Discussion
My director has german plates on his S-class for the 2 years i have worked here. he got the car from the factory in germany but i always thought you had to get them changed to uk? the plate is actually a sort of private plate with his initials! is there any legal way of riding on foreign plates and also any benefits(i.e. no NIP's!)? dont really want to start questioning him!
If it is a permanent import, then you have one journey other then the one from the port to go and registrar the vehicle with the local DVLA office. Under the new Fraud act, he is committing and arrestable offense, displaying it, because someone could be shown to have suffered a loss. ie parking tickets etc. He would also be defrauding Customs and Excise, not paying the Vehicle Excise License. You would also have to question his insurance policy as well.
General he is taking urine.
General he is taking urine.
Is the car here permanently?
There's info here from the DVLA site about how to register a car after importing - but it seems to agree with the above, that it needs to be done pronto.
I think you can have a car in the country for 6 months without registering it, so long as it's going back - but I'm not certain.
Edited to fix link
There's info here from the DVLA site about how to register a car after importing - but it seems to agree with the above, that it needs to be done pronto.
I think you can have a car in the country for 6 months without registering it, so long as it's going back - but I'm not certain.
Edited to fix link
Edited by tigger1 on Thursday 20th September 10:32
Dwight VanDriver said:
Does the Boss and vehicle disappear for 6 months in a 12 month period?
All Jerman car taxes paid?
One presumes he is not a UK resident as my sun lounger was unoccupied this am.
dvd
no it does not disappear. i know he used to work in germany for a few years but he now lives just outside of london. All Jerman car taxes paid?
One presumes he is not a UK resident as my sun lounger was unoccupied this am.
dvd
(i dont get the sun lounger comment??)
There are a couple of ways around the import thing but generally after 6 months the car has to be registered in UK and taxes / duties paid.
I believe German plates include the yearly marker for german equivalent of road tax - and these will only be issued to a german address - if thats out of date then it is illegal.Most european insurance companies will only cover for a limited period outside the country of origin.
And it doesnt make that much difference anyway. If he/she gets stopped in person by plod then he/she will have to produce a driving licence and documents in any case -and if he/she produces a germansky one they will just check the DVLA for the name and if it comes up as a holder of a UK licence then ... clunk clink!
I believe German plates include the yearly marker for german equivalent of road tax - and these will only be issued to a german address - if thats out of date then it is illegal.Most european insurance companies will only cover for a limited period outside the country of origin.
And it doesnt make that much difference anyway. If he/she gets stopped in person by plod then he/she will have to produce a driving licence and documents in any case -and if he/she produces a germansky one they will just check the DVLA for the name and if it comes up as a holder of a UK licence then ... clunk clink!
Marki said:
Jeremy Kyle said:
so there is no legal way of driving around on foreign plates? any bib want to come down and check his details out? : )
As far as i am aware you need a foreign residence to have the car registered at Thought it maybe dodgy but then I see so many polish plates around I doubt the police will ever get him. I wont take it further as I don’t want to lose my job!! He has the money to fight it anyway…I cant see him doing it unless he knew the laws and loopholes. Might ask him about it if I can slip it into the conversation!
Car could be lease hired to a parent company in Germany . Or it could just be a hire car . Some firms in other countries do make long hires for tax reasons .
Are they normal German plates or are they the transit ( temp ) type ?
Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_car_number_pla...
This is as good as place as any to discover anything strange ........
Are they normal German plates or are they the transit ( temp ) type ?
Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_car_number_pla...
This is as good as place as any to discover anything strange ........
Edited by DPX on Wednesday 19th September 16:44
Jeremy Kyle said:
Marki said:
Jeremy Kyle said:
so there is no legal way of driving around on foreign plates? any bib want to come down and check his details out? : )
As far as i am aware you need a foreign residence to have the car registered at 
but never had a problem , im sure a Merc just blends in couple of points.
a 'private' plate in germany is cheap, as long as its available then its about 15 quid, i have fu2!! on my tvr.
europe is now starting to send speeding tickets and parking offences to the different countries.
as others have said, as long as you have a legal residence in another eu country its ok to keep the car for longer periods abroad as long as you tell your insurance company and you regularly return.
my company has had german registered cars in belgium, france, etc
a 'private' plate in germany is cheap, as long as its available then its about 15 quid, i have fu2!! on my tvr.
europe is now starting to send speeding tickets and parking offences to the different countries.
as others have said, as long as you have a legal residence in another eu country its ok to keep the car for longer periods abroad as long as you tell your insurance company and you regularly return.
my company has had german registered cars in belgium, france, etc
goskins17 said:
If it is a permanent import, then you have one journey other then the one from the port to go and registrar the vehicle with the local DVLA office. Under the new Fraud act, he is committing and arrestable offense, displaying it, because someone could be shown to have suffered a loss. ie parking tickets etc. He would also be defrauding Customs and Excise, not paying the Vehicle Excise License. You would also have to question his insurance policy as well.
General he is taking urine.
sorry Goskins17 what you have said is bolloxGeneral he is taking urine.
If it taxed and registered in the other country he can use it here for 6 months without needing to do ANYTHING. He can take it back and bring it back for another 6 months and so on etc.
The need to tax it in the 'other country' is not to satisfy UK law. HMRC cannot be said to be defrauded if the 'other country' tax is paid.
Which is what 130R said too !
Edited by Richard C on Wednesday 19th September 22:12
The EU rules relating to 'business assets' are at some variance with the UK vehicle regulations and, IMHO, the EU regulations will always take precedence.
If an asset is owned by a business registered anywhere in the EU there must be no barriers to that asset being used by the business anywhere within the EU or for any length of time.
If your boss has a company in Germany to which the car is registered then EU business rules say he must be allowed to use it in the UK so long as it is properly taxed and insured in Germany for business use.
With the increase of 'cross-border' business in Europe, these anomolies will be hard to address, but so long as a vehicle is properly registered and insured in its country of registration there does not seem to be any real interest from DVLA or the Police.
For example, my son owns a Limited Company in the UK to which his car is registered and insured. His home, however, is in France and he is currently working on a 6-month consultancy contract in Germany where his car will be located for that period. He could not register his car in Germany as he has no permanent address there and it's owned by a UK company. If he came to England and got an NiP, it would go to his English accountant, as he has no UK address as his residence. The accountant would name my son as keeper and give his French address. Who knows what would happen then. It's a very grey area of international legislation.
In theory I could use my son's address to buy a car, insure it in France and bring it to England for a maximum of 6 months, then return to France for a months holiday and return to England for another 6 months, staying on French plates all the time. The DVLA are unable to register a foreign address, business or private, as the keeper's address, when issuing British plates.
Feel pleased for the boss in this case. Would you not do the same if you could? It's easy to do if you so wish.
If an asset is owned by a business registered anywhere in the EU there must be no barriers to that asset being used by the business anywhere within the EU or for any length of time.
If your boss has a company in Germany to which the car is registered then EU business rules say he must be allowed to use it in the UK so long as it is properly taxed and insured in Germany for business use.
With the increase of 'cross-border' business in Europe, these anomolies will be hard to address, but so long as a vehicle is properly registered and insured in its country of registration there does not seem to be any real interest from DVLA or the Police.
For example, my son owns a Limited Company in the UK to which his car is registered and insured. His home, however, is in France and he is currently working on a 6-month consultancy contract in Germany where his car will be located for that period. He could not register his car in Germany as he has no permanent address there and it's owned by a UK company. If he came to England and got an NiP, it would go to his English accountant, as he has no UK address as his residence. The accountant would name my son as keeper and give his French address. Who knows what would happen then. It's a very grey area of international legislation.
In theory I could use my son's address to buy a car, insure it in France and bring it to England for a maximum of 6 months, then return to France for a months holiday and return to England for another 6 months, staying on French plates all the time. The DVLA are unable to register a foreign address, business or private, as the keeper's address, when issuing British plates.
Feel pleased for the boss in this case. Would you not do the same if you could? It's easy to do if you so wish.
I suspect the chap knows exactly what he is doing ..
If he keeps under the radar(or should that be laser, LOL) nobody will be any the wiser.
I worked for a company that had 2 German employees and both lived and worked here for at least 2 years driving around on German plates.
They clearly had family etc in Germany.
I doubt his insurance company, which I suspect is German even know the car is here.
If he does have a bump ... well he was just visting ...
Do you have a gripe with the company you work for?
If he keeps under the radar(or should that be laser, LOL) nobody will be any the wiser.
I worked for a company that had 2 German employees and both lived and worked here for at least 2 years driving around on German plates.
They clearly had family etc in Germany.
I doubt his insurance company, which I suspect is German even know the car is here.
If he does have a bump ... well he was just visting ...
Do you have a gripe with the company you work for?
Edited by andyuk911 on Thursday 20th September 10:18
A friend also used a German plated vehicle in the UK a few years ago for around a year, which was owned by his German company, even though he was a UK resident.
He did trigger a few cameras and he was pleased when nothing came of them, until he was stopped one day after going through an anpr check.
They asked for the driver details as the registration had been logged onto the PNC as having some outstanding issues!!
The police were obviously happy that the vehicle was being used legally (insured, tax paid etc etc)and nothing actually happened with any tickets etc, however he did change the car very quickly, as they now had info on him and he decided his luck was about to run out.
As has been said, there is a great difference between transit plates and full German registration.
He did trigger a few cameras and he was pleased when nothing came of them, until he was stopped one day after going through an anpr check.
They asked for the driver details as the registration had been logged onto the PNC as having some outstanding issues!!
The police were obviously happy that the vehicle was being used legally (insured, tax paid etc etc)and nothing actually happened with any tickets etc, however he did change the car very quickly, as they now had info on him and he decided his luck was about to run out.
As has been said, there is a great difference between transit plates and full German registration.
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