Bringing Car to Finland

How to? Read other's experiences. Find useful advice on shipping, immigration, residence permits, visas and more.
Nickcoy
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Post by Nickcoy » Mon May 22, 2006 2:15 pm

Cheers for the quick response, I have been back in England for 12 months to finish off my uni course, and I have owned the car for about three months now, I’m not a student anymore and when I go to Finland it is most likely that I will go onto a language course (provided by the government :) I spoke to the Oulu customs office and they told me about some rule that I would be able to bring my car tax free for six months and then after 6 months renew it again, but after this period (12 months) I would then have to take it home or pay the tax :0, just out of interest would anyone know how much this would cost, my car is worth around £1500 and I have read various things about car tax in Finland (which I understand is expensive) Also my insurance covers me for three months outside of the UK, could I get some Finnish insurance to cover me whilst I’m there (is this very expensive?) I don't think your info is to inaccurate at all, it has been quite helpful, kitos

Also something completely unrelated to this topic, I'm going onto one of these intensive language courses (10 months?) After doing one of these courses does this increase your chances instantly of full time employment? (I really want to learn the language but it is bloody hard!!! - not just for work but to speak to people who aren’t native/ English speakers also)

I know that it is quite hard to find work in Oulu (I was very lucky with my student placement), is it much different in places like Tampere, Turku, Helsinki?

One other very random question lol, I want to bring a satellite over from the UK so I can pick up the British channels (Astra 2D) has anyone done this before, or have any info or advice for me on this subject area?

Thanks again Sinikala,

Nickcoy

Also something completely unrealted to this topic, I'm going onto one of these intensive language course (10 months?) After doing one of these courses does this increase your chances instantly of full time employment? (I really want to learn the language but it is bloody hard!!! - not just for work but to speak to people who arent english/ native speakers also)

I know that it is quite hard to find work in Oulu, is it much different in places like Tampere, Turku, Helsinki? I really want to learn the language but it is bloody hard



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Hank W.
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Re: Moving to Finland

Post by Hank W. » Mon May 22, 2006 2:29 pm

sinikala wrote:The rule for everyone who wasn't a student ***was*** that if you would drive the car in Finland more than 6 months in a 12 month period, you should register it in Finland..
Magic word is residence. Students were logged in as "temporary" but a "Finnish resident" may not drive a foreign-registered car. Regardless of nationality. A Finn living in Germany can drive his German plates. A German living in Finland may not.... And files here can and will be cross-checked, were' not so "living in the bush" as in the UK, and dealing with the tax office it inverted - its always they are always correct and you are guilty and you have to prove your innocense... So proving you are not a resident when they have you in the system is... hrm... challenging.
Cheers, Hank W.
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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Mon May 22, 2006 2:30 pm

Doesn't matter whath the car is worth in foreign places, its of the price here. Could be another £1500 on top. And in Finland you need Finnish plates to get the car insured (in Finland the car is insured, not the driver).
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

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sinikala
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Post by sinikala » Mon May 22, 2006 5:15 pm

Nickcoy wrote:Cheers for the quick response, I have been back in England for 12 months to finish off my uni course, and I have owned the car for about three months now, I’m not a student anymore and when I go to Finland it is most likely that I will go onto a language course (provided by the government :) I spoke to the Oulu customs office and they told me about some rule that I would be able to bring my car tax free for six months and then after 6 months renew it again, but after this period (12 months) I would then have to take it home or pay the tax :0, just out of interest would anyone know how much this would cost, my car is worth around £1500 and I have read various things about car tax in Finland (which I understand is expensive) Also my insurance covers me for three months outside of the UK, could I get some Finnish insurance to cover me whilst I’m there (is this very expensive?) I don't think your info is to inaccurate at all, it has been quite helpful, kitos

Also something completely unrelated to this topic, I'm going onto one of these intensive language courses (10 months?) After doing one of these courses does this increase your chances instantly of full time employment? (I really want to learn the language but it is bloody hard!!! - not just for work but to speak to people who aren’t native/ English speakers also)

I know that it is quite hard to find work in Oulu (I was very lucky with my student placement), is it much different in places like Tampere, Turku, Helsinki?

One other very random question lol, I want to bring a satellite over from the UK so I can pick up the British channels (Astra 2D) has anyone done this before, or have any info or advice for me on this subject area?
Dealing with last things first - the Astra footprint covers the UK & most of Europe, but we are too far North and East unless you have a 3m dish.

Astra Footprints

Bring a satellite over from the UK :shock: might be a bit costly to park it above Finland and would doubtless piss off millions of UK viewers when their Sky gets cut off. :wink: Seriously, a UK satellite dish will be too small.

Hank answered about the insurance issue... Finnish insurance requires Finnish plates, different system, here the car is insured not the person.
You may find a UK insurer who will insure you to drive abroad as much as you want, an insurance broker like Endsleigh should be able to advise, but they will charge their commission. My brother did this when he was in Germany.

If you've owned the car for just 3 months and move to Finland in the next 3 months, I believe you will have to pay import tax.

How much depends on the car... look here for the latest car tax decisions... look for something similar, it depends on the car, it's age, it's km driven & it's estimated value in Finland, not on how much you paid for it.
Hank wrote:A Finn living in Germany can drive his German plates. A German living in Finland may not.... And files here can and will be cross-checked, were' not so "living in the bush" as in the UK, and dealing with the tax office it inverted - its always they are always correct and you are guilty and you have to prove your innocense...
Personal experience says that you are not quite right, but I'll take the 5th.
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ashish
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Post by ashish » Mon May 22, 2006 11:28 pm

My case:

I have a Finnish residence permit for 1 year, type A, but I don't pay taxes in Finland (i.e. I am not entitled to Kela, I can't get private health insurance in Finland... etc.).

I arrived in Finland 2 weeks ago.

Back home (in Romania) I have a Ford Fiesta (bought in august 2005, in leasing). I paid about 5000 euros advance, and the total cost of the car would be somewhere around 13000 euros. As it is not exactly mine (in leasing) I assumed it can't be considered as a personal belonging.

Do you have any suggestions as to what can I do with the car? What is my best option? Can I drive it here without Finnish plates? If so, for how long? Can I bring it here? Would it be best to sell it?

Thanks,
ashish

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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Mon May 22, 2006 11:57 pm

Finnish resident = Finnish taxes.

leasing car = not owned by you (I doubt the leasing company would let you take it out of the country without paying it off first)

So in other words: what car?
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

ashish
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Post by ashish » Tue May 23, 2006 12:19 am

Thanks, I know you're right... I was just day-dreaming.. :)
Hank W. wrote:Finnish resident = Finnish taxes.

leasing car = not owned by you (I doubt the leasing company would let you take it out of the country without paying it off first)

So in other words: what car?

MTB
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Post by MTB » Fri May 26, 2006 10:39 am

Hi all,
first of all, thanks to Hank for doing such a great job in helping newcomers arrange things here.
So, back in my nonEU country, 3 months ago ia changed my car with another one, which is new and has only about 2000 kilometers. Then i sold the old one, so basically now, i have this new non poluting diesel engine renault car, which i want to take here. I have a residence permit for one year, but i work for a romanian company who receives the money from the finnish partner and then pays me in my romanian banking account-and i can use the money here by the mean of Visa and Mastercard (isn't this globalization?!).
So, in short words, i want my car here! If i could only have the first one, it have had more than 6 month as my belonging, but now... Anyway. i wouldn't change my car if i knew that i'm coming to Finland.

I don't know for now if i stay here more than 8 months. So, even if i pay the taxes, i don't really want to register it here, at least for the moment.
If, at a later time, i will choose to live here permanently, then i will register in Finland as an employee and pay taxes here (including for my car). My residence is A type, valid for one year.

Thanks in advance for any replies, i would like to have some links to whatever authorities might be implied in this thing.

Now i remember one more thing - i've read on this forum that i can drive here for 4 month with my nonEU driving license. When do this time starts counting - from the first day you enter EU? From the first day you enter Finland? (I only have a stamp on my passport from Germany, since there is the place i entered the Schengen space...). But, still nothing to drive here... And i will only plan to bring my car after 3 month (in August).

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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Fri May 26, 2006 10:44 am

Does your non-polluting Renault have an Eu CoC or is it a 'Dacia'?
- And do you know what they do at the inspection station for diesel engines...
- And do you drive so much that you are willing to pay the extra tax on diesel cars?
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

MTB
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Post by MTB » Fri May 26, 2006 10:55 am

It's not Dacia Logan, it is Renault Clio Tricorpse or Symbol or Thalia.
it has a 80 hp 1.5 dci engine. The car is new, bought in March, 2006.
On the renault website, they say the CO2 emissions of this engine are lower than those made by a toyota prius hybrid car.
The car is assambled in Turkey, what is an EU COC?
The old one was a Dacia, gasoline engine.
What they do at the inspection station for diesel engines? The engine is Euro4 ready but is equiped with Euro3 cathalitic converter, so the car is EURO3 overall.
I don't know anything about taxes here.
Still, i don't want to sell the car i bought 2 month ago. And i would like to use it.

It is really strange to have higher taxes for diesel, because:
1.5 dci is not a sport car, not a luxury car, is less polluting than a similar 1.4 gasoline engine (please check the facts on renault website and official documents). The consumption is lower, leading to less comnsumption of petrol resources. The petrol for this engine is easier to produce, so less energy consumption for the process of reffinating brute oil. Why all this? Because in the last 4 years, every major car producer concentrated on developing diesel engines, because gasoline engines basically cannot be improved more, this is due to gasoline chracteristics (less gasoline inputed into cylinder will likely produce uncontrolled detonations, very distructive).
Last edited by MTB on Fri May 26, 2006 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Hank W. » Fri May 26, 2006 11:06 am

EU CoC is a proof the car adheres to Eu standards.
No such paper = no registration. And getting one from Renault in Finland might be difficult. *If**they sell the same car in Finland its easier... if not... ahhhhh... So you need to get the paper.

At inspection they have a "rush test", not very nice if your belts give. If they break the engine its your loss.

Cars not using gasoline have to pay extra tax per weight per year. The break-even point was something like 20.000km a year.

Tax man don't much care what you want, they want, and want, and want, and want... ;)
Cheers, Hank W.
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MTB
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Post by MTB » Fri May 26, 2006 11:28 am

"And do you know what they do at the inspection station for diesel engines... "
it's the same in Romania, i think it is an EU test condition, to make the test at the highest torque for that engine. Still, ECU will cut the power at some 4500-5000 rpm in order to protect the engine, so, if the engine is heated enough, shouldn't be a big problem taking the test.

About EU COC, i think i will manage to get one from the producer, since this car, renault clio 2 tricorpse (which is different than bicorpse only in the fact that it has a trunk) is sold in EU (Hungary, for example) and my warranty is valid to any local renault dealer, i checked the warranty book.

But I want to drive here without registering the car. Is it legal? For how many months? In Romania there are people driving cars registered in Austria, and they drive to there every 6 month or so, in order to respect the laws.
As i said, i just don't know yet if i will stay here more than 8 month to a year. And in summer, i think i can manage without a car (still, it would be nice to have it, to make some trips in this country), but if winter catches me here... other story.
Last edited by MTB on Fri May 26, 2006 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

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sinikala
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Post by sinikala » Fri May 26, 2006 11:30 am

MTB wrote:It is really strange to have higher taxes for diesel, because:
1.5 dci is not a sport car, not a luxury car, is less polluting than a similar 1.4 gasoline engine (please check the facts on renault website and official documents). The consumption is lower, leading to less comnsumption of petrol resources. The petrol for this engine is easier to produce, so less energy consumption for the process of reffinating brute oil. Why all this? Because in the last 4 years, every major car producer concentrated on developing diesel engines, because gasoline engines basically cannot be improved more, this is due to gasoline chracteristics (less gasoline inputed into cylinder will likely produce uncontrolled detonations, very distructive).
It's not strange from the taxman's viewpoint. Diesel cars are more economic, they use less fuel so the taxman makes less tax. So they collect the tax from you up-front when you register the car.

As Hank says, there is a break even point, if you are going to do high mileage (kilometerage sounds strange) then you will benefit.

I was in a similar situation, I replaced my 9 year old car 3 months before I came here. The head gasket blew and the clutch was on the way out, the repair estimate was about the same as the value of the car, so I replaced it with a 2 year old car. Then I was offered a job in Finland ...

The legality of driving on foreign plates is quite clear, though many people avoid it or circumvent it, I took my car in and out of Finland, mothballing it in the UK for a year before bringing it back, it made a huge difference in tax... 66,000 FIM (€11k) was the first estimate vs the €3.5k I eventually paid (for my own damned car!!!).

There are some people who never seem to change over, there is an Italian plate Fiat Panda which I have seen in Pori since mid 2002 (4 years). But if they were ever to get into a crash on foreign plates and didn't have the correct paperwork, I am sure the insurers would use it as an excuse to renege, and it would probably lead to some sort of prosecution.
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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Fri May 26, 2006 12:03 pm

MTB wrote: It is really strange to have higher taxes for diesel, because:
1.5 dci is not a sport car, not a luxury car, is less polluting than a similar 1.4 gasoline engine (please check the facts on renault website and official documents). The consumption is lower, leading to less comnsumption of petrol resources. The petrol for this engine is easier to produce, so less energy consumption for the process of reffinating brute oil. Why all this?
Because THIS IS FINLAND. The land of the intelligent politicians.

They also have "diesel tax" on electric cars and hybrids, and because it is due to weight, guess what....

(though they are making some amendments to the laws, but still...)
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

MTB
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Post by MTB » Fri May 26, 2006 2:08 pm

They also have "diesel tax" on electric cars and hybrids, and because it is due to weight, guess what....
OMFG, only the batteries are around 300 kilos if i remember well...
So, basically gold is cheaper than a battery pack for a hybrid car...


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