registering and insuring a UK car in Bulgaria

[Liliputian]

Sell Overseas Property

Hi, I wonder if anyone can explain the process for getting a UK car registered and insured etc. in Bulgaria - I will be driving the car over in January 2018 and probably driving it back a year or so later. I've read through some previous threads on this and similar topics and found some very useful information that has informed most of my assumptions/starting points here, but still have a fair bit of uncertainty...

My main questions are;

- What documentation will I need to get?
- How soon after arriving in Bulgaria will I need to do this? (does this just depend on how long my UK-insured single-trip cover lasts?)
- How much roughly should I expect to pay for these documents?

I also have some questions about bringing it back to the UK afterwards;
I expect to bring the car back to the UK before my UK MOT runs out (will get a 13 month certificate before I leave), but what's the situation with making sure all will be fine (legally) for doing this? I will still officially be a resident of the UK while away (I'll be flying back every now and then but the car will stay in Bg) so am I right in thinking it would be illegal for me to drive it back into the UK while still under Bg registration? If so, is it possible to either keep the UK registration simultaneously with the Bg registration, or to re-register/insure/tax it in the UK before I bring it back?

Many thanks in advance...

[truckyboy]

Sell Overseas Property

You will need the registration document..an m.o.t..insurance..and a receipt or proof of ownership..if your going to re-register the car in bg, then it will be tested there,and insured and taxed there and no reason whilst you cannot take it to the uk..And all will be good if you leave it in bg..( take off the battery, and jack the wheels up onto wood if your leaving it for any length of time..and drain down all the water system..one note, is you will need a set of LHD head lamps, as the right hand drive ones wont go through the test..( i did hear that those headlamp converters would suffice but double check, and take an interpreter with you unless you speak bulgarian..good luck.

[Liliputian]

Sell Overseas Property

Thanks truckyboy, and sorry for the late reply. That's useful to know - it now looks like I'll be getting year-round uk-based (Europe-wide unlimited) insurance so hoping I won't have to register it there (technically you have 6 months before it needs registering locally but there seems to be some doubt on the extent to which that is policed).

[millerman]

Sell Overseas Property

I brought a uk reg car over a few years ago..tax/tested/ins for 12 mths in uk.I ran it for almost 11 mths b4 I reg it here in BG..One thing I did make sure was that I was insured for being over here for that amount of time.Some uk insurers will not insure you over a certain period of time.
As for the headlights,as usual different municipalities look at things different to others.So do the KAT centres,here in Yambol there has never been any problem,[to present date] with having headlight deflectors fitted to the glass.
Check for different areas,that's what I would do.

[Liliputian]

Sell Overseas Property

Thanks millerman - yes I'm getting insurance that covers the full year throughout Europe.

I'm getting a set of winter tyres before I make the journey in December, but as I'll be staying for the year I'm wondering whether it's worth sending over my summer tyres (which are fairly new) to Bulgaria along with some other stuff I'm getting couriered over. Would I be looking at costs similar to the UK to buy a set of summer tyres in Bulgaria?

[truckyboy]

Sell Overseas Property

Hi Lili, if your buying winter tyres in the uk, so long as they dont have `studs` then i can see no reason why you have to have summer tyres as well, although it may have something to do with the heat and the cold temperatures..i would invest in a set of snow chains too, if your thinking of using the car in winter, these will be fine with summer tyres, and a lot cheaper too, ( shame cos i`ve just got rid of a set that would have probably fitted ) anyway, make sure your insurance covers you for the whole of the year, and not just for 90 days out of the year like some policies. TBH, i would use my same set of tyres i have fitted now, but just get a set of snow chains, as they are legal in some countries (for trucks anyway) good luck.

[Liliputian]

Sell Overseas Property

Thanks truckyboy, I've already bought the winter tyres (I wanted the peace of mind for the drive across Europe in Dec/Jan - for the sake of the different rules in the various countries I'll drive through, as well of course for the better road handling in winter conditions). They aren't the studded ones, but the reason I thought I'd eventually need to change back to summer tyres is that winter tyres don't perform as well in higher temperatures (apparently you can get away with winter tyres all-year round in UK but a Bulgarian summer is a different matter). It may sound like overkill, but I also bought snow chains to have in the car.

Thanks for the advice on insurance - the policy it looks like I'm going with is for the whole of the year, with no limits on length of single trips, and including Serbia.

[johndoe3]

Sell Overseas Property

Your UK Number Plate is handed over at the KAT station, and presumably UK DVLA is informed.

[millerman]

Sell Overseas Property

We bought a Hyundai Tucson last year,it already had winter tyres on it,[Feb],plenty of tread on them so I didn't bother changing to summer tyres,sold it a couple of months back with same tyres on,no real noticable wear..but then again,I lost my boy racer image donkeys years ago...
I do believe Germany/Austria and Romania is compulsory for winter tyres...dates apply

http://www.michelin.co.uk/tyres/learn-s ... egulations

[Liliputian]

Sell Overseas Property

Hi, just reviving this discussion to ask about my options for a bit of a pickle I'm now in regarding my car which is in Bulgaria but still UK-registered...

I left my UK-registered car in Bulgaria (off-road) in August 2018 as I had to get back to the UK quite quickly. The intention was to go back for it later in the year and drive it back before the UK insurance and MOT ran out in December, but this didn't end up happening (it is currently SORN'd). I'd like to drive it back to the UK this summer, but the problem is that it is now without a current MOT, and because the only way to get the equivalent of an MOT in Bulgaria is for it to be registered in Bulgaria, I am hoping that I can do this when I get there (by transferring ownership to my Bulgarian wife, using her Bulgarian address). This part, I hope, should be relatively straightforward (but please tell me if not!)

What I then need to do however is drive it back to the UK (I will then get it re-registered, insured, MOT'd in the UK by whatever timescale is required), so I wanted to ask whether Bulgarian car insurance will/can include driving in other European countries, and whether this insurance will allow me to drive it (if so, would it require my wife to be in the car with me at all times?)

Thanks in advance for any advice.