Putting uk car on bulgarian plates?

Hello. I am new to this forum and haven't moved yet. Currently I live in Greece but I am thinking of buying a property in Bulgaria to spend some months there and also to take advantage of 10% tax that I've heard about. I love Bulgaria and have been there over 20 times. I would buy close to Greek border.  My question is what is required to put a UK car on Bulgarian plates? Do I need to set up a company first, buy a property first? In Greece they want crazy money and its about 4000 euros road tax a year on a 5.5 litre engine.
Also how easy is it to get a Bulgarian passport? Would I need to live for 5 years in Bulgaria?

Also my other question is, how easy is it to get internet in village properties? Ideally I want a house with few or no neighbours in middle of no-where and lots of land.

Hi there,

Basically you do not need to put BG plates on ana UK car - you can drive it with your old plates. But if you want to reregister the cat in BG it will cost you approximately 150 EUR. No need of setting up a company or buying property.

All this is done at regional road police office. I guess first you have to cancel your UK registration and then reregister in Bulgaria. It takes about two hours.

Road tax will definately be less - a К3 vignette costs 50 EUR. Municipal tax will be more, in your case maybe 100 EUR per year, depends on the municipality - the smaller - the better.

Internet: just buy a BG SIM card with Internet plan. That's it. Other options vary, depending on the size and location of the village.

And if you want to buy property in Bulgaria, then you will need to set up a company.

Getting BG passport is another thing, you have to apply for residence and own some propery may be. I think there was a separate topic on this somewhere in the forum.

This outlines becoming a Bulgarian citizen clearly:

http://www.bulgarianembassy-london.org/ … Itemid=176

Yes, it is five years of permanent residence or 3 years of permanent residence after you have married a Bulgarian citizenship. I am not 100% sure, but I think I read somewhere that Bulgaria does NOT allow dual citizenship, so you will have to give up your original citizenship. Keep in mind that if you are not an EU citizen, then you will have to live in Bulgaria for 5 years before you can get your permanent residence, so 10 years before you are eligible for citizenship.

Dual citizenship is not a problem in Bulgaria. No need to cancel your current citizenship.

Ohh- good to know that I was wrong about that :)

kristiann wrote:

No need of setting up a company or buying property.


I'm sorry Kristiann but what are you meaning there? As an EU foreign you don't need nor comapny neither residency certificate to register a car in Bulgaria ?? how does it work then ?

You no longer need a company to buy property in Bulgaria, and if you have a car on uk plates I think you would have trouble insuring it here, better to keep it insured in Greece and advise them that you're travelling?

Hi, everyone,
I have a question concerning safety on car property or, in short, car or car parts theft.
Meanwhile, it is intuitive that the better you keep your vehicle from thieves or burglars is to have it in a garage, although I also noticed that private garages have absurd costs.
Does anyone have experience about this and is willing to share?
Thanks in advance

We have looked at a Jeep with UK plates but hasn't done a MOT for a few years. Owner says that it won't be a problem getting it insured, how can this be?

Jules999 wrote:

You no longer need a company to buy property in Bulgaria, and if you have a car on uk plates I think you would have trouble insuring it here, better to keep it insured in Greece and advise them that you're travelling?


Is this correct? When I purchased my property I had to set up a company. What does that mean for me now? How do I get rid of it if I wish to do so? I didn't actually start a business I just set up the name

Chantelle

Car no MOT???? And still on uk plates good luck as not sure it will have BG insurance.

Also if you but on Bg plates you could be liable for tax from date car entering Bg which could be expensive.

Hi Kosarka,
Thanks for replying, yes the fact that it has had no MOT is quite worrying even though he insists that its all above board. He says it is insured until August and has documentation  (not sure how he swung that!) but i smell a rat.

Plus I can imagine being stung for tax. Ok we'll drop this one seemed to good to be true. Thanks again.

Jojo
I have seen to many expats ripping off other expats and to be honest  am sick of it. 

Also not sure how he says it's insured on UK plates is beyond me to as I tried everything to keep UK plates on my car and could not do it!

My best advice is buy your car in the UK either drive it over or get it transported to where you live, then take it to KAT. As cars in Bg have clocks wound back, no history etc just wait till you take your car for in annual test this will open your eyes trust me!!!!! Seen a car with wires showing on all four tyres and it still passed

Best of luck
Kosarka

Hi Korsaka,
Unfortunately we are not in a position to go back to UK to buy so will have to be done here but yes it's Russian roulette here. It was a good car but too much hassle involved. Can I ask you what you mean by the history of the car? You mean like previous owners etc, if it is imported etc?
Thanks Jo

Hi jo
Nearly all car sales here in Bg are imports from Germany most have failed the mot there and so the Bulgarians buy them and ship back home, they wind the clocks back, weld them up etc also keep your eye out if it has been  vinyl wrapped as this is a sign of been a taxi in Germany and sell them on, but due to this you have no history for the car. Not like in UK where you can go on the .gov web site and find out its history regarding mot pass and true mileage. 



If your going to buy a car the best ones are the ones from  Switzerland as they are very strict regarding there cars and emissions etc.

Not sure what your looking in car but if looking for a 4x4/jeep try Chris at wild rovers in Veliko
Tărnovo

Hope this helps
Kosarka

Thanks for the great advice I will take it on-board.
I may look up Chris in VT.  I am now going to look up vinyl wrapped cars on You Tube ;-)