Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

Hi i'm wondering if anyone can help.
I'm moving to The Hague at the end of Febuary and I've been told there are certain Insurers that can Insure my Van easily with out having to Import it.
Can anyone recommend a good insurer.Also how would I go about taxing it.
Thanks
Dan

Re: Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

if you are moving and there fore registering as living in NL you have to import the van. Information here.

Re: Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

Ok thanks. that was really help full :)

Re: Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

The best advice I can give is to apply for Dutch plates. If you can prove you owned the vehicle in the UK for at least 6? 12? months before moving here, you can change them for an admin. fee (rather than paying import tax at 21% of the value).

Otherwise, you have choices.

1, legal) you have 3 months on your UK insurance if they allow it! make sure you check,
2, grey area) you drive and make sure you're back in the UK every 3 months (producing a ferry ticket as evidence), or
3, illegal) drive uninsured and in the worst case, hope and pray your Brit insurers don't catch you out, because you've got a massive, expensive bill and criminal charge (court only speaks Dutch - can you defend that?) otherwise....

Re: Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

There is no importation tax.
Once registered in NL you cannot drive a non matriculated NL car. To work in NL you have to be registered.

Re: Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

Sorry, perhaps the tax issue wasn't clear. By import tax, I meant BPM (Belasting van Personenauto's en Motorrijwielen): you can find the information and application for exemption on the Tax Office website.

http://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wc...bij_verhuizing

You have to (prove you) have owned the vehicle for at least 6 months before moving here, this is to stop other-EU citizens opening a car import business, getting around the BPM tax which is payable on all new cars here at regular Dutch car dealerships.

Once here, you will see thousands of other EU cars here from all over Europe here. They are using the 'grey area' because car prices are so expensive. So technically you should drive a car on Dutch plates, but the reality is very different. There aren't enough police here to chase every car on foreign plates: but that is a risk you take, and if you can keep a UK address for your insurance, and know you'll be returning to the UK quite regularly... it's up to you if you take that risk. If you're going to be here longer than the life of your car, best to change plates (especially as Dutch car insurance is a fraction of the price of UK insurance!)

You won't get a Dutch insurer to take your car on, with non Dutch plates. If you do manage to find one, please share the details :)

Re: Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

Those sort of rules are normal in Europe. If you have not owned the car long enough then you will have to pay import taxes on your goods it is fair enough.
If you read my posts I gave a link on how the importation of a car system works. This happens to be in English which is good for newbies to The Netherlands.;)

BPM should be considered more like the Road fund licence in the UK, again evey country has that sort of tax, nothing unusual there

Re: Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

Just thought I'd mention that Aviva car insurance will cover you for a max of 90 days for a supplement (approx £25) if you take out their UK Comprehensive Insurance. Like another poster mentioned - you would need to return to the UK at regular intervals.

A specialist company that offer an extended annual policy is: https://www.stuartcollins.com/ We did use this company when we imported our dutch registered car to the UK and had to drive on NL plates - while the import process went through. The company were easy to deal with.

If you plan on importing it to NL just check into all the hidden costs as you may need new headlights and your speedo may need to show KM's.

All the best with your move.

PJ

Re: Owning a uk car in the Netherlands Insurance
 

Cheers guys really helpfull :D