eilig

My wife and I may be moving from the US to either Germany, Austria, or Switzerland for a work assignment. If so, we'd be there for at least a few years.

Question: Does anyone know whether it is possible to license and drive a US-spec GT3 in Europe? Or would I need to buy a new car over there in order to be able to license and drive it?

Thanks in advance!

Nemesis77

You can ship your car there with US plates and you can use for 6 months for every calendar year.
You can also look into the specifics of each country since they have different laws, especially Switzerland.
I have a car in Greece, and I use it for the summer months there, after I leave I put the car in a garage and it's not moved until the following year. I do pay the sticker renewal every year here in the US. Hope this helps.

eilig

Hey this is good info.... So theoretically, if I had TWO cars over there, I could drive one for six months, and then the other for the next six months, and rotate back and forth while paying the sticker renewal in the US, right?

qbix

I doubt that US insurance covers Europe.
Even if it does you would be able to temporally register that car for 6 month after which you need to move the car out from EU for some time. I am not sure how long you can drive around on US number plates. I believe that not for too long.
To do so you would need further to do some technical upgrades to pass TUV, etc. (like headlights or to add rear fog light). Each country on top of EU regulations has their own rules.
The best is to check with the countries' of intended use registration office or custom office. I believe it's too much hustle to do it long run.

Nemesis77

Yes if you have 2 cars there you, theoretically, can do that. As for insurance, you will have to get insurance locally not from the US. Again, on the ballpark you can do it, but for specifics you need to ask the local authorities.
Whoever you will work for there, ask them to help with this matter. I'm sure they can find all the information right away instead of us speculating on what you can do or can't do. One thing is for sure, you can drive with the US plates in Europe for 6 months and I know that cause I have been doing it for the last 12 years.

997rs4.0

As mentioned, insurance is the hardest part.
I couldn't get my US cars insured in Sweden if kept on US plates. And US insurance companies refused to insure cars overseas.

beoliving

You could give these guys a call: https://www.seabridge-tours.de/?language=english

They have a lot experience in shipping vehicles across the world with long time stay in the destination country. They offer also insurance. Usually they ship RV's across the globe and the owner drive them e.g. from south to north america for a year or so, but worth a try. I had some discussions with them a while ago for a Panamericana trip starting from Europe to Buenos Aires and retour from Halifax.

Larry Cable

try GEICO or USAA.

you can *temporarily* import a US car into EU and drive it (if it is still a valid US registration) for up to 6 months, thereafter you must either re-export or import it permanently, and then
you need to register it in the country of residence.

You may need a vehicle conformance approval, which might involve some modifications, e.g rear fog lamps etc ...

If you have not owned the vehicle for at least 6 months prior to import you may be liable for both VAT/GST and import duty.

Spyerx

FWIW I'm in the process of doing same, but will not be shipping my cars. Will buy in Europe and sell when I'm done. It's not worth the hassle or expense, even though, yes, Porsches are fking expensive here. We have it GOOD in America.

rookie1

I did this last year when we moved from California to Switzerland: Shipped both my 981 Boxster S as well as my 991 GT3 (bought in the US) to Switzerland and registered it here.
I wouldn't bother with keeping the US registration, IMHO you are not saving anything in terms of taxes or insurance that way (well.. maybe a little bit on insurance but not worth the hassle when it comes to a claim).
Registration as a "local" car was extremely easy, only thing that had to be changed were lightbulbs in the sidemarkers if I remember correctly.
PCM/navigation system/Light Package, etc were all updated with a simple software update at the local Porsche dealer.
The only reminder that this is a US spec car is the mph gauge in the cockpit but for local authorities it's enough if you switch the digital display from mph to kph.

I calculated it before the move and with (new) Porsche cars being significantly cheaper in the US than in Switzerland (or even Germany) and the fact that as part of a household move you can declare the car as household good and don't have to pay import tax it really paid off. We just sold the Boxster after a year and got a significantly better price than what we woul have gotten in the US.

usctrojanGT3

Other than the GT allocation process.

_fletch

Thanks for this really useful info - I may have to move from US to France at some point and GT3's are even more expensive there than Germany.

However just to be annoyingly accurate I should point out for the EU-uninitiated that Switzerland isn't actually in the EU. It has a lot of harmonized laws (forced upon them by the EU) and is in the EU customs union but has a few exceptions. Hopefully (for my sake) your car import experience is not one of the exceptions

(forgive my EU cynicism - I'm British)

rookie1

That is correct
That being said the car regulations as well as safety and licensing requirements are one of the areas they are almost 100% in-line with the EU. What I don't know is how the import tax situation is in the EU countries (e.g. do you have to pay import tax even as part of a household move... no clue). But for the car registration process itself I'm pretty sure it's the same in Switzerland and other EU countries.

Redsteel

Hi Nemesis77, can you please let me know what is the exact procedure to do that in Greece? You can PM if you prefer. Thank you

Larry Cable

+1 in fact it had been suggested to me that it was beneficial to register in Switzerland!