Shipping a car from Austria to the UK

Austria has no coastline, which leaves some people wondering how a car from there reaches the UK at all. The answer is simple: by road, on a transporter, which is quicker than shipping anyway. The Austrian paperwork is unusually good, too, and that tends to make our end easier.

Usual method

Enclosed road transporter

Price

Priced per job

Transit time

Usually 1 to 4 weeks door to door

Import tax

20% VAT, no duty if EU or UK-built

How the car gets here

We collect from anywhere in Austria on our own enclosed transporter, and the car is fully insured from the moment it is loaded. It comes west through Germany to the Channel, then on to our site, or to your door if it is ready to go.

Timing depends on when the transporter next runs the route and how many cars it is collecting. We give you a realistic collection window when we quote. Door to door, European moves usually take 1 to 4 weeks.

The documents to ask the seller for

Austrian cars tend to come with a tidy paper trail, partly because of the country's roadworthiness regime. If you are buying, ask for these before you pay:

• The registration certificate (Zulassungsschein or Zulassungsbescheinigung)
• The type-approval data (Typenschein or Genehmigungsdatenauszug)
• A purchase invoice or bill of sale
• Photos of the VIN and the chassis plate
• Service history and the latest §57a inspection record, if there is one

The Typenschein matters most. It can serve as a Certificate of Conformity, which for a newer EU-built car can save a full IVA test. If anything is missing, we can often source it. Our Certificate of Conformity guide explains why it counts.

Buying a car you have not seen? An independent check through ÖAMTC, the Austrian motoring club, is worth the money. Our guide to buying a car abroad safely covers the rest.

Deregistering in Austria

An Austrian car is deregistered (Abmeldung) at a Zulassungsstelle, the registration offices run by insurers. The registration holder does it, or someone else with written power of attorney. The plates and the registration documents go back as part of it.

One point worth knowing: registering the car in another country does not cancel the Austrian registration by itself (Germany is the only exception). So the Austrian side needs doing properly, and the Austrian insurance should only stop once it has been.

If the car is being driven rather than collected, Austrian transfer plates (Überstellungskennzeichen) last up to 21 days and need Austrian insurance for that time. On our transporter, the car does not need them.

Import tax from Austria

Austria is in the EU, so a car coming from there pays 20% import VAT. There is no duty if it was built in the EU or the UK. Most of what we see from Austria is Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Škoda, but check where your car was actually built, because some models come from factories outside Europe. VAT is worked out on the price plus transport.

A car built outside the EU and UK pays 10% duty on top. A car over 30 years old pays 5% VAT and no duty. If you have lived abroad for more than 12 months and owned the car for more than 6, Transfer of Residence means no import tax at all, with HMRC approval before the car moves. The import tax calculator gives a quick figure.

Customs and NOVA

We clear the car through UK customs ourselves as HMRC CDS authorised agents. HMRC has to be told within 14 days that the car has arrived, through the Notification of Vehicle Arrivals (NOVA), and the DVLA will not register it without that. We submit it as part of clearance.

Making it UK road legal

Austrian cars are left-hand drive and set up for driving on the right, so the headlights need adjusting or replacing for the left, the speedometer needs to read in mph and a rear fog light may need fitting. Estates and four-wheel-drive models are more common in Austria than here, and they convert the same way. Our guide to speedometer and headlight conversions explains the work.

Testing and registration

For a car under 10 years old, mutual recognition generally applies to an EU-built car with its type-approval data. An IVA test is usually the route for a car built outside the EU or without type approval, and we confirm which applies when we quote.

A car over 10 years old needs an MOT. If you have it done at a local garage, it must be tested on the VIN, not the Austrian plate. Over 40 years old, no MOT is needed. Or we test it on site: we run one of only seven privately operated IVA centres in Great Britain, and our dealer-level DVLA account lets us register imported cars within 10 working days. Our IVA test guide explains the test.

What it costs

We do not publish a guide price for Austria, because European routes are priced per job. Where the car is, when the transporter runs and what the car needs at this end all play a part. The estimator gives the tax side.

Questions people ask

Send us the car's details on the quote form and we will price the whole job.