The import guide
The guide: importing your car yourself, week by week
The site explains the rules. The guide is the workbook you do it with: in the right order, with checklists and a calendar for your deadlines.
One-off payment. Instant access after checkout, no account.
Online and as a PDFRead it on your phone at the counter or print the whole file.
Dutch and EnglishOne link gives you both languages.
Stays currentYour link always shows the newest version, with the check date next to every fact.
What is in it
- 1The route map: the whole route on one pageFree to read
- 2Before you leave: building your file
- 3The Dutch side: RDW, insurance, road tax and bpm
- 4Access to the Portal das Finanças and registering for the DAV
- 5Week 1: the IMT's homologation declaration
- 6Week 1 to 3: the inspection at a category B CITV
- 7Day 20 at the latest: the DAV and the request for exemption
- 8Filling in the DAV, tab by tab
- 9Within 60 days: certificate, plates, insurance, registration and IUC
- 10Deadline calendar and what to do when it goes wrong
Why a guide next to the site
Everything you need to know to decide is free on this site: what ISV is, when you get the exemption, which deadlines apply. But knowing the rules is something else than going through the route. Then you have other questions. What do I do this week? Which papers do I take to which desk? Where do I click in the portal? What now, if the IMT sends my request back?
That is what the guide is for. It is a workbook, not a book to read.
What you can do with it
- A plan per week, from eight weeks before departure to the first IUC, so that the homologation, the inspection and the declaration fit inside the deadline.
- Checklists per desk: municipality, RDW, IMT, test centre, customs, IRN. For each document it says what it is for and who issues it.
- The route through the Portal das Finanças, in the order in which you meet the screens: registering for the Sistema de Fiscalidade Automóvel, creating the DAV and the request for exemption.
- A decision tree for the Dutch side: deregister at the RDW before you leave or after, with what that means for your insurance and the bpm.
- A deadline calendar you fill in yourself: you enter the date of arrival and see when each deadline ends.
- What to do when it goes wrong: a rejected request, a missed deadline, a missing COC.
Honest about what is not in it
The guide does not replace an adviser. It gives no ISV calculation for your car; the tax authority's simulator is for that. It does walk through the DAV screens tab by tab, but those screens can change: always choose the option that fits your situation. And it names no amounts that we do not have from an official source.
Who it is for
For anyone who moves to Portugal, brings their own car and wants to do the route themselves, or wants to understand what an agency does for them. The guide assumes a passenger car with a Dutch registration and an owner who is a private individual.
How it works
You order with your e-mail address and pay €19.99, once. Straight after payment you can read the guide online and download it as a PDF, in Dutch and in English. You get a personal link by e-mail that always takes you back, also when the guide is updated. No account is needed.
Because the guide is digital content that is delivered immediately, the right of withdrawal ends once delivery starts. You confirm that when you order. The terms are on Terms.
Chapter 1, free
The route map: the whole route on one page
This is how the guide reads. You get the other chapters after checkout.
How to use this workbook
This is not a book to read from front to back. Read this chapter in full, fill in the deadline calendar in chapter 10 as soon as you know your arrival date, and then work through the chapter that is due each week. Every chapter ends with a tick list: only when everything is ticked do you go on.
A highlighted value, such as 20 working days, comes from the site's fact register. The source and the date of the check are there. Before you start, check on the site whether anything has changed: Facts and sources.
The decision up front
Answer these four questions before you arrange anything. They decide which chapters apply to you.
- Are you going to live in Portugal? If not, you do not have to import anything as long as you stay within the scheme for visitors: Driving on Dutch plates.
- Will the car have been in your name for at least six months at the moment you move? If not, you do not get the exemption. Consider postponing the car's move or selling the car.
- Have you lived outside Portugal for at least six months, and can you prove it? If so, you request the exemption.
- Is the car fully electric? Then it falls outside ISV and you do not need the exemption.
If the answer to 2 or 3 is no and the car is not electric, first calculate the ISV with the simulator in the Portal das Finanças. Then read Import or buy before you go on.
The route in nine blocks
| When | What | Where | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 to 2 weeks before departure | Build your file | Municipality, RDW, your own records | 2 |
| 4 to 1 week before departure | Decide the Dutch side: insurance, RDW, bpm | Insurer, RDW | 3 |
| As soon as you have a NIF | Access to the portal and registration for the DAV | Portal das Finanças | 4 |
| Week 1 after arrival | Request the homologation declaration | IMT, online | 5 |
| Week 1 to 3 | Inspection | CITV, category B | 6 |
| Day 20 at the latest (working days) | File the DAV, with or without exemption | Portal das Finanças | 7 and 8 |
| Within 10 days of the DAV | Hand in the original registration certificate | IMT | 7 |
| Within 60 days | Request the registration certificate, plates, insurance | IMT, plate maker, insurer | 9 |
| Within 60 days | Register ownership; then the first IUC | IRN, Portal das Finanças | 9 |
The hard deadlines
These are the deadlines from the law. Everything in this workbook is planned around them.
| Deadline | For what | Counts from |
|---|---|---|
| 20 working days | filing the DAV | the day the car enters Portugal |
| 10 days | the original registration certificate to the IMT | filing the DAV |
| 10 working days | paying the ISV, if you have no exemption | the notification of the assessment |
| 60 days | driving with only the DAV, and requesting the registration certificate | the DAV |
| 60 days | registering ownership at the IRN | see chapter 9 |
| 12 months | requesting the exemption | the date of your move |
| 12 months | no selling, renting out or lending | the assignment of the Portuguese registration |
What you need to start
- A folder (paper) and a folder on your computer or in the cloud, laid out like the chapters.
- A scanner or a scan app on your phone.
- Your NIF.
- A calendar in which you put the deadlines from chapter 10.
Written from the driver’s seat
Gerardus Koetje has lived in Vale de Prazeres, near Fundão, since 2022 and works there as a self-employed builder and renovator. He imported his own Citroën Berlingo himself, without an agency. The IMT turned down the homologation more than once before accepting it; what he learned from that is in this guide.
More about this siteThe import guide
€19.99- 10 chapters, in Dutch and in English
- Checklists per step that remember your progress
- Your own deadlines worked out from your arrival date
- Read online straight away and download as a PDF
- Every deadline and condition with its source and check date
You pay through Mollie. Because you get the guide straight away, your right of withdrawal ends; you confirm that when ordering. Terms.
Frequently asked questions
Can I do the import myself or do I need an agency?
You can do it yourself. The declaration, the exemption request and the homologation declaration are done online, and filing the exemption request is free. It does require your papers to be in order and the deadlines to be watched. If you do not want that or do not read Portuguese, you can hire a despachante (customs agent) or an import agency; they charge their own fee.
How long does the whole route take?
The law only sets deadlines for your steps: the DAV within 20 working days, any payment within 10 working days, the registration request within 60 days and the ownership registration within 60 days. How long the IMT and customs take over their part is not fixed anywhere and varies a lot. Count on weeks to a few months and start right after arrival.
Facts and sources on this page
Every highlighted value in the text comes from an official source that we read ourselves.
freeFiling the exemption request is free of charge.
Source: Pedir a isenção do ISV quando se vem morar para Portugal (gov.pt, updated 27-03-2026) (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Checked on
20 working daysA private individual files the DAV (customs declaration for vehicles) within 20 working days after the vehicle enters Portugal.
Source: Código do Imposto sobre Veículos (CISV) (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Legal basis: CISV art. 20.º n.º 1 a) · Checked on
10 working daysISV must be paid within 10 working days of the notification of the assessment.
Source: Código do Imposto sobre Veículos (CISV) (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Legal basis: CISV art. 27.º n.º 1 · Checked on
60 daysWith only the DAV you may drive the car for 60 consecutive days. The registration request must be filed within those 60 days.
Source: Pedir a matrícula para um veículo importado (gov.pt, updated 04-09-2026) (Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes) · Legal basis: Decreto-Lei n.º 102-B/2020 · Checked on
60 daysRegistering a vehicle in the owner's name (registo automóvel) has a legal deadline of 60 days. An initial registration can be filed online.
Source: Registar um automóvel (gov.pt, updated 27-04-2026) (Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado) · Checked on
six monthsThe car must have been your property in the country of origin for at least six months before the move, counted from the issue date of the registration certificate (or of the lease contract).
Source: Pedir a isenção do ISV quando se vem morar para Portugal (gov.pt, updated 27-03-2026) (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Legal basis: CISV art. 60.º n.º 1 c) · Checked on
six monthsFor the exemption you must prove that you lived abroad for at least six months before moving to Portugal.
Source: Pedir a isenção do ISV quando se vem morar para Portugal (gov.pt, updated 27-03-2026) (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Legal basis: CISV art. 59.º n.º 1 a) · Checked on
outside ISVFully electric vehicles fall outside the scope of ISV.
Source: Código do Imposto sobre Veículos (CISV) (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Legal basis: CISV art. 2.º n.º 2 a) · Checked on
10 daysYou hand in the original foreign registration certificate to the IMT within 10 days of filing the DAV.
Source: Etapas na regularização fiscal de veículo proveniente de outro Estado-membro (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Legal basis: CISV art. 20.º n.º 5 · Checked on
12 monthsThe ISV exemption on moving must be requested within 12 months of the date you transferred your residence to Portugal.
Source: Pedir a isenção do ISV quando se vem morar para Portugal (gov.pt, updated 27-03-2026) (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Legal basis: CISV art. 45.º n.º 2 a) · Checked on
12 monthsYou may not sell, give away, rent out or lend an exempt car within 12 months of the assignment of the Portuguese registration. If you do, the full ISV becomes payable.
Source: Código do Imposto sobre Veículos (CISV) (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) · Legal basis: CISV art. 47.º n.º 1 · Checked on