Moving a RHD UK Car to Finland

[Rosamunda]

Funny thing was my UK insurance company went mad because their insurance assessor over here estimated the damage at 12K euros and gave the go ahead because that a fraction of the cars worth here, In the UK it is proberbly only worth about 15K and the insurance company would have written it off!

Yes, but to write it off they would have needed to export it out from the country. Scrapping it here would have required paying the taxes first.

Yep, that happened to a friend of mine whose husband wrecked their car on the way to Tampere airport. The wreck was shipped back to the UK, they wouldn't scrap it up here. They also got a bill for repairs to the crash barrier on the motorway

[StephenRudd]

As a brit who moved to Finland via Germany, we arrived with two cars last year. Neither my wife nor I speak Finnish/Swedish and we moved for what could have been a "short"-term move of 6 months or so. After 9 months it became clear that we are now here to stay for a while longer I introduced the concept of importing our cars to Finland at the Tulli and they went a little ape that we had been in Finland for almost a year without registering or declaring our cars. When I argued that we were in Finland on probationary terms they concurred and everything became relatively simple. The biggest problems that we encountered is that one of our cars, a VW Multivan was apparently "unique" to Finland and it took over 3 months for the cost of the vehicle to be determined. This will also be the case when you try to import a RHD English car - this could lead to a scenario where you are driving a car that is untaxed in either country?

Other things to be aware of - when importing the car you need a special vehicle number that can only be obtained from the manufacturer - this was a pain in the rectum. Both of these problems will be encountered when importing a car from the UK. The cost of importing a car is relatively inexpensive (free) if the car is for personnal use and is of less than a certain value - the car cannot then be sold for 3 or 5 years and cannot be driven by a Finn. Funny stuff - but it works.

[Hank W.]

You got lucky with the Customs. Sometimes they get real anal.

[Rosamunda]

and cannot be driven by a Finn.

Cannot be driven by ANYONE other than yourself... and if you get caught lending your car to someone else you pay the duty/tax full whack plus a fine.

[maxfinland]

I visited Helsinki customs and had no problems at all bringing the car here as a personal item. They wanted bank statements to prove I was living outside Finland and I had to prove I was insured for a year before the date of arrival in Finland. Customs told me I couldnt sell the car for 2 years as I already owned it for 1 year , but they did tell me someone else could drive the car providing I was sat in it at the time.

I was told on the phone by AKE that I have 30 days to complete the registration after the date on the paperwork customs gave me. Does anyone know if this is correct as I have had to wait almost 2 weeks to get it serviced and changed to finnish spec before registering it here?

[bretti_kivi]

30 days to go to katsastus. if they refuse to OK the car, you have another 30 days....

Bret

[maxfinland]

I have finally completed the registration of the car here in Finland.

I recommend the following things from my experience if anyone is planning on moving a car from the UK as a movable item.

I went to the main customs office in Helsinki which were very helpful.
Make sure you have all your paperwork in order. The customs needed proof that the car was insured and owned by myself for at least 6 months before arrival here in Finland and also proof of the date of arrival. I didnt have a ferry ticket to prove this but I had registered at Maistraati which they accepted as proof. I used my UK bank statements as proof of being resident in the UK for the previous year before bringing the car here. I had changed insurance before I moved the car here and I had to get my previous UK insurance company to send proof of insurance , so make sure you have them before you leave.

Check the prices of changing the headlights before you leave. It was a huge expense for me and even with shipping the parts into the UK I probably could have saved a bit of money getting the correct headlights fitted before I left.

I got the local Tapiola Insurance office to write me a letter stating they will insure the car once the registration number is known.

I then arranged for a service and a check that the car would pass the inspection with the local main dealer.

I then took the car to the AKE test centre and they did the Finnish MOT test. The car passed fine but they also required the Variant and Version numbers of the car. They are listed on the UK Registration document but mine had nothing written next to them. If your Registration document doesnt either make sure you get them from the UK dealer before you leave. I had to get mine from the Finnish dealer in a rush due to my UK tax and MOT running out tomorrow hence I had to part with lots of cash for the service ! A good service though from Makelan in Järvenpää and they had faxed copies through within the hour and checked with the AKE test centre for me that they would be accepted.

Also make sure you know where your VIN number is stamped on the car metalwork. Mine was under the rear seat and took a while to find.

All in all it cost just over 1000 € to make the car upto Finnish spec. I could have saved some money if I knew for sure I was going to stay here in Finland. I hope though that my experience will now help other people in the future if they also decide to make Finland their home.

[ancientbriton]

Well, I've read everything there is to read about moving a UK car to Finland and just don't know whether it is financially worth it. I'm moving out in August as my husband, who is Finnish, and I have bought a house there. I'm slightly alarmed at the costs involved and doubly so since we are about to register our motorhome - a large Dethleffs Esprit. I'm now thinking it would be better to get it back here and sell it, but it's been on our drive over there since October. My car is a Fabia 1.9tdi Sport which is cheap to tax here as it's a diesel; it seems that's not the case in Finland.
Any wise thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[dave071061]

Well, I've read everything there is to read about moving a UK car to Finland and just don't know whether it is financially worth it. I'm moving out in August as my husband, who is Finnish, and I have bought a house there. I'm slightly alarmed at the costs involved and doubly so since we are about to register our motorhome - a large Dethleffs Esprit. I'm now thinking it would be better to get it back here and sell it, but it's been on our drive over there since October. My car is a Fabia 1.9tdi Sport which is cheap to tax here as it's a diesel; it seems that's not the case in Finland.
Any wise thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe someone can give you the up to date rules on Camper vans, When I was looking last year both import tax and annual road tax were treated differently for Camper Vans than for cars, But I know there were plans to change that and I don´t know if they already have.

In FInland you pay additional tax for using a diesel but the diesel is then cheaper than petrol so if you are doing above a certain number of KM´s it is cheaper than running a petrol car. However even that is changing as the gap between diesel and petrol is getting less all the time.

[jh72i]

Cannot be driven by ANYONE other than yourself... and if you get caught lending your car to someone else you pay the duty/tax full whack plus a fine.

Does that include family: Finnish wife? And for how long is such a restriction imposed?

Thanks

[Liam1]

Hi
You may just have enough time to actually buy a LHD car insure it etc so that you can bring it as moving goods (as you have gathered it is worth doing this from a price perspective and buying a LHD now would mean that you get the right car for the climate / no steering wheel issues etc). I think it is fairly easy to buy in UK (new and used LHD markets exist - I bought mine this way). I would personally not want to drive a RHD car here as in winter there are enough things to worry about without sitting with a poor view.

There is a tax calculator in the Tulli site so you can see whether it is worth it. As the moving good allowance is 13,xxx euro, if you want a gas guzzler or an expensive car, it may be worth doing. Equally if it is to save €1-2000 and requires you to run a LHD car for 6 months in UK maybe not - all depends on what you want.

One update - diesel prices have just increased dramatically to just below petrol levels and the diesel annual car tax is high so you need to choose a diesel 'cos you love them rather than cheaper motoring.