Opening a bank account and buying a car in Poland (account in Euros, car tax, insurance)

Good day, guys, how r ya doing?

I might move to Poland very soon and therefore I would like to know the following:

1 - Is there a bank where I can have an account in Euros? or at least something similar? If so, which bank. If not, what are the advisable banks to open an account? (I do not speak a word in Polish, unfortunately, therefore, some banks with services in English are preferred)

2 - If I buy a car in Poland how much should I pay for compulsory tax and insurance? How the total amount calculated?

For now, only these question.

And I thank you all in advance.

Cheers

Yes, pretty much all banks offer that.


When it comes to taxes, the price you see is the price you pay. As for insurance, that's going to vary on where you live, what you drive and how you drive it. I personally live in central Warsaw (which is one of the most expensive places to insure a car) and pay 750zl per year for fully comprehensive insurance.

thanks for the light, Harry.

I will be living in Lodz, I dunno if that makes the insurance more expensive or not. And after being there for some months I intend to get a cheap car (which I have no idea what it could be)

If I buy a car for, let's say, 12000pln how much would I pay for taxes? any idea?

thanks for your help anyway

Don't buy a car in Poland is the best advice I can give. Not because of the driving conditions or the drivers, but rather the condition of the cars - Polish drivers tend to run cars into the ground.

well, I believe there are exceptions, no?

If it's a second-hand car, none of that will be tax.

If you don't know a lot about cars, then you're asking for trouble. You would be surprised at the lengths they go to here to cover up problems - not least because the second hand market is booming here.

If you do buy a car in poland remember it may say 150000km but its more than likely double that its not uncommon for cars to be writen off in western europe then superficially repaired it will look ok could be a death trap I would say buy in german and import it at least then you have a better idea of where its been

I know what you guys mean, but I don't know how things work there regarding second handed cars. It could be a "trap" yeah, like, buy something really cheap and spend most of the time in a garage or something.

Buying in Germany?? I don't even know if I would be allowed to do that. I have no idea how to do it...

I think I will have to arrive in Lodz first and then see how it works...

it would not usually be cheap they make a big effort making it look new i known people to change seats steering wheel etc to make the fake mileage believable this happens mostly with diesel cars it will be advertised as a low mileage driven by a grandmother to the shops once a week with aftermarket alloys and go faster stripes and 5000km on the clock you can buy a used car anywhere the system is simpler in germany its just a few forms not like poland going to 1 office then the next then to pay for the plates

It's easy, you will have to pay a percentage of tax, but the cars are typically better, i.e have been driver on better roads so far. I bought a car for circa 20,000zl from Germany, I think I paid about 1000zl tax.....but it's really a registration fee, i.e new plates etc.

My fully comp insurance with all the bells and whistles was 1400zl or 1200zl per year, don't remember tbh. That's full assistance anywhere in europe, fire and theft, 3rd party etc etc.

Re: Banks,
I'm with PKO, it's a business account so every time I need to call them I'm given an English speaker. re: Internet banking if you do it through Google Chrome then you have an automatic translator installed. However, as we're recently seen, Chrome isn't the most secure, Internet Explorer while by far the worst browser is actually the safest. I think ING and Alior can provide websites in English.....there's 2 previous threads on this here:

https://polishforums.com/law/online-banking-english-49252/

And if someone desires to buy a car in Germany where do they usually go to (in this case if this someone is living in Lodz)?


Thanks a lot. I will take a look at these threads.

Poland uses zloty (PLN) as their currency

Thank you for your contribution, but I already knew this.

Frankfurt Oder is the closest to Lodz or Berlin. 350km to Frankfurt Oder and 450km to Berlin from the centre of Lodz. That is mainly toll motorway, 76pln or €19 one way.

I have a similar problem, I want to import a car from UK and trying to see how much importing and registering would cost.

Well, going to Germany seems to be ok in order to buy a second-handed car...

I will check some options and also follow your quest on the other thread.

You can check the website mobile.de places around Berlin will be the closest to Lodz.

My cats name is mittens

thank you. Will do it!

As far as I know You cant register a RHD car in Poland. Its strange as its part of the EU, but this seems to be the rule. I am moving this week, bringing my trusty Citroen diesel over (RHD), its fully taxed, insured and tested here in Ireland), so it will be interesting to see how i get on.

Im also going to go with PKOBP bank when i arrive, as luckily there is a local branch where im moving to.

From memory the situation is that there is no law in Poland saying that you can't register RHD cars but if you ask to register one, they won't let you.

It's something buried in the regulations surrounding the technical checks, as far as I remember.

If you can convince a bent garage to pass it, then you can register it.