Owning a car in Romania

Welcome on Expat-blog Kiki!

I hope another member will be able to help you.

All the best,
Christine

Hello Kiki,

How much money you would need to buy a new car in Romania. That, of course, depends on the type of car you are looking for. I am no expert in cars, but I think prices start at about EUR 10.000. And the sky is the limit...
Regarding the insurance costs questions. I drive a car that costed about EUR 13.000 and my total yearly costs with insurance are about EUR 800 (about EUR 50/month for CASCO insurance and about EUR 200/year for civil liability insurance).
In 15 years of driving in Bucharest I never had any theft issues with my car (and almost always kept it in the streed, not parked in a garrage). And I don't recall any of the cars of the people I know being stolen. Thinking about it, I remember that about 5-6 years ago somebody broke into my girlfriend's car and stole what he found in the boot.
However, cars are being stolen in Romania, but I wouldn't say that at an allarming rate. Of course, it depends a lot on the type of car; I suspect some types are being stolen more often.
Regarding special anti-theft devices: I don't think such devices would be required for a regular car. If you would have a very expensive car, maybe the insurance company might ask for them. But for regular cars, i don't think you would be asked for it. I don't have any sort of alarm or anti-theft device on my car and my leasing or  insurance company didn't ask for any.
As a final note: when I travel to Bulgaria I am a bit worried about my car being stolen. When I am in Romania I do not think about it.

Regards,
Tudor

Cars in Romania are the cheapest in Europe. Dacia For example which is owned by Renault prices start at less than 6000 euros and are very reliable. Actually you can buy a Jeep Dacia Duster for approx. 10.000 Euros! Even if you choose other makes (Ford, Peugeot, etc) you will see that they are cheaper than in Germany.As far as theft is concerned in the years I have been living in Bucharest never had any problems with this issue. Regarding insurance shop around because rates are different from company to company. Omniasig for instance are the most expensive but have the best coverage and service.

Thanks for the tip ljpro ;-) that is pretty cheap...

New cars seem to be reasonable - about the EU average or less. The Duster looks to me to be a very good buy and the Dacia Logan is ok if you want a well-priced runaround motor.

Second-hand cars, on the other hand, seem to me to be overpriced, up to about 30% more than you'd find them in other places in Europe. Lots of people took advantage of this and brought cars in from Europe (mostly from Germany) and sold them here for a good profit, that is until the government cottoned on and hiked up the taxes to get their greedy little fingers in the pie!

In almost six years I have never heard someone having their car stolen. I'm sure it happens, but not particularly often.