Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]

You can get the car insured, and u must do that anyhow, for a short period of time (A week, a month etc).

Given ur car is rather expensive, i'd suggest u get it professionally checked by Audi themselves. That's your best garantee. You must book the date well in advance though as they usually are quite busy. A cheaper option would be to get ADAC (the equivalent of the AA in England) to check it for you . That wont be thorough but usually goood enough.

PJ

Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]

Insightful and comprehensive. Thank you.

Ton, with the euro having gained 20% vs the pound and even more vs Zloty, u might be way better off ordering a new car in either currencies.

Now going for "bargain" second hand luxury cars is a bit of an issue. Very few are willing to pay €50K+ on a second hand car cause u never know whether the car has been tinkered with and at that level of money, u would want a full blown garantee from the factory and nobody else. In Germany, most owners who get their new porsches stolen, refuse to take them once they are found, on the ground that the car might have been tinkered with and ask the insurance company to get them a new car instead.

If you are willing to part ways with €65K, u might as well play the exchange rates smartly and get urself a new car.

PJ

Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]


Eu nationals do keep their cars in the UK for years in a row. I know loads of french people in the UK who've been driving their french registered cars for years.

The trick is that the moment EU border control stopped stamping other EU nationals passports, the aforementioned laws became void and obsolete cause that shifted the burden onto the authorities to prove that a car has effectively stayed over 6 months in 12months.

You can be fogiven for thinking that this can be somehow sorted out for the UK is mostly an Island but imagine a place like Luxembourg, right in the Schengen zone, where loads of german, french, dutch and belgian nationals hop in and out for periods of time of various lengths for work and otherwise.

PJ

PJ

Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]

All what you need is a physical address where the authorities can send you the car registration documents. That is a one-off operation. You then have to pay the tax disc on a yearly basis but unlike the UK where u can buy the disc from any post office and simply display it on the windshield, in Germany you receive a bill sent to the car registration address.

The bill is processed like any other tax or liability owed to the authorities. If you don't pay it within the indicated time frames, u get reminders and so forth. However, you are not issued a disc, or anything for that matter, once you settle your tax. The authorities simply update their internal records that u have paid ur car tax. Hence, in a way, the german tax disc is processed more like a parking ticket or council tax.

You can google out the web on how to get a german post box.

My point is, in this new borderless blessed Schengen world, it makes little sense wasting time and money trying to register a car in Poland when you can keep German number plates. EU law says as long as a EU car is properly sorted paperwise and taxwise in its home state, it can drive in all other member states with no restrictions.

This also has huge benefits because (until matters are EU centralised) you can toss all those polish parking tickets and speeding tickets away.

Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]

You can get your new number plates on the spot if you are willing to stand in a queue for about an hour. No particular proof of address is required. You also get to chose any combination of available letters should you wish to.

You then need a physical address to receive the actual car registration documents but then sorting out a letter box for a week or two in Germany is a no brainer for any Pole.

PJ

Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]

Out of curiosity, why don't u simply get german number plates and avoid all the hassle?

It's all Schengen these days and all you've got to do, besides inusring ur car, is making sure ur german tax disc is always up to date.

Last but not least, it's way more class having a German number plate on an Audi A8 4.2l as opposed to an "eastern" pl one (sorry, couldnt resist :-|| ).

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]


and you probably never will.

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]


Don't. He is not worth the trouble.

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]


There. Go on, don't be coy, tell us.

You seem to take the matter deeply to heart. Surely, cant be just a bit of banter on a forum.

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]

Krakowianka & gtd, your moral absolutism sounds like a reaction to a bitter disappointment in a recent relationship.

Anything you might wannna share with us? :)

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]


Don't shoot the messenger. Over 50% (More or less, u can google out the exact figures) of marriages in europe end up in divoce, yet nobody sets about marriage with the firm intention of getting divorced later on.

I was just stating a fact of life.

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]


sweet :)

Life isn't as black or white as you might think though. There is an element of time that eventually wears you out.

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]


Surely, you do know that women reach their prime in their 30s. And if you consider 35 to be old, I take it you are still in your twenties then. Or perhaps even, your teens.

Now that really explains a lot.

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]


hmm. Not handsome, not particularly virile, a failure in life AND a pole..

You really love the bastard.

I wish you good luck, whichever path you decide to follow.

PJ

Love / Moved to Poland to my younger boyfriend, now got sick; he's got a new one [194]

If Madonna couldn't keep Guy Richie, what chances do you have to keep a young (presumably handsome and virile ) pole?

My advice is to ditch the bastard who is obviously using you and move on with your life. You deserve much better.

PJ

UK, Ireland / I have money in UK accounts. How to transfer it to Poland? [10]


Well I guess if he survived the weekend in that harsh and unforgiving polish urban wilderness, he will be just fine by now :-)

Related: Making a one off payment to a Polish account


I would suggest using ukforex I have been using their Australian equivalent for a long time; better exchange rates, low, or no fees... You can now do this at Tesco.. they charge you 3 GBP for the transaction but i dont know how much you can transfer at one go.

It's 750 quid apparently. If the receiving bank is PKO BP in Poland, then you can transfer it through London - but I'd recommend a specialist moneyexchanging outfit. moneybookers seems to be highly recommended!

UK, Ireland / I have money in UK accounts. How to transfer it to Poland? [10]


I doubt this is true. You can transfer money overseas using online banking or via a simple phone call if u've registered for phone banking.

I do this with citibank all the time. Although I must say I absolutely hate their Indian based call centers.

Which bank are you with?

PJ

UK, Ireland / Poles Flee Ailing Irish Economy [18]


Where do you get this lunatic, to say the least, figure from?

PJ

UK, Ireland / I have money in UK accounts. How to transfer it to Poland? [10]

A transfer to your polish account will take 2 days using chaps transfer. In most cases, if they process the transfer in the morning, u get the cash in your polish account the next day.

That is assuming your bank will actually accept to do that for you.

If they don't, my best advice is hop on a plane and go sort yourself out back where u come from.

PJ

News / Why is Tusk still Polish PM? [67]


yada yada yada.

His problem is : He is a Politician. Period.

Will people never learn. It amazes me that some people out there still expect politicians to "deliver" on their campaign promises.

PJ

News / POLAND'S CREDIT CRAZE [34]


Banking is one of the most regulated businesses out there. In the UK, Banks are regulated by the Bank Of England And The Financial Services Authority. In the USA they are regulated by the FED, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and a multitude of regional level regulatory bodies.

On top of that, they've got their internal auditors and the chartered accountants who issue the annual report.

Well, How much more regulation would you like to have ?

Lehmans went down while having a balance sheet of $ 630 billion of assets and $ 600 billions of liabilities. A mere 5% drop in assets value would have wiped out its shares value. This was not hidden info. Its Balance sheet is in the public domain. Everyone knew this.

The problem is not the lack of regulation, the existence of regulations is the problem.

As Ronald Reagan once famously said: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem"

PJ

News / Will economic crisis hit Poland? [38]


The USA has US dollar denominated debt and therefore that's no foreign debt. That's local debt. Local debt can be monetized by the central bank. Thus, increasing the monetary mass and devaluating the currency. That's what most countries used to do before the German principle of stable prices won the day and sound public finance management became the de facto standard.

But most importantly, the USA has the unique advantage of having the de facto international currency of the world. USA debt is as liquid as the dollar itself and is highly in demand. Most central banks keep their dollar reserves in form of american public debt, and thus cheaply financing american borrowing.


Sadly, it's not the Hungarians who decide but their political leaders whose only interest is reaching power and keeping it.

This is not a Hungarian problem. This is a modern problem in all countries. As a politician, you do not access power by promising health care privatisation, education privatisation, drastic defense expenditure reductions and halving pensions benefits. You'd have to keep the current level of spending AND promise more on top.

PJ

News / Will economic crisis hit Poland? [38]


The problem is neither the level of debt nor that of deficit or inflation. The problem is that the credit markets have dried up and therefore FUNDING FOREIGN DEBT (EUR, USD, JPY, CHF..) became literally impossible as nobody is willing to lend.

Hence the countries who've got huge foreign (public and corporates) debts, and little reserves, due to be funded shortly have severe problems.

At the moment, they are all claiming to be in sound conditions. However, you would expect self serving politicians to say that, wouldn't you.

Bur as W. Buffett once said ""You don't know who's swimming naked until the tide goes out".

PJ

News / Will economic crisis hit Poland? [38]

southern, whenever you read things like a country is in crisis, that simply means the country has been living way beyond its means it that its politicians have been throwing money recklessly left right and center. Any country can run a balanced budget and eventually repay public debt but that wont get the politicians any votes.

Ukraine is a case in point. In the early 90s it has virtually no foreign debt and even afterwards when Yushchenko was running the local central bank, he was a model of conservatism and kep external debt under control. As of Oct. 23, 2008; Ukraine has $100 billion in total debts, 80 percent of which is corporate debt. A 53% increase year on year (bloomberg). That basically means Yushchenko has authorised a massive expansion in external debt in the hope of getting political credit for a short term improvement of the economy. It obviously didn't work. Inflation is way beyond 30% and the hryvnia is in free fall.

Now as for Hungary, it has been running huge deficits for years and inflation is endemic. They somehow managed to reign into deficits recently but only just about. Poland, in comparison, has been a model of sound economic management.

Another reason of running into trouble is because emerging market corporates and governments would rather borrow abroad at extremely lower rates compared to their local high rates. Problem is, whereas local debt can be monetized by the central bank, foreign debt has to be funded. Hence the "crisis".

Last but not least, assuming u r russian or a russophile, Russian banks and corporates owe more than $ 400 billion in foreign debt. That's fairly comparable to the government's $ 500 billion reserves. The cynics would say it's rather silly for the gov to lend its reserves to foreign gov (reserves are invested in US bills) and force its own corporates to borrow foreign currency on commercial terms.

PJ

News / Will economic crisis hit Poland? [38]


in 1992 Georges Soros made huge bets against the sterling until Britain pulled out of the exchange rate mechanism and forced John Major to devalue the pound.

The UK is not immune.

But early days, so we all have to wait to see. However, with Gordon Brown hell-bent on borrowing and spending his way out of the recession, this does not bode very well.

PJ

News / Will economic crisis hit Poland? [38]


Early days. A lot of the real figures are hidden under piles of jargon and we may not know the real situation until it is too late.

Problem is a lot of banks, and governments, are so much leveraged that a seemingly small drop in the market could bring them down. Lehman's had assets of about $630 billions and liabilities of about $600 billion, making a net value of $30 billion. Now that is high leveraging as a mere 5% drop in its assets value would wipe out its net value.

The main problem facing countries outside the main currency zones (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF..) is financing short term debt, due up to end 2009.

Everyone is running for hard cash these days but the few who are willing to shoulder debt, would rather have it in one of the above currencies as opposed to zloty or forint, hence the possible need for IMF support.

PJ

Life / Best Sat Nav devices for use in Poland [41]


Fair enough.

Somebody should tell Europcar, and the other car rental companies in the airport, to switch to one of those then.

PJ

Life / Best Sat Nav devices for use in Poland [41]

Krakow, are you on crack?

Its not the model that counts but the map inside. I see no reason why would TT or Garmin buy a low quality map when a higher quality map is available out there.

PJ

Life / Best Sat Nav devices for use in Poland [41]

Ive always used Tom Tom that comes in standard when I rent a car from Europcar. Pretty decent in most urban areas I would say. It might let you down if u r looking for an obscure street in the outskirts.

My major problem with it is how to correctly key in "Aleja Jana Pawla", Warsaw.

As you may expect, there is about 6 of 7 "Jana Pawla" streets or whatever in Warsaw, and for some reason, I always end up in a backwater Jana pawla street 10 miles away from the center, instead of the big boulevard parallel to Marszalkowska.

PJ

News / Polish economy, the US Dollar, the PLN and the Polish real estate bubble. [25]

The zloty, along other emerging market currencies, is being dumped in favour of major currencies such as the euro and the us dollar. Unless Poland joins the euro, the zloty will always be subject to such erratic fluctuations in times of trouble.

If the current crisis deepens, and predictions are that it will, the zloty (forint, ruble, lira, and anything that is not EUR, USD, Swiss Francs or JPY) will tumble even further.

That's one major advantage of being part of the euro: entrepreneurs can focus on the business of producing and making profit within a major trading block without having to worry about future exchange rate fluctuations. Also, investors will not have to "Pull out" (i.e. selling the local currency) in times of trouble since their investment will be EUR denominated.

Had the Italian lira and the Greek drachma been out of the EUR zone at the moment, they would have tumbled as well.

Now why would anyone be against Poland joining the EUR is beyond me..

PJ