Export car insurance: drive your car home from the Netherlands

Driving a Dutch car home: what to arrange before you leave

Three things have to be in order before you drive a Dutch car across the border. First, the export deregistration at the RDW: the seller or an RDW-recognised company reports the car for export, the Dutch registration is ended and you receive the RDW export document (registration certificate part 2). Second, the white export plates, because the yellow plates belong to the ended registration. Third, the export insurance with the green card, because a car on public roads must be insured and your insurer at home usually cannot cover a car that is not yet registered in your country.

The seller or another RDW-recognised company can take care of the first item, or we can do the export deregistration for you at our office in Hengelo for €50 during opening hours. For that, you hand in the car's yellow plates and bring its registration card with the tenaamstellingscode and a driving licence, identity card or passport; the car itself can stay at the seller's. The second and third come from us, in one package. Read how the parts fit together on the page about Dutch export plates with insurance. A car also needs a valid APK, the Dutch periodic inspection, to be driven on Dutch roads, so check the expiry date with the seller before you pay.

Temporary car insurance for export: from €100 with 2 plates

For a passenger car the price starts at €100, including two white Dutch export plates, the 14-day third-party liability insurance and the green card as a PDF by e-mail. From a small hatchback to a large estate or SUV up to 3,500 kg, every car falls under the car rate; its empty weight and year of manufacture decide the exact amount, which we always confirm before you pay. Online or at our office during opening hours, the car export insurance costs the same. Prefer delivery? DHL Express brings the plates to any address in Europe, and with the €50 shipping surcharge the total starts at €150.

What we need: the Dutch registration number, your name, the destination country and the start date of the 14 days. For some policies the insurer asks for a copy of your ID; we will tell you when. Request via WhatsApp at any hour, or use the online request form.

The drive home: planning your 14 days

This temporary insurance to drive your car home runs for 14 days from your chosen start date, which is plenty for most drives, with time for overnight stops or a ferry crossing. Start the 14 days on the day you actually leave with the car, not on the day you pay the seller: if the car waits at the dealer until Saturday, choose Saturday. The green card covers the whole EU and EEA and also Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, among others; it is not valid in Kosovo, Northern Cyprus, Russia, Belarus or Iran. If the trip takes longer than planned, let us know before the 14 days are up, because an extension is possible in some cases.

After arrival: registering the car in your country

At home you register the car at your national vehicle registration authority, for example the DVLA in the United Kingdom, Revenue and an NCTS centre in Ireland, Statens vegvesen in Norway, Transportstyrelsen in Sweden, Motorstyrelsen in Denmark, Traficom in Finland, CSDD in Latvia or Regitra in Lithuania. Every country sets its own registration deadline, and taxes or duties may apply, such as a registration tax, VAT on new cars bought within the EU, or customs duties and import VAT outside the EU. Rules change, so check the official Your Europe page linked under this page and your own authority before you travel.

What you bring to that appointment, in general terms: the RDW export document, the purchase invoice, the certificate of conformity or technical data of the car, your ID and proof of address, and in many countries a technical inspection report. We do not arrange the foreign registration or the taxes, but we can tell you which Dutch documents to take with you.

What car buyers often forget

• Paying the seller before it is clear who will report the car for export at the RDW and when the export document is handed over.
• Choosing a start date that is too early, so that part of the 14 days passes while the car is still at the dealer.
• Leaving the green card in their inbox instead of printing it and saving it on their phone.
• Leaving the yellow plates on the car: remove them, because they belong to a registration that has ended.
• Forgetting to ask us about the plates for a caravan or trailer bought together with the car; see caravan export insurance and the price page.