Hi All,

My wife and I have just moved from France to Central Portugal. We've been busy getting our residency, Fiscal numbers and health cover. All this seemed fairly straightforward, although a little time consuming, but there's one thing I still have to sort out and have been putting off, matriculating the car. I have a couple of questions which, although I searched various threads, I can't find the definitive answers to. We bought a car ten months ago in France and registered for residency in Portugal two weeks ago. Am I correct in assuming that if I wait until I've owned the car for twelve months before matriculating that I won't be liable for import tax or does this only apply if I've owned the car for twelve months prior to entering the country or applying for residency?

Bob.

Not 100% on This but I think you have made a mistake by applying for residency before the 12 months. There is a few people on here who have been through the process so you should get an accurate answer from them.

Hi Bob

As you are in Central Portugal i may be able to help. I was at the Customs in Averio yesterday. I arrived at 5.25pm i didn't realise that they closed at 5.30pm i was still there asking questions at 5.40pm when i left. At no time was i rushed so the two Customs officials answered my querries. Unlike orther parts of the country at Averio they are so very helpful.

I applied to Matriculate my car with only 21 days left before the deadline. When i told the Customs the date i entered Portugal the Customs lady said i had better be quick. At no point did they ask for me to show when i entered the country, I was one bill missing but a bank statement was used to show that the payment for the missing bill had in fact been paid. Just wait till you have had the car six months and all bills are OK and say that you spent your time moving your belongings yourself by road. The fact you applied for residency when you did was because you were preparing for your move.

You will need to get a MOT at Souselas on the IP3 before you get to Coimbra then got straight to the Embassy to make a declaration as to being a resident of Portugal. Then go to Averio to get the papers you need to do the next stage. Copy from your Certificate of conformity onto the forms you get at Customs. Next stage after filling all the forms in is to take all the paperwork to the IMTT in Coimbra then you get sent to the Customs. In my case i had to go back to the MOT as they had left a number of the MOT. Then back to Cstoms and it's all done.

You will get told other stories and to a point they are correct but that's in areas of the country where the Customs don't make things easy.

I spent a day getting my MOT, going to the get my Declaration done and then to Customs in Averio all in a day.

Next day i left early and by 2.14pm i had completed Matriculation of my car. The secret is in the preparation and it can be easy. There are two very helpful people at Customs in Averio who speak good English and also any questions that i couldn't answer they filled them in for me.

Also i posted in my Blog all about the Matriculation process.

Good luck

Peter " Dreams can come true "

did you mean 6 months or 12 months?

jeff

You need to have owned your vehicle for at least 12 months to qualify.

Hi Jeff

Yes it should have been 12 months. Maybe a bit of to much red with dinner.

Peter " Dreams can come true "

Careful Peter, "too much red with dinner" and you'll end up exceeding your 250/300€ monthly expenditure

Not if your dreams come true

Anyway Peters a 6 pints of lager man - not at all like those horrible uncouth Brits he despises who live in the algarve, slurping red wine in the michelin star restaurants - the red wine must have been a gift !

Some of the sites out there claim 6 months and some 12 but it is indeed 12 months.

FWIW, I imported my (classic) car about 15 months ago and used an agent to handle the matriculation for me and it was generally money well spent.

I wouldn't recommend the particular agent I used for the particular job I wanted done because he was unaware of the differences between a classic car and an ordinary car and consequently he cost me money unnecessarily and I reckon he was a tad on the expensive side but I would recommend using an agent to save you hassle of doing it yourself.

Would I be right in saying cars built before 1970 only pay 5% of the imposto automovel? And do you pay anual road tax?

They let it in completely free of import tax and as far as road tax goes, the idiot agent stuffed up and I had to pay E773 for the first year's road tax because he didn't treat the matriculation as a classic car and they charged me full price for a new car of 5.9 litres engine capacity.

I've since put that right by joining the ACP Classicos and the car is now registered as a car of historical interest to Portugal and is therefore exempt from road tax.

All I have to do is get a letter from ACP Classicos every year and take along to the Financas to register the exemption.

5.9... American V8 I guess?! What is the car?(sorry Im a petrol head & now curious)

I take it not all pre 1970 cars are exempt then, is there a list of what is?

1982 Jeep Cherokee with the AMC360 5.9 litre engine and a few Edelbrock and other go-faster parts. She had 73000 km on the clock from new when I bought her about 10 years ago and now has 135000 km showing...... I also know the full history of the vehicle.

Any car of 25+ years is considered a classic here but the car usually has to be inspected by ACP Classicos before they'll issue the letter that gets you exemption from road tax.

Here's my baby:

Wow what a beast of a thing! You should have no problems getting right of way in the narrow PT streets with that, what an intimadating looking vehicle! Looks mint condition!

So if you imported this, it was already in your name and thats how you managed to avoid the imposto automovel? (not for that fact its a classic)
Although I am surprised still that you let you do that considering you brought it from S.A and not within the EU.

Insurance wise I take it is a "classic policy" you have with Lusitania?