buying a car in Croatia

[tamsenresor]

I am an American whose owns property in Dubrovnik. I want to have a car there as well. Does it make sense to a) buy a car in Croatia, b) send a car from the US, or c) purcase a car elsewhere in Europe and drive it into Croatia.

How does one research purchasing and registering a car in Croatia?

[fred]

hi, i have the same questions.
please let me know if you ever received any answer regarding this matter.
thank you,
fred

[JC]

I looked into it and the import + duty price was marginally higher so it made sense to buy locally. Since then there is a new car emmissions tax so the value may be equal if it does not apply to imports.

More importantly, getting your car 'legal' in Croatia is complicated enough if you buy locally (had to queue for six hours with the salesman at the local registry/police office to get my number plate). Cannot imagine what the hassles would be to bring in a non compliant car. How are you going to prove it meets Croatian technical standards unless you get the manufacturer involved?

That said, a number of Croatians I know have bought their mercs from the US so some dealers must have a special arrangement. I guess this would only apply to new cars.

Eventhough my car was brand new it still had to have an MOT. Apparently some brand new cars bought locally (especially the French) sometimes fail this test. At least you can then hand back the keys to the salesman and let him sort it out....

[Peter Ellis]

An important thing to bear in mind if importing is that a car should not be more than five years old from the date of production. This is taken from the chassis number. If the manufacturer had a bad year and the car was stood in a field for a year before first registration, it may be older than you think.

[milrob]

I was advised by our local police station on Vis to drive in my own car (from UK) but to leave it with its UK registration; since they said that the process of transfer to Croation reg was not easy. We considered this but discovered that arranging insurance locally (of foreign reg) was not allowed; and the UK insurers would only cover on the basis of 3 mths cover whilst on holiday.

Our solution is to buy a local banger and place in name of local resident (with his kind agreement!) and insure locally for all drivers.

[Depeche]

Hello,

as you said before, you will wait long in line ups, but its not that complicated... as for the insurance, you received the wrong information.... You can register any international plates with any local insurance company.. EuroHerc etc.. we have been doing it with our Ontario Plates for 11 years.... also have 3 other cars with international plates that i leave there.. you can also get a green card from some of the insurance companies with interantional plates... so its better if you leave your internaional plates with local insurance........ my recommendaitons from experience, you will save money from not doing the yearly registration and getting you car checked, which is just waisting money... your choice... if need more questions answered email me.. [e-mail]