Buying a car in Bulgaria that's currently registered in Italy

Hi there,

and yes, you can buy the car directly and register it in Bulgaria to your name. Absolutely no problem. There will be just an additional minor eco tax for importing an used car. That's it.

Do have the car checked by a mechanic before you buy it!!! Sometimes cars imported from Italy have maintenance problems.

Kristiann,

Thank you for your reply! And for others who are wondering: We successfully registered the car just yesterday without a hitch. It wasn't that painful, either, though it does require patience.

We hired people from LeadConsult to walk us through the entire process, from translating our bill of sale and the Italian title documents, to going to KAT and taking care of all of the different details there. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. We spent less than three hours at KAT and had no hassles at all.

A couple of notes for others:
1. We did NOT need to have the contract/bill of sale notarized. But if the original is not in Bulgarian, then it must be translated. Same with the title.
2. Bulgarian bureaucracy prefers BLUE ink on contracts! (So they know it's the original). We had black ink and it worked, but blue is better.
3. Because our car is old, and because this was its first Bulgarian registration, we had to pay a $265 BGN eco tax, in addition to the other, usual fees.
4. From what I could tell, the "technical inspection" consisted of the mechanic getting the VIN numbers off the engine/etc. He never checked lights, brakes, or anything else.
5. If you don't speak Bulgarian, I'd strongly recommend hiring one of the services out there to take care of this for you. At the very least, take a translator along who's been through the process before.