Bringing a car to Romania

MyNamesJan wrote:

Hi everyone and nice to meet you,

I am planning to move to Bucharest at the end of this month and wanted to ask a few questions regarding bringing a car to Romania.

I went through several threads and believe that nothing has changed in the space of the pollution tax having to be paid but I am still thinking about driving to Romania with my car. I have a lot of stuff that I need to move with me so it would make things much easier for me. Unfortunately I was unable to complete the calculation of the pollution tax (It is in Romanian unfortunately) so could I possibly ask someone for a very rough estimation? I am driving a 2002 Honda Civic 1.7 CTDI (EURO 3).

May I also ask if anyone has used the option of using the car for up to 6 months with a foreign license+tax? Theoretically it should be legal but has anyone had problems with that?
I would like to ensure the car in Poland and drive on my Polish license plates. I will have to get the residency straight after arriving in Romania. Is it ok if I leave Romania for any country for a day and the 6 month rule is then restarted? How is the fact that the car left the country established when I am stopped by police? Do I take a photo with the car and the foreign street sign?

Also could I ask about the winters in Romania? I have a set of winter tires but these might not fit into the car for the move - will I be ok with summer tires only during the winter(wouldn't be in Poland)?

Finally in the case of me having to sell my car - would it be really hard to sell a Polish-registered car without the Romanian tax?

I would greatly appreciate your responses.

Regards,
Jan.

OK, quite a lot of things here..let's go.

1.  (tax) Things have changed somewhat in regards to the pollution tax, in fact they are still changing.  The pollution tax scheme in place has been declared as illegal based on EU law, and ANAF will refund the tax paid upon application.  It is also possible to request a waiver of this tax at the police since it has been found to be illegal.  You then can register without paying the pollution tax, which would be about 702 Euro for your car.  I'm not sure I understand your question about leaving the country, so I won't address it now.

2. (foreign plates) No theoretically what you suggest is illegal.  Within 90 days of entering the country (by which you're supposed to establish your residency with ORI,  the car is to be registered/insured in Romania.  With that said, a fair amount of people register their car in Bulgaria (to avoid the aforementioned tax) and drive those cars for years here, though I wouldn't advise such a scheme.  Proceed at your own risk.

3. (tires).  Winters vary based on what region you're going to live in, though I'd say you do need the winter tires here.  In fact, it's mandatory by law between 1 Dec to 1 March. If you're stopped in the winter months, or have an incident and you don't have them on the car, you'll be fined and be assessed points on your license.

4. (selling) Selling the car on Polish plates? I'll say it extremely unlikely.  Most people, if they buy a used imported car will get it from Germany or Italy, or even UK.  There won't be much confidence in a Polish regged car, especially since it has to go through all the import process which will add to the cost.

Hope this helps
Romaniac
Expat.com Experts Team

Hi Romaniac,

Thanks that looks to be answering everything I need for now. I will probably drive by car and then decide after 3 months whether I want to keep the car or sell it on back in Poland. I will be living in Bucharest but it looks like I will have to take the winter tires with me

Thanks,
Jan.

Why yo don't drive the car directly with your winter tires ? 

And yo can sell any car in Romania. The most important is the price you ask. If it's cheap you sell if you ask to much you never sell it.

Greetings from Marcel.

Hi Marcel,
Yeah the reasons are quite trivial
I've got a set of really nice original Honda summer rims that I will want to use as soon as the winter ends I think I'll fit both sets of wheels somehow..
Cheers.

Hi,

I would like to ask if there is anyone here that is using the Bulgaria registration loophole? I would guess that having the car registered in Poland would be basically the same as in Bulgaria.
Does anyone know what are the risks behind that?
Would the police have access to checking when I acquired my residency or how would they know that something is not right?
In the event of me getting into an accident what would be the risks?

There is a chance that I will be leaving Romania after staying here for around a year so I would like to avoid paying to register the car in Romania and then back in Poland(having originally imported the car from Germany).

romaniac wrote:

1.  (tax) Things have changed somewhat in regards to the pollution tax, in fact they are still changing.  The pollution tax scheme in place has been declared as illegal based on EU law, and ANAF will refund the tax paid upon application.  It is also possible to request a waiver of this tax at the police since it has been found to be illegal.  You then can register without paying the pollution tax, which would be about 702 Euro for your car.  I'm not sure I understand your question about leaving the country, so I won't address it now.

UPDATE: Beginning Feb 1, 2017, this tax (Timbru de mediu) or "pollution tax" has been eliminated.  Now there is likely little need to register cars via the Bulgaria scheme.

Romaniac

romaniac wrote:

romaniac wrote:

1.  (tax) Things have changed somewhat in regards to the pollution tax, in fact they are still changing.  The pollution tax scheme in place has been declared as illegal based on EU law, and ANAF will refund the tax paid upon application.  It is also possible to request a waiver of this tax at the police since it has been found to be illegal.  You then can register without paying the pollution tax, which would be about 702 Euro for your car.  I'm not sure I understand your question about leaving the country, so I won't address it now.

UPDATE: Beginning Feb 1, 2017, this tax (Timbru de mediu) or "pollution tax" has been eliminated.  Now there is likely little need to register cars via the Bulgaria scheme.

Romaniac

I would also add that because of the pollution tax being cancelled it will be quite cheap to register a car with Romanian plates from February..the registration tax will also be cancelled.

Thanks for the replies

Hello Romaniac,
You have mentioned the Romanian Tax Pollution has been canceled. Can you please post the URL for this reference. I would like to ship my Jeep Wrangler (Willys 2015, 4 doors, 6 cylinders) from the US to Romania this fall since I am moving to Targu Mures. I was told that the VAT/Taxes are 22% is that true? Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance,
Eva Space

evaspace wrote:

Hello Romaniac,
You have mentioned the Romanian Tax Pollution has been canceled. Can you please post the URL for this reference. I would like to ship my Jeep Wrangler (Willys 2015, 4 doors, 6 cylinders) from the US to Romania this fall since I am moving to Targu Mures. I was told that the VAT/Taxes are 22% is that true? Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance,
Eva Space

Here is a link listing taxes that have been eliminated for drivers:
http://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/taxele-d … ie-1726401

VAT in Romania is 19%, not 22%

I cannot comment on what the exact taxes are for customs, if you're not a EU citizen and subject to import duty.

Thank you so much Romaniac for responding with such timely manner.
Is there a way I find out for sure what are the exact amounts I would have to pay to enter Romania with my Jeep? And, no I am not an EU citizen.
So far we know the Vat is 19%  So, they calculate 19% of what is the worth?
Any other taxes?
I would really appreciate some good information.
Thank you so much
Eva

romaniac wrote:

evaspace wrote:

Hello Romaniac,
You have mentioned the Romanian Tax Pollution has been canceled. Can you please post the URL for this reference. I would like to ship my Jeep Wrangler (Willys 2015, 4 doors, 6 cylinders) from the US to Romania this fall since I am moving to Targu Mures. I was told that the VAT/Taxes are 22% is that true? Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance,
Eva Space

Here is a link listing taxes that have been eliminated for drivers:
http://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/taxele-d … ie-1726401

VAT in Romania is 19%, not 22%

I cannot comment on what the exact taxes are for customs, if you're not a EU citizen and subject to import duty.

Hi Romaniac,

I am planning to relocate to Romania in Jan/Feb and trying to decide whether to take my clapped out car to Romania and buy a replacement there or to replace it in UK and bring the newer one with me. I've read that buying secondhand in Romania is risky, so am I better to replace the car in UK?

You say that the taxes around importing and registering a car have been cancelled - what other costs should I budget for?

Presumably one personal import from UK does not attract VAT if I get a resident ID card?

Old thread, but..and this is just according to my wife...be prepared to pay out the nose for registration if your car is at all fun to drive.  She figures mine will probably cost about $800/year to register because it's a 6-cylinder, 300+ HP Camaro.  And the initial customs, of course.
But I'll be bringing it, because...well...Camaro. 

GenJerDan wrote:

Old thread, but..and this is just according to my wife...be prepared to pay out the nose for registration if your car is at all fun to drive.  She figures mine will probably cost about $800/year to register because it's a 6-cylinder, 300+ HP Camaro.  And the initial customs, of course.
But I'll be bringing it, because...well...Camaro. 

There are no "yearly" registration costs, it's a one time deal.  Also, are you sure you want to bring a car like that here? The roads here will be hard on it, not mention the other drivers.

Hmmm...maybe she was thinking about the "pollution" tax.  r the customs.  I'll have to get that clarified...but no hurry, and who knows what will change in the next couple of years.

Thanks

p.s.  Oh, yeah, I know all about the roads.  And the drivers.  Rented a few cars over the years there, and drove from Germany to there twice...so far.  Once in a Sebring, once in her new Audi I just bought her.

The roads have gotten a lot better since 2003 (the first time I was there)...not that that's saying all that much.  :p  Our street in Fieni is half mud and half potholes.  LOL

Don't know if you went through with importing your vehicle to Romania but interested in the outcome if you did, I went through HELL importing my car and it was EXPENSIVE I have a 4.2 liter supercharged engine and I was charged according to the engine size (I'm not sure if that was the cancelled pollution tax) but I would never import a vehicle from the U.S. again or recommend anyone else do it.

Nah, haven't moved yet.  I'm still bringing the Camaro, though, when I do.  7 more months to go. 

They have chevrolet dealers here if you go through the port of Constanta expect to hire an importer (you can't just bring your bill of lading and pick it up) make several trips before the customs officials decide when and for how much it will be before your vehicle is released the Romanian bureaucracy is very slow and antiquated, and hope you're lucky and deal with the same official each time or terms WILL change if I had to do it again I would pick another country to import my car and drive it to Romania.
Another consideration is the vast majority of cars in Romania are small for a reason I have a Jaguar xf supercharged it is unbelievably impractical there are few open highways to open it up and in even the mid size cities the crosswalks and traffic circles mean you will be stopping and starting CONSTANTLY we live in Brasov a mid size city no where near as large and congested as Bucharest and there is almost no where to park, if you find a parking spot you will find it is designed for a car much smaller than a camaro gas is about $6 per gallon and as I stated earlier the constant stop and go makes mileage horrible, we have decided to downsize to the XE with a much smaller enginedue to the fact that that 470 horsepower is of zero use in Romania and the size and mileage and lack of sufficient parking are so impractical it makes you not even want to drive, if you still want to bring your car good luck to you if you run into problems at the port (you will) send me a message I kept the gentleman who facilitated my customs release business card he has been dealing with Romanian customs for 25 years.
P.S. forgot to mention I don't know about other cities but here in Brasov they install random speed bumps on the roads during the summer months it's so awesome when one catches you by surprise 😆

Please exactly define "expensive" for everyone's benefit. $500? $1000?
Don't forget to add the zebra crossings to the list of stop/start obstacles.
That said, I see some of us have a very generous budget for such things.

Total import costs came to just over $8000 USD I explained the crosswalk and traffic circles wreaking havoc on mileage as well as the fact that my 470 horsepower supercharged engine is of ZERO use in Romania no open highways to run it car is too long difficult to park we have already decided to dowsize both in size and engine

No port for me.  I'll just drive down and park it in front of my apartment.  I'm living in Germany at the moment.   

I won't be able to do much, other than that, until I get my RO license, of course.


That's the easy part.  The hard part is going to be moving an entire household worth of stuff and finding someplace to put it until we get a bigger place.  I don't think we can fit what was in a 2200 sq ft house into a one bedroom apartment.  LOL  The only storage place I've been able to find is in Bucuresti, though, and we live out by Targoviste right now.  (Well, she and my son do, while I'm still in Germany).

It'll be an adventure.

Ah I was under the impression you were bringing your vehicle from the U.S.
Must have been another person posting so you have no problems like I did 👍

If you're buying, ok. But every rental I've ever heard of comes furnished, sometimes too furnished, as owners occasionally use the vacant apartment to store personal items.

Good day everybody!

I got job offer in Romania and now study information about country.

At one of sites I found  "Clients staying only for a limited time in Romania are only allowed to import one car with exemption of taxes.

To import a car with exemption of taxes, clients staying only for a limited time in Romania, have to do this in between 3 months after arrival."

Is it really true that one my own car I can bring tax free for personal use?

I want to relocate my car from Dubai, Mitsubishi Pajero 3.8l 2013.

- @mg212030

Once you receive a residence permit, you have 90 days to import your personal belongings and up to one vehicle tax(duty) free.  After 90 days, you will pay import duty.  It's in the law.

Contact Romanian customs if you need more clarification.

- @romaniac