# Ballpark Estimate Cost of Importing Old Car



## HarryCat (Aug 30, 2012)

Hello,

we are considering arriving in Portugal with our current car, a very old 998cc Toyota Yaris (year 2000), and matriculated in Iceland.

I know that costs of importing the car are very high in Portugal, but is there a place where I can find a calculator to estimate the cost for a car of this type?

And in case one wants to trash the car instead of registering it once the 6 months have passed, is this possible without first matriculating the car in Portugal?

I know my old car is probably not worth the hassle, but my main problem is that I am basically visiting Portugal for 3 months, almost like a tourist; if I decide to leave, with a car, I can leave easily. Also, until I do not register my residency, I could not purchase another car in Portugal.

Thanks!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Not sure you've grasped the two different ways of importing and matriculating, presume you've checked on cost of shipping?
You could bring car for use whilst your visiting in which case you could Temporarily import (no paperwork or formalities) and use for a maximum of 183 in any 12 month period.

If your intention is to Register as a Resident then providing you meet certain ownership conditions yoiu can import free of ISV or import tax, costs for process vary but without an agent allow €500

When you are a Resident you can import a vehicle and pay import duty simulator here Portal das Finanças
plus you have a few other costs registration, MOT, plates

In both cases your car would pay yearly road tax based on rates for the year of matriculation, Yaris for 2012 would be €65 

Yes you could scrap it and you don't have to be a Resident to buy a car, but you do reguire a Fiscal number and an address to register car to.

Your other consideration is Icelands recquirement to take out of country or scrap


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## jerryceltner (May 15, 2012)

You will also need a Certificate of Conformity. For our Merc I got that from the UK @ £100+vat and for our run around Fiat Scudo which I got here was €100+ Iva @23%. I needed new headlights, the reverse light had to be changed over as it is a right hand drive. You will need a special MOT @ 78 euro. The registration document from the conserviatoria @ 60+ euro and the rest of the stuff that Canoe mentioned. Our old 1996 van was free of import duty as it is a van with no side windows in the back and the circulation tax is only 31 euro whereas the Merc is 702 euro and that's a 2002. We had an agent to do the work for us on the merc and paid no import duty on that which saved us over 15,000 euro so his charges at 495 euro were worth it as it was a lot more complicated with having utility bills, a letter from the British consulate, get Portuguese residency, local Junta etc. etc.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Well at least lights won't apply


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

One other thing, 2000 reg is not considered very old here!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

but only because no salt used on roads so bodies don't rot


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## HarryCat (Aug 30, 2012)

Hello, thanks for all the replies!

Yes, I know I can drive the car for 183 days within a 1 year time if I am not resident and I do not import it; this is exactly how I plan to arrive to Portugal (yep, long trip) and I plan to use the car at the beginning. About the import of the car as a Resident, I have read that the whole process must be completed within 6 months since your entry in Portugal, so one should start right away with it due to the slow bureaucracy involved. But... since I am not even sure I am becoming a Portugal resident yet, that will be a bit tricky.

About buying a car, you said I need the fiscal number - I need to look into this, because at first I won't be registering my fiscal residency in Portugal as I will be still paying taxes in Iceland. If I decide to stay of course, I would register right away. I need to check what involves having a fiscal number as a non resident, but this is something I did not know as well - thank you very much!


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## HarryCat (Aug 30, 2012)

canoeman said:


> but only because no salt used on roads so bodies don't rot


Haha, this is awesome, you won't believe I never thought about this. This explains everything - why the car aged more in 3 years here than 9 in Italy!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

process for importation if Registering for Residence.
You must *start *the process *within 6 months of leaving your previous country of Residence*, but first you *must *register Residence, you cannot import either of the options without being a Resident.
Don't know where you get the idea bureaucracy is slow, if your organized and have the reguired paperwork and documentation you can matriculate very quickly, it's a subject there's a lot of misinformation about. 

There is no catch to a Fiscal number, you don't have to be a resident, as your an EU Citizen? and live currently in Iceland you don't reguire a Fiscal Representative here. and is basic requirement for many things, buying a car, opening a bank account, utilities etc, any tax issues you might have only start on Residency.


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## HarryCat (Aug 30, 2012)

Woah, thank you very, very much.


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