Tips for buying a car abroad
1. Check your contracting partners’ background and trustworthiness. Examine the vendor’s or broker’s website, put their names in a search engine, and look for other people’s experiences in discussion boards.
2. Find out about contractual relationships and liabilities before deciding who to deal with and who to buy a car from. Read the terms and conditions carefully and check what the vendor or potential broker is liable for. Preferably go out yourself. You may have problems if a friend or relative picks up or test drives the car for you, and you were not able to or did not remember to tell them about everything that has been agreed or should be checked. Also familiarise yourself with Traficom’s and the Tax Administration’s instructions for importing vehicles before you buy a car abroad.
3. Avoid making an advance payment. An advance payment is always a risk to the consumer, and asking for it may be a sign of a scam. Visit here to read more about problems and scams in car sales.
4. Take your time to look the car over and test drive it thoroughly. You can also take the car to a professional condition inspection. In Germany, for example, these inspections are carried out by Dekra, which is an impartial company, and the German Automobile Club ADAC.
5. Read the vehicle’s documentation and the owner’s information carefully. The most important documents are the register extract, service book and potential bill of sale. In particular, you should check that the vendor is the owner of the car, or has the right to sell it; for example, the vendor has a power of attorney or a contract of sale, or the vendor has the original register extract for the car.
There is no general car register in Germany where you could check if the vendor is the owner. A document called Kfz-Brief (or Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil II) is a certificate of car ownership. Fahrzeugschein (or Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I) shows that the car has been inspected, taxed and insured. You should never buy a car from a vendor who is unable to hand these documents over to the buyer at the time of the sale. In Sweden, you can check the car’s owner in the car register.
You should pay attention to checking if the documents appear authentic. If necessary, contact the previous owner or similar. Also ask to see the inspection certificate (TüV-Bericht in Germany) and an exhaust gas measurement certificate (ASU-Bescheinigung in Germany). Evaluate the entries in the service book – does the information appear correct, do the entries correspond to the information provided about the vehicle’s previous owners, and is the vehicle in the condition indicated by the entries?
6. Do not accept the car without a straightforward, written contract of sale and the original register extract. A written contract of sale must always be concluded on the car, also when dealing with a broker. The contract must contain the following: the names and contact details of the parties, object of the sale, price, terms of payment, date on which the car is handed over, any accessories, the mileage, the year in which the vehicle was taken into use and a clause stating that the vehicle has not been crashed. Never sign a contract of sale if you do not know the language in which it is written well enough and you do not understand all the contract terms. The German Automobile Club ADAC provides contract templates. The Swedish Consumer Agency and Motorbranschens Riksförbund have produced a template for contract terms. You should not buy a vehicle on conditions that are less favourable than the terms of this model contract.
7. Check the duration of statutory liability for defects. If the vendor does not market their cars in Finland and the sale is concluded in another EU country, the laws of the vendor’s country apply as a rule. In Germany, for example, the duration of liability for defects can be limited to one year from the date on which the vehicle is handed over, and this practice is indeed used frequently. At most, the liability is valid for two years. Similar time limits do not apply in Finland. In Germany, it is not unusual for dealers to try and avoid their statutory liability for defects by entering a term that refers to a trader in front of the buyer’s name, such as Autohändler (car dealer). Consumer protection legislation only applies to deals in which the vendor is a trader and the buyer is a consumer.
8. Find out about the warranty. The warranty is usually an additional benefit granted by the vendor free of charge that gives the consumer more favourable terms than their statutory rights. In some countries, the warranty may also be subject to a fee. This means that when buying a car, it is advisable to check especially the warranty issues carefully. What does the warranty cover, and where is it valid in geographical terms? How long is it valid for, and who will carry out warranty repairs? The fact that the previous level in the supply chain is only liable for repairs if it has granted a warranty comes as a surprise to many consumers.
9. Report a defect straight away. If you notice a defect in the car after buying it, file a complaint with the vendor straight away, and also with the broker if necessary. Complaints should preferably be made in writing. In countries where the legislation sets a time limit for filing a complaint, your rights may no longer apply if you exceed this limit. For information on periods for filing complaints in different countries, visit here:
If you bought the car in Germany, as a rule you will lose your right to compensation if you have not given the vendor an opportunity to repair the car and set a time limit for the repairs. You can only have the vehicle repaired yourself and claim a price reduction from the vendor when this time limit has expired if the vendor has refused to repair the car, or not respond to the complaint. The vendor may also offer you the possibility of having the car repaired in their country. If you must have the car repaired yourself, ask the person carrying out the repairs to identify the problem in a written statement and keep any defective parts.
10. If you cannot resolve the problem, ask for help. The European Consumer Centre helps Finnish consumers to resolve problems related to cars bought in another EU or EEA country. Reaching a settlement may often be difficult, as the dealers do not always respond to information requests from the European Consumer Centres Network. In Germany, an alternative dispute resolution body can only deal with complaints concerning cars if the car dealership in question has joined this body and undertaken to comply with the solutions it proposes. There is also a general alternative dispute resolution system in Germany, which you can contact about complaints concerning a car. You can lodge your complaint in English, French and German, but it will always be processed in German. If the value of your claim is less than EUR 5,000, you can initiate a European small claims procedure.
Read also
Ten tips for buying a car abroad
Legislation
Directive on Consumer Rights 2011/83/EU (in Finnish)