Buying car imported from Czech republic!!

[Mossyvet]

Hi,

Unusual one here I know.
I'm moving abroad for a few years and want to buy a left-hand drive car as a run-around. I have been in contact with a Czech chap who is selling his car here. He has scanned me some docs (in Czech) which purport to show that he is the owner of the car.
Does anyone know how I could be sure that this car is "straight-up"? i.e. that he owns it and it's not stolen somewhere etc.
Risky I know but price is decent, and he hasn't yet paid VRT, which suits me as I'll be bringing it directly abroad.

Thanks,
M.

 

[Leo]

Is it not illegal to sell a car here without first registering it? I'm open to correction on that one.

Personally, I wouldn't touch it. Too many possible complications.
Leo

 

[Caveat]

I'd be hard pushed to even 'import' an English car personally.

Like Leo, I wouldn't go near it - maybe it's absolutely fine and the bureaucracy etc might be relatively painless (I doubt it though) but it's just not worth the potential hassle for me.

Is it not illegal to sell a car here without first registering it? I'm open to correction on that one.

That's what I thought too.

 

[mathepac]

... I wouldn't go near it ...

+1
The car has not been imported from Czechland If it's still registered there. That means you haven't got and can't get a registration certificate in your name to export it to where-ever you are going, therefore you will never have proof of ownership.

I wonder what its like to have customs authorities in several countries upset... ?

 

[Frank]

go to germany and buy a nice big autobahn muncher.

They tend to look after there cars too.

A nice classic M5 maybe. Mmmmm

 

[Vinnie_cork]

go to germany and buy a nice big autobahn muncher.

They tend to look after there cars too.

A nice classic M5 maybe. Mmmmm

I'd buy it in the county I'd be moving to if I were you, Or as Frank says Germany, They love their cars here in Stuttgart anyhow, lots of nice Porsches about.

 

[Paulone]

The legalities of buying a non-irish reg car like this are a lot thornier than they seem. You can of course part with your money and the seller may well be the legit owner (crash course in Czech needed for absolute certainty on that one), but you may not be able to drive the car.

You would need to look up the rules they have in Czech Rep regarding non-Czech people owning and driving Czech-reg cars. I'd suggest you may well need your residency sorted before you can do a lot of things - including becoming the registered owner of a car.

Don't assume your Irish car insurance will cover you to drive a Czech vehicle. Our car insurance - even comprehensive - is extremely restrictive and you would need to be 100% with that before you take to the road.

It remains to be seen about arranging Czech insurance, particularly if you're not sure about the Czech equivalents of tax and NCT and whether or not the car is straight in that regard.

IMO, I think you would be safer either doing without a car over there until you know you can buy one in the certainty that you can legally drive it or take your own car from here. You could either bring it back to sell when you know you can buy and drive a native vehicle legally or else import the car - personally importing your own car is possible and shouldn't be hectically expensive.

If you take your own car, a chat with your insurance company will be required to organise extended foreign travel cover and you'll need to make sure the Irish NCT and tax don't expire while the car's away or else it'll cause road legality issues anywhere in Europe.