Law / Clocking cars and importation to Poland [47]

You pay 2% tax when buying a car in PL.

Importing a car:
Get the car to Poland
First up is an inspection, pierwszy badanie techniczne w kraju - 98zl
Notarized translation of the car's document (title and registration), from 100-180zl
Duty - akczya: 3.8% of the car's value if the engine is under 2.0l, 18.6% if over
Then you need a piece of paper (VAT25) that states you do not owe VAT - 160zl
My favorite: the 500zl "recycling fee"
Finally you register the bastard, about 270zl
Then you buy insurance

Edit: there is alot of paprwork you need to amass, plus filling out the correct forms, knowing what you should write down, what you shouldnt, and a lot of snags that can drive you insane. all in all, not rushing, it takes me about 2-3 weeks to register a car.

bTW, I'd still recommend doing it. It raises the odds of you not getting burned. Just never buy from a Turk in DE or NL. There are some honest sellers in Poland, its not like all the cars are crap, but maintenance wise its pretty iffy. Regular oil changes are rare. Paperwork, receipts and a service history even more so.

On the other hand, selling a car is also a nightmare, Im selling my Golf right now and its gotten so bad that Ive started to hate Poles. Most buyers do not fathom the concept that cars actually cost money, and if they do, then it has to be half of what your asking. "Why so much, half of the Golfs on Allegro are half your price, and they look so shiny and have more options and only 100000km!". These people literally want to be cheated.

Life / Let`s compare prices of services and products in Poland [359]


Because I was an idiot and didnt know the ABCs of driving with a turbo. After driving at highway speeds or very sprited driving always wait before before switching off your engine, I heard from 20 seconds to one minute. You should do this even if you dont have a turbo. Anyway, if the engine is hot hot hot and turned off, the turbo literally cooks itself since you killed any oil circulation. Do it a few times and bye bye turbo.

Turbos are great great devices if you want power without killing fuel efficiency. The push for turboing most cars today imho is a good decision. I honestly prefer superchargers, but parasitic drag is a major issue.


This is a tricky issue. Technically, there is no law saying you must use winter tires. And the police can't give you a ticket for it. But from what I heard is that if the police do stop you, expect them to measure your tread depth and check if its more than 1.6 mm.

Life / Let`s compare prices of services and products in Poland [359]

I have no problem with paying top dollar for good service. The problem is, as you should know, paying a high price rarely equates good quality or service, in Poland, and anywhere pretty much.

Ripped off, let's see. This was when I was still clueless with cars but drove a lot, like 30-40k a year. Went in to one place to get my rotors and pads changed. Got the quote with parts, they were expensive but I said ok as they were quick and professional (-sounding). Six months later the brake check light came on, why? My pads were almost gone, turns out they didnt do anything. The next garage that did replace them accidently snipped my brake pad sensor cable and didnt tell me about it.

Next. Went to get a turbo problem sorted out. The guy said it needed to be overhauled. 600zl. Drove the car for a month until my turbo blew up (that was my fault). When we took the turbo out nothing was replaced, no sign of him even taking it out. Turns he just hooked it up the computer, fiddled with the air/fuel mixture and thats it.

My cousin went to one garage to check why her ABS light was on. They reamed her good. First it was all the ABS sensors. Nope. Then the computer. Nope. Then they changed the ABS pump. Nope. Then the god damn brake lines. Nope. I thin they even changed her wheel bearings. I think she dropped 3-4k. Light is still on. She went to another mechanic, I dont remember what it was but it cost 50zl.

Ive been to over 30 mechanics in Wroclaw. Almost every single one is a liar or cheat or slips up somehow with some major issue. I got so pissed off that I bought a set of tools and jack and started learning how to do things myself and finally met two mechanics through friends of friends. Now Im a happy camper.


No, you really need real winter tires in Poland and in Europe cause uh... people drive when it snows. In the US, everyone stays home. And in some EU countries its the law punishable by a really hefty fine. And idiots who think 4 wheel drive and all seasons give them an excuse to fly when its snowing or icy... enjoy your accident.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


Because that's really the only ad board in Biskupin. The second area is around the second tram stop, a lot of adverts are put up next to the post office and the nearby Spolem. Also the majority of folk that live here are elderly, so the internet is unheard of and any real estate agent is looked on with suspicion.

Life / Let`s compare prices of services and products in Poland [359]


A late reply, but a reply nonetheless.

I got ripped off a few times. Everyone I know has gotten ripped off at the mechanics. Of course you find out well after the fact. If you haven't, your either living in denial or very very very lucky. I said f this and bought a bunch of tools and started fixing things myself now.

USA, Canada / What do people in Poland think about American cars? [44]

Well uhh, no VAT, akcyza or duty. Of course thats if he's a citizen which Im doubting.

USA, Canada / What do people in Poland think about American cars? [44]


mienie przesiedlencze

USA, Canada / What do people in Poland think about American cars? [44]


Just find some Polish American "chick", Americans by nature are more slutty so you'll get the best of both worlds, duh.

Law / Best inexpensive new car? [23]


Whys that? I used to hate French cars but the newest offerings by Citroen, Renault and Peugeot are not bad at all, if we're talking about Citroen (and I have the most experience with them) the new C3 surprised me (although Kia and Hyundai hands down beat it in terms of options, service, warranty), and the C5 was wow with that special suspension and 2.0L diesel. Im going out on a liimb here but I'd recommend them over anything any German or Japanese manufacturer is putting out in this price range.

Law / Best inexpensive new car? [23]


Not quite. Buying a new car for 30k is an f'ing joke. You're just not in on it. What are you, 17? Yo yo yo, wujek zbigniew gonna hooks me up with mad tyte wheels yo

50k minimum for a new car, and then I'd recommend a Citroen C3, Kia Ceed or Hyundai i30, they go for around 60k+ but you might be able to find one that got damaged while in transit. If you dont plan on keeping it for a long time then also look at former test drive cars.

News / Gangland-style shooting in Wrocław? [12]


No. There was a shooting a few years ago. Who cares.

The media is hyping the event as the start of some gangland turf war. It's not. It's a bunch of pumped up wannaba gangsters.

USA, Canada / Cheap Shipping to Poland from the US? [5]

There are dozens of Polish-American companies that ship from the US to PL. The cheapest is by sea, should run you about $50, but it's slow, about 3-6 weeks. Air freight takes up to a week or two, but's its twice as expensive.

Life / I met Polish girl, she is 15. Moving to Poland to start new life - is it a safe place? [30]


Very very friendly. You'll get to experience a very common Polish greeting almost every waking hour of your life, called the "wpierdol".

Work / Average earnings and cost of living in Warsaw? [42]


No, I'm not exaggerating, I do this thing that most people really don;t like... and that's that I tell it how it is. Poland is not a normal, functioning Western society, it has numerous pathological elements that are remnants of its history, political situation and economy. Yes, I am highly critical and sharp to point out negative aspects, but then again, if you want some sloppy American face jabbering about how "wonderful, and amazing and just, like, you know, incredible" this country is, well, then this country certainly isn't for you.

I live in Wroclaw (notice how I didn't use the present continuous).


I get it, tongue in cheek, sure sure, but you actually reinforce the point I made above. Most people are so set in their mode of thought that any information to the contrary is certainly filtered out.

Actually, on second thought, the world needs more idiots, so here it is:

poland!! yea poland thumbs up is a wonderful and amazing and just an incredible country with a deep history and the people are like great, they have cabbage and stuff and its actually ok! :) :) you can makes millions of zlotys in poland its easy, jobs are easy to find, everything is great, the weather fanastic, the roads as smooth as a baby's butt. oh and for you american mike, apartments are not only for free, but people pay you to live in them. come to poland, the land of milk and honey!! in fact, you're an idiot for not being here right this instant buy buy buy come come come

Enjoy.

Work / Average earnings and cost of living in Warsaw? [42]


Oh really? Obama the black man got you down? Too bad.

Ever heard of the saying " the grass is always greener on the other side"? And that it's never true? Yea, well, that's Poland.

If you want to live in a country that's just as paradoxical as the US, with hospitable, caring and traditional social elements mixed with outright greed, overly aggressive and somewhat backwards hick ("burak") overtones, then come on over. You've got your forward-looking advanced growing economy combined with downright poverty and horrifying, non-functioning public infrastructure (roads, public healthcare, etc.). You will get cheated. You've got a beautiful countryside against a backdrop of *********** streets and parks, with illegal dumps cropping up wherever you turn. I could go on and on. You will get robbed. You will work for someone and not get paid. I like to live here but only because of my very individual situation. To everyone else, I say don't even think about it. Go to some poor Caribbean nation instead.

Life / Learning Driving In Poland - rules? [55]

Have you ever driven in Europe? Because the signs are almost identical.

A driving school will teach you exactly how you shouldn't drive in Poland.

Use the search feature and read this thread: Driving in Poland, are there any rules at all?

Work / Average wage in Poland (towns / cities) [23]

In small cities? Umm, no.

Wednesday is correct, 1200-1500zl net per month as a "normal" salary.

Real Estate / Cousin stole my dads home in Poland... [49]

oh no, he's already busy moving into granny's house

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [414]

link please (specifically where can I sell a 50000 note for 10-20 bucks)

Work / Hi, I am Indian and will be shifting to Poland (diploma in Mechanical engineering) [47]


Good luck with getting a visa though.

Real Estate / Cousin stole my dads home in Poland... [49]



my saying has always been that true altruism requires a healthy dose of selfishness. take it as you will

Real Estate / Cousin stole my dads home in Poland... [49]


Yea ha, yo Im's a Polak like you's dog, let me join on up these internet forums and DEMAND that people spend their time in helping me out with my massive legal problems, then berate them for not being licensed practitioners in law, real estate and medicine and give me free advice while providing a bibliographic reference for everything they say.. Oh, forgive the fact that me and family were all f you granny, you and your Polak smelly bigos and cabbage (yo, but I visited my grandma' every year when I was like 10-15 years old yo yo, but thens I said granny too old for me, Poland old and not funky). But nows we learned in de Canada that Poland is expensive and that ol' granny's apartment be worth MAD money. Yo yo! We idiots for shttin on ol grannys, know we gonna fight about her apartment even thought its been twemy years and so, so me and my kids and they kids can all like live in Poland and sht. I dont have to work for life dog.

Look konman or conman or whatever, I've heard you're sob story a dozen times before from second and third generation Poles who suddenly had a few brain cells turn over when they found out property is now worth a ton of money in Poland and that grandma and grandpa and cousin Zbyszek all have apartments in the Krakow's Rynek, only to find out someone decades before them got their hands on it since uh, they were like next to these people when they were dying (hey, but you ASKED cousin Tomek to help her move to that old folks home man, ain't that worth a few cool million?). The answer is real easy, you have no chance in hell at getting anything. None zero. You are literally the twentieth second-gen or third-gen Pole I've met that has had the same exact story, "woe is me we were supposed to get this huge house in a will but someone taking care of her like conned ol' granny into signing it over to him/her".

Life / Free Poland Health Care - Paying minimal to no Zus [105]


Surprisingly, similarly to what's in other Western countries, rich Poles have also adopted a similar kind of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality in ignoring the abject poverty most Poles live in. Because it's oh so easy to become rich and successful.

Language / Where is that "something" that makes others think you are really good in language [141]


depends on what English (standard BrE or AmE or any other national variety) and what style manual or even in-house standard is used

Travel / Where to meet English speaking teenagers in Warsaw? [15]


Like its just Poles... Turks, Pakistanis, Indians, Chinese... hmm, that makes you wonder doesnt it... hmmm.. I wonder if there is some tangible lesson to be learned from here. Hmmm hmmm.. I'll give you a hint, try to use the word "assimilation"

Ignoring your sly remark at painting me as a hypocrite, you'd also have to be pretty dumb to not see the difference in the direction and reason of immigration, wouldn't you?

Work / Salary for an architect with 3years experience in warsaw [37]


Interesting. The website now states the average salary is 800 euro.

Btw, this website will give you a good idea about how much life costs in PL.

Life / Free Poland Health Care - Paying minimal to no Zus [105]


Hmmm... you say that it's not comparable, but then you compare how much US specialists' make to Polish doctors, with Poles making oh... 1/8 of what Americans what. Whatever. The incidence rate of individuals who had "sell/lose their homes to pay their medical bills" is minute, but nonetheless a sad fact. But then again I can point out the thousands and millions of zlotys Poles had to hand out in bribes and present to receive standard everyday healthcare. Or those who couldnt wait 2-3 years for an operation and had to pay for it privately. I know dozens who had to do this.


Did I ever say that? I agree with the system and favor it hands over the private healthcare scheme thats back in the US. But the system IN POLAND is rotten. Im interested in the "countless others" you mentioned, can you mention some specific cases. Because the de rigueur of what I'e seen is this: mention "NFZ/ZUS" to anyone and all you'll hear are groans and pleas to skip to another subject or a few hours of recollecting stories about treatment that would've left the SS impressed.


Uhh, wtf. That's why they're doctors. That's their job, to diagnose and treat my medical problems, which in itself requires a bit of personalized human contact to understand why I may experiencing a certain afflication. I'm sure your detective skills have been honed by watching CSI, how about House? You noticed that the whole "patient's medical history" plays oh I dont konw, a huge f-ing role in medicine? Delph, how old are you, 19? Btw, yes, I remember every client of mine.


The ones you teach English to are certainly not poor. The ones you dont, i.e., 75% of the population, makes 2000zl net and dreams of buying a 10 year old VW Golf or going on their first vacation outside of Poland. Of course youd have no chance of talking to normal everyday Poles, so I dont know why Im bringing this up.


Considering it's 5% of an average Pole's median salary who nonetheless pays for health insurance that ought to cover it in the first place, that's it's for more like 10 minutes, yea that's grossly overpaid.


Yea, but it really doesnt do much when you are sick anyway. In my opinion the cost of healthcare in PL should go way up, while the cost of one's pension plan ought to go way down, but of course that goes with salaries doubling.

Travel / Where to meet English speaking teenagers in Warsaw? [15]

Honestly, this crap getting annoying:

"finally, i moved away from (insert: the UK, US, Canada)! time for some real culture, see what life is really all about, pick up a new language! hooah!"

not two hours later, posting on an internet forum...

"hi, im new here, any americans, brits, canucks that want to hang out? i miss speaking normal english and talking with people, like, you know, that know what life is all about"

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]

Yea, statistics really do tell you the whole truth dont they? If you dig a little deeper, you'd find that...

most Poles are already either directly or indirectly financially supporting a number of family members or friends I can see why their sympathy for other suffering individuals might run thin, as they already have enough on their minds.

Life / Free Poland Health Care - Paying minimal to no Zus [105]


Yes, it is true. As a system it is rotten. I saw my grandfather pass away after two years of bad doctors, bad hospitals, bad health care, poor decisions and I dont know how much misinformation, insolent behavior, bribes I had to put up with. As they say in poland... zeby chorować trzeba być zdrowym. Now I help out my grandmother, and its same crap. Bad doctors, long lines, poor or malfunctioning equipment, excuses, lies and the worst, most doctors and nurses dont even look at you like a human being. She's been waiting for 3 years for an eye operation, and now shes got stomach problems, the only gastrologist thats got a USG is one rude little porker and the wait is three weeks. When I broke my ankle the local hospital set the cast wrong and if some private doctor hadnt caught it I could have been disabled for life, and oh yea, I only got two weeks of physical therapy when I should have had at least 1.5 months, plus most of the therapy was a joke anyway. To this day my ankle hurts, Im going to have crippling arthiritis when Im older. And Ive got a million stories about friends and neighbors, two are currently suing their doctors for total incompetence and medical malpractice (of course the lawsuits have been going on for over 4 years), one swore to kill one doctor if he ever sees him as he almost killed his child.


For the 5-10 minutes they spend on you and then quickly forget you, oh yea, plus the fact that most Poles make 2000zl, that's quite a lot and in my opinion they are grossly overpaid. Prices in the West are inconsequential, who cares.


Well then the UK sucks, but thats no surprise. In the US I had annual checkups with reminders with what I needed or should do. My father just had a full body CAT scan done since he hit 60 plus a whole battery of tests. Just because... i.e., preventive medicine.