Why Hong Kong?
- Right-hand drive, just like the UK - Hong Kong drives on the left, so nothing needs converting
- A compact territory keeps odometers low - many cars cover only modest annual mileages
- First registration tax runs from 46% to 132% of a new car's value, so owners pay dearly and used prices fall hard
- A market stacked with Japanese and German metal: Toyota, Mercedes and BMW dominate the roads
- Moving to the UK on a BN(O) visa? Transfer of Residence relief can mean zero import tax on your own car
Ask a British enthusiast where to import a right-hand drive car from and the answer is almost always Japan. Hong Kong barely registers. Which is strange, because as a former British territory it drives on the left, its roads are full of the same Japanese and German brands Britain loves, and its cars live short, gentle lives in a place where a long journey is thirty miles.
Then there's the human story. Since the British National (Overseas) visa route opened in January 2021, more than 160,000 Hongkongers have made the move to the UK, and the Home Office widened the route again in February 2026 so adult children of BN(O) status holders can now apply independently. Every one of those households faces the same question: sell the car in Hong Kong's falling used market, or bring it to Britain, where the steering wheel is already on the correct side?
Right-Hand Drive, Low Miles, No Asterisk
The single biggest advantage is the simplest one. Hong Kong, like Britain, drives on the left, a legacy of its British era, so every car sold in the territory is right-hand drive from the factory. No conversion, no left-hand drive compromise, no headlights pointing the wrong way.
Then there's the mileage. Hong Kong is one of the most compact places on earth to run a car: the territory is small, the traffic is dense, and many owners use their cars for short urban hops between home, office and the weekend. Local dealers treat around 8,000 to 12,000 kilometres a year as a normal average, and plenty of cars, particularly the chauffeured executive class, cover less. The result is a used market full of late-model cars with genuinely light use.
One honest note on climate: Hong Kong is subtropical, so it is humid. But it never snows on the roads, which means no winter salting, and salt is what actually dissolves cars in Britain and Japan. A Hong Kong car has spent its life on unsalted tarmac, usually parked under cover in a multi-storey.
The Tax That Works in Your Favour
Hong Kong charges a first registration tax on every new private car, tiered from 46% on the first HK$150,000 of value up to 132% on everything above HK$500,000. A luxury car can cost close to double its sticker price to put on the road. That tax is paid once, by the first owner, and the used market never gives it back: local dealers report European luxury cars losing 40 to 50 percent of their value within three years. For a UK importer, someone else has already absorbed the pain.
The BN(O) Factor
For Hongkongers relocating to Britain, the maths gets even better. UK Transfer of Residence relief means that if you have lived outside the UK for at least 12 months and owned your vehicle for at least six, you can bring it with you and pay no import duty and no VAT at all. For a family arriving on a BN(O) visa with a well-kept Alphard or a German saloon, that is a serious saving on a car they already know and trust.
And for buyers rather than movers, the exodus itself has consequences. A steady flow of departing owners means a steady flow of well-maintained, right-hand drive cars reaching a used market with fewer local buyers to absorb them. Markets tend to notice that sort of thing eventually.