Moving from Poland to Hungary with my car

ke1pie wrote:

Hi! I tried to find some information about moving with my car to Hungary. I will be moving in Autumn for almost 2 years and then I plan to come back to Poland. I will definitely need my car in Hungary. It is a 14yo Volvo V70, diesel 2.4. From what I read I understand that after 6 months I will have to register it in Hungary. Is it a huge problem?

If your car has a certificate of conformity (CoC) then you won't have any problem registering it here as it will be a known vehicle type.   

The "type number" will be shown on the registration documents.  If you don't have a CoC then it will be harder work and possibly uneconomic to obtain one.   Type number should be enough really.

You can calculate the registration tax here.   

Your car is quite old so the amount paid will depend heavily on it's pollution classifications to Euro standard.  Diesel that age is probably about Euro 3.   Calculator says registration cost is 159K HUF using  random dates and 2.4L engine.

There's a lot of dodgy car dealings going on here so be careful who you deal with.  It could cost you a bit of cash under the table to make things work smoother. 

The cops here have got better but generally they are not thought to be the sharpest knives in the drawer.   The chances of being stopped is very low or possibly even never.   In all my time here, I've only been stopped about once every 5 or 6 years.

ke1pie wrote:

This is really helpful, thank you!
Unfortunately, I don't think I have this CoC number. It seems that it really costs a lot to register a car. In papers of my car it says I have class 4, fortunately. Do you think it would work if I go back to Poland every 6 months? Would the 6months period start to count from zero again?
VIMUKTI YOGA, if you use a PL car, do you have any problem with insurance in Hungary?
Is there a calculator for costs of OC insurance?

CoC is a paper but there's no CoC number other than perhaps a document number but that's not important here.  Manufacturers don't seem to issue them routinely these days as most cars don't move countries.  If you really want to import it, you can get the CoC from Volvo but they'll make you pay for it (probably EUR 100'ish).  I wouldn't get the certificate from anyone except Volvo.

If the car was built to EU standards it will have a "whole type approval" number.  I've seen cars without them but usually foreign - non-EU - imports.

The number you are looking for is something like "e13*2001/116*0260" (this is an example).  It might be on the VIN plate on the car.   I looked at my cars and they have these numbers of the VIN plate.

If your car is Euro 4 that's a bit of a surprise for a diesel of that era.  Maybe it has a particulate filter.  I don't know here in Hungary about particulate filters. Most diesels should have them but I don't think it gives you a discount.   

Hungarian government doesn't like cars and likes to punish people who have them - hence the high cost of registration etc.  Some of it is EU related because of pollution but vehicle tax...sorry "registration fees"... are state competence.

Overall if you're here 2 years, you could just drive it and take a chance.  If you had an accident or the cops stopped you there might be some questions. The chances of trouble are low but as the Yogi (other poster) says,  it's your risk!

fluffy2560 wrote:

ke1pie wrote:

This is really helpful, thank you!
Unfortunately, I don't think I have this CoC number. It seems that it really costs a lot to register a car. In papers of my car it says I have class 4, fortunately. Do you think it would work if I go back to Poland every 6 months? Would the 6months period start to count from zero again?
VIMUKTI YOGA, if you use a PL car, do you have any problem with insurance in Hungary?
Is there a calculator for costs of OC insurance?

CoC is a paper but there's no CoC number other than perhaps a document number but that's not important here.  Manufacturers don't seem to issue them routinely these days as most cars don't move countries.  If you really want to import it, you can get the CoC from Volvo but they'll make you pay for it (probably EUR 100'ish).  I wouldn't get the certificate from anyone except Volvo.

If the car was built to EU standards it will have a "whole type approval" number.  I've seen cars without them but usually foreign - non-EU - imports.

The number you are looking for is something like "e13*2001/116*0260" (this is an example).  It might be on the VIN plate on the car.   I looked at my cars and they have these numbers of the VIN plate.

If your car is Euro 4 that's a bit of a surprise for a diesel of that era.  Maybe it has a particulate filter.  I don't know here in Hungary about particulate filters. Most diesels should have them but I don't think it gives you a discount.   

Hungarian government doesn't like cars and likes to punish people who have them - hence the high cost of registration etc.  Some of it is EU related because of pollution but vehicle tax...sorry "registration fees"... are state competence.

Overall if you're here 2 years, you could just drive it and take a chance.  If you had an accident or the cops stopped you there might be some questions. The chances of trouble are low but as the Yogi (other poster) says,  it's your risk!

Agree - in case of difficult questions I had a story of travelling between PL and HU prepared .
In case of a minor incident that you would cause, it may still be much cheaper to pay to the other driver without calling the police and insurance companies.
The choice is yours; just note that many people drive foreign cars for years here and there are no consequences.

cdw057 wrote:

I am probably just being simple or naive here, I went through the horror of importing/registering cars quite frequently, one thing is for sure it costs a lot of time (and I start to feel also additional expenses (difficult to win/save). I went from Netherland to Luxembourg, back again, then bought a new car and went to the UK, then back to Luxembourg again. I Intended to export to Hungary, but just to expensive and too much headache.
Lessons learnt from me (even if attached to cars I had), sell it and buy another.

It's OK to do it if it's a special or classic or an almost new car.   14 year old Volvo wouldn't really fall into that category. 

I've driven all over the EU in EU and non-EU registered cars and no-one really gave me any hassle.  The bigger problem is getting insurance and the cops not being knowledgeable or capable.  Crossing Schengen borders never really was a problem, especially the unmanned ones.  Even driving to the UK, we never got asked anything much.

I should say it's supposedly not allowed for EU citizens to drive non-EU registered cars in the EU.   

Even so, I've seen cars from all over being driven around here.  Usually Russian or Ukrainian or recently Georgian.  I have seen a car from Dubai here.  Looked like someone drove a 4x4 from Dubai to Hungary. 

Most unusual registration plates I ever saw driving around were Australian (one was on a car and another one was on motorcycle).  There were a couple of other ones which might have been fake - Nigerian and Paraguay!

VIMUKTI YOGA wrote:

...
Agree - in case of difficult questions I had a story of travelling between PL and HU prepared .
In case of a minor incident that you would cause, it may still be much cheaper to pay to the other driver without calling the police and insurance companies.
The choice is yours; just note that many people drive foreign cars for years here and there are no consequences.

Yes, that's right.  If the PL vehicle check lasts 2 years, it's a bit of a no-brainer.   Might as well just keep it on PL plates.  Only need to drive it back once every 2 years.   Only thing about the cops is if someone is injured or perhaps the other person might want the cops to be there.  The standard of driving is so bad here, the chances of being hit is quite high.

Just a story - my semi-classic hobby car (North American import) only has the most basic level of insurance.  No insurance company would insure it more than that.   When I can get to the OT (Old Timer) plate then I think I can get it insured at a higher level.  Not too long to go before that time - about 6 years.