Shipping a car from Denmark to the UK

Denmark is close, in the EU and easy to reach by road, so the transport is rarely the hard part. What is different about Denmark is its registration tax, and the refund a Danish owner can claim when a car is exported. Get the order of things right and that refund can be worth having.

Usual method

Road freight

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 mostly truck Danish cars by road on fully insured transporters, and we can collect from anywhere in Denmark. The car comes south through Germany to the Channel. If you would rather drive it over yourself, that works too, and we take over once it is here.

By sea, RoRo typically takes 1 to 3 days and a container 5 to 10 days or more. Schedules and customs can shift those. Door to door, once collection and customs are allowed for, European moves usually take 1 to 4 weeks. Our guide to container, RoRo or air compares the options.

In fact most of the Danish cars we register are already in the UK, driven over by owners who have moved here. If yours is one of them, we can clear it through customs and take it from there.

The Danish export refund

Denmark charges a registration tax when a car first goes on its roads. When the car is exported and taken off the Danish Register of Motor Vehicles, the owner may be able to claim part of that tax back from Motorstyrelsen, the Danish Motor Vehicle Agency.

This happens on the Danish side, and the steps run in a fixed order:

• The car has an extended registration and customs inspection at a Danish inspection centre
• Within 4 weeks of that, the owner asks Motorstyrelsen for a valuation, which takes about 9 weeks
• The plates are handed in to a number plate provider
• Proof of export, such as the foreign registration, a CMR consignment note or an export declaration, goes in within 3 months of the valuation request

The refund is based on the registration tax the same car would pay if it were imported into Denmark now, less 15%, with a minimum deduction. Cars over 35 years old, damaged cars and cars not in a registerable condition do not qualify. Motorstyrelsen can give a binding ruling on the amount in advance.

Import tax in the UK

Denmark is in the EU, so a car coming from there pays 20% import VAT when it lands. There is no duty if it was built in the EU or the UK. VAT is worked out on the price you paid plus transport, or on a recent valuation if the invoice is more than 3 months old.

A Danish car built outside the EU and UK would pay 10% duty too. 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, as long as HMRC approves it before the car moves. The worked tax examples show the sums in pounds.

Customs and NOVA

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

Making it UK road legal

Danish cars are left-hand drive and set up for driving on the right. The usual changes:

• Headlights adjusted or replaced for driving on the left
• A speedometer reading in mph
• A rear fog light where needed

We do the work on our own site. See speedometer and headlight conversions and left-hand drive cars in the UK.

Testing and registration

• Under 10 years old: a Certificate of Conformity for an EU-built car, or an IVA test
• Over 10 years old: an MOT, with changes generally coming down to the rear fog light
• Over 40 years old: no MOT needed, and the car can be delivered before registration

Our Certificate of Conformity guide explains when a CoC is enough. Where a test is needed, we run one of only seven privately operated IVA centres in Great Britain and test every week. Our dealer-level DVLA account then lets us register imported cars within 10 working days.

1. 1

   In Denmark

   Inspection and valuation

   If you are claiming the export refund, the extended inspection and valuation request happen first.

2. 2

   Collection

   On the transporter

   We collect from your address and bring the car by road to the UK.

3. 3

   Arrival

   Customs and NOVA

   We clear the car through UK customs and tell HMRC it has arrived.

4. 4

   At our site

   Conversion and test

   Headlights, speedometer and fog light are sorted, then the car takes its test or MOT.

5. 5

   Registration

   UK plates

   We register the car with the DVLA, and you have the paperwork to prove the export in Denmark.

What it costs

We do not publish a guide price for Denmark, because European routes are priced per job. The estimator gives the UK tax side. Our Europe guide covers the bigger picture.

Questions people ask

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