Buying a car in Germany and driving it down to Bulgaria - what does registration involve?

It is a well-worn path and usually worth it - German cars tend to have honest histories and better specifications for the money. The whole picture: Buying and driving home: buy from a dealer, get the purchase contract (Kaufvertrag - ask for a bilingual or English version to make Bulgarian registration smoother) and both parts of the German registration document (Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I and II - you need both). For the drive, the standard route is German export plates (Ausfuhrkennzeichen), which come with short-term insurance and give you time to get home legally. Route-wise, most people go Germany-Austria-Hungary-Serbia or via Romania; budget for the Austrian and Hungarian vignettes on the way. Customs and VAT: none. This is an intra-EU purchase, so there is no customs duty, and a used car - older than six months with more than 6,000 km - carries no Bulgarian VAT either. What you paid in Germany is what it costs. Registration in Bulgaria: within your residence district, at KAT. You need your residence card and Bulgarian ID number, the purchase contract, both German documents, and Bulgarian third-party liability insurance (grazhdanska otgovornost - roughly 150-350 euro per year), which you can buy before the visit. The car goes through an identification check at KAT, you pay registration fees and an eco fee - altogether typically under 100 euro - and you usually leave with plates the same day if the paperwork is clean. Ongoing: annual municipal vehicle tax based on engine power and eco category (commonly 50-200 euro), the annual technical inspection, and the e-vignette. Full walk-through in our guide at /guides/driving-in-bulgaria-license-car-import.