

| Subject: | Importing US vanagon to Europe. |
| Date: | Fri, 28 Jun 96 14:51:39 EDT |
All, Thanks To Everybody Who Enlighted Us On How Hard It is to import a vehicle to USA. I would like to do the reverse and bring my Westy from the U.S. to Europe. Why bring a US westy to Europe, when there are so many available in at least Germany you may ask. One main motivation is that I've invested a lot of time on small details making this Westy the perfect one for me. Selling it and buying another used one in Europe I'll lose both the invested time and money. I'll be out of grad school in about a year, and most likely I will move somewhere one the (European) continent (France, Germany, Denmark Italy or Holland) rather than back to Sweden, my home country. So if anybody knows what the rules for bringing in vehicles to any of the above countries please tell us. I wouldn't be surprised if all these countries have pretty unified rules, since they are all long time EU members. Sweden just entered the EU and has some technical trade barriers still in place. For exhaust emissions clearance you need: Car less than 5 years, gas engine: Either you need a certificate from the Swedish importer/ manufacturer that the car meets Swedish norms, or you can take it to a test center and they will check the particular car you bring in for the required equipment (cost approx $200) Older car with gas engine, all diesels: These will require an extensive driving and exhaust test at one centralized facility in Sweden. Cost approx $1800, Ouch! Taxes for Swedish residents: Car brought in from EU countries, but registered at least 6 months in another EU country: No sales tax, but most likely wrecking premium and perhaps "accis" (another vehicle fee, used to be about $200) Otherwise: 25% sales tax on the value of the car. Residents of other countries moving to Sweden: It used to be that you could bring in personal belongings, including such things as cars without duties/taxes if you moved to Sweden. I'm not 100% sure if this is still true though. Again, I would be very interested in knowing what the rules are especially for France, but also Denmark, Germany, Holland and Italy. Thanks, Martin
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