How to import a car to Andorra in 2023?

Whether you are considering importing a car to Andorra or you are simply curious about how it is done, this blog is for you as I describe the process of importing cars to Andorra step by step.

Table of contents:

1st step: find the car

• legal conditions
• Deductible VAT
• choose the car
• review the seller

2nd step: buy the car

• reserve
• purchase
• VAT

3rd step: transport of the car

• own transport
• truck transport

4th step: procedures in Andorra

• border
• itv
• government
• ACA

5th step: VAT recovery

Too much mess? we do it for you and you save yourself: risk, time and mess. In terms of money, it's not that expensive.

1st Step. Search for the import car outside Andorra.

Before starting the import procedure in Andorra, it is important to choose the car to buy well. And by choosing the right car, I don't just mean choosing the right make, model and other features. There are 4 other things to consider when choosing the ideal car to import to Andorra. They are the following:

1. Legal conditions: we want to import the car to Andorra and therefore we have to filter only the cars that are allowed by Andorran regulations. And what does the regulation say? Well, it allows us to register used cars with a value lower than the current Euro regulations and with a maximum of 6 years of age. In 2023, these are all those approved under Euro5 regulations or higher and with a minimum manufacturing date of 2017. Here I attach the link to the BOPA article.
2. Deductible VAT: when importing a car to Andorra you do not have to pay the sales tax of the country of origin (VAT or VAT). That is why you are interested in buying cars that originally still maintain this tax, that is, cars with deductible VAT. This will allow you to buy the car for a lower value than advertised.
3. Choose the car: once you know the cars that you can import, you can search for the car that interests you. To do this, you will have to find the pages for each country. Here I list some of the most used: cars.com to find cars from the United States, autoscout24.com to find cars in general throughout Europe, lacentrale.fr to find cars in France, coches.net to find cars in Spain and mobile.de to find cars in Germany. If you want a European car, I recommend using mobile.de as it is the website with the largest number of cars and it also happens to be the country where sellers are more used to selling for export.
4. Check the seller: Once you've chosen the car you like, make sure it's not a scam before you send the money. Imagine the problem of losing them. Don't rush and do good research. See who the dealer is that advertises the car, look up the dealer's website, call and talk to someone, look on google maps to see if that dealer is in the advertised location and check the ratings. Go to the country of origin in person if necessary to verify that the car exists and that everything is normal before sending money that you may lose. If you want, you can contact us so that we can help you in this verification process. We have been importing cars for many years and it is possible that we already know the dealer where you found the car.

2nd step Buy the import car as in Andorra.

Once you have selected the car, checked the seller and made sure that there will be no legal impediment to importing it, you can now proceed with the purchase.

Before making the purchase, ask the seller if he has the car's COC. It is the document issued by the manufacturer that collects all the technical data of the car included in the European approval of the car. In Germany it is common for them to have it, otherwise you will have to ask for it from a dealer of the brand giving the car's chassis number.

For the purchase, you will have to contact the seller and send him your details as an Andorran resident or those of the Andorran society. It is important to remind them that Andorra is not part of the European Union and that they must therefore sell the car as an export good. They will send you a reservation contract with the details of the car, the dealer and the payment details. You will have to return it signed and make the bank transfer.

If you have bought a car with deductible VAT, the most normal thing is that they will make you pay the total price of the car (VAT included), and that this VAT will be returned to you when you send them the justification that you have exported the car outside the EU , and to have imported and registered it in your name in Andorra.

Congratulations! The car you were looking for is already yours, now you have to take it, import it and register it.

3rd step: Transport the car to Andorra.

There are two solutions in order to transport the car to Andorra. Do it yourself by driving or have someone do it. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages.

Having it done by a company dedicated to it is convenient, safe and you don't put miles on the car. It is convenient as you save the time it takes to go to where the car is and drive back. And it is safe because the transports are insured. The disadvantages of having someone do it are that it is usually slower and that, because they will unload your car at the border, you will need a crane or temporary plates in order to move the car through Andorra and be able to go from the border to the ITV

Doing it yourself, on the other hand, has the advantage of allowing you to see the car before you pick it up at the dealership. This means that you can check it before withdrawing it and make timely claims if something is not right. Even so, you will need to make export plates from the country of origin in order to be able to drive the car to Andorra, as the car will not have plates to drive because it will have been deregistered. In Germany there are different durations and the selling dealers usually provide the service of preparing them for you. One-month plates usually cost €300, which already includes the mandatory insurance.

If you want to do all the procedures yourself but want us to help you with the transport, contact us and tell us.

4th step: Procedures in Andorra.

1. Procedures at the border:
Once you've managed to get the car to the border, it's time to stop there. Here you must declare the car's Community exit and entry into Andorra.

It is very important at this point to be clear whether from the beginning they have prepared something related to export or not. It is important because in the event of an error, the original VAT will not be returned to you.

If they haven't prepared anything, you need to go to the outbound freight forwarders first. There you give them the car documentation as well as the bill of sale so that they can prepare a document called DAE (Export Accompanying Document). Subsequently, this model is presented to customs and the export is done.

To make the import, you will need to go to the Andorrà freight forwarder collaborating with the outgoing freight forwarder. This one will charge us the IGI and prepare the DUA. Afterwards, we will take the DUA to the Andorran customs so that they give us the right to dispose of the car in the country and stamp the DUA and the invoice for the purchase of the car.

It is necessary to save all the documents that are given to us as they will be necessary.

2. Procedures at the ITV:
Arriving at the MOT and having requested an appointment in advance, you will request to undergo a pre-registration check for vehicle importation. Here you will have to hand in the car's documents from the country of origin, the COC and the car's Andorran insurance certificate. At the end, if the itv is favorable, it will give you a yellow paper that you must keep.

3. Government procedures:
With all the documentation received so far, you will have to go to the government and enter the registration file. You will need to bring the following documentation:
- DUA and invoice of origin stamped at customs.
- Compliant ITV document is favorable.
- Original car documents.
- COC of the car.
- Certificate of insurance.
- If it is the first car you register, your passport.
- Application for registration in the completed vehicle register (you can find it at this link).

When you hand in this document, you will pay a fee of €201.53 and after 24 or 48 hours they will have the car's yellow card ready, in your name with the Andorran registration number. To collect it, you will have to pay the annual vehicle fee, which is different for each car.

4. Procedures at the ACA:
You will have to go with the yellow card to the ACA in order for Andorran plates to be delivered to you. They will cost you €45.80 and will also include the new ecological sticker.

At this point, you can place the plates on the car and the car import process is complete. You can now drive freely with your imported car in Andorra.

5th step: Recovery of VAT at source

Even so, you still need to claim that the original VAT is returned to you. To do this, email a copy of the DAE of the border, the DUA and the stamped invoice and the yellow letter to the seller requesting a VAT refund. Also indicate your baccalaureate details to speed up the process.
Don't be surprised if it takes 3 weeks to get your money back from when you send them the documentation.

Summary:

As you have seen in this article, importing a car consists of several clear and distinct steps that, if followed, allow you to import a car. They are not difficult steps and in many of them you will be accompanied by an official or worker who will help you. However, there are 4 critical points that I want to remind you so that you remember them and do not pass them lightly.
- Make sure the car is compatible with Andorran regulations. If you make a mistake, you will find a car in Andorra that you will not be able to register and you will have to worry about selling it outside.
- Check the seller carefully and make sure that the car you are buying is real.There are many cars advertised on the different portals that do not exist and are scams. It is easy to fall for them as they usually correspond with cars at interesting prices. It is virtually impossible to get the money back once a bank transfer has been issued voluntarily.
- Make it clear that the car is being sold to you as an export. You will have problems at the border to import it if it is not and it will be difficult for you to recover the VAT later.
- Check how many Community exit files there are before making one at the border: make sure you have all the documentation and that there are no open export files from the seller. If he has opened one and you open another, they will not refund the VAT.

At importocotxe we are specialists in importing cars to Andorra. We are dedicated to this and we do it every day. If you want to import a car and have doubts anywhere, do not hesitate, contact us and we will help you.
If, on the other hand, you want to import a car but want to avoid the risk, time and mess involved in doing it yourself, we will be happy to import the car you want. We help you find the car and then we take care of everything, delivering the registered import car to your home. In addition, we advance the VAT at source and do not claim it from you in case it is not returned to us.

Tell us how you want the car so we can help you find it or search on our website. There you will see all the cars in Germany available to import to Andorra (mobile.de cars that can be imported) but you will see the final price of the car with all import costs and our fees included. In other words, the price that appears is the price for which you will have the car delivered to your home with Andorran registration.