interpretation needed

[xcxvt 8]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of buying a new car. I found what I'm looking for from a german dealer but the add states that the car is: "DEUTSCHES LAGERFAHRZEUG, KEIN RE-IMPORT, KEIN EU-FAHRZEUG!"

 

I don't get it. Lagerfahrzeug means a new car, kein re-import is good but the part with kein eu-fahrzeug I do not understand. How can it be a german lagerfahrzeug and also a non eu-car?

 

Does it mean that I can't register and drive the car in Germany and the EU?

[optimista 4,166]

I think Kein Re-Import, Kein EU-Fahrzeug is merely a reiteration of it being being German stock. It is what it is, not what it is not. But I'm only guessing.

[kiplette 6,983]

Yup, German cars have a higher/different spec sometimes than their EU versions, and some Germans only want the 'proper' version.

 

An EU version, exported to another EU country and re-imported for people who want a new car but are happy to save a few bucks, might not have all the same bells and whistles.

 

Someone will come on who knows the exact differences, but it really has no effect on what you can do with it as the end-user, so don't worry.

[xcxvt 8]

got it, thx!

[jeba 3,229]

10 hours ago, kiplette said:

Someone will come on who knows the exact differences, but it really has no effect on what you can do with it as the end-user, so don't worry.

There is some paperwork involved in buying an imported car though. Unless you want to do it yourself the dealer ill likely charge you for it. The saving can be huge though. Back in my student days I only ever bought reimported cars, sometimes saving as much as 30%. I usually could sell them after a year for my purchase price.

[john g. 31,991]

How is it on Cyprus , jeba?

We bought a car in Germany for 9,000 euros about three years ago, had it driven down and then the ferry to Heraklion. Phone call from the Zoll: “ We will check the car now and call you back.”

Call came back from the Zoll woman: “ we can make a special price for the import duty...12,000 euros.”

I phoned the driver, transferred him his fee and asked him to stop drinking and get the hell out of there and onto the ferry back and then back to Hamburg.

 

This is well-known here ( though I didn’t know at the time- our first time.)

Other expats have been through this.

Our Greek insurance agent, a good bloke with an Allianz agency in town, had the exact details of our car, which he insures ,  and, according to official guidelines, the “ duty “ should have been c. 3,000 euros.

 

 

That would have been palatable but, jeez, 12,000 euros.😟

 

[optimista 4,166]

My Croatian BIL imported something red and sporty from Croatia to France and they took him for 18,000 Euros.

[john g. 31,991]

The French or the Croatians?

[optimista 4,166]

French (Schengen)

[john g. 31,991]

Bloody hell!

[LeonG 13,238]

I have a Dacia, not a German car, but it's an EU import because it was meant for the Polish market.  The manual is in Polish although they provided a copy on lesser quality paper in German.  I don't know if I got it cheaper but I did get the car I wanted immediately instead of having to wait a couple of months for a German Dacia dealer to order it for me.  I bought it from a large scale EU import dealer.

 

It may be an issue when I sell it because I did go with a friend to sell a car to a dealer and the dealer specifically asked if it was an EU import.  That was a Hyundai so not a German car either.

 

42 minutes ago, optimista said:

My Croatian BIL imported something red and sporty from Croatia to France and they took him for 18,000 Euros.

 

My boss moved to Portugal and he said if he had imported his car there, they would have charged him 15,000€.  Apparently you might get out of paying the tax under certain circumstances like based on that you are moving there at the same time and taking it with you and you have owned it for x amount of time before moving and also can't sell it for x amount of time after moving.

[Magmax 212]

Leon G Dacia  is a Romanian Car factory from Ploesti curently owned by Renalut.

[john g. 31,991]

Optimista and Leon- I know zero about cars moving from country to country within the EU. This stuff is legal and acceptable? To whom and why?

I thought the EU was supposed to be wonderful?

[McDee 345]

3 hours ago, optimista said:

My Croatian BIL imported something red and sporty from Croatia to France and they took him for 18,000 Euros.

Red and sporty? Ecstasy?

[McDee 345]

Have you written your book yet, John?

[john g. 31,991]

😂

No, McDee! But I have just sent the Finanzamt a bunch of money. 
In the Verwendungszweck for the transfer, I wrote “ Spende fuer einen Ghostwriter.”

( Don’t know the German for ghostwriter!)

😂

[LeonG 13,238]

33 minutes ago, john g. said:

Optimista and Leon- I know zero about cars moving from country to country within the EU. This stuff is legal and acceptable? To whom and why?

I thought the EU was supposed to be wonderful?

 

Apparently Portugal is being reprimanded by the EU for overdoing it with the tax, see https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/portugal-in-court-over-vehicle-import-tax/53015

[MikeMelga 5,254]

10 hours ago, LeonG said:

 

Apparently Portugal is being reprimanded by the EU for overdoing it with the tax, see https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/portugal-in-court-over-vehicle-import-tax/53015

Yes, the finanzamt there is ignoring the law and just overcharges. If you import a car, you need to go to court to force them. But the precedent is there, so it is just an annoying and expensive formality.

 

If you move to another EU state, you can bring your car tax-free if you have had it for more than a year. You can only use this trick once every 10 years.

[jeba 3,229]

22 hours ago, john g. said:

How is it on Cyprus , jeba?

It's a mystery to me but I read on a local forum that there is duty to be paid if you import a car - even from within the EU. I also don't understand how this is possible within the common market.

[MikeMelga 5,254]

@jeba it is very simple: things like boats or cars have to pay local taxes upon being imported. The common market has several exceptions. Another exception is medicine. And fuel. And so on.

 

Why? Simple. In the case of medicine, pharma companies usually charge less to poorer countries. If there were no regulations, the prices would have to be the same in all Europe, therefore poor countries would lose.

In the case of cars, each country has its own reality. In the case of Portugal, we are not a big producer of cars nor parts, therefore the government does not want people to send so much money to other countries, so cars are really expensive in Portugal.

It is also a way to keep pre-common market taxation strategies. Otherwise countries like Portugal would have had to change the sources of income.