Mobility:The hidden costs of selfimportation | |
The original prices for one and the same car model are structured differently by the manufacturers depending on the sales country. The SUV (sport utility vehicle) from Germany costs in the USA just a little more than half of what you have to pay for it in Austria. So what could be more obvious than considering buying your dream car through selfimportation from America or other Non-EU countries?
The technical conditions in Austria and in the USA are different. The regulations for the lighting system for example in the EU are different from those in North America. There are similar differences regarding the side indicators, which have to be changed from red to orange. One therefore needs to calculate major costs for meeting the technical EU regulations.
Fiscal compensation
Even higher extra costs will arise from the fiscal aspects of a self-importation. For imports from EU countries you have to pay the standard excise tax (NoVA) and the difference of the value-added tax. If the car is imported from third countries (non-EU countries), customs duty of 10 % and import turnover tax (20% of the purchase price + transport costs + customs costs) will be due. Part of the tax owed depends on the CO2 emissions of the car. If more than 180 g/km of CO2 are emitted, you have to reckon with 25 Euro for each gramme of CO2 exceeding the limits. The limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ) emissions can have a tax-credit effect.
Cars with environmentally friendly power trains can reduce the tax burden by up to 500 Euro. If there are no figures for CO2 emissions available, an extra 20 Euro per kilowatt of driving power are charged, starting from an output of more than 100 kW.
