Driving to Krakow

Hi guys, I am moving to Krakow late december and thinking of driving up there as I would like to keep the car with me. Has anyone attempted such a perilous journey? I would really appreciate some information in regards to petrol costs, as well as what documents will I need to obtain to keep hold of my car post-arrival.

- Posted by ferozn from Poland on Nov 10th, 2009

BTW i am driving from London... Also, is there any issues with boarder crossings or tolls I have to be aware of? I dont fancy ending up in a cell instead of Krakow..

- Posted by ferozn from Poland on Nov 10th, 2009

I do this 1000 mile journey 2 or 3 times a year - it's a doddle and it takes me 20hrs door-to-door between Krakow & London. There are no border crossings any more and there are no tolls except for a short stretch in Poland (on the A4). Most UK car insurance is only valid in the EU for a period of 90 days in a year though so check what your policy says. There are specialist insurance brokers who can sell you a policy that allows you to keep your UK registered car abroad all year round , but they're not cheap. The biggest problem is registering a UK-registered car here though. You are supposed to re-register a car once you've had it in Poland for 6 months, but the problem is that Poland will not allow you to register a right hand drive. Even if you have a LHD, you can't register it unless you have an officially registered address (zameldowanie na stale) which most landlords refuse to do. If you've owned the car for less than 6 months you also need to pay an excise tax, and if you've owned it for more than 6 months you need to apply to the Customs office in Krakow and the Office for Foreigners in Warsaw for exemption from the various taxes before you can register it. All in all, if you have an address at which you're officially registered, it's easiest to buy a car when you get here.

- Posted by spoony from Poland on Nov 10th, 2009

Than you for that Spoony.. it does sound very complicated to register the car really. The car is a right-hand drive so it's impossible to register it. Are these insurance brokers UK based or Krakow based? I would be able to keep hold of my car for atleast 3 months before I have to worry about insuring it in Poland, right? Are you aware if it is similarly hard to register it in neighbouring countries? It is a german car after all.. :)

- Posted by ferozn from Poland on Nov 10th, 2009

Agree with spoony. I drove over a car from the UK years ago, and it was a total pain trying to get it registered. In the end I scrapped it and bought one locally. The prices of second-hand cars are reasonable in Poland. But the drive from the UK was fun!

- Posted by Jabber from Poland on Dec 12th, 2009

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