Transferring our UK registered Car to Italian plates

[Italy4me]

We are embarking on the journey to transfer our UK registered car onto Italian plates.
I suspect it may be quite a trip...and from our experiences in Italy so far it will no doubt be amusing...
Is anyone interested?
Would it make a thread that would be useful to others in the future?

This is probably only of interest to anyone who could envisage they might consider doing something similar in the future and I imagine the majority of readers here only have holiday homes and are happy to hire a car for a week or two as necessary.

But I may be mistaken so do let me know whether I should bore everyone with our story as it unfolds.
:wink:
Lesley & Brian

[Melanie]

Lesley
Your stories are never boring so want to hear about it step by step and we sometimes wonder wether it would be cheaper to leave a car there rather than keep hiring.
Mel

[roysee]

Please keep them coming

[vtrusty]

Please do Lesley, unless Italian bureaucracy has changed dramatically in the 35 years since I lived there, this should be quite a saga!!

Val

[Italy4me]

Ok then you're on.

Will post some wafflings soon re car and Italian bureaucracy.
Lesley

[leeandanna]

Hi Lesley & Brian

We'd be very interested in this as we too have a UK registered car that we leave in San Nicola and use each time we visit. Currently we have to bring it back to England once a year for MOT and from other posts we've read elsewhere it is quite a long winded and expensive process - but maybe that's all changed and you can prove us wrong!
I enquired with the DVLA about effectively getting the car MOT'd in Italy (a Revisione) as then it would be legal for the country where it is most used but they told me that I wouldn't be able to get a UK tax disc with an Italian MOT and of course we can't get Italian road tax as it is UK registered!
You would think that as we're all now part of the EU that you could MOT/tax your car in any EU member country where you intend to use the car. We wonder how all the Eastern Europeans that come to the UK in their Polish/Romanian/Latvian etc registered cars get along when they need to tax/insure/mot them!!?? Can't imagine they drive them all they way back home to get tax etc when they expire.
It was good to meet up with you back in the summer at Pino's and look forward to seeing you again sometime. Lee & Anna

[Di]

Hi Again-
A related question for us about cars: we don't want to ship a car from the states, but my understanding is that once you purchase a property and establish an address there (like we plan to do), that you then become "residents" and are then eligible to purchase a vehicle in Italy. Is this residency business correct? I know that is only the first hurdle -- then come all the taxes and stamps and things eh??!!

Doug

[Italy4me]

Hi Di,
Just a quick reply as we are in Edinburgh (Scotland) for the weekend.
Yes, residency is important for lots of things (including cars) but also being resident gives us cheaper electricity and local taxes etc.
When we get back I'll expand on the car issue along with our reasons for deciding to change our UK car onto Italian plates (which wasn't our original intention)
TTFN Lesley & Brian

[Italy4me]

I suspect this may be an ongoing saga……and past experience has shown us that Italian bureaucracy and form filling can turn into marathon tasks so I thought this might be an interesting, ongoing thread for anyone remotely interested.
It wasn’t necessarily our original intention to transfer our car onto Italian plates as we imagined we would buy an Italian car eventually (Brian had his eye on an expensive posing vehicle that he intended to purchase with the proceeds of our house sale in the UK but I soon scuppered that daft plan of his …..)
We bought our little left hand drive automatic Corsa in England just a few months after we bought our place in Belvedere and brought it over in September 2005 so that we had a vehicle to use when we were in Italy for extended periods as car hire would get very expensive otherwise. (Anyone who has been to our house would realise it would be impossible without transport!).
The following summer we drove it back to the UK to get it MOT’d and to fill it with stuff to bring back to Italy. And we did the same again this year and now it is time to make the change. In fact it is past the time…..

[Di]

Lesley, we speak only the American dialect of inglese. Please tell us what MOT'd means. Some sorta tax? Brian my friend, when we get the proceeds of our property in the States in a couple years, you and I have to go buy a couple of motorcycles to tour about with in macho style! Once the residence thing is taken care of to allow such purchases, we'll try to buy something there....renting in the meantime. Of course we want the most fuel efficient diesel something -- German, Japanese or Italian I'd guess.

Hey, we look forward to seeing you next week in Scalea. We arrive Sunday and plan to stay at Hotel Talao. We have 6 inches of snow here and fog, so it quite sucks with chilly cold. We should go to the beach for a swim next Wednesday I think. Or at least to a warm bar!

Peace, Doug, aka Guido, Jones

[vtrusty]

Hi Doug, will you guys still be in Scalea the week after next? We will be out for a couple of days, arriving Scalea 7/12 and are hoping to meet up with Brian & Leslie then, would be good if you are still there. Who knows, we may be able to meet up stateside as we spend 6 weeks every summer in British Columbia (only Washington State between us!!)

Warm Bar sounds good, swim in the sea not so good.

Val & Mark

[Italy4me]

Hi Doug and all,
MOT is shorthand for the roadworthiness test that UK cars take under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport (hence MOT). They are needed every year after the car is 3 years old but in Italy the same sort of thing (Revisione) is every two years once the car is 4 years old. There is talk that the UK may be changing to the same intervals soon.
As we are now resident in Italy the European Commission states:
"If you live and drive in the host country for a period of 6 months or more, you should register your car in the host country. You will have to pay a registration tax. You should register your vehicle up to 6 months after its entrance in the host country. The registration process allows the national authorities to verify whether the vehicle has the technical characteristics (technical conformity and technical control) required by legal safety standards: bring all necessary technical documentation and have it translated, if possible."
We expected to buy an Italian car once we were resident but have come to realise our little battered car is perfect for now so that is why we have decided to try to swap it onto Italian plates.
More to follow as if I type too much text my message will be "sent to Hell". TTFN Lesley

[Italy4me]

Stage one of the process was to call into the garage in Santa Maria near our friends there. Unfortunately the owner wasn't there which was a shame as Brian was with our Italian friend and that would have made everything much simpler! As time went on we decided to pop into our local Opel garage to see if they could help with the swap (and we hoped that they would be more au fait with our little car and could confirm its "conformity" if necessary).
We only wanted to ask if they could do it, and also how much it might cost. The person we spoke to said yes they could do it but they had no idea what it would cost.They also had no idea how long it might take. And we needed to speak to someone else who they would organise to come along to the garage so that we could speak to him directly.
This we did and he asked for the Vehicle Registration Document (Carta Di Circolazione), a copy of the current MOT and a copy of Brian's ID Card (Carta D'Identite) as the car is registered in his name.
Then he said he would be in touch when he had completed the documentation and when the car needed to go away for inspection-eek. So much for making an initial enquiry ...now the process was underway. The guesstimate of cost was circa 550 euros and allegedly the majority of that was because the ownership/registration needs to be notarised (and I assume some taxes paid?). The date of this was 7th November 2007. Updates to follow as and when they occur. Lesley & Brian

[Italy4me]

LeeandAnna,
Good to hear from you. 8-)
There seems to be many anomolies within the EU just now - including vehicles. I have been reading up on obligations and regulations and it really does tie you up in knots. It seems the rules are different if you are resident (which forces an obligation to re-register) as opposed to "temporary use" for non residents (which I assume would apply to your situation). But the insistence of some in Italy that residency is essential in order to register a car here (which I am led to believe is incorrect, but just try telling an Italian that!) doesn't make things simple.
Hope our tale as it unfolds is at least a bit of help. Here's a link to some of the stuff I have been reading lately - but it could all have changed by now!
http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/nav/e.../index_en.html
Regards, Lesley

[vtrusty]

Wow Lesley, for that price I'd want the car thrown in!!

Val

[Italy4me]

LOL Val 8-)

I'm not sure the little old car is worth much more than that to be frank! But we bought it with 7000 kilometers on the clock and all the following kilometers we have put on it ourselves so we know it so well it seems daft to get rid.
Apparently registering a new or second-hand car costs circa 400 euros but because that cost gets swallowed up in the purchase price it doesn't seem so painful...
Lesley

[Di]

Good grief, what an ordeal Lesley! I'm afraid to ask whether that 400 euro is a one time cost or an annual registration fee.

Val and Mark, we leave Scalea Saturday the 1st. This is a whirlwind trip to close on the property and get the restoration contract started with the architect. Probably lots of shopping for cabinets, etc although we have done a lot of advance internet searches to find the European appliances and things we hope for. Will catch you another time. doug and di

[Italy4me]

Hi Di,
There is a one-off registration charge (suspect it goes into the government coffers) and then a yearly road tax to pay as well as a roadworthiness test that needs to be done every two years.
(In that respect it's a bit less onerous than the Uk).
See you very soon (24 degrees in the sun here today but chilly in the evenings)
Lesley

[Doug]

L&B, sorry we missed you last week. We were very busy with Tony and David, but bought the place, ordered all the kitchen & bath components, ate a lot at every ristorante open, even had fun with Biagio Sarrubi at Casa Si. Every once in awhile, he'd panic not understanding our Italian and call Tony for help. They have a tough time pronouncing Doug Jones, but since my middle name is Guy, I said go ahead & call me Guido!! Weather was great for us. Only had to put on a light jacket Friday with 13 degrees, but the locals were wearing winter coats with fur collars, etc. Dreadful 36 hour ordeal flying home with weather delays in the Chicago area. All that travel, then we arrive here with -2 temps and snow. We're looking into the apartment under our's in SD Talao and if it's affordable to buy, we could be back in Jan/Feb to settle it and check progress on the restoration....they told us it could be complete in May/June. Hey - hope you got your car registration handled. Doug J

[Italy4me]

Hi D & D,
Good to hear from you. I did imagine you would have had a very busy time whilst you were here. We had a couple of exceptional days weatherwise didn't we? And I know just what you mean about the Italian being all muffled up (even when the sun is shining hard!).
Anyway, sounds like you achieved an awful lot - good luck with it all - exciting times!
The car registration I am expecting to take at least six months....we won't be holding our breaths :lol:
Have fun in the snow & hopefully we will catch you early next year,
Lesley & Brian