Car and driving licence in Andorra: Andorran plates within six months, a car of at most six years old, and exchanging without a test

Your car may come to Andorra, but not every car, and not for long on Dutch plates. As a resident you may not drive on foreign plates: within six months of your residence permit the car must be on Andorran plates. That is only possible if it has been in your name for six months, is at most six years old and is at most one step below the current Euro emissions standard. Registration costs €250. You exchange your Dutch driving licence without a test for €65.94, and there too you have six months. An older car is better sold in the Netherlands.

Can you bring your car?

The rules are in Decret 534/2022, the regulation on number plates and the vehicle register. For anyone moving to Andorra with a residence permit, the following applies (article 3):

Condition	What applies
In your name	the car was already in your name for at least six months in your old place of residence
Age	at most six years from the year of manufacture
Emissions class	a used car with a petrol or diesel engine, hybrid or electric, with a Euro class equal to the current one or at most one level lower (article 10)
Driving on foreign plates	prohibited as a resident, except under temporary admission (article 3, paragraph 11)
Transition period	at most six months after the issue of your residence permit; after that the car may not drive until it is registered (article 3, paragraph 13)
Insurance	with an insurer admitted in Andorra, at least €50,000,000 per claim, for at least a year (article 7)

Your car belongs to the customs exemption for a move: Llei 33/2012 expressly names private cars as personal goods. The same conditions then apply as for the rest of your household goods: six months of ownership, a declaration within twelve months, and no selling for twelve months. Read household goods to Andorra. Outside that exemption Andorra levies import duties and the IGI of 4.5 percent; whether the exemption also covers the IGI is something you confirm with customs.

A car of seven years or older does not get in, even if it is otherwise perfect. If in doubt, look at the year of manufacture on the registration certificate and add six years. If the date of your permit falls outside that, sell the car in the Netherlands and buy one in Andorra.

How do you put it on Andorran plates?

The procedure is called "primera matriculació d'un vehicle d'ocasió amb placa estrangera" and runs through the e-tramits desk. In this order:

• Customs. You first make a declaration with the Duana, with the invoice or proof of purchase.
• The inspection. A used car goes through the ITV, the Andorran MOT, with a mileage report.
• Deregistration in the Netherlands. You have the car deregistered for export with the RDW; the Dutch registration certificate goes into the file.
• The application. Form R2T018, the Certificate of Conformity (CoC), the ITV sheet and the original registration certificate. Price €250, decision within 48 hours.

You collect the number plates themselves from the Automòbil Club d'Andorra. How often the ITV recurs after that is set out in a separate regulation that we were unable to consult; ask at the inspection. Andorra has no national road tax; what your comú levies, you ask when you register.