How To Extend Your European Temporary Vehicle Import Permit // Vehicle-Based Adventure Travel

[@marthawhite842]

Thank you for this - especially the EU quote with legal code reference. I scoured the deep recesses of Reddit to find it and couldn’t 😃😃. Much appreciated.

[@mia-pham]

Great info! Thank you so much for sharing. You've inspired us to make traveling to Europe in our own vehicle a 5 year goal of ours.

[@freelyroaming]

Awesome! Let us know if you have questions :)

[@billbeyatte]

More good info. I'm learning a lot from you. I have an F250 and a truck camper and would love to have my own stuff in Europe...but... summing it up, I think I'll do a long term rental or buy with a buy back option a Euro spec camper. Size is one problem. Having a black water tank is a big one.

[@freelyroaming]

Depending on your style of travel in Europe having a black tank can work as long as you are willing to go to established campgrounds regularly to empty. We have friends that have done buy back/rental campers here. I will gather more data and hopefully upload a video to detail that process.

[@fcodeaco]

Awsome !! 👍👍

[@Sardarg_007]

Hello, Good evening. I hope you are doing well. I am in Morocco and want to temporary take my car to Europe for two months. Could you please share some information regarding this. I look forward to hear from you. Regards.

[@jstermitz]

So what is still confusing is that when you reentered from Turkey, did you stop at a customs office to get a new import permit or “official”’extension, or are you still traveling on the original import permit with only the exit “evidence” you mentioned. Seems like any time you enter EU at any border you would go to customs office and get a brand new permit, not a renewal nor extension of some previously issued permit….

[@freelyroaming]

No. There is no renewal paperwork upon exit or entry. There is also no new permit at customs when you enter.

[@fadbek5093]

Hi I hope you guys are doing well. Did they asked you for the initial temporary import permit when you were exiting the EU ?

[@freelyroaming]

No. They did not.

[@NapoleonDynamyte]

My assumption after hearing the EU response was that as long as you leave the EU or EEA within the 6 month time period then you are eligible to reapply for a temporary import permit for your vehicle. Thoughts?

[@tonymarles8553]

We sent our 2 motorcycles from USA via ship in May 2016 and toured Europe till August 2016. We then stored the bikes and had to travel back home. Due to many circumstances we have not been able to ship the bikes back. We now want to ship them back neatly 6 years later but the agent says customs may think we have exceeded our 6 months. The bikes were stored and I maintained USA registration and the titles are USA. We are Australian passport holders but travel in the USA and Canada and the bikes were purchased in the USA. Your thoughts? One other forum said the 6 months import was for only on the road time so we would be ok.

[@freelyroaming]

As long as you can prove that it left the EU less than 6 months ago you should not have problems with customs. But if you don't have any way to prove that, customs can certainly make it difficult for you. They could theoretically impound the vehicle until you pay the import fees.

[@tonymarles8553]

@@freelyroaming sorry if you misunderstood, my concern is having to pay duties in Europe because the bikes stayed 5 years, we actually returned in August 2016, less than 6 months after arriving. A shipping agent has said maybe we have to pay duties in Europe because the bikes were not exported before 6 months!

[@freelyroaming]

@@tonymarles8553 yes I understood fine. It doesn't matter where the owner is. Bikes or cars are just imported products and goods. If it doesn't leave in 6 months, duty is owed to customs.

[@surfreadjumpsleep]

When you enter the EU do you get some sort of paperwork to show that you officially imported the car? Did you need that paperwork at any point during your travels or during setting up insurance, etc? Did anyone ever ask you to prove that you were in for < 6 months? One thing is that you can only stay max 30 days in the EU, so one could assume that the car left with you.

[@MorAcro]

funny seeing you here....looking for moroccan loop holes now.

[@surfreadjumpsleep]

I don't even understand what I wrote here. You want to keep your car in for > 6 months? My best idea of a hack was to bring in one car with a plate and then leave with a junker and the old plate. dunno how much they pay attention to make & model. @@MorAcro Only trouble is then how do you get the nice car out? bring back in that junker i guess.

[@tomkelly3896]

Im told the vehocle must leave for 180 days before it can renter....🤔🤔🤔

[@freelyroaming]

Ask the person who told you that to provide documentation stating so. If you know how the EEA and European Single Market treaties work, there is zero reason why what they said makes any sense. There are a lot of people just making up stuff about this. We have official emails from EU stating otherwise. It is also likely they are confusing this with the Schengen visa. That’s also a very common mistake. They are completely unrelated.

[@Sabzchob]

How to get vehicle permit as first stage

[@freelyroaming]

When we initially shipped into the EU, the shipping company provided the initial import documents as part of the shipping process.

[@GermanLibertarian]

I don't know if you'd be willing to, but could you forward this email to me? I need to have the exact same question answered as you did!?