Importing a Belgium cars. Everything you need to know

On the one hand, Belgians maintains and service their vehicles. On the other hand, they treat even a small accident as a total loss and prefer to buy a new car. Thanks to this, you can buy a decent car for an affordable price. How do importing belgium cars and registering it in a different country look like? Check it out.

 

How to check a car from Belgium?

Belgium, just like Germany and France, is one of the most popular countries from which used cars are imported.

The extent of import is, of course, much lesser compared to Germany, which exported over 489.000 vehicles last year. Still, the small country that Belgium is, it is ranked as the third most popular country from which cars are imported to Poland. Apart from Germany, only France precedes it.

The popularity of Belgium results from the good quality of the offered vehicles. The closeness of the EU institutions, diplomatic institutions of many countries, and the international institutions results in a quite big amount of new cars being registered in this country. The cars get replaced every few years, e.g. among the embassies employers. The high standard of living, as well as high salaries translate into the decent quality of the offered vehicles. The cars are usually well maintained, but even the smallest repair due to a small accident might significantly lower their offer price.

As in the case of other countries, if you are interested in purchasing a used car, the best option is to use the services of some popular advertising services, such as “mobile” or “autoscout24”. All you need to do is use the filter for the country range, to limit the offer only to Belgium, or expand it to the countries of Benelux – Luxemburg and the Netherlands.

 

 

Apart from the relative closeness of this market, the cars from Belgium are also attractive thanks to the well documented vehicle history of the registered cars. Before selling, every car has to have a special certificate, the so called Car-Pass. Without this document, the buyer is not able to register the car. This also means that the seller is not able to sell a car without the Car-Pass. The procedure of putting a car for sale in this case is as follows. The seller drives their car to a diagnostic station to purchase a Car-Pass, and then seller must immediately put the car for sale. That is because the document is valid only for 2 months, and if after this period of time the seller does not sell the car, they must purchase a new document.

 

Documents

What does the Car-Pass contain? Aside from the basic data concerning the brand, model, the VIN number and CO2 emission, in the header of the document, you will also find information about any vehicle inspections done after a serious accident. Every vehicle registered in Belgium must have such check done after a more extensive repair cause by e.g. an accident.

 

 

In order to register a car from Belgium in Poland, you need a purchase and sale contract or an invoice, if you purchase a car from a used car lot, the Belgian vehicle registration book (in French – Certificat d’immatriculation, or in Dutch – Inschrijvingsbewijs), the vehicle card and the Car-Pass, optionally also a service book. The purchase and sale contract should contain the following information: the name and last name of the seller and the buyer, their permanent residence or residence addresses, the data and place of signing the contract, the sale price excluding the VAT, the advance payment amount, the receivable balance as well as the payment method, the note about the right to withdraw from the contract, if it is signed in the country of the seller, a confirmation from the buyer about having read and understood the information and receiving a copy, and the signatures of the seller and the buyer along with the date.

 

Unregistering

In order for the car from Belgium to exit the country by driving the car, it needs to be unregistered and temporary exit plates need to be issued. Unregistering a car from Belgium can exclusively done in the City Atrium building in Brussels (Rue du Progrès 56, 1210 Bruxelles), where the so called DIV is located, that is the transport office. The entire procedure of unregistering might take up to 2 working days. The exit plates can be issues the same day, if DIV deals with the request until 2pm. You can receive them in the Tour & Taxis post point (Avenue du Port, 86 C at 1000 Brussels). The cost of the exit plates type X valid usually for 30 days is 75 Euro. You need add to this the cost of the insurance – approx. 200 Euro on average. The total cost – unlike e.g. in Germany – is similar or even higher that the tow truck transport, especially when it turns out that you need to stay overnight waiting for the car to get unregistered. Therefore, most of the buyers decide to import a car from Belgium to Poland via an agent. 

 

Driving a car from Belgium back to your country

Bringing a car from Belgium is possible in two ways. The first way is to bring the car by driving it, the other one is to bring it on a tow truck. Before it is time for this, though, you need to purchase the car and have evidence for it. After you estimate the technical condition of the vehicle and you make you decision to purchase the car, you need to make sure that the seller provides you with all the necessary documents.

 

 

In case of purchasing a car from a private seller, it is the purchase and sale contract. If the car is purchased from a used car lot, you should receive the invoice. The previous owner of the car should also provide you with the vehicle registration book, the set of car keys, the Car-Pass document and the service card. If the vehicle car has been issued, you should also receive it.

Importing a car from Belgium and driving it requires completing certain formalities on your own. You need to go to City Atrium in Brussels to have the exit plates issued, thanks to which you will be allowed to drive the car within the EU during a period of time from 2 weeks to 3 months. The car has to have valid insurance and technical review. If you don’t have the last one, you need to go a near diagnostic station. You can skip these two procedures. All you need to do it to unregister the car and order the tow truck transport of it to your country.

 

Translating the documents

When importing a car from Belgium, you need to take into account the necessity of using the services of a sworn translator. The documents submitted to the department of transportation must be translated. This applies to the vehicle registration book (if it has additional stamps or notes), the purchase and sale contract (if not prepared in two language versions), the invoice and the vehicle card (if issued).

 

Technical review of the vehicle

Every car must have a valid technical review in order to be driven. If the purchased vehicle is more than four years old, the review should be done annually.

 

 

Is it worth buying a car from Belgium?

Cars from Belgium might not be as popular as cars from Germany.

Cars from Belgium have a good reputation. Still, before purchasing a car, it is worth verifying the mileage of the vehicle and its legal status.

 

 

Also read:

1. Car from Italy
2. Car from UK
3. Danish car
4. a Swedish car
5. Ukrainian car