Well, when it comes to denmark then having a car is a a costly business… new ones have 200% tax on top of the original price and old ones are moving rust buckets. in most cases bike and a bus are a better choise… unless you live in a place like grindsted where public transport is kind of a joke (hence my new purchase) so heres a quick intro to save some time if you stumbled upon this page looking for some short, simple information.
Main places to look for a car online are these: (use chrome with danish -> english translation)
The Prices There are usually including all the taxes unless stated otherwise.
Some of the ads mention “sold only to cvr/no warranty/wholesale” this is due to the fact that dealerships have to provide private persons a 3 year warranty (danish laws…) and if theire not sure of the state of the vehicle, they sell it to companies (which for some reason wont get the warranty i guess)
Unless you have repair options in denmark its good to get a car with a valid “syn” (inspection/mot/etc.) the usual timespan for it in denmark is 2 years… the more time til next syn the more the car will cost.
once you move on to buying a car. there’s 2 options – if the old owner is willing to sell it with plates, you pay a fee of DKK380 for “omregistering” if not then you need to buy new plates for DKK 1180. From there on i guess it depends if its a dealership or a private person. with dealerships it should be simple… you sign papers and pay the fees on sight (not a clue about the new plates tho) they will arrange everything and you get a the new registration documents in mail in a week or so. in some places you get off with a 3 week insurance on the old owners account, in some you need to sign one on spot or bring documents for an existing contract.
Soon after that you will also get a bill for the road tax, half a year at the time. price depends on the weight and engine of the car i guess, i pay around DKK2800 per year.
Then its time for the most expensive part of the whole venture – insurance. If you dont have any records for insurance in DK then you’ll be charged as a beginner and the very minimum you can get that for is around DKK7000 / Year usually 10000 with most companies… quite a robbery i would say but what can you do.
So overall, my costs were something along the lines of:
- Car: 3900
- omregistrering: 380
- road tax: 2800 / year
- insurance ~7000 / year
- syn: 475 / 2years
EDIT: later in the year, i took it for a drive to estonia where my dad helped fixing all the bodywork (i probably wouldnt have got through the next inspection like that) photos of that in the end of this post: http://blog.koivistik.com/?p=854
hehe, looking at those figures its almost a month of work to have a car for a year (not to mention the gas of dkk12/l) eh, have to enjoy the life somehow…
plenty of room to even sleep in it (been there, done that)
ofc it came with minor errors.. some idiot had done some welding, the oil pan has a bit of a leak, the windshield and on of the lights have a few cracks, a bit of rust here and there, a bit of a tricky ignition coil but what can you expect from a 14 year old car?
nothing some exhaust paste cant fix ^^
Hej
thank you for your post about buying a used car, that’s of much interest for me.
So what’s not clear to me is whether the registration tax is due to be paid when buying a used car in Dk? Also, I’ve heard about a tax on transfer of ownership, did you have to manage with it?
Thanks!
Sorry, hadnt noticed this comment… for others wondering the same, there is no tax if the used car has at once been registered in denmark (sometimes theres ads fro “unregistered” cars which are imported from abroad… you need to pay tax for those).
the fee for transfering ownership was dkk380 for me, if the car does not come with number plates then it would have been a bit more.
Hi joosep, I like your post. I will settle soon in dk but still wonder about car tax issue. What happen if I buy a used car from japon and bring to dk? A car for $4500 for example? Thanks
you need to get the car evaluated and you end up paying some 40 or 50% of the car price as the registration fee + all the legal hassle (not sure about the exact numbers) i would imagine its cheper to buy a car on spot unless you are really fond of your foreign car or really sure about its excellent technical condition ;)
Hi, Is that possible to sell a Car with a CVR to a private person? If yes, then what would be the process? Thanks in advance for your help?
Yeah! But gas price is almost $2 per litter less than in norway? Why people in norway don’t complain about that? And I heard that buying a used car in one of EU countries does not pay vat or tax. So is it easy to do so? Thanks!
i am really willing to achive a car from you sir am waiting for your reply i live in cameroon
You write your car expense is 3900. Do you mean 3900 kroner per month, per year? Is this a financed cost?
No, that’s the total price of the car (one time payment when purchasing it)… it was just a really crappy old car in a pretty bad condition, hence the price ;)
Joosep, have you any idea how much export numberplates cost?
Tervitades!
Marek
and by export plates you mean importing a used car to denmark? if thats the case then it totally depends on the car… you get it evaluated and need to pay tax on it (a couple of years ago, i had some friends paying like 40-50% of an old golf4’s “evaluated” price) + the plates themselves for another 1000ish i guess.
Joosep,
I will move from the UAE to Denmark and plan to bring my SUV (4×4) along with my house hold shipment. My car is now two years old but in pristine condition. I have told that I have to pay import tax and registration fee that may total up to 180% of the cars evaluated price. Is this true?
Mark
180+% is probably mostly for brand new cars out of the store, you will however still face some pretty damn high import taxes regardless… especially if its a powerful 4×4… not to mention the road/environment taxes and gas price of £1.3 per litre ;)
My partner and I stumbled over here from a different page and thought I should check things out.
I like what I see so now i’m following you.
Look forward to checking out your web page for a second time.
Hi, Is that possible to sell a Car with a CVR to a private person? If yes, then what would be the process? Thanks in advance for your help?
Hi
Joosep I could not find a contact mail for you so could not ask if it was ok to post about this.
As a repat with a lot of international friends in Denmark, I know how complicated things like buying a used car can be. Im still learning how to navigate the system myself.
I hope its ok to mention but a friend is working at a company who has developed a website and app where you can check most details about a used car for sale. The site is in Danish but there are warning signs coming up if a car has possible issues and it saves one from having to contact many fifferent organisations for the same info. The service is free. If of any interest the website is http://www.tjekbil.dk/
Hej!
Thanks for the post, it gives some important insights.
Do you know if anything has changed since 2011 when you wrote the post?