registering US X5 in europe?

[jigaro]

Originally Posted by sarunas4

hey guys, does anyone know anything about importing US cars to europe? i want to bring my US bought 2003 X5 3.0 to eastern europe, but not sure if they will accept is as E-type or not. i know that for american cars like (chevy, ford, dodge) it costs about $2,000 to make it e-type... but X5 is already a german car. thanks for the help

Hey i import U.S.models to eastern europe and i have never had a problem, ever. It also depends on a country, when they try to protect their car industry some countries have a very high customs registration prices, since my country has no car industry my quotas are fairly low, and as we speak i'am waiting for my 4.8is alpina tuning x5, so i think you will not have any problems if you do it.

[sarunas4]

hey Jigaro,
what country are you exporting your cars to? because i work in Estonia and i exported a chevy equinox there, and had to pay about $2,000 for registration/light changes. now i have a 2003 X5 i wanna take there, but i hear that i will have to pay the registration + change the headlights because of that US-EU difference mentioned in a thread above... thanks for your help.

[jigaro]

Originally Posted by sarunas4

hey Jigaro,
what country are you exporting your cars to? because i work in Estonia and i exported a chevy equinox there, and had to pay about $2,000 for registration/light changes. now i have a 2003 X5 i wanna take there, but i hear that i will have to pay the registration + change the headlights because of that US-EU difference mentioned in a thread above... thanks for your help.

I export cars to republic of gorgia, tbilisi, and let me tell you, you mentioned 2,000, over here it depends what the engine is, the more powerfull the engine more you have to pay, for example, 3.2 mercedes is cheaper to pay in customs then 5.0 but i never had to deal with the headligh issues because in my country there is no EU regulations regarding the headlights.

[sarunas4]

jmx, unclebob,
so the european X5's do not have auto-leveling head lamps? and to fix issue (make it EU compliant) would a change of the head lights to european headlights be suffice? or is it more complicated? thanks guys

[janisX5]

You will not have to change any lights, I will get some information tomorrow. Estonia is in EU and car need EU sertification...

[sarunas4]

janisX5,
thanks, ill be waiting, im actually in Valga right on the latvian border, i know that latvia and lithuania are easier with the laws. but estonian car registration is pretty strict i heard.

[fiber46is]

Contact the Vehicle Registration Office to check what you need to change in your car, and Customs for the fees/taxes you need to pay.
When I moved back to Finland I had to remove the parking light functionality from front blinkers and install separate parking lights, also I had to install rear fog light.
But, here you don't have to change the US DOT headlights when you import the car when moving to Finland and bringing the car with you.

[UncleBob]

Originally Posted by sarunas4

so the EU X5 do not have auto-leveling head lamps?

EU cars DO have auto-leveling headlights. They are mandatory on Xenon headlights. Headlight washers are also mandatory on Xenons.

I have Xenons on my X and they are auto-leveling and have washers

[Armen]

I think you can freely import US X5 to Europe. I drive a US X5 in Moscow and no problems occured when registering it here. In Russia X5s imported from US are very popular - cause they are considerably cheaper than vehicles imported from Germany for example (due to high exchange rates for European currency "euro"). In Belorussia for example window tint is prohibited by law, so there you have to replace side and rear glasses and to install european tint-free glasses to meet the statutory requirements. But in Russia there are no prohibiting requirements concerning cars imported from US. There was one law, but currently it is suspended and not in effect now concerning turn - signals. According to it all vehicles are to be equipped with yellow turn lights (front and rear). And in US some vehicles have red rear turn lights.