Temporary Export vs Permanent Export: Taking Your Car Abroad

If your car is going abroad for less than 12 months it is normally a temporary export: the vehicle stays on UK plates, stays on the DVLA record, and must remain taxed, insured and MOT'd as if it were still at home. If it is going for 12 months or more, it is a permanent export and you must tell DVLA using the permanent export section of the V5C.

Getting this wrong is expensive. Declaring a permanent export when the car returns means re-importing and re-registering it. Failing to declare a genuine permanent export means DVLA keeps expecting tax and MOT on a car that is thousands of miles away.

Temporary export covers holidays, a season at a second home, a short work posting, a motorsport event or a car club tour. The car keeps its UK registration and you drive it on your UK documents. Most countries allow a visitor's vehicle to stay for a limited period, commonly up to six or twelve months, before local registration is required.

Because the car remains a UK vehicle you must keep road tax in force, keep the MOT valid and keep insurance that explicitly covers use in the destination country. Many UK policies include only limited European cover as standard and nothing outside Europe at all.

Permanent export means the car is leaving the UK for 12 months or longer, or that you are selling it abroad. You complete the permanent export section of the V5C, send it to DVLA and keep the remainder of the document, which you will need to register the car in the new country.

Once DVLA processes it, the vehicle record is closed for UK purposes. Any remaining road tax can be refunded from the month after the export is recorded, and you stop being liable for UK tax and MOT obligations on the vehicle.

A UK policy usually provides a limited number of days of cover in the EU and nothing beyond. For a temporary export longer than that, you need an extension or a specialist policy. For a permanent export, you need local insurance from the day the car is registered abroad, and marine insurance to cover the sea crossing itself if you want the vehicle protected in transit.

Marine cover is separate from motor insurance. It protects the car while it is in the hands of the shipping line, which is exactly the period your normal policy does not cover. It is optional, but for a valuable car it is worth the cost.

If you have a private plate you want to keep, move it to retention before the car is exported. Once a permanent export is recorded, the registration can be lost for good. After retention the car reverts to its original age-related number, and that is the registration that must appear on the shipping booking and export paperwork.

Update your shipper as soon as the plate changes. Mismatched registrations between the booking, the V5C and the bill of lading cause port delays.

Be honest about your plans rather than choosing the option that seems simpler. If you genuinely do not know how long the car will be away, look at the destination country's rules on how long a foreign-plated car may stay. That limit, not your intentions, is usually what forces the decision.

Tax relief on importing a car as part of a household move is often only available on a permanent transfer of residence, and usually requires you to have owned and used the vehicle for a set period beforehand. If relief matters to your budget, check the destination rules before you book.

Physically, the shipping job is the same: the car travels by RoRo or container either way. The difference is paperwork. A permanent export needs the V5C export notification and full customs documentation at the destination, and the car ends up on local plates. A temporary export often travels under a simpler arrangement, sometimes with a carnet for certain countries and events.

Tell your shipping agent which one you are doing at the quoting stage. The documents are prepared differently and it is far harder to change once the car is loaded.

Check your destination's time limit for foreign vehicles, confirm insurance for both the crossing and local use, decide on your private plate, and get written confirmation of what your quote includes at both ends.

Send us your destination, dates and whether the move is temporary or permanent, and we will quote the right service in writing. The DVLA and destination-country rules summarised here are general guidance — confirm the current detail before you commit.

A car that was permanently exported and later returns is treated as an import. It needs a customs declaration, may need approval testing depending on its age and specification, and has to be re-registered with DVLA. Returned Goods Relief can remove duty and VAT if the vehicle is coming back in an unaltered state within the allowed period and was exported from the UK originally — keep the export paperwork, the original V5C section and evidence of the export date, because those documents are what support the claim. A car that only left temporarily and stayed on UK plates simply comes home with no import formalities at all, which is one more reason to classify the trip correctly at the start.