Vehicle import

Used cars in Portugal are expensive — numerical fact. An €18,000 Portuguese car can cost €11,000-13,000 in Germany, Belgium or the Netherlands. Even adding the Portuguese ISV (vehicle tax), IUC, transport and legalisation, savings on an average car reach €3,000-5,000 — significantly more on hybrids and EVs (where Portuguese tax benefits make import even more attractive).

But there's a path and there are traps. Doctored mileage, undeclared accidents, former taxis or heavy-use company cars, documentation issues, miscalculated ISV, type B inspection instead of A (forces extra repairs), late customs declaration generating interest... A poorly-done import wipes the savings and leaves stress on top.

Our service is turn-key. Start with the search: we have partners on mobile.de, AutoScout24, Cardealer.de, and a network of certified dealers in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria and Luxembourg. The client tells us model, year, requirements (e.g. 'BMW 3 Series, 2021, diesel, automatic, no scratches, max 60,000 km'), and we send a pre-filtered selection with walkaround video, history (Carfax/Autocheck European equivalent), and verified paperwork status.

Car chosen, we do in-person inspection before purchase — a trusted mechanic in the origin country goes to see the car, writes a photo report with paint thickness gauge (to detect repaints hiding accidents) and road test. We only proceed after the client approves the report.

Then it's bureaucracy: purchase with invoice in client's name, transport on specialised truck (not driven, to avoid piling extra km), reception in Portugal, pre-inspection and legalisation at IMT, ISV calculation and payment, first Portuguese plate, first-year IUC, inspection stamps. We deliver the car with national registration ready to use.

ISV is the tax that most damages a poorly-planned import. It's based on two components: engine size + CO2 emissions (NEDC or WLTP, depending on car year). A car with 180 g/km WLTP and 2.0 litres can pay €4,000-6,000 in ISV — a paperwork mistake that makes IMT apply WLTP instead of NEDC (or vice versa), or wrong engine size by 100cc, can cost €500-1,500 extra.

We calculate before the client buys, so the total price (car + transport + ISV + legalisation + our fee) is clear from day one. No surprises. And if any tax benefit applies (plug-in hybrid, EV, large family in some budget years), we check and apply it.

For EVs and plug-in hybrids, Portuguese tax benefits are significant — import is often 40-60% cheaper than a new Portuguese car, without compromising manufacturer warranty (on premium brands like BMW, Mercedes and Audi, warranty is European and transferable).

A full import typically takes 4 to 8 weeks from approval day to delivery with Portuguese plate. On hybrids/EVs it can reach 10-12 weeks in high-demand windows (IMT has queues for these specific models' legalisation).

Risks: what we guarantee vs. what we can't. We guarantee in-person inspection (if something the report should have caught is missed, we cover the cost). We don't guarantee unpredictable latent issues showing up 6 months later — those are normal maintenance. To mitigate, we recommend a full check in the first 1,000 km in Portugal (part of our maintenance service).

Average Multipark service cost: varies with car price (base: €1,200 for cars up to €25,000, scaling 5% of value above that). We don't charge for searched-and-rejected cars — only for import actually completed.