Is 2010 US Prius good for European roads?

There are plenty of Prii over here in Europe. Not as many % wise as in the US but still a significant number. Some Countries have more than others and Holland is one of the places where the Prii is quite popular.

You'll be OK with a Prius there.

Whether it's worth the cost of importing it over for a few months is another matter.

 

The Prius is very popular here in Switzerland. Since I own one I see some others day by day.

If you still keep your home in the US and you will stay for work for a specific time then you can drive the car as a visitor with your US plate (you'll need a front plate too). If you have to get a Netherland plate then you might check with the authorities what changes must be made. Often it's the rear red fog light that must be installed but this depends on the country.

 

do you have to jump many loops to register car in EU? it is US model it has EPA sticker.

In US you pretty much cannot register EU car unless it is 15 years old?

 

Not a Netherlands expert, but in general you should be fine. They have gasoline which is taxed more heavily than other fuels. We are talking $8+ a gallon range probably. The EU Prius may have a conventional rigid gas tank, if so you won't win any cruise range contests with your fellow Prius club members.

 

I moved to Amsterdam and lived there for 2 years in the mid 90s. We had my then-wife's car shipped over, and had to replace the headlights since the US headlights didn't meet the local aiming angles requirements. And we had to have an alarm installed, because the local insurance companies won't insure a car that doesn't have a very sophisticated alarm system (cars are very expensive there, due to a 50% "luxury" tax on all cars--in addition to the 17.5% VAT, so apparently theft is high). You'll also have to get the car inspected & approved by their DMV equivalent.

The moving company should be able to tell you which of the above, if any, applies to your car.

 

what does it cost to ship a car to europe?

 

Interesting. Keep us updated on how it goes, I've always wondered how something like this would go.

 

I'm a bit more familiar with shipping to Germany than Netherlands, but you'll likely have to replace various lights (European spec headlights, add rear fog light or completely replace the rear lights since there may be other differences such as reflectors and side markers, etc.). Another biggie might be that you have to pay the VAT on the value of the car (I know of someone in Germany who was required to do that when registering their non-European origin used car but don't know if the Netherlands will be the same). You might also try asking Toyota directly and see if they have any advice on what's different on European models. Also, make sure you have all maintenance up to date when you ship, since maintenance in Europe will likely cost more.

 

Here's some Netherlands info:
Cars, motorbikes and trailers
and follow also the link to BPM declaration for more.
Googling "shipping a car to Europe" will turn up other useful links.
Although these taxes may be high, you should balance this against the cost of buying a car in Europe, which will also be expensive due to the taxes on cars bought there.

 

If you haven't been to the Netherlands, you'll find the country is excellent for bicycles so you should definitely bring bicycles (and public transportation is also pretty decent from what little I've used it, I've only spent one night in the Netherlands when I got stranded by missing a flight connection at the Amsterdam airport). Shipping a car and getting it registered is not going to be cheap.

 

It should be free. He's in the military. But it would cost between 2-3k if it was done by a civilian. That's what I heard when I was stationed in Germany.

 

I missed this, this changes a lot. Germany also had different requirements for US service members, in this case the car does not have to become a full "European" car, and it's likely the VAT and other taxes might not have to be paid. This would make shipping a car much more attractive. The case I knew of in Germany was actually a US private citizen on assignment bought a used car from a US serviceman, and surprise... the car was not "European" (even though it had been there for some time), so all the usual VAT and customs fees had to be paid to register it as a real European rather than US military registration.

 

I was in Germany just before I bought a Prius in the US. The Prii in Germany had an MSRP that appeared to be about 40%-50% higher than in the US. (Basically, the same number of Euros as dollars.) But that price probably includes all taxes etc., whereas here you get stiffed with taxes and other random fees not shown on the sticker.

 

If you're in the military don't they do pretty much all the hard work for you? The US base near me imports the vehicles, gets them upto complience standard using their own people etc.

It'll be much easier if you're in the military as all the hard work is done for you and I also think there are some concessions with regard taxes too.

 

If you are in the military you probably will not register the car with the local authorities. It will be registered with the military and get a USA plate. Back in the 60's that's the way it was done.

 

Not any more, well at least not here in the UK. Having a US plate singles out the car as belonging to a US citizen and a US goverment or militry employee at that and therefore more likely to make them subject to attack.

Here in the UK the imported cars are given UK plates, though the car being a US spec and lhd does give it away slightly. However, some of these imported cars have been sold on and it can't be guaranteed that they belong to a US citizen any longer.