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Buying and then importing a secand-hand car from Germany.


NormanH
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I see on the site mobile.de that there are some apparently good bargains to be had in Germany, especially in second-hand Volkswagens.

I know about the process of registering a vehicle in France once it has got here, but what does one do about getting it from Germany?

I see many examples where there is no longer a number plate, so how is it registered and insured during the trip, and for how long?

It is just to have a little run-around that a friend can drive and take me out in from time to time, not a major purchase, but obviously I want to cover things legally.

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You have to arrange for German temporary (red) registration plates, which require you to take out special insurance and comply with some other conditions. These give you a week or a month to get the car out of Germany and registered in its new home. I'm told the process can be very bureaucratic and you really need to be able to speak German (or employ a specialist to do it for you - there are lots of them in places like Hamburg).

See www.adac.de (in German)

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Buying a car in Germany and bringing it back to France is quite straightforward.

You have to obtain an export registration certificate from the local motor vehicles bureau which you then take the adjacent kiosk and get some transit plates made up. The plates are date stamped and valid for one month. The export registration includes one month's free third party insurance, enough to get you home.

German plates just clip into plastic holders fitted to the car so you don't have to carry a rivet gun around with you....[;-)]

If you are buying from a dealer, then he will do all of this for you.  If you are buying from an individual, then if you ask him nicely, he'll go with you to the bureau and help you sort things out.

Once the vehicle arrives back in France, then you just follow the usual import/registration procedure.

 

 

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We are very interested in this as we have been looking at buying a second hand VW Touran for the next car and have been put off by the high prices here. It also seems to be very difficult to get an automatic gear box, which is essential for us. I guess the most difficult thing is to choose a car from a distance and we would really need a friendly garage just across the border from Strasbourg or somewhere similar. I haven't ever re-registered a car here, but looking at the sticky it seems to be around the 500€ mark? Will be very interested in how you get on if you decide to go ahead, Norman.

regards

L

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[quote user="Sunday Driver"]

Buying a car in Germany and bringing it back to France is quite straightforward.

You have to obtain an export registration certificate from the local motor vehicles bureau which you then take the adjacent kiosk and get some transit plates made up. The plates are date stamped and valid for one month. The export registration includes one month's free third party insurance, enough to get you home.

German plates just clip into plastic holders fitted to the car so you don't have to carry a rivet gun around with you....[;-)]

If you are buying from a dealer, then he will do all of this for you.  If you are buying from an individual, then if you ask him nicely, he'll go with you to the bureau and help you sort things out.

Once the vehicle arrives back in France, then you just follow the usual import/registration procedure.

 

 

[/quote]

Would you or anyone else for that matter, know if the same or a similar system exists in Belgium? Camper car this time, not a car.

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[quote user="LisaJ"]

We are very interested in this as we have been looking at buying a second hand VW Touran for the next car and have been put off by the high prices here. It also seems to be very difficult to get an automatic gear box, which is essential for us. I guess the most difficult thing is to choose a car from a distance and we would really need a friendly garage just across the border from Strasbourg or somewhere similar. I haven't ever re-registered a car here, but looking at the sticky it seems to be around the 500€ mark? Will be very interested in how you get on if you decide to go ahead, Norman.

regards

L

[/quote]

So far I have found this garage, just 2 kms over the border near Metz, but they have more Peugeot than Volkswagen .

On the other hand some of their cars already have a 'carte grise ' which would simplify the procedure..

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We too are looking into the DSG gearbox, when coupled with a 2lt tdi engine it's a fantastic combination!  I'm looking at the golf mark 5, with cruise and multi-zone aircon.....can get hold of some around 7,000 euro with 50,000kms on the clock, here in France they are about 10,000+ Euro! [8-)]

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We're off to Germany tomorrow to look at cars. (It's only 90 minutes or so from here.)  We are the last of the big spenders [:)].  We want a reliable, economical, preferably diesel run-around for around 1000 euros.  At the moment we are thinking of getting the best Golf we can for the money.  Have spoken to a couple of car sales places - very friendly and helpful.  Will let you know how we get on.

Fi

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There still seem to quite a few on the websites, and when I spoke to the car sales companies, they didn't bat any eyelid. We shall see when we get there.

I think there will always be a market for cheap (under 1000 euro) cars - not everyone has the cash to pay 2500+.  Not entirely convinced by the scrappage scheme - I understand the theory, but in practice it seems to exclude the "poor" from car ownership - and it must make life hard for the student and first-time buyer population (my first car, ancient Renault 5 - the one with the white plastic bumper - sounded liked a souped-up sewing machine, cost 100gbp....)

Off to Germany shortly.  Will report back ce soir!

Fi

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[quote user="Wilko"]

Hi Glacier 1 how did it go with the VW Gold mk 5 DSG gearbox puchase ? Also do VW have any problems with these gearboxes............anyone know anything.

Thanks Norman H for the website.

Cheers Wilko

[/quote]

Re the DSG gearbox, I am patiently waiting for my next car (VW Touran) from the same source as my present one, a pal who is a chauffeur, he currently has the 140ish HP TDI with DSG gearbox which has done over 300,000 miles now without problem.

At about 220K it looked like it was going to lunch itself, was making loads of noise and he had to manual shift but with a great deal of synchronisation, his employer Ricardo who designed this gearbox and the one in thye Bugatti Veyron said that it was only ever designed and tested for 100+K miles, in the event turned out to be the bi-mass flywheel (which also failed on my TDI) that was the culprit and cost a lot less than a new gearbox which is still going strong at the current phenomenal mileage.

I have driven my new car twice, once when it was brand new and recently with 300K miles on the clock it is still on the button and to me it still drives like new.

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Our Germany trip last week was a bit of a waste of time - not at all what we expected.  However, we have bought a car in the Netherlands - a Golf GL1.9 TDI Nov '94, 90K on the clock.  Bear in mind we had a very limited budget and it needs to be reliable rather than beautiful!

OH is still working in NL (but not for much longer we hope), and we are wondering whether we should import it to France and insure it here - the Dutch dealer can sort out export plates etc etc for us, and he is going to service it and APK (dutch CT) it,  or if it would be better to leave it Dutch for now - but Dutch insurance is terribly expensive - our car insurance bill was halved when we moved from Dutch to French for the Zafira.  Are there any big issues with importing an older car (OK ancient car!).?

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Fi

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