Cat C car Q - Exporting to Belgium

[Bertie N]

As the title suggests, I have a buyer interested in a car I am selling. It is in its damaged state - a category C insurance loss. Therefore it does not have a log book V5c. The buyer in question wants to know if there is any way he can export the car to his home country Belgium. He plans to repair the car him self and then to put the car on the road in Belgium. I know here you have to repair the car and put it through the VIC process to then get the new V5c. Can he repair the car, drive it back here for the VIC, attain the V5 and then drive back and register the car in Belgium?

Thanks in advance

[Bertie N]

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[Cheburator mk2]

Bertie N said:

As the title suggests, I have a buyer interested in a car I am selling. It is in its damaged state - a category C insurance loss. Therefore it does not have a log book V5c. The buyer in question wants to know if there is any way he can export the car to his home country Belgium. He plans to repair the car him self and then to put the car on the road in Belgium. I know here you have to repair the car and put it through the VIC process to then get the new V5c. Can he repair the car, drive it back here for the VIC, attain the V5 and then drive back and register the car in Belgium?

Thanks in advance

In short - no

The Belgian authorities will need your V5 to register the car if your buyer is to drive it on the road. However, your prospective buyer will be able to put the car on a flatbed truck, transport it to Belgium, repair it there and then flatbed it back to the UK for the VIC, which should lead to a new V5 issued in your/his name. Only then the car can be registered in Belgium.

I speak from experience - bought a LHD UK reg E46 M3, which had very light frontal damage in Paris. Admiral declared the car CAT C because of the scammers in the local BMW Dealer in Paris, who wanted to buy it on the cheap, thus had massively overestimated the cost of the damage repairs. It was only when the car was declared CAT C that the French BMW Dealer realised that they cannot buy it and register it in France without the V5, which in turn would only appear following a VIC, which would have made the process long and un-economical. To cut the long story short, I stepped in and relieved them from the car for next to nothing, stuck it on a trailer, took it back to the UK, spent £500 on parts and it has been running sweet since then, now with my dad.

[Bertie N]

Thanks for the answer - Just as I thought. The buyer in question knows he can not register the car in Belgium. He plans to trailer it back to his, repair, take the VIC test in the UK, attain the V5 and then finally registering the car in Belgium... I'll let me know the good news