You've got the key in your hand, the export plates in place and the GPS pointed at Portugal. The feeling of starting your new car's engine for the first time and pulling out of Germany is indescribable.
But the honeymoon ends quickly when you realise you've got more than 2,000 kilometres ahead of you, with borders, confusing tolls and an uncontrollable craving for coffee.
The Nightmare of French Tolls 🇫🇷
If Germany is paradise (the Autobahns have no tolls), France is the logistical hell.
How to survive France:
- Get your credit card ready (with contactless) and keep it somewhere easy to reach. You'll be stopping at toll booths every 50 or 100 kilometres.
- Watch your speed: French speed cameras don't forgive. If the sign says 130 km/h, don't try to go 135 km/h. The fines reach Portugal without fail.
- Fill up before entering France or at the supermarkets near the border. Petrol at the French motorway service stations is extremely expensive.
Spain: The Desert and the Fatigue 🇪🇸
When you cross into Spain, the landscape changes drastically. The motorways are good and many are free, but the straight stretches are endless.
Tips for Spain:
- The danger here is sleep. The monotony of the Castilian landscape (especially between Burgos and Salamanca) is a sleeping pill.
- Switch driver (if you brought your "co-pilot") every 2 or 3 hours.
- Don't blindly trust the GPS when it says there's a service station in 10 km. Sometimes they're closed or abandoned. Don't let the tank drop below a quarter.
The Hook: You Made It to Portugal. And Now, the Bureaucracy? Leave That to Multipark 🇵🇹
Crossing the Vilar Formoso border and reading "Welcome to Portugal" is a huge relief. But when you get home, exhausted, you realise the real journey is just starting: the journey through Portuguese bureaucracy.
You have to go to Customs, fill out the DAV, sort out the ISV, do Inspection B and wait weeks for the national plates.
You don't have to do any of that if you leave the process in Multipark's hands.
Our team handles the entire legalisation for you. From the trip to the inspection centre for Inspection B, to filling out every form at the Tax Office and the IMT. And while we handle your new car's paperwork, remember we can also help you sell your old car!
Get in touch with Multipark and find out how we can turn the bureaucratic nightmare into a simple, turn-key process. All you have to do is enjoy the return trip!
