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Keeping Camper Van in Germany ?

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  • 19-07-2009 2:08pm
    #1
    mildot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭


    Hi

    I am thinking of buying a camper van in Germany and leaving it in there.. the idea is to park it close to Frankfurt Hahn or Main, cheap fly and holiday. I went through the forum and didn't see any mention of it so forgive if already covered

    My concerns are :

    1. Are there facilities to long term park a camper van and if so how much would they charge ?.

    2. Would i need to have an address in Germany to road tax , Insure and own it. Is it possible for non German citizen to do this ?

    3. Am I Mad :eek: ?

    Thanks in advance for any help :)


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    #2
    peasant
    Registered Users Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    I'm afraid bureaucracy stands in your way.

    You absolutely need to be resident in Germany to register and insure a car there ...as you aren't, you can't


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    #3
    mildot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭mildot


    peasant wrote: »
    I'm afraid bureaucracy stands in your way.

    You absolutely need to be resident in Germany to register and insure a car there ...as you aren't, you can't

    Thanks peasant,

    Well that's that plan out the window, I have a few German friends perhaps they could register/tax it and I could "borrow" it now and then ... priced Irish ferries on some dates and works out the same as hotel + car rental + flights V's Ferry and camper van. The only drawback is the time on ferry and drive time from France to Germany and back, that would total about 4 days out of holiday.


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    #4
    FrCrilly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 528 ✭✭✭FrCrilly


    mildot wrote: »
    Hi

    I am thinking of buying a camper van in Germany and leaving it in there.. the idea is to park it close to Frankfurt Hahn or Main, cheap fly and holiday. I went through the forum and didn't see any mention of it so forgive if already covered

    My concerns are :

    1. Are there facilities to long term park a camper van and if so how much would they charge ?.

    2. Would i need to have an address in Germany to road tax , Insure and own it. Is it possible for non German citizen to do this ?

    3. Am I Mad :eek: ?

    Thanks in advance for any help :)

    I’m presently researching to buy and I have thought of this option.

    I believe it’s possible to get away with taxing and insuring the motorhome in Ireland and then basing it permanently in Germany. In relation to insurance cover, have a read of this below thread.

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055570425

    If you permanently base it in Germany, then you won’t be able to use it for regular weekend breaks in Ireland. I have been researching to instead have a partner and swap it at a Ryanair airport on the continent to cut the burden of bringing it to and from the continent. For more details have a look at the below threads.

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055516606

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055565718

    Just my thoughts. Good luck with your decision.


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    #5
    mildot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭mildot


    FrCrilly wrote: »
    I’m presently researching to buy and I have thought of this option.

    I believe it’s possible to get away with taxing and insuring the motorhome in Ireland and then basing it permanently in Germany. In relation to insurance cover, have a read of this below thread.

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055570425

    If you permanently base it in Germany, then you won’t be able to use it for regular weekend breaks in Ireland. I have been researching to instead have a partner and swap it at a Ryanair airport on the continent to cut the burden of bringing it to and from the continent. For more details have a look at the below threads.

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055516606

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055565718

    Just my thoughts. Good luck with your decision.

    Thanks Fr Crilly

    So correct me if I am wrong, I buy the camper in Germany, go through the export process, get export plate, but never go through with export, put on Irish plates ( camper will be something like a Frankia 4.5T 5 Birth so customs will not want to see it Ireland as it is well over VRT weight) while camper still in Germany. Park it with a buddy and carry on regardless


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    #6
    loobylou
    Registered Users Posts: 1,418 ✭✭✭loobylou


    Yes... but... actually, I can't see any flaw in that, except maybe don't advertise it;)
    Just be sure it does'nt need an engineers report for the insurance.


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    #7
    bido
    Registered Users Posts: 382 ✭✭bido


    I would go with your 3rd concern:D:D


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    #8
    bijapos
    Registered Users Posts: 3,003 ✭✭✭bijapos


    VRT office will still want to see it, to check if its a camper, so it means one trip over here to register it anyway.

    Apart from that its feasible.


  • Options
    #9
    FrCrilly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 528 ✭✭✭FrCrilly


    mildot wrote: »
    Thanks Fr Crilly

    So correct me if I am wrong, I buy the camper in Germany, go through the export process, get export plate, but never go through with export, put on Irish plates ( camper will be something like a Frankia 4.5T 5 Birth so customs will not want to see it Ireland as it is well over VRT weight) while camper still in Germany. Park it with a buddy and carry on regardless

    I can only give you definite knowledge from an insurance perspective (as per first thread link). I would think on the continent that vehicles are constantly crossing borders and that it would be unviable for the police to investigate road tax and VRT, as everyone could just claim "I am only in this country for the day" which, in the case of mainland Europeans, the police would unlikely be able to disprove (no paper trail at border crossings). I would think they would accept this for all foreign vehicles, whether it's from a European mainland state or a European island state.

    This is just my opinion. I am not an expert in European policing.


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