Import a car from Belgium to Romania: listings, inspection, taxes and transport

“Masini din Belgia” is a search many Romanian buyers run for a reason: Belgian dealers sell well-equipped ex-lease cars with a full service history and a mileage certificate that Romania does not have. The catch is distance — Belgium is a two-day drive away, and nobody on your side has seen the car.

Below: how big the Belgian market is right now, what to check before you pay, what the registration in Romania involves, how transport is priced and the steps in order.

Belgium: the market in numbers

Measured on 3 November 2026 from the public DAExport listing feed (AutoScout24, 2dehands, Autohero and other sources, deduplicated); the numbers move every day, so treat them as the order of magnitude, not a quote.

Belgium is a dense dealer market: most listings come from professional sellers around Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Liège, and a large share of the cars are ex-lease or ex-company vehicles with a full service history. Prices are quoted with Belgian VAT included when the seller is a dealer; a private seller sells without VAT and without a dealer warranty.

Two Belgian documents matter more than anything in the listing. The Car-Pass is a mandatory certificate that shows the mileage recorded at every service and inspection in Belgium — a seller who cannot produce it cannot legally sell the car. The second is the certificate of conformity (COC), which the registration office in Romania will ask for and which carries the CO₂ value that decides your tax.

There is no transfer of the registration to the buyer in Belgium: the seller returns the plate to the DIV and the car leaves the country deregistered, on temporary plates or on a transporter. That is why the paperwork has to be complete on the day you pay, not “sent later”.

What to check before you pay for a car in Belgium

• Car-Pass with mileage readings that match the odometer and the service book; no Car-Pass, no purchase.
• Certificate of conformity (COC) present and the CO₂ figure on it noted — that number sets your registration tax in Romania.
• Seller type: a dealer invoice with VAT or a private sale contract; the price in the listing says which.
• Paint thickness on every panel and the underbody for corrosion — Belgian coastal and salted-road winters leave marks.
• A VIN check for accident records, theft and open finance; the free decoder is on the VIN check page.

The step that saves the most money is the one most buyers skip: an independent inspection on site before you pay. A DAExport inspector drives to the car in Belgium, spends 1.5–2 hours on it — OBD scan, paint thickness on every panel, underbody, test drive, documents and VIN history — and sends you a report with photos within 24–48 hours. The price is €278.30 including VAT with the first 30 km of the round trip included; every further kilometre costs €0.47 net. You can see what the report looks like on the sample report page.

If you do not want to negotiate in Dutch, French or German, the add-on “negotiation and closing the deal” (€99 incl. VAT) means we hold the conversation about the price and the paperwork with the seller. The full scope and the order form are on the pre-purchase inspection page.

Taxes and registration in Romania

Romania replaced its environmental stamp with registration fees set by regulation; the current charges are assessed individually and our calculator shows an individual quote rather than an amount — we do not publish a number we have not verified at the source.

A private buyer pays no Romanian VAT on a used car older than six months with more than 6,000 km. The annual road tax depends on engine size.

The car must pass an RAR (Registrul Auto Român) check and the periodic inspection (ITP) before the registration at the county registration service (DRPCIV).

Indicative amounts from the DAExport import calculator (tables as of July 2026) for a car priced at the Belgium median; fuel, engine size and the CO₂ value from the certificate of conformity change the result. The calculator gives the figure for your car.

Open the import cost calculator

Transport Belgium → Romania

We have no fixed route to Romania in the price list yet, so transport to Romania is quoted individually: tell us where the car stands and where it should arrive, and you get a written price before you decide. The rules (driver, insurance, deposit, delivery time) are the same as for every route on the car transport page.

Step by step: from the listing to the plates

• Shortlist the car and check the VIN and the listing: price versus the market, photos of the interior and the underbody, seller type.
• Order the inspection; we contact the seller, inspect the car in Belgium and send the report.
• Decide on the price with the report in hand; reserve the car in writing in your name, then pay.
• Collect the complete set of documents: invoice or contract, registration documents, COC, service history and the mileage certificate where the country issues one.
• Drive the car home on temporary plates or order transport.
• Book the RAR identity check and the ITP inspection.
• Pay the registration fees assessed for the car.
• Register at the DRPCIV and collect the plates.

Order an inspection of a car in Belgium

The full description of the import service is on the car import page; the prices of all services are in the price list. More routes: Import by country.