Please sign in to post.

Temporary Import for Car

Hi!

We are an admittedly crazy family, who is driving around the world. We just drove through latin america, up to the USA, and now we want to ship our 1989 Isuzu Trooper form the east coast of the USA (probably Baltimore?) to Portugal, to keep going. We have crossed a lot of land boarders so paperwork doesn't scare us, we just want to have the correct documents and know the costs to anticipate.

We plan to spend our 90 day visas in Europe, then go down to Northern Africa, then drive back up to spend 90 more days before continuing on towards Asia. I can't find ANY information on temporarily importing a NON-EU car to Portugal! Can anyone help ? Our car is just under 30 years old, is registered in Costa Rica, and has over I have managed to find shipping costs, but no information on the process of getting it into the continent.

Anyone have any information? Thank you!

Posted by
9123 posts

Can't answer your question.

I have to ask:

1) Are you planning to drive across North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt?
If you are, I would think twice about that, especially going through Libya and Egypt.

2) Are you planning on trying to drive across Asia? Clearly, you aren't going to try to go through the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.? Even driving through Russia would be something of a challenge.

Posted by
29260 posts

Can't help with your car question but want to be sure you're solid on the interpretation of the 90 days you're allowed in the Schengen zone. I don't know your nationality, but if your visa works in a way similar to the (no-visa) situation Americans have to deal with, you'll need to be out of the Schengen zone for 90 or 91 days before you re-enter it from North Africa. If you're not planning an extended stay in Morocco, etc., check very carefully on what your visa allows you to do. When we leave Schengen, our visa clock does not re-set to zero.

Posted by
2 posts

Hey Friend. Right now I'm just trying to focus on this one specific question. Does anyone have any good answers for it?

Posted by
16899 posts

This similar question did not receive particularly on-target responses, other than the idea that it is legal to import your car for personal use in Europe for up to 6 months.

You could try forums for expats living in Europe or just try some more thorough Googling. These few links were among the first that I saw:

https://www.khz-movers.com/files/2015/12/import-vehicle-from-outside-eu-khz_uk.pdf

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/vehicles/registration/taxes/index_en.htm

https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/portugal/transport/vehicle-ownership/importing-a-car

Note that some North African borders cannot be crossed, including from Morocco to Algeria (thus Google Maps sends you on a couple of ferries via Spain) and Algeria to Libya (though a route via Tunisia seems possible). The US State Department Travel Warning for Libya is worded more strongly than many others in the same category.

Posted by
6113 posts

I have friends who moved from the UK to Portugal and haven't reregistered their UK car in Portugal, as it costs too much. To register a car in Europe, you need a permanent address. Ditto for the insurance. Cars also need annual inspection certificates to ensure they are road worthy.

The Portuguese embassy and expat forums should offer better advice than any holiday travel forum.

I am sure that you have already worked out which nights in Europe count towards your 90 day limit and which don't eg UK and Croatia aren't in Schengen. You can't return for a further 90 nights once you have hit 90 days in the Zone cumulatively in any 180 day period.

Posted by
1765 posts

PS "haven't reregistered their UK car in Portugal, as it costs too much" translates to dodging local taxes and think they can get away with it, there are loads of them on the Algarve.

Were is that like button?

Posted by
1077 posts

Importing the car will not be the problem, driving it could be though. It is unlikely that a 30 year old non European car will meet the emissions and MOT required before you are allowed to drive it in most mainland European countries.