Far as I can tell winter tires are not mandatory on your personal vehicles. Obviously in a snow storm summer tires won't do because of the tire thread depth and because summer and winter tire are made of different rubber. Of course if you get stranded or cause an accident the cops and/or insurance company may not be so understanding if you drive on summer tires in a January blizzard. I think that for taxis and other commercial vehicles the winter tire is NOT optional. Incidentally the word is that in Austria they take it rather seriously and the fines are steep.

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Thanks Peddington,

The amount of snow that fell last year didn't jusitfy a change of tires to winter tires. Maybe in Austria they have more snow.
Insurance companies are just looking for reasons not to pay, doesn't matter if you did everything by the book, just a bunch of greedy thieves. That's why I did only the compulsory insurance with the cheapest insurer I could find.

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Indeed! I forgot to mention that on one of my two cars (the older one) I buy "all season" tires. The truth is that it is not a good summer nor is it an optimal winter tire but it is a compromise and expect to pay a little more at the pump when your refuel. The upside that no need for two sets of "felnies" and not changing of the tires twice a year. But as I said your gas milage will suffer a little!

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http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/winter-tyres/laws-and-legislation

Not required but you are required to have snow chains in the car in Winter. I brought over from the US a Toyota Prius which had all season tires. But, we then bought a new car here and of course it only came with special "run flat" summer only tires. So, we ended up buying a second set of tires for Winter. The cost to switch over is negligible at 5,000 HUF and where we live is a guy with a truck and all equipment who comes to your house to do it so very painless. As Peddington says though, it may still be a requirement by the insurance company. Speaking of which we were surprised by a substantial rate increase this year which incorporates a new "sneaky" accident tax implemented very quietly by Fidez.

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Thank you.

So you say I need to carry in my car a set of chains and not on the wheels?

Anyone checks this?

The new accident tax is part of the compulsory insurance (MTPL)? because I didn't have any increase.
By the way, don't believe anything you are told, especially by insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions.

Orban has too much confidence, but if he keeps inventing new taxes like the new fuel tax (if a barrel of oil goes under 50$ than you pay 10 ft extra per litre of diesel) he will pay for it in the next election. He's got too much power anyway and that's never a good thing, he wakes up in the morning with a crazy idea like a ban on sunday shopping and he passes it before he goes to bad at night (I mean with no problem at all).

Now there are signs everywhere saying that 98% said "nem" to the refugees....when it's invalid because less than 50% voted. But the signs doesn't mention this. I think people are getting fed up with all the new taxes and crazy laws-next election we will see how much.

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Unfortunately Tom there is a tendency in the current government to announce something before they even do their homework. Is it just stupidity or they just testing the waters, well you have to judge. For one the "internet" tax comes to mind. After the announcement, negative reaction and protests I was amazed how the government backtracked. I saw Orban declare "...well it is not possible to implement the internet tax because current Hungarian laws would not allow for it!" WHAT? You think that someone would of figured that out before the PM announced it. It is sad really! And yes...diesel more expensive than unleaded gas and taxed extra for being cheap!? AMAZING! But there we go!

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Peddington, I wasn't surprised at all. Orban wasn't expecting this reaction from the public so he got spooked and looked for an excuse...since when the Hungarian law ever stpped him?!
In fact he got so spooked that from next year the VAT on Internet is lowered from 27% to 5%.

Look at this:
http://www.portfolio.hu/en/economy/motorists_in_hungary_will_be_hurt_by_never-before-seen_tax_hike.32003.html

If the public goes and demonstrate like in the internet tax he will backtracked in a sec. Anyway, he will pay for all of this in the next election. Everytime people will fill a tank of gas and look at the price they will remember who is responsible for it...

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Indeed! The highest VAT/sales tax anywhere as far as I know! This was fine as Hungary tried to pay off their debt to the World Bank but now that they did pay a big chunk off they kept the tax at 27%. And that is on your cell phone, gas, electricity, water and any service you contract etc. But the real shocker is that "how" they spend the tax money is often "SECRET". Now I get black bag, spying and some military spending but why is it a secret how much they spend on soccer stadiums/sports or political advertising etc, etc. Because that is what "illiberal democracy" is all about I guess! Sad!

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Peddington,

The said thing is that I will choose Orban over Obama (and the scum that will replace him) ANY day!

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It is much the same in every country. Here it is just more obvious and flagrant. I do agree though they seem to be out of control and will hopefully get replaced next election and if we are lucky sent to prison as the obvious criminals they are. That might happen in the US too. There is no real difference between Clinton's pay to play and laundering of $ 2.1B through the fraudulent Clinton Foundation.

I see roughly 100 new signs paid for by the government claiming 98% victory on the referendum, on my way from our house in Balatonfured to M7 a trip of 40 km. Must be a friend of Orban's who own a sign business because I can't for the life of me figure out the purpose of these signs. The referendum failed miserably (lacking a 51% voter participation) but they are proclaiming victory. So, clearly they also live in a fantasy world.

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Yep! BAD choices ALL around! Look at Turkey, the Philippines and we haven't even mentioned Russia and North Korea! As for the good 'ol USA I don't know how in the heck we wound up in this predicament...I guess the end is near! LOL! ... not that is SAD!!!

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borschelrh,

I am really curious about the insurance premium increase. Is it part of the MTPL (compulsory). Or when I renewed mine it was before the new accident tax?

About the signs, there are thosands of them in Budapest. Sometime there are five or six of them meters from each other all "98% nem", definitely corruption. No wonder they introduce all these new taxes, someone has to pay for it...corruption costs a lot of money!

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Dear "bor" do not wonder! After all is it a coincidence that friends/acquaintances of Orban get stadium building contracts or buy the opposition newspaper (Nepszabadsag) and the list goes on!? No of course it is not a coincidence and well hand washes hand. But do not wonder because no one will go to jail at the top. Hungary wasn't able to prosecute Gyurcsany for a single thing and he got filthy rich while singing the communist rally song on national TV and after left office now has his own political party and fat EU contracts. As I been saying all along...

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Good luck with that one Tom! I can't believe anything the government announces!

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