Malta - British Expat Forum

I have been reading a lot of posts on this forum about importing cars from the UK and it is all very confusing.

We have been living here for about 7 months now and are Maltese residents. I am after an old Landrover Defender 90 and even though there are lot of them around on Malta they tend to be newer (or the opposite too old) and as a result more expensive. I have been looking at 4x4's in the UK and they are a lot cheaper.

Question 1 is, what is the registration tax - the Maltese motoring registration and licensing website doesn't have the land rover defender model and on another post I read something about the import tax being removed in June (I can wait until then)?

Second question is, how can the car be insured after buying it in the UK while driving it back to Malta?

Bel Aus,
All your car import questions are answered in the FAQ topic, including registration tax info.

As a Maltese (non UK) resident now, I'm not sure how the insurance cover would work for you.
Do you actually need to drive it over yourself ? There are car dealers/importers on the recommended suppliers board who could bring it over by lorry transporter.

The reason I asked about the registration tax was because the FAQ refers to the Motor Vehicle Registration website but when trying to get an estimate of the tax I noticed that when selecting Land Rover it does not have the Defender models?

We are interested to drive it back ourselves as we figured it could double as our road-trip holiday trough Europe back to our beloved Malta Does anyone have an idea how to insure a car after buying it in the UK to drive it to Malta?

BelAus wrote: Does anyone have an idea how to insure a car after buying it in the UK to drive it to Malta?

Presuming it would be registered in the UK, you would need to be insured in the UK, with EU insurance cover, so a matter of discussing with an insurance broker to make sure the cover is sufficient to allow for the period until its re-registered in Malta

BelAus wrote:when trying to get an estimate of the tax I noticed that when selecting Land Rover it does not have the Defender models?

Unless its classified under a different name, you will need to contact the Department to get an estimate.

Bel Aus
If you can provide a UK address to register, then getting insurance cover probably shouldn't be too hard. Be careful the log book/V5 doesn't end up sitting in Swansea whilst you're driving through Europe

As for Landrover Defenders, probably classed as a commercial vehicle which might explain why you can't find it.

I would be interested to know if anyone finds U/K car insurance as a Malta resident, when i enquired about owning a vehicle for holiday purposes i was told the only way i can drive in Britain is with a hire car, this surprised me as i have had Malta car insurance for ten years now even though i was a U/K resident when i took it out. Bob, just read your post and even supplying your U/K address isn't enough as they also ask if you are a U/K resident.

Quote:

even supplying your U/K address isn't enough as they also ask if you are a U/K resident.

Appreciate that and not saying it is easy, if even possible.
Doing the above would be akin to being a 'tourist' in the UK then seeing IF he can get european cover to drive it down to Malta.
Still think the only 100% legally safe option is to put it on a transporter/container and ship it that way.

I dont know if iam posting this in the right place but i have a questions. I am a sole trader and want to get a new car 07. Can i register it for the business name and get a vat back or what else can i do. I would appreaciate any ideas ,
thanks.

[Spammy link deleted by Site Admin. And no, you're definitely not posting in the right place. - Dave]

In reply to my earlier comments on this thread, My Malta insurance company has told me if i supply all the relevant vehicle details to them prior to going to U/K, i can get insurance cover to drive a car back to Malta through Europe, not sure if it would cover me for a holiday as well though.