Germany is the leader in the automotive industry in Europe. The championship in the Old World was ensured by six of its world famous car brands: Opel, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. They, of course, have their own production facilities in Russia, but our compatriots are still interested in how to buy a car in Germany and drive it legally to the territory of the Russian Federation.
Advantages of buying cars from Germany
In Germany, you can find in good quality not only cars from traditionally German manufacturers, but also many models of French, Japanese, American, Korean and other popular manufacturers (station wagons, sedans, hatchbacks). The desire of Russian buyers to purchase cars on the German market is due to the following points:
- In this country, you can buy a good used vehicle without a run on the roads of Russia and the CIS countries. Highways in Germany and throughout Western Europe are famous for their high quality surfaces. The operating conditions for cars are much more favorable here compared to the realities of Russia. The condition of the car, which has “spooled” 200,000 km along European highways, is no worse than that of a similar model that has traveled 60,000 km on Russian roads.
- After the first three years of operation, any mass vehicle in Germany loses about 40% of its market value, even if it is in perfect condition. For this reason, the selection of a car in Germany always promises a lot of lucrative offers.
- It is not necessary to personally travel to Germany after obtaining a Schengen visa. You can find a suitable offer via the Internet, and entrust the delivery to a dealer.
- The mentality of the native Germans (with the exception of immigrants) is arranged in such a way that they change their cars very often, even if it has a relatively low mileage. Therefore, finding a car between the ages of 3 and 5 in perfect condition is not a problem. The traditional frugality of the Germans also plays an important role. They are very attentive to the technical condition of their vehicles and timely contact service centers for diagnostics and replacement of consumables.
- Auto sites and auctions with numerous offers from car dealers have russified versions. This suggests that citizens of Russia and other CIS countries are welcome buyers here. You can find a suitable model without knowledge of the German language and translation services. Most German dealers who have been working with buyers from Russia for several years usually have Russian-speaking employees on their staff.
- The model you are interested in can often be purchased much cheaper than in Russia. However, you should pay attention to the age. The best option is a model aged 3 to 6 years. For cars over 7 years old, import duties into Russia are very high, and for new cars, their size will be approximately 40% of the customs (average market) value.
- The likelihood of buying a car with twisted mileage is very low. In Germany, odometer manipulation is criminalized as fraud. In Russia, such deception of the buyer is still not punished.
- If you find a used car or buy a new car in Germany from a showroom, non-EU residents (citizens of countries that are not part of the EU) can return 19% VAT upon returning home: but only if the seller of the vehicle is a legal entity, then there is a dealer.
In addition to the listed advantages, buyers of cars from Germany will have to face the following less pleasant, but inevitable moments:
- In the case of a distance purchase, you will not have the opportunity to personally inspect the vehicle prior to the transaction. There is, of course, the possibility of ordering the services of an independent appraiser who will carry out the inspection for you and send a detailed report, but this procedure will lead to additional costs. You will have to pay for evaluation services even if you refuse to purchase the model you inspected.
- In order for you to be issued a Russian PTS, the car must go through full customs clearance with the payment of all fees and duties. When it comes to vehicles from 3 to 6 years old, the amount of duties will depend mainly on the engine power. Additionally, you need to pay a recycling fee during customs clearance.
- To obtain PTS, you must also purchase and install the ERA-Glonass system on your car. By the way, since 2021, a norm has begun to apply in Germany, according to which cars will come off the assembly line only with the ECall button.
Search for suitable offers
Private advertisements for the sale of cars in Germany are not as popular as in Russia. Native Germans usually sell their used cars to dealers for resale. Such dealerships are called motorhomes here and they operate in almost every city.
Dealers carefully check the history of all vehicles sold. They inform the buyers of all existing defects.
Internet search
The most popular and affordable way to search for offers for the sale of cars of your desired brand and model is the Internet. The largest online platform in Germany in this area is Mobile.de. If the statistics are correct, then every fifth car in Germany is sold through it.
Almost any modern means of transportation can be found here - from motorcycles to heavy trucks, including vintage cars. When you look through the ads of sellers, be sure to pay attention to where the vehicle for sale is located: apart from Germans, sellers from neighboring countries often place their ads here.
In the ads themselves, three prices are usually indicated:
- gross - for all citizens of the EU states;
- net - indicated including VAT deduction for non-EU residents;
- markdown - reduced cost for one reason or another.
It should be borne in mind that when concluding a deal, you pay the cost of the car with VAT in any case. As soon as you leave the EU, the dealer will transfer the tax amount to your bank account. This usually takes about 2 weeks.
We also recommend that you pay attention to other German sites for the sale of vehicles:
- AutoScout24;
- Webmobil24;
- Autobild;
- Gebrauchtwagen.
When crossing the border and customs clearance, it will be important not just the year of manufacture, but the specific month when the car left the manufacturer's conveyor. The age of the vehicle must be between 36 and 60 months for customs duties to be more or less acceptable for you.
Auctions
Anyone looking for a used car in the US or Japan is already familiar with the concept of an auction. Ordering a car from Germany through an auction is also popular with buyers from Russia.
The largest German car auction is Autobid.de, through which at least 3,000 vehicles are sold every day.
It is customary to conduct trades here in three ways:
- live auction with direct presence of buyers;
- online bidding;
- in Netlive mode - a combination of live and online auction.
Car markets
In technologically advanced Europe, various car markets still exist. They can be found on the outskirts of cities.
In Germany, the car market is the place where you can buy a used car for less than 5,000 euros. Most of the sellers are resellers from among immigrants from the CIS and Turkey.
At car markets, you can forget about the German mentality and honesty. If you manage to find hidden defects that they are brazenly trying to hide from you, the price can be significantly knocked down without unnecessary bargaining. A salesman caught trying to deceive, having heard the mention of the police, easily makes concessions.The largest car dealerships are located in Berlin, Munich, Bremen, Essen and Cologne.
Travel expenses
How much money will be required for a trip to Germany is difficult to determine with certainty. Each individual case needs its own amount, which depends on the personal preferences of the buyer and his place of residence in Russia.
In order to travel to Germany yourself, you will need:
- international passport;
- Schengen visa;
- bank card MasterCard or Visa.
Having a bank card in hand, you get rid of the need to declare cash when crossing the border. The amount required for the purchase can be withdrawn already on the spot before the transaction or the cost of the car can be paid with a card.
Before traveling, be sure to inform your bank about the upcoming use of the card in the European Union so that it is not blocked in order to prevent fraud.
If you prefer to arrive in Germany by plane, the air ticket must be booked there and back. This must be done even if you intend to return with the purchased vehicle. Otherwise, you will have serious questions at passport control.
In addition to travel expenses, you will also have to pay for hotel accommodation, as well as for travel between cities, if the cars found via the Internet are located in different places.
In order to import a car from Germany to Russia in 2021, before the trip, you need to make a customs deposit at the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation at your place of residence. Its size must be equal to the amount of customs duties and fees that you pay during customs clearance.
Therefore, you need to know the approximate technical characteristics of the model you are interested in. You can calculate the amount of the customs deposit using a special online calculator.
Required documents
For the safe import of a vehicle from Germany to Russia, the following documents must be provided:
- Sales contract with the seller. It must indicate all the technical characteristics of the car, its cost and the conditions for VAT refund.
- German vehicle registration certificate (Fahrzeugbrief).
- Technical Inspection Document (TUV) valid for up to 2 years. Without it, you will not be given transit numbers.
- Environmental class declaration (Abagasuntersuchung). You need to carefully study this document. Currently, the import of vehicles into the territory of Russia is allowed only if they comply with the EURO-5 standards. An exception is made only for retro machines over 30 years old.
- Certificate of termination of registration in Germany (Admeldebescheinigung).
- International admission (Internationaler Zulassungsschein). This document is required if you intend to drive the purchased car on your own.
- Insurance (Doppelkarte). The policy consists of two parts - yellow and green. The first is necessary when registering transit numbers, and the second is necessary for moving on the roads of the EU countries outside Germany. Of course, insurance will be needed when driving the car on its own.
- Declaration on the removal of the vehicle (Ausfuhranmeldung) - is drawn up in the customs authorities of Germany in triplicate.
- The declaration form for Russian customs depends on the method of import. If the car is driving under its own power, a TD-6 declaration is drawn up, and when delivered by an auto transporter - a cargo and transport declaration (GTD).
Car for spare parts
Among the buyers are those who intend to drive the car for parts. In this case, it should be borne in mind that if you bring a full-fledged car on the move, you will not be able to clear it as a spare part. Consequently, all duties and taxes will have to be paid as for the whole vehicle.
For registration as a spare part, the engine must be transported separately from the body. The protective vehicle body duty of € 2,907 was abolished in January 2021. Now, during customs clearance, you will need to pay only 15% of the cost of this part.
Car delivery to Russia
The cost of delivering a purchased car to the Russian Federation will directly affect its cost. When driving on your own, your costs will be mainly related to the fuel consumption of the car - the higher the engine size, the more your costs. The price for the 95th gasoline in Germany is 1.5 euros per liter, and in Poland, through whose territory you will have to drive, 1.2 euros. At Belarusian filling stations, the price level is about the same as in Russia.
If you contact a transport company, the cost of delivery will depend on the distance to your destination, as well as on its additional services, if you use them. One of the leading carriers in this area is Proauto.eu.
Residents of the Kaliningrad region can use a ferry to deliver their purchases, which leaves the city of Sassnitsa for Baltiysk every Thursday. By ferry, you can transfer a car up to 6 meters in length for about 60 euros.
Purchase through an intermediary
The most convenient, but at the same time, the most expensive way to buy a car in Germany is to contact intermediary firms that supply cars to Russia and the CIS countries. In this case, the dealer takes over the inspection of the car, the purchase from the seller, delivery to your city and even the customs clearance procedure. You can find the required model yourself and provide the intermediary with the seller's contacts.
You can take a closer look at the cars that the dealer has already brought to Russia. When buying wholesale, German sellers are significantly lower in price.
A condition for granting a discount is also the inclusion of several unpopular models in the batch. Their dealers are sometimes willing to resell at cost.
Customs clearance
It is possible to register a car from Germany in the traffic police only after the completion of customs clearance, because the Russian model of PTS will be issued only by employees of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation after all duties and taxes have been paid. You can do customs clearance yourself or entrust this matter to customs brokers.
Useful Tips
If you buy a car from Germany as an individual, you can go through customs clearance at reduced rates. But one person is allowed to import no more than one car per calendar year. Otherwise, duties and fees will need to be paid on an equal basis with legal entities.
Refrain from pre-transferring money to sellers before inspecting the vehicle. Fraud is also common in Germany. Be sure to conclude a service agreement with intermediaries.
Conclusions
When looking for a used car in Germany, you should not prioritize only the best price. The whole procedure must be thought out in advance.
Calculate the amount of customs duties for the model you like in advance. High fees in the end can completely negate all your benefits.
Bringing a car from abroad requires from the buyer a competent assessment of the situation and utmost responsibility in the preparation of the necessary documents.
