Import a car from Germany to Italy: listings, inspection, IPT and transport

Germany is the first place Italian buyers look for a reason that has nothing to do with fashion: choice. With roughly 620,628 cars on sale at once, almost every engine, trim level and colour combination of a given model exists several times over, so you compare like with like instead of taking the only example within reach. German dealers also sell a lot of one-owner cars with a stamped service book and a recent HU, and the asking prices for the same age and mileage are often below what the same car fetches on the Italian portals.

The price of that choice is distance. A car in Munich, Stuttgart or Hamburg is a thousand kilometres from most Italian buyers, which means buying from photos, negotiating in German by phone and arranging the drive home or a transporter without ever having stood next to the car. That is where most of the money is lost — not on the IPT, which is a known amount, but on a car that turns out to have been repainted on three panels or has an HU that was passed a week before the sale.

This page gives the German market figures we measure, what to check on a German listing, the inspection price including the fixed-price option for the far corners of Germany, what the Italian registration involves (nulla osta, IPT, Motorizzazione), the transport price for the Antwerp → Milan route and the steps in order.

Germany: 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.

Germany is the largest used-car market in Europe by a wide margin, with the broadest choice of engines, trims and price levels. The listings are concentrated on a few portals and most sellers are dealers; the trade-off is distance — most German cars stand several hundred kilometres from Antwerp and from Italy.

The German paperwork you need: the Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I and Teil II (registration documents), a valid HU (periodic inspection, the “TÜV sticker”) and ideally a stamped service book. A car with the HU due soon is not a problem for export, but it is a negotiation argument.

Deregistration in Germany is done by the seller at the Zulassungsstelle; the car then needs Kurzzeitkennzeichen (short-term plates, five days) or Ausfuhrkennzeichen (export plates with insurance) for the drive, or a transporter. Our own inspectors cover Germany up to 250 km by road from Antwerp; further away the inspection is done at a fixed price of €367 including travel.

What to check before you pay for a car in Germany

• Both registration documents (Teil I and Teil II) in the seller’s hands, not “at the bank”.
• HU date and the last inspection report; a car with a recent HU still needs an independent look.
• Accident history: German dealers must disclose “Unfallfahrzeug”; ask in writing and keep the answer.
• Distance from Antwerp: up to 250 km by road our own inspector drives out; beyond that the inspection is at a fixed price of €367 incl. travel.
• 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 Germany, 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 Italy

In Italy a used car imported from the EU is registered at the Motorizzazione Civile after a nulla osta from the Agenzia delle Entrate confirming that no VAT is due (car older than six months with more than 6,000 km, bought by a private person).

The main charge is the IPT (imposta provinciale di trascrizione), paid to the province at registration; its amount depends on the province and the power of the car. The calculator uses a single indicative figure. There is no CO₂-based registration tax in Italy, but the annual bollo depends on kW and Euro class.

You will need the certificate of conformity (COC) or, for older cars, a type approval from the Motorizzazione, and a revisione if the foreign inspection is not accepted. Plates and the carta di circolazione are issued together.

Indicative amounts from the DAExport import calculator (tables as of July 2026) for a car priced at the Germany 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 Germany → Italy

You can drive the car home on temporary plates or order transport. Driven by one driver from Antwerp, the route Antwerp → Milan (1,000 km) costs indicatively €1,149.50 including VAT, all-in; collection in Germany outside Antwerp is quoted individually. When you order the inspection and the transport together, the transport gets a 10% discount. All routes are 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 Germany 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.
• Obtain the nulla osta from the Agenzia delle Entrate with the foreign invoice or contract.
• File the registration at the Motorizzazione Civile (or through an agenzia di pratiche auto) with the COC and the foreign documents.
• Pay the IPT at the PRA and collect the plates and the carta di circolazione.

Order an inspection of a car in Germany

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.