Your car to Greece: first the Euro standard, then the paper from the Netherlands

The Greek car arrangement is generous: if you move your normal residence to Greece, you pay no registration tax on the car you bring with you. That is an exemption that can run into thousands of euros.

But there is a check at the very front that you have to do before you read on, and a paper you can only collect in the Netherlands.

First: does your car meet the standard?

Greece does not admit cars with Euro 1, 2 or 3, or cars whose emissions cannot be demonstrated, for import and registration. This is not a levy you can pay — it is a ban.

So before anything else, look on your registration certificate or in the RDW vehicle register for the emission class. If it says Euro 3 or older, that is the end of it: selling in the Netherlands and buying something there is the only route. Do that check early, because a moving plan that hangs on a car that isn't allowed into the country has to be made again.

Then: the six-month rule

The exemption applies to the vehicle you have used for at least six months in your previous country of residence before the issuing of the transfer-of-residence certificate. In practice that means: don't buy a new car just before you leave in the hope of bringing it along tax-free. The clock starts with ownership and use in the Netherlands, not with arrival in Greece.

The paper you collect in the Netherlands

This is the step most often skipped, and it can't be repaired afterwards.

The πιστοποιητικό μετοικεσίας — the transfer-of-residence certificate — is issued by the Greek consular post in the country where you have your normal residence at that moment. So in the Netherlands, before you leave. Two consequences:

• The date on that certificate counts as the date on which you move your normal residence. So it is also the reference point for the six-month rule above.
• The certificate is valid for twelve months. Within those twelve months the car has to be presented to Greek customs and the exemption applied.

If you have already moved and don't have the certificate, the exemption is gone and you pay registration tax after all. So plan the consulate appointment in the same period as your extracts and your CAK application.

The route in Greece

With the certificate in hand it goes as follows:

1. Present yourself at the customs office in your region, with the transfer-of-residence certificate, the registration certificate and proof that you owned the car for at least six months.
2. The exemption is applied to the registration tax.
3. Technical inspection at the ΚΤΕΟ.
4. Issue of the Greek registration and the plates.

Count on a few weeks and on an intermediary who does the paperwork — that is customary in Greece and usually worth the money.

And the Dutch side

Don't forget the export notification with the RDW. As long as your car is registered in the Netherlands, the motor vehicle tax simply keeps running, and you only notice that when the assessments pile up. On export you can moreover reclaim part of the bpm paid from the Belastingdienst; how much depends on the age and value of the car. For a young car that refund covers a good part of the re-registration costs.

The order that works: first set the Greek process in motion, then the Dutch export notification — otherwise you spend a while with a car that is registered nowhere, and that is an insurance problem.

What it costs, roughly

The exemption removes the biggest item. What remains is the customs handling, the ΚΤΕΟ inspection, the number plates and the intermediary's fee. What it means for your car — including the bpm refund on the Dutch side — is worked out by the cost estimate for Greece.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but applied to your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines monitored. See the whole journey to Greece.