There have been many discussions about this since we arrived 18 months ago. However, we have just been "granted" our Portuguese number plates. The most important thing that I can recommend is DO NOT try to do this yourself unless you are fluent in both spoken and written Portuguese! The process is a minefield. I cannot recommend highly enough Faotir who are located in Faro. Telephone 289 803 226 They speak excellent English and have extensive experience in handling UK transfers. Their charges to us were an excellent value for money of €358.

I will put up a thread, in the near future, detailing some of the essential items that you MUST be able to provide.

I have read both "dont try it" and "go for it...its easy"! So since you never done it on your own... how can you honestly know if it is so difficult?(hence you stressing dont even try it alone) Over 200 euros profit minimum for the agency who done it for a few hours works(for them) but even so...its a fair price...most will ask 500!

There is another guy who does not speak Portuguese on "the other site" recently claiming its a piece of pish... so who do we believe ...the guy who done it or the person who did not? See my point?!

reading my post again... sounds a bit cheeky but no offence intended

No offence taken. However, I did say that I felt it was important to be able to read, write and speak fluent Portuguese.

Hi we're looking to move over full time in 2 years or so, so is there an easy way to find out what we can matriculate and how much? Should I buy a LHD car in UK 12 months before we move over? Probably better to spend €500 in fees and save thousands if we can't. J

I am going to contradict myself a bit here and aggree with chriswoods that it would save you the hassle & worry by doing it via an agent.

Yes better to buy an LHD more than a year before you come. Problem seems to be sourcing them in the U.K without paying way over the price of a RHD!

Thanks Ged, you hit the nail on the head on the prices. A few years ago you could pick up a LHD for a song now they're silly money. Has anyone bought an import from, say France or Holland, paid VAT in UK then brought to PT or is this a recipe for disaster? MIght still be cheaper than paying PT level of tax but I dunno. J

We bought a LHD car from the UK that was imported from abroad and didn't have any hassle. If you are interested if you PM me I can give you the details of who we bought the car from.

Its got to be worth thinking about as this is what most of these LHD suppliers do... so cutting out the middle man can only be cheaper....far cheaper I would think! If you do go for it..... you have to let us know how you get on!

Would you have to pay VAT? I know there will be a charge but I had thought since the car already has a vat equivelant pain on it within in the EU... there will be none! Im guessing though & really don't know

PM Bigant; he bought a LHD BMW in (I think) Germany and took it back to UK. He's going to keep it there for a year then bring it over. I'm pretty sure he's looked into all the bureaucracy.

What is the situation regarding importing an electric car that has no emmissions?

Fully electric?! I would guess not worth bringing as there will be no/little saving! i.e Imposto automovel here not mainly concentrates on cº2

But if you do bring it the charge should be pretty low

See what you did there

You were switched on there