How to bring your car to Italy

Hi

We imported our car from The Netherlands and it was quite a cumbersome and time consuming process to be honest. You will need validated official translations of your car registry papers e.g. and lots of other documents, for the Italian Motorizzazione (the Ministry of Transport) and for the ACI, the automobile association as well. Total cost will amount to 300 euro's or more. It can be done though with some perseverance and patience. Is it worthwhile? Probably not if your car is old already. On the other hand, you are allowed to drive in Italy for six months wiht your foreign papers and license plates before having to transfer everything. Many cities do have restrictions for cars to enter based on age and fuel type yes. So if you have a really old car maybe better to go for a newer one which you can look for while still using the old one (using Autoscout website, recommended).

If you want to know how we did it, and have a laugh at the same time, you might want to read it in our book Living in Italy: the Real Deal where I devoted an entire chapter to the process! Good luck!
Ciao
Stef

Hi everyone,
I bought a car in the UK and brought it to Italy and successfully registered it.
I wrote about the experience on one of my Web pages:[Link moderated]

But don't bring a right hand drive car.. It's a nightmare.

Dear Bhavna,

I didnt brought my car to Italy. I am here for the last 9 years and as per my knowledge it is really bad idea to bring your car from India.
I wont recomend it because, the shipping cost will be really high and the safety maseaurs of your car should match with the europian law.
also, i dont think, the trasport law allow to run your indian car in europian road.
Here in itlay it is avilable all types of cars and by considering the shipping chrge you cn buy 2 cars here in Itlay i guess.
Regards

Charly

I was planning to live in Italy and shipped my car from the US. No problems and the cost was reasonable. However, IF YOU ARE 70 OR OVER, IT IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET INSURANCE, EVEN SHORT TERM. I had to ship the car back to the US and forget about getting residence in Italy.

you can bring foreign number plate car into italy but after one year you gotta change the number plate to an italian the costs depends on the car engine powers,the best way i guess is to bring it by different cruises like ttlines and grimaldi lines

amanzini wrote:

I was planning to live in Italy and shipped my car from the US. No problems and the cost was reasonable. However, IF YOU ARE 70 OR OVER, IT IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET INSURANCE, EVEN SHORT TERM. I had to ship the car back to the US and forget about getting residence in Italy.

Exactly right...age discrimination everywhere in Italy...in employment, insurance etc.     The country is  decades  behind the times.  In a civilized society, in the 21st Century...age discrimination would not be tolerated.

@stef7sa Thanks for the info! Let's read your blog! We are also planning a move and we are interested in the topic of houses for 1 euro in Italy. There are a lot of municipalities that sell buildings in the historical center. But I'm wondering if it is possible to build a small modular house on the site of these ruins while maintaining the facade of the building. Have you done any repairs? How much bureaucracy is there?