxed and MOT'd and my insurance covers me here. I will eventually buy a German car but at the moment I dont have the cash and imo its a waste of money registering a car here unless its worth a fair amount of money to start with.

I echo Dave's comments.

K

What model year is it? On at least some more modern VAG cars there is a switch at the headlight to change between RHD and LHD.

I think that is how much it costs.

My boyfriend has a RHD drive golf (mark 3) too and he looked into doing the lights himself but it was a lot of work, basically a lot of the engine at front had to be taken out, takes a long time hence the high labour costs.

I am not sure but I think he paid about 200-300€ and got it done by a Kiwi in Darmstadt whose details are on another thread.

But I think any normal garage could do this for you for a similar price, don't think you need a VW specialist.

Also agree with the above if you are not taking it through the TÜV then don't bother.

This is ok if you can take it back every year for the MOT and get reasonable insurance to cover you abroad (a lot are only thrid party). The expense of taking it back every year wasn't sensible in my boyfs case.

Removing the lights is a very easy job. The issue is with the cost of the light itself. My car is worth about 2K Sterling, new lights from Saab would be atleast 200 Euro a unit. and then there is the labour. I'd say nothing more then 2 hours to replace them. So easily looking at 600 Euro for the swap. If I where to swap the lights I'd do it myself, just as I do everything else.

Thanks for your posts. I am staying for a couple of years and will not be taking the car back to the UK so I need to register it here.

It's a 2005 Mk5 - I am pretty certain that there isn't a LHD/RHD switch.

The issue is basically the initial cost of the lights. VW are quoting me €185 per headlight, and then €100 labour on top of that. I can pick up some lights off eBay for about €100 for a pair - it is just a case of finding somewhere in Frankfurt that would swap them over for me.

Any ideas would be most appreciated!

I asked him about the lights and he paid 140€ each in about 2004. Oh he has a Mk4 btw I am just dumb.

Any garage would be able to do them for you I am sure. To be honest I think 100€ for the labour is not bad as you said.

I would just get the ones off ebay and take them to a local place - or if you can face the trip to Darmstadt take them to this Kiwi guy 'Bones' as he has done this umpteen times as he, due to being native English speaker, does mostly work on cars for expats working at ESOC/Eumetsat. He can definitely do them, the question is just if you can be bothered with the trip to Darmstadt.

I'll try and digout the contact details of the guy in Darmstadt. It was posted on a thread here but I can't find it right now.

Chances i'd probably be able to do it for you. I'd have to take a look first though.

Let me know if you need the help.

Before you go buying anything read your manual and look for a section on 'Driving in Europe'.

I suggest you do the sums:

Headlight purchase + swap over cost + swap back cost when you finally go back to the UK + TUV and registration costs + cost of German insurance (which will be steep as they will regard your car as "modded", plus of course the RH drive factor, PLUS they might well require you to buy winter tyres - with all the cost and hassle that entails)

versus

Three-ish tankfuls of petrol/diesel + ferry/chunnel return fare to UK + UK MOT and insurance.

I suspect you will find the right-hand side of the equation comes out considerably cheaper than the left-hand side - PLUS you get an effectively free visit to friends and family in the UK.

Just a thought.

K

Thanks for all your replies - very useful information. I have now got a local garage fitting the lights today for a very reasonable price, the insurance is sorted and I should get the TuV and registration done tomorrow.

No it won't. The RHD factor makes no difference, in fact I don't even think our insurance company knows that my boyfs car is a RHD.

Glad you got it all sorted