Car Registration & Insurance - Several Questions

Mr_Smith

Hi All,

Have recently moved to Brussels from further afield. Have completed my registration (so am now the proud owner of a residents card) and had several questions about how to receive Belgian car number plates.

Some background:
1. British citizen; Italian registered car with Italian number plates
2. Based here since Jan 2006
3. Located centre of town.

Questions I would like some help with:
1. Is it possible for me to apply for Belgian plates?
2. Can I insure the care with an Belgian insurance company?
3. Where do I go about starting this process?
4. Is it expensive and/or time consuming to do?

Your comments will be very much appreciated. Very Happy

BR
Mr SMith

lilaclady · Newbie Joined: Aug 09, 2004 Posts: 2 Location: Belgium

You should find all the info you need (and a host of other stuff!) here:
www.xpats.com/newcomer_main.shtml

Mr_Smith

Lilaclady, thanks for the info. But afraid the Expat site was not of much help, very basic guide.

Open for other suggestions.
Thanks

lilaclady · Newbie Joined: Aug 09, 2004 Posts: 2 Location: Belgium

Hi
As the expat site states, you MUST import car if you have residency in Belgium. To do so, you need to make sure car conforms to Belgian standards then be issued with cert of conformity (address of Vehicle Immatriculation Center is on expat site). You can then go ahead with insurance and registration in order to get your plate. Then you need to get your front plate made up! Insurance companies in Belguim will not insure cars which are registered outside of Belgium, in the same way that UK companies won't insure cars registered outside of the UK, I think. If the car is more than 4 years old you will also need to go through "contrÃƒÂ´le technique". All of this is in detail on the site, but if in doubt contact the immatriculation centre I suppose or a local garage! This comes up frequently also in the Q&A - particularly the need to register within 1 month of getting residency card. Hope this helps - good luck!

Mr_Smith

Lilaclady,
That has definitly been of help. Thank you very much. Guess I better start thinking as I registered on the 10th of this month so the clock is ticking! Will have to get on the case.

BR
Mr_Smith

dcstu

Hello,

I have moved to Belgium about one and a half months ago. The commune still did not prepare my residency permit because of missing social insurance number (I am a non-EU national). I have asked them several times whether I can or can't buy a car in Belgium, and they have replied no! But this was a way too slow answer which created doubts in my mind.

Fist it is really difficult for me to understand why they do not let me invest in their country. Next, by my very own effort, I have learned that there exists some options for temporary residents.

As I will reside in Belgium for only 7 moths from now, what can I do?

-Can I buy a car?
-How do I get a temporary license plate (white on red or blue on white?)?
-Can I ask the insurance company for a contract of less than one year?

Waiting for your reply... Thank you