[peterfc]

Hi All

There is so much crap printed from people who haven't yet Matriculated a car but seem to think they know what they are talking about. But many have an opinion but not based on Fact. Well here goes what i have copied from my Blog is FACT and i have the number to prove it. Did i mention that i did it all in a Day. I prepared one day by having my new headlights fitted and taking my car for it's MOT and going to the British Consulate for the Statuary Declaration.

The only cost not included was for Tolls and Gas as my car runs on GPL. All done and complete at 2.14pm from a 7am start.

Peter

How to get a car made legal in Portugal.The facts
Well here goes these are the facts not as i see but as i did.

The most important thing is that to get your car imported and pay no tax you must have owned the car for more than 12 months and have utility bills for 12 months. Council tax, Electric, Gas, Phone ETC. In case your bills are not complete then bank statements to back up your bills. This last part helped me as one of my bills was incomplete but the statement proved continuity of payment so my bills where accepted.

There are a number of things to do to get your car made legal here in Portugal and this is as follows how it's done. If you have a RHD car then you will have to change the lights to the LHD type the cost for my car was 120€. I know because i have done it, no agent just me on my own.

First you need from the manufacturer of your car a Certificate of Conformity. This you must have or forget the idea of being getting your car made legal. The cost varies from Manufacturer to Manufacturer. Vauxhall charged me £96 for my car. Other manufacturers charge whatever they like but you have to pay it. Some cars like Land Rover are not easy to get but there are companies on the Internet who can supply them at a cost. A 1972 Land Rover is about £200 for a Certificate of Conformity.

You need this to submit your car to the IMTT for a Portuguese MOT. At the test they check the car complies with the details on the Certificate of Conformity and believe me they check everything. For this there is a form that can be downloaded from the IMTT website. You need three copies and the information is all in Portuguese. You need to copy from the Certificate of Conformity onto the IMTT forms and take them with you for your test. The cost for this is 77.18€

You have to take out residency and you go to the local Camara/ Council for you still in the UK or in Portugal it's called the Camara. The charge for residency is 15€.

Now you have your residency certificate you need to go the British Consulate in Porto or Lisbon.I went to Porto to get a Statuary Declaration this is a legal form that you have to have if you want to import your car without paying import tax. Due to it being difficult to find i will provide separate information including screen shots of the maps etc. When you go to the Consulate you need and i Quote from the Consulate site " This will be issued once you have taken a statutory declaration and on presentation of your passport, tax-payer’s ID card, your residence certificate and vehicle registration document " The fee for this bit of Paper is 157€. Ouch that's a lot.

The reason it's hard to find is on the Consulate site is a map showing the letter A in a street. The Consulate is not there but it's in walking distance.

That's only the start but it's not as bad a task as some will have you believe it is. I know i have done it.

OK lets just recap what has been done.

Certificate of Conformity: Done
Residency: Done
Statuary Declaration: Done

Now there is a lot of Printing of forms and photo copying to be done.

I had four of each to be safe.

Passport.
Driving licence with the paper counterpart.
Residency certificate.
Fiscal/ Nif form.
Car log book all parts.

When you have the car tested and you have the Green pass certificate also you are give a Yellow form you can start the next part and that is submitting the paperwork to the Customs. At Customs you will be given three forms that need filling in and you will have to buy two more forms from the office next door. The cost for these is 1.80€ for the two. Again much of the information is taken from the Certificate of Conformity.

The lady at the Customs gave me back some forms to take to Coimbra to the IMTT office . At the IMTT office i was redirected back to the office where i had my car tested as a number was missing. When i got to the test center it was only a simple thing that had to be added and then it was back to the Customs office. I then gave the lady at Customs the forms that i had to take to the IMTT where one of them she photocopied and then filled in a form which she gave me and explained that should i be stopped by the Police i should give them the form.

The lady at Customs then said in a week i will receive a letter that will have my new car registration number on it and i would have to go back to Coimbra. I have since found out that when i get my letter then i can go and get the plates for my car and fit them. At this point the Insurance have to be informed of the new registration number. The trip to Coimbra is the last step to take to driving legal and that is to get the new Log book so i am told.

OK Cost
Statuary Declaration. 157.00€
Certificate of Conformity £96 for my car
Residency 15.00€
Car Test 77.18€
Customs form 1.80€
Car plates 15.00€ app
LHD headlights one pair 120.00€

The cost for fuel and tolls could be quite a lot depending where in Portugal you live and what you drive.
My car trips where to the British Consulate in Porto all from Gois
Customs in Averio
IMTT in Coimbra
IMTT in ADDRESS TO FOLLOW

All the forms that need filling in are in Portuguese but taken slowly you can do it, also use Google Translate.

The above is Fact i know because i did all the above. I do thank Barbara who did some photocopying for me as my copier is still in the UK at the moment.

[Benny Dorm]

Still seems like a lot of hassle and if your car is right-hand drive it's virtually worthless if ever you wanted to sell it here. Although the initial cost of a car in Portugal is more than a similar UK vehicle it will most likely last a good deal longer than a UK car that has been annually soaked in salt

[gedscottish]

Originally Posted by Benny Dorm Still seems like a lot of hassle and if your car is right-hand drive it's virtually worthless if ever you wanted to sell it here. Although the initial cost of a car in Portugal is more than a similar UK vehicle it will most likely last a good deal longer than a UK car that has been annually soaked in salt

Sorry Benny, but a seriously negative post there!!

Ok, over to me... feel the postive vibes?! Most people moving here will be planning well in advance anyway so if they can pick up a LHD in the UK(most have spent most of their lives on the continent anyway & not on the salty roads) then it is well worth importing if you can avoid paying the ludicrous imposto automovel. On a newish medium sized family car 10k could quite easily be saved I would say.

Great post by the OP and should be applauded not ridiculed for putting in a bit of effort to help the rest of us out!

[Benny Dorm]

[quote=gedscottish;10023249] On a newish medium sized family car 10k could quite easily be saved I would say.
QUOTE]

Sorry gedscottish, but cars are available in Portugal for the same price as in the UK, for example today on Standvirtual there are several low mileage 2008 Ford Fiesta's which are lower in price than the same car advertised on the UK Autotrader website and this applies to a wide range of manufactures and models.

[gedscottish]

Was tongue in cheek Benny! But I would still argue as a general rule... cars are far more expensive here both new & 2nd hand. An example, I have been looking at 2006-2008 bmw's 320d with M pack... I have not seen one here under 22,000 € yet my mate in Scotland just picked one up for 7500!!

On the the upside here though, if you do buy a PT car then obviously its layout of cash but they do retain their value far better.

[gedscottish]

lets hope this makes a difference...
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleases...guiLanguage=en

[Benny Dorm]

Originally Posted by gedscottish Was tongue in cheek Benny! But I would still argue as a general rule... cars are far more expensive here both new & 2nd hand. An example, I have been looking at 2006-2008 bmw's 320d with M pack... I have not seen one here under 22,000 € yet my mate in Scotland just picked one up for 7500!! On the the upside here though, if you do buy a PT car then obviously its layout of cash but they do retain their value far better.

I agree that the 'upmarket' cars, BMW/Mercedes etc do tend to be more expensive, but if you look on websites such as Standvirtual and AutoSapo middle range cars can be found at similar prices to those in the UK. I nearly purchased a 2002 left-hand drive Mercedes C180 with 80,000km on the clock from a left-hand drive specialist dealer in the UK before moving to Portugal. The service logbook showed that the car's last service had been completed two years earlier at 66,000km which seemed about right, but I decided to check it out with my local MB dealer. The car's last recorded service on the MB database was in 1999 in Denmark and showed that it had completed 440,000km!!

[gedscottish]

Originally Posted by Benny Dorm I agree that the 'upmarket' cars, BMW/Mercedes etc do tend to be more expensive, but if you look on websites such as Standvirtual and AutoSapo middle range cars can be found at similar prices to those in the UK. I nearly purchased a 2002 left-hand drive Mercedes C180 with 80,000km on the clock from a left-hand drive specialist dealer in the UK before moving to Portugal. The service logbook showed that the car's last service had been completed two years earlier at 66,000km which seemed about right, but I decided to check it out with my local MB dealer. The car's last recorded service on the MB database was in 1999 in Denmark and showed that it had completed 440,000km!!

Name and shame the dealer benny!! In the past LHD's in the UK were always cheap but now these "LHD" specialists are looking for inflated prices... I would guess around 20% more than RHD's are selling!

p.s the car was serviced 3 years before it was built, come on you are exagerating now Benny?! I take it you mean 2009?!

[gedscottish]

Originally Posted by gedscottish lets hope this makes a difference... http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleases...guiLanguage=en

From the above link...

When the proposal is adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, this will imply:
•
Citizens who spend part of the year in a holiday residence in another EU country will not have to re-register their car there.

•
Citizens who move permanently to another EU country will have 6 months to re-register their car there.

2 possible ways straight away that will see a huge increase in foreign plated cares here in Portugal and equally a reduction in PT car sales!

[Benny Dorm]

Thanks ged scottish, you are correct 2009 it's an age thing!