Hello, I have a friend here in France with a SD4 2011 freelander2. It's a UK car but is looking to register here. This means converting the RHD Xenon headlights to LHD. So Q1, can you change them inside the unit? Q2 if not, can you retrofit Halogen units which are much(much) cheaper?
All thoughts welcome.

Hi, some of the Xenon have a lever inside the unit that changes from RHD to LHD, not sure if fitted to all Xenons. Mine has it, the large white identification label on the headlight has AFS on it. Hope this helps.

Forgot to say mine is 2007 model though.

The later HIDs (xenons) have no adjustment and according to LR can be used for both LH and RH driving, I've used the EU version in UK with no flashing from oncoming vehicles. However, LR make HIDs specifically for the UK and EU markets so I'd assume therefore the the beam patterns is different. I would doubt the UK lamps without beam adjustment would meet EU test requirements and vice versa. The simple and safe solution is to buy replacement EU lamps but whether you can replace with halogen I'm not sure. I think most on here would try avoid the poor lighting that halogen gives especially the later versions.. driving on the right side

Thanks for replies. I'm not sure the lights are actually xenon. I'm waiting to see some pictures of the actual lights and the label to confirm. It's about 1k € to replace xenon! Agree halogen lights are poor. I put up rated bulbs in mine which improve things.

Your friend could be in for an expensive time trying to import the car at this late stage of transition period. Expect 20% + TVA ( VAT ) of the purchase price charged when applying for the quittas fiscaux after 31st Dec. Imports from outside the EU, second hand or new.

With regards to pollution tax, if applied on 2011 cars ( I think it started from 2011 ), should be in the hundreds, not thousands as my friend was charged on his 2013. Use the online calculator to find out the associated costs

The upgraded headlightsfor my friends 2013 were not available anywhere other than Landrover, cost €1200. They could not be dismantled to adapt as one of the beam plate screws is obscured, although I did see a post on here where someone "remodled" the offending item, and sucessfuly adapted the headlights. I was not prepared to do this as the resale value of the used healights was circa £500 in the UK.

Your friends 2011 projector style headlighs "should" be able to be converted to LHD, by dismantling and replacing or adapting the beam deflector. No tick to the right ( by leveling the beam plate from RHD ) will not pass a French CT.

My advice would be to sell the car in the UK and buy a LHD in France. All the hard work is done for you and the LHD will keep its residual value. The imported RHD not so much.

Trying to get a Certificate of Conformity ( if needed ) is like trying to pull teeth from Jaguar Landrover. I have spent many unhappy hours on the phone with the Customer Experience Team, so much so that I ended up with the Ombudsman in the UK.

Good luck whichever rout your friend chooses.

Well aware of dec 31st, hence she is rushing to get the QF! As long as that's in place before 31st the rest of the process can follow on in the next few months. Further communication seems to suggest the lights are if fact standard Halogen. The existing sticker says HAL EU on the unit. As long as she can get a CoC shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps 300ish for tax. CT stations *should* in fact accept beam deflectors on the headlights (change in CT standards 2018) She is keen to keep this one as funnily enough it's a freelander and she really likes it!
Strangely there's now a rush to register all the UK plated cars that have been running around.......Luckily our local office is turning them around quite quickly still.
I brought my first car here from UK, but when I changed I found a nice SD4 here, although dearer than UK, much easier being LHD. Cheers

I picked a set of LHD Halogen non projector headlights up on Uk eBay not long ago for £31 the pair + £15 delivery......bargain !

I have not heard of a change relating to CT standards of headlights. The CT became more stringent in 2018, greatful if you could point me to the legislation, must have missed that one.

Beam deflectors in my experience simply flat line the beam pattern, this has not been accepted in my experience.

The headlights I removed ( RHD ) said "Hal UK", the ones I replaced them with (LHD) said "Hal EU". There is also imprinted on the lens an arrow pointing either left or right which allows the tester to determine if the headlights were manufactured for LHD or RHD markets, along with the CE mark.

All the import / registation etc procedure is done centrally now via the ANTS system, no local offices involved. It has in my opinion streamlined the whole proceedure and made it equal across the board. No reginal prefects interpreting the rules " as they see them ". The only recent improvement that I am aware of is that QF can now be obtained on line ( short term I believe due to the pandemic ), instead of a visit to the tax office in person...............saves half a day at least !

Last edited by Grimdog on 20th Dec 2020 5:39 pm. Edited 1 time in total

It gets a little confusing when some halogen bulbs are termed "xenon" when clearly they are not HID lights

Click image to enlarge

No, not helpful!

Grimdog wrote:

I picked a set of LHD Halogen non projector headlights up on Uk eBay not long ago for £31 the pair + £15 delivery......bargain !

I have not heard of a change relating to CT standards of headlights. The CT became more stringent in 2018, greatful if you could point me to the legislation, must have missed that one.

Beam deflectors in my experience simply flat line the beam pattern, this has not been accepted in my experience.

The headlights I removed ( RHD ) said "Hal UK", the ones I replaced them with (LHD) said "Hal EU". There is also imprinted on the lens an arrow pointing either left or right which allows the tester to determine if the headlights were manufactured for LHD or RHD markets, along with the CE mark.

All the import / registation etc procedure is done centrally now via the ANTS system, no local offices involved. It has in my opinion streamlined the whole proceedure and made it equal across the board. No reginal prefects interpreting the rules " as they see them ". The only recent improvement that I am aware of is that QF can now be obtained on line ( short term I believe due to the pandemic ), instead of a visit to the tax office in person...............saves half a day at least !

Be aware there is always some confusion over Xenon bulbs which have a tungsten filament and Xenon gas inside the quartz bulb and genuine Xenon lamp systems which are actually Xenon gas discharge tubes (like on a camera electronic flash guns) with no filament and run off a controller delivering about 70+ volts and a few kVolt zap to a conductive film on the surface ignite them. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Thanks for the info, I will have a look over the not so festive period lol

That's the sort of price we're looking for! This is the document which details rules, specifically page 5-6 I believe. IT VL F4D-ECLAIRAGE-171018 QF is through our local tax office and online which is much simpler as far as I can see. and ANTS for the rest as long you are registered with them through tax returns or whatever. I agree it's easier when you find your way around it. I got into circles last time, I used it to register a TR4 but got 1 digit wrong on the application. Th car had also lost it's vehicle de collection status when ownership transferred to me. So I have spent some time on the site![/quote]

This could be a cheap solution

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FREELANDER-2-Ha...1438.l2649

or these if not halogen

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FREELANDER-2-Bi...SwEW9ahr5O