Yes! If you have a car with Hungarian plates you got to get it inspected at an "official" station. They are all over and many car dealerships have them. The fee ranges from what I heard between 20,000 and 27,000 forints. Maybe due to size not sure. You can't get it registered/renew without it. These places are allegedly inspected and even have cameras installed but I seen cars pass with minor problems. Same as anywhere in Europe. In Belgium my car passed this safety inspection with two tires of minimum thread dept etc.

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Thanks Peddington,

Do I get a reminder letter that states when to have the car tested?

Do I have to register the car every 2 years?

Thanks

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No! You do not! You only need the inspection and they stamp your current registration (green card). You will however get a letter/bill from your district called "suly ado" or roughly translated "weight tax". But your "yellow check" will state "GEPJARMU ADO" or in fact "VEHICLE TAX.In fact this keeps your registration alive! They bill it usually semi-annualy but I ask for a blank check and pay for the year. My last one was 25,500 forint for a year. It is kind of funny because in Florida I pay the almost same amount to register a "like" vehicle so in this sense this is expensive!

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Thanks,

This checkup is every 2 years?

But you pay the tax every year because last year I paid it and didn't have a checkup. About a week ago I got this letter, so I have to pay it and take the car for a checkup?

How can I tell who does the check up? only dealerships?

Thanks a lot, It really helps.

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Correct! The service checks every two years (normally) and you pay the road tax every year. The first is noted in your car's green card and signed off by the shop. The second just pay. If you don't they just revoke your registration. This is typically what they do in Hungary. Don't pay fine, don't pay tax etc., just certify your car (understand revoke the registration). If you lucky you will know about it. If not the next time the police (rendorseg) stops you they will just tow your car and may never see it again or perhaps after a few 100,000 forints fines, penalties and new service check! Just a note (and I learned this the hard way) be careful which insurance company you pick. The reason? Because you can't drop them until your anniversary! Silly right? Now your compulsory and your additional insurance is bought separately and in Hungary you can actually have it with different insurance companies! But the whole insurance thing is another story.......

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Thank you peddington.

One more question. If it will be 2 years this June from my last checkup. Can I take the car for a checkup in March or April?

Regarding the insurance, I've learned my lesson a long time ago. I didn't loose any money but they really got on my nerves (long story). Just do the compulsory insurance and drive very carefully. The compulsory insurance costs the same at all the companies (give or take a thousand). A lot of people told me that any additional insurance is a waste of money. It actually gives you a false sense of security... because in most cases you will have to sue the insurance and it will cost you more than the damage. I heard it from a local lawyer that drives a Mercedes and only have the compulsory insurance. They will take your money with no problem but it will be very hard to get one forint from these thieves !

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As to how early you can get the car inspected before it is due I'm not sure but least a month. Incidentally the last shop should send you a letter about a month before it is due and usually will state that you get a 10% discount as they want the repeat business. As far as the insurance I think you right. Here in Europe they hung up on the ONE car and PREVIOUS YEAR and POINTS. I can't get a discount even (my first year as a car owner) because I have no "previous" and even though a have a car abroad and it is inured with the same company 27 year and no accidents for 19 years still no discount. The insurance company quoted LAW (by government) and I guess the fact that they are a private business and I'm a very low risk they won't give me a discount. Such is life in Europe and a former communist country. Makes no sense but I guess it not suppose to. And yes the COSCO (add'l ins) will run you at least twice what the compulsory did!

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I waited until 1 month before expiration for the inspection without problem. I am surprised at the insurance issues. We have our houses and cars insured with Allianz without any hassles. We have filed claims and were paid in 1 day so I am unsure why someone would state anyone has problems. We also received discounts etc. on the casco coverage. The compulsory is a flat rate as you say but the casco depends on the value of the car, likelihood of theft, and other risk factors. A Mercedes would be a lot higher risk and one thing I have discovered here is that the more expensive the car the worse the driver. We often joke that expensive cars never seem to have functioning turn signals for example or breaks for that matter. The insurance cost for us is roughly half what we paid in the US for the same coverage and a lot less for the houses. When we bought our house we had a period of double coverage as we changed companies and both policies were in effect. We had a pipe break in the concrete which caused a lot of damage and both companies paid equally. That would be impossible in the US. The best part is they paid the same day they inspected the damage. That also would never happen in the US.

Our biggest problem happened last year. We have been here since 2009 on an retirement VISA which is 5 years and renewable indefinitely. However, the Fidez government has made it illegal to register a car unless you have an identity card which you can only get if you actually emigrate and get permanent residence which you also can't do until you have been here 5 years on a temporary visa. It is a lot more complicated a process to actully go through that mess as you have to have everything translated and certified including passports, birth certificates, police background checks, marriage certificate, proof of income, proof of medical insurance. It is a ton of documents and you have to first get certified copies notarized at the US Embassy at $150 a signature, then officially translated. It is really expensive to do. We didn't know about the law change regarding car ownership until after we purchased a new VW Passat last year and couldn't register it or get insurance in our own names. What a hassle. We ended up registering it in our gardener's name and getting legal permission from him to drive the car (which we bought and paid for). That was why we went through the horrific process to get our permanent visas. Of course, this happened just at the beginning of the immigration crisis and Hungary only has something like 100 people working in the immigration services and they ended up getting tied up doing the processing of all these "refugees" So what should have taken 3 months took 6 months instead.

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The last checkup on my car was made by the seller about 2 weeks before I bought it. So there is no way I'll get any letter. But, to be on the safe side (you have to in Hungary) I figuered I'll do it early at least a couple of months before. What do you think, should I?

Thanks again.

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I think you were very lucky with the insurance. When I bought my car I also insured it with Allianz and with a full cosco. I did the insurance in FHB Bank wich is a partner of Allianz.I brought all the documents they asked for and paid everything cash. About a month later I get a letter in the mail box (NOT A REGISTERED LETTER). It says somthing like this "We are sorry to inform you that we didn't accept your offer for the COSCO insurance". I was stunned...What do you mean...I was driving for a full month thinking I was insured and I wasn't?! I called them and was told that I had to send them photos of the car. Again, I did the insurance in FHB bank. I asked exactly what documents to bring and NO ONE said anything about photos. If they asked for it I could have brought them a million photos with no problem. But, they didn't have any problem taking my money, 210,000 forints to be exact. Anyway, I said ok, you didn't insure me so give me back my money...they said OK. Later I called the bank where I insured the car, talked to the manager (he did my insurance) and told him what happened and asked why didn't he told me about the photos. He said that he is busy and he will call me back in 5 minutes. An hour later I called again, he picked the phone, heard my voice and hung up. I tried a few times more and he hung the phone again and again. I sent him emails and no response. In the meantime I am waiting for a refund, about 2 weeks later I called and they said that I will get it next week. I said ok...next week got nothing. Called again and again, every week same answear. After 6 weeks I realised it can go on like this forever. I called and sent emails threthening to file a complaint with MNB and to take a lawyer that will make so much noise... I also submitted a complaint with their complaint department. Some manager called me a day later said he is personally taking care of it and promissed the money is on the way. Got it two days later...over all it took them almost 2 months to refund me. I mean this was my own money and not a claim. So just imaggine I had a claim...don't even want to think about it. A year later I did the compulsory insurance with another insurer. Didn't do COSCO because it's not worth one forint. After notifying them by fax (30 days before the end like the law requires) they called me to ask why do I want to move to another company. I told them to go F themselves and not call me again.

So, I only have a compulsory insurance...if I had a choice I wouldn't even have this. Beside the compulsory car insurance I do not and will not insure anything.

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