# Importing a van to Greece



## ratzakli (May 20, 2012)

Hi all

It's that tricky old problem about bringing a vehicle with you when you move from UK to Greece.

I know that I can go to the consulate in London and get a "Certificate for Domicile Transfer Exemption" so that I won't have to pay any import duty on my furniture and vehicle when I take them over.

However, does anyone know if I am able to take a van across under this exemption or does it only apply to a standard car, like a saloon, hatchback etc? I have 5 dogs so I am thinking of getting an LBW van to use as a private vehicle so they'll all have plenty of room and we can use it as a mini-tearoom when we take them to the beaches. I won't be using it at all for business but I don't want to buy one only to find out we won't be able to take it or, if we can, we'll have to pay tax for it.

We're not planning the move for at least 12 months so we still have time but any help or advice would be very gratefully received.


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## ratzakli (May 20, 2012)

I've sent an email to the Consulate in London to see if they can give any advice. I'll post their answer when they reply.


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## ratzakli (May 20, 2012)

The answer came back today:

"Dear Sir, 
The licence of the car needs to be issued for a private use car.
Kind regards,
From the Consular Office"

I thought they might have been referring to the registration document but there is nothing on that about the classification.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks


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## Jolly Roger (Dec 4, 2011)

Hi Ratzakli
From your name, I am guessing that you will be moving to Kefalonia. The last year or two has seen many people moving back to the UK. This is for many reasons like missing family, health issues and financial difficulties.
One suggestion you might like to consider is to bring your belongings in a UK registered van. There is a good chance of selling it here to someone that wants to take everything back to the UK. If you have difficulty selling it, take it back to the UK and sell it. The costs of doing this can be met by doing a delivery run of goods or animals. There are two charities that are often looking for animal transport to the UK.
Then buy a Greek registered car and save the hassle of re-registering.


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## ratzakli (May 20, 2012)

Thanks Roger

You're right - we are planning to move back to Kefalonia (after 17 years of living back in the UK!) We understand the pitfalls that others seem to experience when they migrate but it's been the opposite for us - we have been spending all of those 17 years just waiting for the opportunity to be able to go back!  

We would actually prefer to keep the van and use it ourselves on the island. We've got five dogs (at the moment) of all shapes and sizes and will no doubt manage to collect one or two more when we're there so a large vehicle would be perfect for us. However, if we did find the hassle of importing one from the UK was too much or too expensive, your idea could definitely be a good fallback plan!

I think I have worked out that the Consulate are trying to say the licence we get for the vehicle when we import it has to be for private use only and they're not referrring to the registration it already has in the UK.


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