Buying, Registering, Insuring a NEW Car in PL is a NIGHTMARE

so i am buying a brand new car here in PL......what a freaking hassle

i went to the dealer .... found what i wanted.....i had to pay 10% for a deposit....and they would order it.....2 weeks later, it came.

Now the car is here....and i finalized the deal....went to the bank....did the final amount transfer to the dealership

this is where it gets interesting

the dealer is waiting for the money to land in his account..... and then when it is, they need to contact the "importer" who will send some document called at "redbook".....which will be couriered to the dealer from somewhere.

and since its friday morning, and they haven't got the redbook yet, nothing can happen today. The dealer says Monday now, which will turn into Tuesday. If things go the way I think they will.

then i need to take the "redbook" and faktura to the City Hall to do my registration...which will be fun.

i was told that it is on a first come first serve basis.... and waiting in a long line is to be expected.... it could take hours.

They also have the option of making a reservation online, and the earliest I could get in was Oct 21.

There is a Auto Komis near the dealer where there is a branch office of the City Hall, and if i pay 50zl, they can "probably" get things done a bit faster.

then I have to take the completed registration back to the dealer, and get the insurance broker to arrive so I can buy Insurance.

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now i have some questions that I can't get answered anywhere.... and maybe some PL locals can give me some heads up.

I have a work visa for PL in my passport, a contract for a flat, IDP, and just waiting on my work contract, which will follow after my business is set up.

How difficult was is for a NON-EU citizen to get this whole registration process done?

Any loopholes I need to be aware of?

Any more documents that I might need?

any help is appreciated, Thanks

When I registered my (second-hand) vehicle I needed my zameldowanie and because I still didn't have my karta pobytu (at the time) they stamped in my registration booklet that my vehicle registration finished when my 3 month zameldowanie finished. Each time I repeated my 3 month zameldowanie (as my karta pobytu took ages) I had to go back and get my vehicle registration booklet updated.

One gotcha is that from the moment you are the legal registered owner of the vehicle you must have insurance that same day. It is illegal to own a vehicle and not have insurance, even if the car is not on the road. But insurance should be easy to buy - there are brokers in every town centre and I found the cheapest was actually at the post office.

What isn't... ?

Registering a car as a non-EU citizen is a piece of cake. Certainly a hell of a lot easier than dealing with TP or Stoen.

Your registration will be valid for as long as you can legally be in the country (i.e. until your visa expires); when you get a new visa or a Karta Pobytu, you need have the registration extended.

Here in central Warsaw I have never waited more than an hour and most times (i.e. three out of the four) it was less than ten minutes.

Just bring every piece of paper ever given to you by any Polish government office, and every contract you have (job, flat, etc) plus passport, redbook and receipt for the car.

Harry... you lie.

i had spent 6+ hours today getting different info from different ppl in the same office.

My friend and I went to the main office in the city and after a 1 hour wait, we talked to the supervisor of the reg office and he said all i needed was a Faktura, Redbook, Passport with Visa and my flat contract.

As there were no tickets(numbers) for today, my friend and I went on "standby" and then after waiting 4 hours, we got the the reg desk, and because I didnt have a Karta Pobytu (only been here 3 weeks) and I didnt have a "Zgloszenie Pobytu Czasowego" or registration of residence in the city, I couldnt register the car.

Soooooo we waitied another hour for another department to get a small 3x5" paper for my landlord to sign saying that he gives me permission to live in his flat.

isnt that what a flat rental contract is for?? NOT IN POLAND!!!!!

Sooooo my friend called the owner of the flat i am renting to see if he will sign the paper.... and he said NO and hung up on my friend. I found out that this form restricts the owner of the flat when it comes to evicting me if i don't pay the rent. I can pay a whole year of rent if i so desire.

this stupid 3"x5" form is the only thing standing in my way of driving my car.

I will be meeting with the owner of the flat and try to persuade him to sign it. Oh.... and get this... he needs to sign it IN city hall in front of an agent, or we have to do it thru a Notary.

Welcome to Poland.... make sure your pen is full of ink, and your patience is topped up.... you are entering the land of frustration and waiting

Register it in the UK and get a years green card insurance

Would take you 3 days and cost you £38

so it sounds like you didn't have a 'zameldowanie'? i.e. that you weren't registered to live at the flat you were renting.

I told you you needed your zameldowanie in my first post.

This proves you have an address to which the vehicle can be registered.

what a backwards system PL has.....

back home in Canada, it takes no more than 30 minutes to register and insure a car. I had my car insured to my post office box.

I need to convince the owner of the flat to sign that form, or i will need to find a new flat with an owner that is willing to sign it.

But now with PL entering the Schengen Zone, I've heard that this zameldowanie is deemed to be illegal, and will be abolished. Buuuuuuut until it does..... the paper trail will continue.

Yes the landlord should let you do your zameldowanie. Even a hotel is supposed to do it if you are going to stay there for more than a few days.

I can't see zameldowanie being abolished any time soon...

Good luck though!

The days of the maldunek are indeed numbered, the government has announced they intend to phase out the system. I went to get a new one last week (need it for the Karta Pobytu replacement) and they refused to issue me with one because I hadn't brought the notarial deed from when I bought my apartment. I asked how long I'd go to prison for if I didn't have a maldunek, they said I wouldn't. I asked how much I'd be fined if I didn't have a maldunek, they said I wouldn't be.

nauczyciel: I said "Your registration will be valid for as long as you can legally be in the country" and that is 100% true. If you do not have a maldunek, you are not legally here.

And the reason your landlord doesn't want to sign is that most likely that he doesn't want the tax office knowing that he's renting out the flat because he doesn't declare the cash he gets from that! Either that or he can not legally rent out the flat (perhaps because he's renting it from the city himself and can not sublet).

well.. he signed it. he was concerned about what it meant. but after i explained it, and his real estate agent said it wont affect him in any way, then it was fine. He has the permit to rent out the flat. He had to produce it and the forms that he is the owner of the flat.

Anyyyyyy wayyyyyys.. its all done and i'm driving finally :)

Apr 22, 09, 20:24 - Thread attached on merging:
Registering and insuring a used car in Poland

Hello all,

Let me first introduce myself shortly as I am new to this forum. My name is Arthur and I am a 23 year old student from the Netherlands. I will be attending the University of Warsaw for the semester starting October next.

I have had a fascination with Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states since high school and this really is a dream come true. I have visited Poland and some of the other Eastern European countries before and I really like it there.

Enough chit-chat my question as the subject suggests is what is exactly needed to register a used car in Poland. From what I have gathered so far it is:

-Identifiable place of residense for a period longer than three months, I know that in Germany for example it is possible to use a postal box, would this be valid as well?;

-Residense permit (my EU passport should be sufficient right);

Now I was looking at some websites and I found a company in the Czech Republic that would handle all the paperwork and help you sort out what you specifically need for an x amount of money. Is anybody aware of such a company in Poland?

Also here in the Netherlands we have an authority that deals with the registration and checking of vehicles, much like the Department of Motor Vehicles in the United States. I was wondering if there is a Polish Department of Motor Vehicles and if they have a website (preferably in English as you might have figured, my Polish is a little rusty) where all the rules and regulations concering driving and owning a motor vehicle in Poland are explained.

Thanks in advance to anybody that can help me even a little further.

Kind regards,

Arthur

Somebody posted some really usefull information on this very site about exactly what you need to do to drive a used car in Poland.....have a search around....

Thanks a lot! Good info.

SERIOUSLY POLAND, IF THIS COUNTRY DONT CHANGE THE WAY THEY DO IN OFFICES, INVESTOR, BUSINESS PEOPLE, DONT WILL INVEST A ZLOTY IN THE COUNTRY, SO PEOPLE WILL BE AFRAID TO MAKE BUSINESS AND THEY WILL LOOK MAKE BUSINESS AND ANOTHER COUNTRY LETS DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

In this respect - no. You'll need to be registered in Poland in order to register a car, and the car registration will only last as long as you've got a residence permit for. The matter is a doddle for EU citizens, with the problem of needing your landlord to agree to your registration in the property. This is not such a formality - many will refuse for tax related reasons. Given that you'll only be here for a semester, I'm not even certain that they'll grant a 5 year residence permit.

Can I ask why you wish to register a used car here in the first place? They'll likely be cheaper from Holland...

Because cars are a lot cheaper in Poland, plus Polish plates get less attention from people you don't want attention from. I also want to drive through Russia this summer, and I learned during my travel through Eastern Europe that Dutch licence plates attract just too much attention.

You are talking about a 5 year residence permit, but I read somewhere that you needed to show an address and a contract for at least 3 months somewhere. There should be a lot people that are there for half a year to a year that should be able to purchase and register a car. This just can't be impossible, right? I will contact the Polish ambassee here this week and see if they have any more information.

Thanks for the reply!

Steal one.....and don,t bother with the registration and insurance.....

It's not impossible, but they linked car registration to the registration of the individual - if you're only in Poland temporarily, then the car registration will also be similarly temporary. It's a strange system, but it's related to the insurance setup - if you aren't registered here, then they don't know where to find you if you do break the car insurance regulations. For that reason, you'll only get the car registered for as long as you're legally registered in Poland.

Ok, well that's not really a problem. I will either export the car or sell it before I go back to Holland again. Thanks for clearing that up. I know that this is a hassle, I have given myself exactly one month to arrange the car. I will have a place starting July 1st and a friend is flying on August 1st to go to Russia. I know it is a tight schedule, but there is just no other way. I will try to arrange as much as possible before I go there.

Thanks again for the quick replies. I am really looking forward to coming to Poland.

Arthur

I would be *very* careful if I were you with this plan. You'll have to obtain your 3 month local registration (have you confirmed that your landlord will register you at the property? many, many won't!) and then get the car registered, combined with transferring the insurance. Given the speed of Polish offices, it's no certainty that you'll get the papers in time. Then you'll have the problem of getting Russia to accept the 3 months vehicle registration - this is by no means certain.

Incidentally, the price of cars are higher here than in the UK - are Dutch prices really that high? This blog post is pretty comprehensive.

The problem doesnt lie in getting insurance, it lies in claiming when sth happens.
I had an accident where no other car was ivolved. Basically the clamp on the bonnet malfunctioned and the bottet came up and smashed the windscreen and dented the bonnet. I bought fully comp insurance for incidents liek this. I understand i could not claim the full amount for the windscreen, it says so in the policy but they are also claiming i cnat claim for the bonnet and the bump resulting from this incident cos there was no other car involved.

I worked as the manager of the claims department in Admiral insurance UK and I know that they wouldnt even try this on.

I have been to cpourt and apparently my case is being 'processed'

Damn this country