Buying and owning a car in Europe as a non-European

[Joct]

Normally like to contribute before asking for help. It was not possible in this case, so I thought signing up for the Mentor group was best.

I'm looking to buy and use a car throughout Europe. I have been a permanent traveller for over 14 years. I'm now ready to spend more time wandering through Europe, rather than just staying in one place for 1-3 months and not seeing the surrounding areas. Long term plan is to find a base, although that's a separate bunch of issues for a permanent traveller.

I know a few threads that cover some parts of a non-European person buying and using a car in Europe. None cover my situation. The threads I have read (plus the various external links):

• Purchasing and registering cars in Germany
• Registering a supercar somewhere in Europe
• How to buy a car as a non-resident in the EU
• Buying a car in Europe with a offshore bank account
• Buying a 100k EUR car in Europe

Background:

• Wish to buy an older classic type car at maybe 10-30 years old.
• I enjoy cars and driving, and it's about the journey and the destination.
• Do not have a European residency or citizenship.
• Enter the Schengen zone on the 90/180 visa exemption and fine to go in and out as required.
• Usually, stay no more than three months in any location.
• Some time will be spent outside Europe without the car.
• I don't like overly complicated setups if there is a simple option as well.

Issues I see it:

• Owning/registering the car without a local address.
• Insuring the car for long term travel throughout Europe.
• Storing the car when I'm elsewhere and avoiding having to import it to a country unless I return it to the country where it is owned.
• If I have to return for the annual MOT/safety check, I'd prefer a country not on the edge of Europe, although more of a want than a need.

Have considered so far:

• Andorra MT/Tourist registration - doesn't work because the car is older than 5 years.
• Short term leasing - don't think this works because of the age and type of cars.
• Use a friend's address - don't have a friend I could use.
• Germany export plates - at 12 months, not long enough, although maybe a short term option. Downsides?
• Gibraltar - possible, although not sure about the age of the car. Link to more information?
• Bulgaria - have looked at the Bulgaria Plates website, and it seems to tick the boxes. Haven't seen many write about doing it through them.
• UK - not an option for buying and registering. However, I believe a non-UK car can be there for 6 months without having to import, so there is a possibility for the storage. Albeit a tad inconvenient.

Appears the company and then lease/rent to me personally is the most attractive option. Do I need the lease/rent, or can I drive the company asset? Can this be done in other countries as easily? Montenegro, maybe?

 

[Joct]

In my haste to show that I can use the search function, perhaps I went too far. Let's make it more simple.

What is the best way for a non-European resident to own and register a car in Europe?

 

[Mr Gus]

Where in Europe do you plan on driving?

 

[Joct]

Where in Europe do you plan on driving?

The quick answer is everywhere. I have the luxury of being able to do this over a long period of time. Have spent time in about 20 countries so far and happy to go back and see more of each. Plus the others I haven't visited yet.

 

[0cca]

Given your situation, your inclination towards a company ownership setup might indeed be your best option. You can establish a company in a favorable jurisdiction, then have this company own the car. As you've mentioned, leasing the car from your own company is a common arrangement.

One possible jurisdiction is Estonia with its e-Residency program. It's known for its simplicity, even for non-EU residents. Your company could own the car, and you could lease it. However, it's important to understand that this doesn't automatically give you residency rights, so your visa situation would still be the same.

Bulgaria, as you mentioned, is another option. It's relatively easy and cheap to set up a company there. As you've found, the Bulgarian Plates website seems to offer a complete solution.

For Montenegro, the process is also quite straightforward. However, the car will need to pass a technical inspection in Montenegro before it can be registered.

No matter which jurisdiction you choose, there are two important points to consider:

1. You need to make sure that you're properly insured to drive the car all across Europe. Insurances vary widely by country, and what's covered in one might not be covered in another.
2. As a non-resident, you're usually allowed to drive a foreign-registered vehicle for up to 6 months (in a 12 month period) in most countries before you have to register it locally.

Another grey option would be registering the car in Ukraine..

 

[bisk]

The easiest solution is to talk to a car rental company. Not the biggest ones but some between small and medium size. You can draw up an agreement to buy, rent and sell it. Rental company can order a tow truck and take your car to wherever in Europe you land. They can insure the car and store it when you're out of Europe.

 

[Don]

Given your situation, your inclination towards a company ownership setup might indeed be your best option. You can establish a company in a favorable jurisdiction, then have this company own the car. As you've mentioned, leasing the car from your own company is a common arrangement.

One possible jurisdiction is Estonia with its e-Residency program. It's known for its simplicity, even for non-EU residents. Your company could own the car, and you could lease it. However, it's important to understand that this doesn't automatically give you residency rights, so your visa situation would still be the same.

Bulgaria, as you mentioned, is another option. It's relatively easy and cheap to set up a company there. As you've found, the Bulgarian Plates website seems to offer a complete solution.

For Montenegro, the process is also quite straightforward. However, the car will need to pass a technical inspection in Montenegro before it can be registered.

No matter which jurisdiction you choose, there are two important points to consider:

1. You need to make sure that you're properly insured to drive the car all across Europe. Insurances vary widely by country, and what's covered in one might not be covered in another.
2. As a non-resident, you're usually allowed to drive a foreign-registered vehicle for up to 6 months (in a 12 month period) in most countries before you have to register it locally.

Another grey option would be registering the car in Ukraine..

Check Estonia:
Setup a non-profit association stating its purpose in the articles of association as providing driving experience to its members.
Register the car in the name of the non-profit.
Bonus: no corporate tax, and restrictions to engage in profit generating activities
Everything can be managed digitally
Note that a non-profit cannot distribute dividends
Vehicle registration is soon about to become the easiest in the whole world: Estonia to launch world’s first fully digital vehicle registration system - e-Estonia

 

[Joct]

Given your situation, your inclination towards a company ownership setup might indeed be your best option. You can establish a company in a favorable jurisdiction, then have this company own the car. As you've mentioned, leasing the car from your own company is a common arrangement.

One possible jurisdiction is Estonia with its e-Residency program. It's known for its simplicity, even for non-EU residents. Your company could own the car, and you could lease it. However, it's important to understand that this doesn't automatically give you residency rights, so your visa situation would still be the same.

Bulgaria, as you mentioned, is another option. It's relatively easy and cheap to set up a company there. As you've found, the Bulgarian Plates website seems to offer a complete solution.

For Montenegro, the process is also quite straightforward. However, the car will need to pass a technical inspection in Montenegro before it can be registered.

No matter which jurisdiction you choose, there are two important points to consider:

1. You need to make sure that you're properly insured to drive the car all across Europe. Insurances vary widely by country, and what's covered in one might not be covered in another.
2. As a non-resident, you're usually allowed to drive a foreign-registered vehicle for up to 6 months (in a 12 month period) in most countries before you have to register it locally.

Another grey option would be registering the car in Ukraine..

I figured it would probably be a technical inspection as part of the import/registration process for most of them and surprised that some might not require one. Just another thing to consider with buying an older car.

With insurance I might have to look at something reasonably wide-ranging and then deal with the exceptions as they arise. Not having a set itinerary allows me to be flexible.

Kicking myself I didn't go a bit more east when I was in Moldova back in 2019. Might give Ukraine a pass at the moment!

Check Estonia:
Setup a non-profit association stating its purpose in the articles of association as providing driving experience to its members.
Register the car in the name of the non-profit.
Bonus: no corporate tax, and restrictions to engage in profit generating activities
Everything can be managed digitally
Note that a non-profit cannot distribute dividends
Vehicle registration is soon about to become the easiest in the whole world: Estonia to launch world’s first fully digital vehicle registration system - e-Estonia

I did the Estonia e-Residency program a number of years ago and let it expire last year. I'd seen too many issues with local banking. Seems the banks didn't like the idea as much as the government. Granted, that was a while ago and may have changed. The ease with dealing with the administration is a definite plus and might have to revisit to gauge the current situation.

The easiest solution is to talk to a car rental company. Not the biggest ones but some between small and medium size. You can draw up an agreement to buy, rent and sell it. Rental company can order a tow truck and take your car to wherever in Europe you land. They can insure the car and store it when you're out of Europe.

From what I have researched, this won't work for older cars. Although I was only looking at the well known rental companies. Will look for a few of the lesser known ones.

 

[0cca]

Kicking myself I didn't go a bit more east when I was in Moldova back in 2019. Might give Ukraine a pass at the moment!

If you don't have a problem going east at the moment, then Lithuania would also be a suitable alternative to Ukraine. At least as long as you don't obviously have anything to do with Russia.

 

[Joct]

If you don't have a problem going east at the moment, then Lithuania would also be a suitable alternative to Ukraine. At least as long as you don't obviously have anything to do with Russia.

No connections to Russia, so will look at Lithuania too. Thanks.

 

[Don]

I did the Estonia e-Residency program a number of years ago and let it expire last year. I'd seen too many issues with local banking. Seems the banks didn't like the idea as much as the government. Granted, that was a while ago and may have changed. The ease with dealing with the administration is a definite plus and might have to revisit to gauge the current situation.

You don't actually need a local bank account and can as well open an EMI account. You can even operate without a bank account using cash or crypto.

Benefit of Estonia is that if you plan to rent the car from the legal entity to yourself, you can choose a legal structure that does not require the submission of financial reports to keep things easy. Estonia also does not require submission of corporate tax returns or audit in certain cases, so your costs can be limited to accounting, which you can do yourself, and is almost not necessary as you don't need to submit it anywhere and can pay zero tax.

If you want to use car for free then non-profit organisation is suitable as you want to avoid the risk that the use of car is considered a fringe benefit and thus be deemed taxable.

What can be better than zero tax combined with zero reporting?

 

[Joct]

You don't actually need a local bank account and can as well open an EMI account. You can even operate without a bank account using cash or crypto.

Benefit of Estonia is that if you plan to rent the car from the legal entity to yourself, you can choose a legal structure that does not require the submission of financial reports to keep things easy. Estonia also does not require submission of corporate tax returns or audit in certain cases, so your costs can be limited to accounting, which you can do yourself, and is almost not necessary as you don't need to submit it anywhere and can pay zero tax.

If you want to use car for free then non-profit organisation is suitable as you want to avoid the risk that the use of car is considered a fringe benefit and thus be deemed taxable.

What can be better than zero tax combined with zero reporting?

Thank you for the extra information. The zero reporting is definitely appealing, as is the zero tax.

Perhaps I should have renewed the e-Residency rather than let it expire. It did seem more like a complete reapply rather than a renewal so no extra work to get it going again.

 

[peter taradash]

WE had your problem some years back. Solutions like setting up a company to
own a car were both impractical, illegal and well . . .crazy expensive - we were going to do that
and the costs were around $10,000 a year with a Liechtenstein Foundation.

Basically, In Europe you need to be a legal resident somewhere in the EU to be able to own a car.
Same to get insurance, the premiums of which are based partly on where you live.

If you want a rationale, it is necessary for govts to have an address on people where they
can send the traffic tickets, These days, if you get a ticket in any EU country
(and you will get a few!) you will get the bill at your registered address.
If you don't pay, the cops will visit and maybe impound the car.
As a tourist you can always rent a car. They will be almost new.
The cheapest models would be about $50 a day
which works out around $1500 a month.
Ok for short trips, but this doesn't seem to fit your needs.
Leasing a car is possible, but we could only do that with new, relatively expensive cars.
So what's a solution? I have a 15 yr old very comfy & reliable for long trips
Hyundai Sonata-low mileage & in almost pristine condition.
If it stayed in the name of the present owner, you could for all practical purposes, own it,
get it insured in your name,
and use it in and out of the EU all you want. Storage when you are not using it,
could be arranged. Price would be a one-time $4,000. You'd still have to be responsible for traffic
or parking tickets which tend to be very expensive in Europe, like starting at $150!
I don't know if this comment would be considered forbidden advertising
on this site, so I will just mention it without my contact info, ...if the admins in their judgment want to
put you in touch with me, that's fine. But the solution for you (without me!) is to find a friend in the EU who has a
suitable car at a suitable price and make a deal. Peter T a/k/a "Grandpa"

 

[JimBeam]

I think that Bulgaria should be the right place to do it.
Even creating a rent-a-car company that will own the car and than rent it out to you for $10/day would work just fine.

It can also get you a permit to live in Bulgaria (and basically in the whole EU) and after 5 years living there you can even apply for citizenship so I think that's the best deal out there.
It also comes with lowest CIT in Europe (10%) and also insurance is cheaper there compared to other countries.

 

[Joct]

WE had your problem some years back. Solutions like setting up a company to
own a car were both impractical, illegal and well . . .crazy expensive - we were going to do that
and the costs were around $10,000 a year with a Liechtenstein Foundation.

Basically, In Europe you need to be a legal resident somewhere in the EU to be able to own a car.
Same to get insurance, the premiums of which are based partly on where you live.

If you want a rationale, it is necessary for govts to have an address on people where they
can send the traffic tickets, These days, if you get a ticket in any EU country
(and you will get a few!) you will get the bill at your registered address.
If you don't pay, the cops will visit and maybe impound the car.
As a tourist you can always rent a car. They will be almost new.
The cheapest models would be about $50 a day
which works out around $1500 a month.
Ok for short trips, but this doesn't seem to fit your needs.
Leasing a car is possible, but we could only do that with new, relatively expensive cars.
So what's a solution? I have a 15 yr old very comfy & reliable for long trips
Hyundai Sonata-low mileage & in almost pristine condition.
If it stayed in the name of the present owner, you could for all practical purposes, own it,
get it insured in your name,
and use it in and out of the EU all you want. Storage when you are not using it,
could be arranged. Price would be a one-time $4,000. You'd still have to be responsible for traffic
or parking tickets which tend to be very expensive in Europe, like starting at $150!
I don't know if this comment would be considered forbidden advertising
on this site, so I will just mention it without my contact info, ...if the admins in their judgment want to
put you in touch with me, that's fine. But the solution for you (without me!) is to find a friend in the EU who has a
suitable car at a suitable price and make a deal. Peter T a/k/a "Grandpa"

I would have thought tickets would be sent to the address for the company if that is the owner. How would other company owned vehicles for fully operational businesses deal with this situation? Perhaps I am mistaken.

Having spent plenty of time in Australia, speeding infringements are nothing new. 3km/h over the limit will get you a ticket sometimes.

As I wrote in the opening post, I enjoy driving. Not sure a Hyundai Sonata will satisfy that need. A fine car for commuting, perhaps, just not for my needs.

I think that Bulgaria should be the right place to do it.
Even creating a rent-a-car company that will own the car and than rent it out to you for $10/day would work just fine.

It can also get you a permit to live in Bulgaria (and basically in the whole EU) and after 5 years living there you can even apply for citizenship so I think that's the best deal out there.
It also comes with lowest CIT in Europe (10%) and also insurance is cheaper there compared to other countries.

Another citizenship might be a nice bonus. Permanent travellers don't seem to fit in well, as we want to spend more than the tourist visa time in a country and not full time. Many of the paths to citizenship (or even permanent residence) require spending more time in the country than I wish. That said, I'm not familiar with the requirements for Bulgaria, and it may be different.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

• Wish to buy an older classic type car at maybe 10-30 years old.

Junk that will not be allowed the enter in any restricted area and will always break down. Anyway some rental companies/car clubs do offer these models.

• I enjoy cars and driving, and it's about the journey and the destination.

Then use a modern car. There are plenty of luxury cars rental companies around Europe.

• I don't like overly complicated setups if there is a simple option as well.

You are making your life unnecessarily difficult on the wrong assumption that an old piece of junk (“classic car”) is better/more fun than a modern car.

 

[Joct]

Junk that will not be allowed the enter in any restricted area and will always break down. Anyway some rental companies/car clubs do offer these models.

Then use a modern car. There are plenty of luxury cars rental companies around Europe.

You are making your life unnecessarily difficult on the wrong assumption that an old piece of junk (“classic car”) is better/more fun than a modern car.

Perhaps classic car was the wrong term. I merely wanted to eliminate, upfront, leasing a new car through one of the numerous programs available or others like the Andorra option that only works for cars under 6 years old. I hadn't looked at the car club idea, so thank you, I will add it to the list.

I think we are looking at it from two very different points of view. I don't consider all old cars to be junk and all modern ones to be better. Hence I am willing to make things more difficult to get more enjoyment later. Sorry I wasn't clear with the overly complicated setup wording and meant in relation to the ownership structure, rather than buying process.

Yes, one of my biggest concerns is possible emissions problems, and if there are some places I can't go, I will deal with it at that time.

I'm not assuming anything about old cars. In addition to plenty of one or two thousand kilometre trips in older cars, I've had great trips in a 14 year old car doing 7000km along the east coast of Australia and a 11500km trip from Hawaii to Florida (not including the distance on the ship) in a 20 year old car. A couple of issues with the car in Australia, and not a problem with the one in the USA. I'm currently 4000km into a trip in that now 26 year old car in the US. Except for the lack of luggage room because of the modifications I made, everything else is great.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

There's this thing called progress and it's undeniable that modern cars are better under all aspects than old ones.
Is a Miura more romantic than a Revuelto? No doubt. Is there anything that a Miura can do better/faster/more safely/more comfortably than a Revuelto? No.
If you consider an Aventador instead of a Miura, you even lose the romantic aspect, and you just compare an old car with a new one.
Same is valid for any other model and brand.

Moral of the story: if you want to make a long trip and arrive tired and deaf at destination, rent a Lambo/Ferrari. If you want to arrive in decent shape, rent an S Class/A8.
The allure of rental cars lies in the freedom to handle them without mercy.

 

[Joct]

I don't think either of us will convince the other. I'll admit I am in the minority because I would rather drive half a day on back roads and travel quarter of the distance, rather than a full day on a motorway. My older 911 Carrera has all the sound deadening and carpets removed and the other 911 GT3 comes from the factory with reduced sound deadening. Both have quite hard suspension and low ride height. That's why I don't drive full days. You are right, it's just too tough.

Plus, very difficult to find manual transmission cars these days. New 911s are too big and don't interest me.

 

[EliasIT]

Usually you have to register the car where you live, otherwise I would buy the car in Germany after getting an address there and keep it that way. They are the cheapest with cars in Europe, but it is not legal!