Buying a car in Germany and driving to UK!

[Biggss2]

this is the reason why we have e.u. to make trading easy

Lol, one (of many) advantages.

[80Quattro]

I think the biggest problem will be the export plates, I don't know much about German law, but my friend and I went over to Sweden to buy a Volvo Amazon, it would have taken longer than we had to get export plates and in the end the seller had to trust us that we would leave the country and send the plates back when we got the the UK. It was a big risk for him as he would have a hard time getting out of any parking fines etc. If we hadn't sent the plates back he would have no way of getting the car unregistered from him. I have noticed when in Germany that there are a lot of cars on export plates, they last for a month or something, I have no idea how you go about getting them.

Registering the car in the UK is really easy. You need to get an MOT first (we found some testers were quite reluctant to MOT a car on Swedish plates) then you just go to the DVLA and fill in a few forms. Make sure you know as much as possible about the details as otherwise you will get lots of 'unknown' fields on the V5 which doesn't look too good if you ever come to sell it, I was frantically googling to find out the engine size in cc and quite a few other things as they were putting it all into the computer! We had to fill in the customs form at the DVLA, I think unless you get stopped by customs when you come into the county, you will do it this way. The charge to register a vehicle is £50 plus the cost of the tax.

It's all reasonably easy, but I can't say I can see the point in doing it for a LHD Mk3 Golf.

[bartolomeus]

Another note: the yellow number plates - you can buy them just like a pack of cigarettes, you don't have to provide any information on the car to the guy who is selling them. You will receive an empty registration form where you will fill out yourself the details of the car you want to put the number plates on. So basically you can buy the number plates before getting a car, and once you get the car, you put the number plates on the car and fill in the car's info on the empty registration form.

Germany is the best country from where to buy cars, it's so easy dealing with the papers!!!
For example, it would be a nightmare for me to come to UK to buy a car and drive it home, I think I would have to pay hundred of pounds only on insurance!

[Biggss2]

thank you thats perfect..

as for the golf tdi, its an obsession, ive had 8. lol.

thanks for your help 80

I think the hardest thing would be the language barrier, with the seller in germany.. hmmm

bartolemus, thats really assuring, I hope I can work this one out soon!

cheers everyone. heres to my hunt for a left hooker golf gt tdi

[80Quattro]

Germany sounds like a much easier country to buy a car than Sweden, it seems most of the problems we had wouldn't be an issue at all.

[pasbogdan]

Another note: the yellow number plates - you can buy them just like a pack of cigarettes, you don't have to provide any information on the car to the guy who is selling them. You will receive an empty registration form where you will fill out yourself the details of the car you want to put the number plates on. So basically you can buy the number plates before getting a car, and once you get the car, you put the number plates on the car and fill in the car's info on the empty registration form.

Germany is the best country from where to buy cars, it's so easy dealing with the papers!!!
For example, it would be a nightmare for me to come to UK to buy a car and drive it home, I think I would have to pay hundred of pounds only on insurance!

Same in our country to get 1 month valid plates:Get at 4 am in the front of police office(i do not know why police is dealing plates instead of local authority),learn to push,pull, until at 8 am the office opens.That is the moment of your life,TO GET A LINE NUMBER.If you are the 80'th person in the line you are gone.No more line numbers,come tomorow.
That is why i hate tu buy cars and i keep the one that i have.

[Biggss2]

Lol that sounds a bit like the old Dvla office in birmingham (Edward st) I asked my brother to 'pop in' After work to get a private plate removed off a car when he was On his early shift at work, he got stuck there for 2.5hrs- he wasn't happy! Lol

[Jamo]

That office no longer exists its moved to garretts green
Trick with them was to go in the morning I've been in and out in under 15 minutes for the same thing

[80Quattro]

I had heard stories about the Bristol one being terrible, a friend of mine went to get a replacement tax disk and got there 30 minutes before it opened, when he left there was a queue out the door and people parked all over the place. When we went to register the Volvo we went mid morning and there were about 6 people there, we took a ticket and started filling out the forms, we hadn't even got the first page done when our number was called! Must just be luck

[Biggss2]

Yea I've seen that sort of queue 80, driving past the job centre on a Friday lol

[Biggss2]

That office no longer exists its moved to garretts green
Trick with them was to go in the morning I've been in and out in under 15 minutes for the same thing

Key word being old jamo

Yea, garrets green much nicer.. You see some planes fly quite low there and it's free parking!

[tscheel]

Right bartolemus, that sounds spot on, so worst case scenario, I would have 5days to take the car out of the country, if it had no MOT, then Drive it over, get it MOT'd then re registered at the DVLA!

hmmm, whats a ferry back from germany cost anyone?

Calais - Dover isn't too bad. I used that (in reverse) when I collected an Audi 90 20v and drove it home.

Get the seller to sort the registration plates, it is complicated and can only be done in normal work hours. Some knowledge of the German system is required, and preferably - language.

[scottishscott]

Buying a car in Germany and driving it to Romania

I sent a mesage to Bartolomus, but decided to put it on here as well incase it can help anyone else, or if anyone has additional advice:

Hello everyone,

I am from Scotland, but I live in Romania. I have found a car I want to buy in Germany and drive it over. I have several questions.

How do I get tempoary insurance to drive it from Germany to Romania?
What documents will I need to make sure I get from the seller?
WHat is the process to register the car in Romania? Or is there a way to keep it on German plates?
WHat are good insurance companies in Romania?

If there is any additional advice you can give me, then that would be great!

MANY thanks in advance!

[scottishscott]

Thoughts on this car?

Also:

THe car I am looking at buying is a Audi A3 1.9 TDI S-line (130bhp) 2002 , 170,000KM on the clock.

WHat are the things I should be looking for when I go to see the car?

[Zeus]

You have to make sure you get the "Fahrzeugbrief" with the car, this is the German registration form.

Also, DON'T get the YELLOW numberplates but get the RED ones, the yellow ones might give you problems in transit and at the MOT (In Belgium, the yellow ones aren't accepted at the MOT, UK probably won't be as strict, but you never know...).

The red ones are "Ausfuhrkennzeichen" specifically meant for export of cars.

You can get these at a "Kfz-Zulassungsstelle" I think.

Get the German owner to go with you and sort the red plates for you, these are also about 100 Euro, and aren't valid as long as the yellow ones (don't know how long exactly).