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How long can I use a car in Norway with UK plates?

Last activity 18 October 2014 by propperbo66

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propperbo66

Hi everyone. This is my first post on here.

I'm from the UK living with my Norwegian girlfriend and we are looking to move over to Norway next year. I work offshore in the UK sector so I will be still flying back to the UK every month for 2 weeks so technically i'm still UK resisdent. I've got my VW camper van that I want to use over Norway (Handy its LHD). I wanted to take it there and back to Norway periodically to use over there and also in the UK still (I've already used the DFDS ferry from Immingham to Norway for a holiday already). Does anyone know how long I can use the vehicle in Norway before I am liable to pay the full tax for registering it over there. I've already looking at doing that which was over £6000 (Ouch!). Its still going to spend most time in the UK but I dont want to get stung in Norway if I stay with it too long. Its an odd situation because i'm still working in the UK and tax registered there too but spending 3 weeks at a time in Norway. If any of you have had similar dealings then I'd love some help

Matt

dmcart13

Hello,

Sounds like an unusual case. I think if you move here, then you are allowed to have your foreign car here for a year before you have to register it. You are not living here though, so I don't know if that would apply. I think the best thing would be to contact the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen: http://www.vegvesen.no/en/Home) and ask them. I would suggest doing it via email so that you have a record of what you were told. You can't really rely on what anyone else tells you.

Good luck,

David

propperbo66

Cheers,
I found a another link on here on TOLL which had a section about non residents being able to drive for up to two years with a form to fill in at the border. Good idea with the email. I'll do that so I've got the record. I really don't want to sell my van. Fingers crossed two years would give me long enough to find another one in Norway.

propperbo66

I've just had a reply off the local TOLL office and they said as a general rule the vehicle would have to leave with me each time a leave the county. Whe I read the site again it looks that way. If I can prove I'm only staying less than 2 years then I can fill a form in but I cant prove that. Looks like May have to give this idea up

dmcart13

The Norwegian authorities are the world experts in extracting taxes, particularly when it comes to vehicles I'm afraid.

propperbo66

Now i've had a second email saying I can use my car over in Norway as long as I'm not married or have children. Needless to say my girlfriend isn't happy. At least I get use it over there before the inevitable :)

yorkie100

I looked into this as I wanted to bring a UK car here for summer then send it back to the UK for winter.

From the information I got it depends on if you are classed as resident in Norway (not a citizen). If you are a resident then you can only use a foreign registered car for about 20 days per year, the car needs to be notified to customs on entry to the country. There are other rules such as if you are only staying in Norway for up to 2 years but you need proof of this.

Basically if you are resident in Norway forget about trying to use a foreign registered car here.

As far as I know you are classed as a Nowegian resident if you are in the country for a total of more than 183 days in a 12 month period or more than 270 days in a 36 month period.

I'm not sure about the position if you left the car here while in the UK but I would imagine the UK insurance company wouldn't be happy about it even though the car will be safer here than in the UK and most companies have a time limit for use abroad.

propperbo66

Yes, if I was to register to live in Norway then I wouldn't be practical to do that. I'm in a bit of an odd situation where I'll continue to work in the UK sector flying out of Aberdeen offshore. All this does is gives me a chance to use this vehicle to see a bit more of Norway before I find decent Norwegian registered version. Its an old VW T25 camper van. I bought it thinking I could use it in Norway I was going to sell it if I couldn't. If I get a year out of it over there i'll be happy.

yorkie100

As long as your not in Norway for more than the 183 days in 12 months then there's no problem using the car here.

I would check with the insurance company about leaving it here and make sure you have enough MOT on it for however long it's here. Always have your driving license, insurance, MOT and V5 with you in the car, if stopped license and V5 are the first things the police ask for, Norwegian cars have 2 versions of their V5 equvilent so one stays in the car not like the UK where you can't leave anything in a car.

Be prepared to pay a lot more for a car here than in the UK.

propperbo66

Aye, I was in Norway last month with my other van and we had the V5 and MOT with us. I know how expensive it is for cars in Norway. It makes me cringe every time I look on Finn.no. However the price for these vans are pretty much the same as they are quite sought after in the UK which has bumped the prices up. I had to pay extra on my insurance to keep my other van there for two months last time so i'll have to start looking for insurance for the whole year. There's usually someone who will insure it, the question is how much  :sosad:

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