Cost of registering Defender

[Ricciarelloderoma]

Hi, I hope I am posting in the right thread or could you please direct me where to post? Would anyone know the cost of registering a 1995 Land Rover Defender 90 we owned for less than two years, imported from the UK to use in Malta as UK citizens resident in Malta? Thank you.

[Nigelw]

Ask in Malta today, you will be surprised at how fast registration costs rise!

Also, be aware of potential VAT implications, which small countries tend to levy against you to persuade you to buy local vehicles.

[Ricciarelloderoma]

Thank you Nigelw, I will check Malta today :-) I have in the meantime got in contact over the internet with many Maltese Land Rover Series and Defender owners and none of them knows the exact import tax duties, some say 75% of the value of the car, some say three times the value of the car, I have contacted TM (Transport Malta) about six weeks ago and contacted them again after a month and they said they got my quiery and they will be in contact with me.

I've learnt everything about small countries trying to persuade you to buy locally, I have seen prices of Land Rover Defenders in Malta and they are double of what they are here in the United Kingdom, so not even worth selling ours (which I don't want to do by the way) to buy a similar one in Malta which is a place full of Land Rovers especially Series also 1948 models.

[robertspark]

Of help?

http://www.maltainsideout.com/7153/essential-malta-importing-a-car/

http://www.transport.gov.mt/land-transport/vehicle-registration-and-licensing/registering-and-licensing-a-motor-vehicle/individual

[Reiny]

Horrendous! Don't even bother checking! Registration costs have risen so much that it's virtually impossible to import any defender that's more than 2 years old. Until recently, a 2010 TDCI would cost perhaps 2000 euro. Now it has risen to in excess of 7000. As for older models, just forget it.

You're right about prices being sky high here. That's because the vehicles were expensive to purchase, import and register in the first place. Secondly, our climate in Malta is much kinder to vehicles than it is in the UK. Last but not least, Defenders (and Series vehicles) are cherished and in very high demand, hence they hold their prices. I tried to sell my 1989 90 fitted with 300tdi running gear a few months ago. The bodywork is fine but it could do with a respray. i asked for 9000 euro and could have sold it within hours if I wanted to.

[Ricciarelloderoma]

This is so obviously a rip off of enormous proportions, Malta is part of the European Union but they clearly do whatever they want... I can't get an idea of how much a 1995 Land Rover Defender 300Tdi is valued by the Maltese government and Transport Malta don't have a value for Land Rover Defender on their website, I am even prepared to pay 7.000 Euros to import it I can live with that even if it is pure robbery...

[Ricciarelloderoma]

I don't know... maybe we'll have to wait another year before we move to Malta since there is a concession and people who relocate to Malta to become residents and buy home can take one car with them which they owned for at least two years and pay no import duty taxes on it.

[Reiny]

Yes that could be the case too. An Italian employee of mine brought his Audi A4 with him and paid just 400 euro or so to have it registered. I don't know how the system works though. If you sell it to a local, the balance on the registration will have to be paid though.

[Ricciarelloderoma]

Laws and bureaucracy... enough to make anyone go mad... and Transport Malta are so slow in replying and they told me to wait (six weeks and counting now).

I know that definitely you can take one car concession free and pay the 300-400 Euros what your Italian employee paid, one car for life and that's it. M1 are passenger cars and cost more to import, N1 are goods cars and are cheaper to import, then there's also other categories...

Our Defender used to be a panel van when we bought her, now it is a six passenger seater with sliding back windows, cost more to import, twice or maybe three times as much, I'm just gathering bits and pieces of info from the net and on The Land Rover Defender Malta Facebook page, no one on there is sure either...

Just waiting for Transport Malta to come back with a reply, I can pay £ 5-6 thousand to import, I can live with that, any more and I'll start to wonder how much it is really worth... may go with my wife for a year to work in Italy where I lived 30 years or somewhere else in Europe and wait until February 2018 to move to Malta with Landy.

[Ricciarelloderoma]

Well, just got a reply back from Transport Malta after insisting for almost FIVE MONTHS, 1995 Land Rover Defender valued at about 5.000 Euros, import tax 10.800 Euros, ridiculous... legalised robbery, we're going in February 2018, circulation tax (Road Tax) 1225 Euros per year.