Buying a New Car In Bulgaria

kojidae wrote:

We have experience buying used cars here, but I am unsure of what brands are even available new here. (I know Toyota, Kia, Mazda, Dacia, and Peugeot all have dealerships here... but what other brands are available?)

I am confident you will find most makes you are interested in by simply Googling them (e.g. Mazerati bulgaria), and you'll be provided a link to the dealer in the country.  There's just about everything from Lada and Dacia up to Bentley and the aforementioned Mazerati in the country

Yeah- after I wrote that I have been poking around and it seems that everything is available here... more of a problem of too many choices than figuring out what is available

Thanks

they have about everything, but think about get it serviced, a friend of mine got a new chevorlet and had some engine problems and to get it fixed was more than the car was worth, when I move to BG will buy only well knowen European brands, I lived in Germany for 20 years and the best one both quality and price are VW / Audi. hope this helps.

Lillianausa wrote:

they have about everything, but think about get it serviced, a friend of mine got a new chevorlet and had some engine problems and to get it fixed was more than the car was worth, when I move to BG will buy only well knowen European brands, I lived in Germany for 20 years and the best one both quality and price are VW / Audi. hope this helps.

Sounds rather peculiar to me She bought it new, but did the problems occur while under warranty?  If so, in many they should have been repaired under warranty.  Chevrolet until recently was present in Bulgaria (well all of EU for that matter), however those with Chevy's can still usually have any warranty service done by their sister brand Opel, which is well known all across Europe.  In Bulgaria, Chevy still has 15 authorized service providers.

You do make a good point about buying a brand which can readily be serviced anywhere in the country.  I sure wouldn't want to buy a Jeep or Honda for example and have only 1 or 2 service centers in the country to go to

I am rather clueless about car brands (A shame, considering my father is a mechanic), but we are taking our time and doing plenty of research. Servicing will be a good thing to keep in mind... hopefully find something that can be easily serviced in Gabrovo or VT. At the moment we have an older ford, and finding parts for it can be tough, sometimes.

Yes my friend did buy it used and that was part of the problem, but even if it was going to get fixed it was going to take a long time to get the engine to even replace it, I just wanted to point out you need to make sure you get one that is easy to get serviced , and not just one dealer in Sofia, but something you can get fixed BG wide. Where we go in Kardjahli even though it is not a small town you would be hard pressed some makes worked on.

yes, is true Opel , Ford are sister of the American Brands but so is Dodge/Chysler to Fiat now and before Chysler was tried to Merc. but try to get it worked on at a dealer/ shop. just said VW / Audi from  personal exeriacne having live it Germany for 20 yrs. have had about them all BMW, Merc, to Fiats and VW I think give the best quality cars for the price and are readily serviceable BG wide at just about every major city.

Buying used here is a bit of a minefield:

Many cars are imported from Europe after they've been involved in accidents and then "repaired". This can vary from cosmetic damage to major stuff but is often the latter, especially as lightly-damaged vehicles can be resold fairly readily in their original countries. You're very unlikely to get the real story from sellers but you might strike lucky and get a good insurance write-off, albeit you won't know about its real history. Other vehicles are imported from further afield and you may have problems finding/affording parts if they're non-BG or even non-EU models.

We've gone down both available routes: an undeclared insurance write-off from Switzerland, which has given good service for several years now, although how it might perform if it were involved in another smash is anyone's guess. We also have a new vehicle bought from the local main dealer - this was a fairly painless process but you do need to be a Bulgarian entity, ie a registered resident or company, or a BG citizen.

@JimJ.  As the topic is about buying new cars in BG, let's stick to that please. 

You mention that you've bought new, perhaps you can detail how the process went for kojidae and others who may be interested?

It was my understanding that when buying a new car on cash (without a bank loan), only a proof of identity was required, being a BG reg'd resident or citizen was not a requirement.  Can you confirm about this?  Thanks

Romaniac

Yes, you're kind-of right; you can certainly buy a car without a lot of formality. However, you can't register it here unless you are a "BG entity". On the other hand, you can drive a vehicle which doesn't belong to you, as it's the vehicle which is insured, not the driver. It's feasible to have your vehicle in someone else's name, of course - as long as you remain friends/married. There was an interesting report on TV a year or two back, where a reporter registered a car in the name of a minister without that minister's knowledge.

Buying is easy - it can take some time to get the car imported, as often it's not here but is ordered and built after the customer has chosen all the required options. In our case, it took about 5 or 3 months - and that was only coming from Romania! The dealer can register it for you, if you have the necessary ID paperwork; for CASCO you have to get it photographed as usual and technical control is required every year, ie no grace period for a new vehicle.

Hm- good to know about the wait- we might have to look a bit earlier than we planned- thanks

I recently went into Renault next to Aiko Burgas.
Found that they could supply a one year old Dacia Sandero for 10,000 levs (£4,900.00 at present rate!) Mileage GENUINE with all service reports.  The person spoke perfect English and advised me to be careful looking at second hand cars for the reasons expressed by others. It seems to me this could be a good choice for you!  His email address is [email protected] Hope this helps you.

Chris.