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Registering Foreign Car In Poland


posts: 12

RubyopticsThreads: 3
Posts: 12
Joined: May 23, 11
 Jan 29, 12, 12:42    #1
Hi again, I received so many helpful responses to my previous posts that I thought I would come crawling back for your help once again! I have been thinking of making a bit of a holiday / road-trip of my move to Poland, driving through Europe to arrive, refreshed (hopefully!) to settle into my new life and all that it may hold. My question is this, apart from the obvious difficulties in driving a right-hand drive car, what difficulties would I face in registering a car bought in the U.K in Poland? Apart from import tax, are there any other financial considerations I should be aware of? How would i go about insuring the car once there or is this a simple one like in the U.K (i am aware that you insure the car rather than the driver). I thank you all in advance for your help and hope you are all well.

Joe

delphiandomineThreads: 42
Posts: 9,954
Joined: Nov 25, 08
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 Jan 29, 12, 12:43    #2
Rubyoptics:
. My question is this, apart from the obvious difficulties in driving a right-hand drive car, what difficulties would I face in registering a car bought in the U.K in Poland? Apart from import tax, are there any other financial considerations I should be aware of? How would i go about insuring the car once there or is this a simple one like in the U.K (i am aware that you insure the car rather than the driver). I thank you all in advance for your help and hope you are all well.


Unfortunately - you can't register a RHD in Poland. While it is technically possible, the powers that be won't issue a valid MOT for the car if it's RHD. Sorry - but with a RHD car, your only option is to drive back to the UK for an MOT once a year, or register it in another EU state (not that it's easy to do).
rygarThreads: -
Posts: 44
Joined: Apr 15, 10
 Jan 29, 12, 14:40    #3
in addition, RHD in Poland is really not good idea - Poles drive aggressively (dare to say - stupidly), and you will be simply frustrated when using RHD - there is a lot of overtaking, plenty of trucks and even tractors on roads. It is really, really good idea to ditch RHD in PL
RubyopticsThreads: 3
Posts: 12
Joined: May 23, 11
 Jan 29, 12, 15:40    #4
That is....disappointing to say the least. Thank you for pointing this out to me and im sorry for wasting your time on something i could have found out with a simple google search. I simply did not think that such cars would be IMPOSSIBLE to register. Oh well!! In that case, does anyone have experience on the Polish availability of the toyota MR2??!!!!! lol
RichfilthThreads: 8
Posts: 327
Joined: Mar 8, 09
 Jan 29, 12, 15:50    #5
Not a huge number of MR2s around, because hairdressers don't earn that much money in Poland:

http://allegro.pl/mr2-27887
rygarThreads: -
Posts: 44
Joined: Apr 15, 10
Edited by: rygar  Jan 29, 12, 15:52    #6
actually, I am not so sure about 'inability', because this law was taken to the european court and IRRC the verdict was that this is against free trade rule or something. But when you get to Poland, you will see that driving RHD out of 4-lane roads, especially in coutryside, might be really dangerous and authorities are actually right about this restriction. Its not dangerous when you just go with the flow, but seeing that you like sport cars, I doubt you will be willing to crawl behind huge truck 90 km/h ;)

cars in PL are more expensive, but insurance is much cheaper, so it makes sense to sell yours in UK and buy something in France/Netherlands/Germany or Poland (last option obviously most convenient)
Chris1977  Jan 29, 12, 16:07    #7
Hi Joe,

I done exactly what you're planing to do. I drove from London to Warszawa (although not sightseeing) with the intention of converting my RHD to LHD once here. now it's not just the steering you need to convert but also the headlights, the garages can convert LHD French, Italian and German brand cars without too much trouble but Japanese made cars they said forget about it. The total cost of converting your car would be around the 5,000 Zloty mark so unless your car is a high end executive type, I would say, sell it in the UK and buy one here or Germany (which a lot of Poles do too) So what everyone is saying is absolutely correct, you can't get an MOT or insurance for a RHD unless you can convert it, however it wouldn't really be worth it.

I brought a Fiat Bravo Grande dynamic 1.4 2010 with 32,000 (yes it was real kilometers) for 23,000 zloty. I'm now sending my Nissan back to the U.K for £380 by courier and a friend will sell it for me.

A few words of advice, expect everyone to try and rip you off, check all documents twice, get a Polish friend who you trust to do all the negotiating on your behalf and never speak in English while talking about money otherwise the price just doubled. Poland is a lovely country and the people are lovely too but when it comes to money it isn't cricket here mate.

Good luck,

Chris
rt3dThreads: 18
Posts: 56
Joined: Mar 9, 08
 Jan 29, 12, 16:17    #8
just buy a toyota celica, or convert it
Hey chris could you recommend the courier you used..
Chris1977  Jan 29, 12, 16:32    #9
Hi Rt3d,

The courier number: 888-295-899

I don't know their name (sorry) they are quite busy so the wait is 3 weeks, My girlfriend tells me that they'll do it for £340 if you wait.

Regards
delphiandomineThreads: 42
Posts: 9,954
Joined: Nov 25, 08
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 Jan 29, 12, 16:52    #10
rygar:
actually, I am not so sure about 'inability', because this law was taken to the european court and IRRC the verdict was that this is against free trade rule or something.


There hasn't been a judgement made yet. All signs are that Poland will be told to allow it - but given that Poland has joined the French club of simply ignoring judgements that she doesn't like, it would seem unlikely that RHD's will be allowed anytime soon.
RubyopticsThreads: 3
Posts: 12
Joined: May 23, 11
 Jan 29, 12, 17:15    #11
Rich - I'm looking for the anniversary edition, which is available fairly regularly on the second hand market in the U.K, i won't comment on the hairdresser part as obviously everyone has different tastes!!
Chris1977:
The total cost of converting your car would be around the 5,000 Zloty mark

Do you have a number for any converters so that i could get a realistic quote please Chris?
Thanks again for the help so far, i really appreciate it
RichfilthThreads: 8
Posts: 327
Joined: Mar 8, 09
 Jan 29, 12, 17:35    #12
I don't know much about Toyotas to be honest, but make sure any special edition you're looking for isn't specific-market-only. Lots of manufacturers do specials for one country only, so there may not have been a LHD "anniversary" edition.

Your best bet for a car is to sign up for the MR2 club in Poland (http://www.mr2.pl) and asking politely on their forum. I'm sure a few of the owners will speak English and will point you in the right direction; some might even offer advice on converting a RHD model if you've already found the one you want in the UK.



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