Written by
I. Constantin
Date released
07.05.2026
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Buying a car in another EU country is one of the most common ways Europeans access better prices, wider selection, and models unavailable in their home market. Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France are perennial favourites for buyers from Eastern and Southern Europe. The process, on paper, is straightforward — EU single market, no customs duties, free movement of goods. In practice, the paperwork, the tax rules, and the registration requirements create a minefield of easily avoidable mistakes that can cost buyers hundreds or even thousands of euros in delays, fines, and rework.
Here are the five most common – and most expensive – mistakes made when importing a car across EU borders, and exactly how to avoid each one.
This is, by a wide margin, the most common mistake made by first-time importers. The logic goes something like this: the car was bought in Germany, Germany is in the EU, therefore registration in Spain or Romania or Poland should be simple. True — but only if the paperwork is right. And the document that trips up more importers than any other is the Certificate of Conformity.
The COC, or Certificate of Conformity, is an official document issued by the vehicle’s manufacturer certifying that the specific car — identified by its VIN number — was built in compliance with EU type approval standards. Registration authorities in most EU member states require it as the primary proof of technical compliance. Without it, they cannot classify the vehicle, cannot calculate emissions-based taxes correctly, and in many cases will simply reject the registration application outright.
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Browse All COCs →The problem is that the COC rarely travels with the car on the second-hand market. It gets separated from the vehicle at some point in the ownership chain — left with a dealer, lost during a move, misplaced after an import — and the new buyer arrives at the registration office without it, often without even knowing it existed.
For vehicles manufactured after August 2018, the COC is obligatory for registration in most EU countries, as it contains WLTP emissions data that authorities need for tax calculation. For older vehicles, it is strongly recommended and often requested regardless.
How to avoid it: Before completing the purchase, ask the seller for the COC. If it is missing, obtain a replacement before starting the registration process. The fastest route is through a specialist service like auto-coc.eu, which covers over 90 vehicle brands and delivers the official document digitally — often within one to three business days — without the bureaucratic delays of going through the manufacturer directly.
VAT rules on cross-border car purchases within the EU are among the most frequently misunderstood aspects of the entire process. The confusion is understandable: the rules differ depending on whether the car is new or second-hand, whether the seller is a dealer or a private individual, and whether the dealer operates under the standard VAT regime or the margin scheme for second-hand goods.
Getting this wrong can result in paying VAT twice — once in the country of purchase and once at home — or, in the opposite direction, arriving at the registration office without being able to prove VAT has been correctly handled, which can block the registration entirely.
The core rule is this: for a new car (under 6,000 km or less than six months since first registration), VAT must be paid in the country where the vehicle is registered, not where it is purchased. If a dealer in Belgium charges you Belgian VAT (21%) on a new car that you plan to register in Romania, you are entitled to a refund of the Belgian VAT — but only after you provide the Belgian dealer with proof of Romanian registration and VAT payment.
For second-hand cars, the situation depends on the seller. A private individual cannot charge VAT. A dealer operating under the standard VAT regime will sell to you without VAT if you are exporting the vehicle (the sale is treated as an intra-EU supply). A dealer using the margin scheme has already absorbed VAT in their margin — you pay a single price inclusive of the margin VAT and owe nothing additional.
The EU single market makes it easy to buy a car from another member state. It does not make it easy to verify what happened to that car in its previous life. Odometer fraud, undisclosed accident damage, stolen vehicles sold with altered documentation, and outstanding finance — all of these problems exist on the cross-border second-hand market, and none of them are visible from a test drive.
The fundamental challenge is that vehicle history databases are national. A car damaged in a German accident may appear clean in a Romanian database. A Belgian-registered car with a financed outstanding balance may show up as unencumbered in the Polish registration system. The only way to access multi-country history data is through services that aggregate records across borders.
This mistake is particularly costly because it is discovered after the fact — sometimes months later, when the previous owner’s creditors come looking, or when a structural defect emerges that was invisible at purchase.
Before completing any cross-border purchase, run the VIN through an international vehicle history service. For cars brought into Europe from outside the EU — Japan, the US, or the UK — this is especially important.
Verify Vehicle History NowThis report provides a comprehensive overview of damage history, odometer records, theft flags, and title status across multiple countries, ensuring you don't face costly surprises after the sale.
A car listed at €12,000 in Belgium is not a €12,000 car by the time it is registered and road-legal in Romania or Spain. The gap between the sticker price and the true cost of ownership can be substantial, and buyers who do not calculate it in advance routinely find themselves with a vehicle they cannot afford to register.
The costs that catch importers off guard most often are:
Registration tax. Most EU countries impose a registration tax on vehicles being registered for the first time on their territory. In Spain, this is the Impuesto Especial sobre Determinados Medios de Transporte (IEDMT), calculated on CO₂ emissions. In Romania, it is the timbru de mediu (environmental stamp). In Denmark, the registration tax is notoriously severe and can exceed the market value of the vehicle itself. These taxes are calculated on the vehicle’s technical characteristics, not on what you paid for it.
Technical inspection and homologation fees. RAR in Romania, ITV in Spain, TÜV in Germany — every EU country has its own technical inspection system, and imported vehicles must pass through it before registration. Fees vary from €50 to several hundred euros depending on the country, the vehicle type, and whether individual homologation is required.
Translation and legalisation of documents. Foreign-language registration documents must be translated by a certified translator. For vehicles with complex ownership histories or documentation from multiple countries, this cost can accumulate quickly.
Transport costs. Driving the car home is an option, but comes with insurance and documentation requirements. Shipping on a transport platform is safer for high-value vehicles and adds €200–€800 depending on distance.
COC retrieval. If the COC is missing and must be obtained, factor in this cost before purchase, not after.
How to avoid it: Build a complete cost model before committing to a purchase. Add purchase price, transport, registration tax (calculate it using your country’s official tool or an online estimator based on the vehicle’s CO₂ emissions), technical inspection, document translation, COC if needed, insurance, and any required modifications. Only then compare the total to the local market price for an equivalent vehicle.
This is the mistake that turns a manageable situation into an urgent and expensive one. Every EU country sets a deadline by which an imported vehicle must be registered after arrival or after change of ownership. Exceed this deadline and you face fines, potential impounding of the vehicle, and in some cases the inability to register it without additional procedures.
In Romania, the new owner has 30 days from the date of purchase to begin the registration process. In Spain, the DGT expects registration to be completed within 30 days of importing the vehicle. In Germany, a new owner must register the vehicle before driving it on public roads — there is essentially no grace period.
The problem is that the registration process itself takes time, especially when documents are missing or need to be obtained from abroad. A buyer who waits two weeks before starting, then discovers the COC is missing and needs to be retrieved, then discovers the translation of the Belgian registration documents takes another week — suddenly finds themselves past the legal deadline through a series of individually minor delays that compound into a compliance problem.
A related issue is the 90-day rule that applies across EU countries to vehicles registered in another member state: a person with habitual residence in an EU country cannot drive a vehicle registered in a different EU country for more than 90 days without re-registering it in their country of residence.
mporting a car across EU borders is one of the most rewarding ways to access the vehicle you want at the price you want. The single market removes customs duties and trade barriers. What it does not remove is the documentation, the tax obligations, and the registration requirements that each member state sets independently.
Every one of the five mistakes listed above is entirely avoidable with preparation. The COC is retrievable. The VAT rules are learnable. Vehicle history is verifiable. Total costs are calculable. Registration deadlines are, by definition, knowable in advance.
The buyers who run into problems are almost always those who underestimated the importance of the paperwork and assumed that the easy part — finding the right car at the right price — was also the hardest part. It is not. Getting it registered legally and cost-effectively is where the real work happens.
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