Purchase Procedure

Non-EU (third country)

Companies

You have a company based outside the European Union (third country) and you want to buy a vehicle from us in Germany? Then the sale to you is under certain conditions tax-free (supply of goods for export). That is free of German VAT at the current rate of 19 percent.

A possible tax exemption, however, does not mean that we do not retain a security deposit. Until evidence has been provided that the vehicle has definitively left the Community territory (EU territory) and reached the third country territory, tax exemption is actually in limbo. The tax risk is borne by the seller.

In order to minimize the tax risk, we require a security deposit in the amount of German VAT. We will refund this security deposit as soon as we have the necessary proof.

Before we describe to you how we handle a tax-free vehicle sale to you, we would like to give you some important information under “Useful information about the supply of goods for export“. Please read this section carefully to ensure that your deposit will be refunded.

At this point, we would like to point out that we describe here in detail the export of the vehicle from the EU territory, but not the country-specific import regulations of the specific country of destination. As a precaution, we would like to point out that you should know the import regulations of your country of destination before you decide to buy a vehicle tax-free in Germany. Please understand that all risks arising from ignorance or failure to comply with import regulations of your country of destination will be borne by you as the buyer.

Useful information about the supply of goods for export

REQUIREMENTS FOR A TAX-FREE SUPPLY OF GOODS FOR EXPORT

In terms of tax law, any country that does not belong to the European Union is called a third country. Each delivery to a third country area is called supply of goods for export. Tax law basically distinguishes two cases:

Case 1: The seller transports or dispatches the vehicle to the third country territory.

Case 2: The buyer transports or dispatches the vehicle to the third country territory.

By the term “transport” the tax law understands every movement of an object. A dispatch is when the seller or the buyer has the transport carried out by an assigned independent agent. This is the case, for example, when we or you assign a transport company with the transport of the vehicle.

The tax exemption for the supply of goods for export requires that the vehicle has been transported or dispatched to the third country territory. The seller must provide proof of this. For case 2, another requirement is added. The buyer must be a foreign purchaser. Proof must be provided by the seller again. According to tax law, a foreign buyer is a purchaser who has his or her place of business abroad. Abroad is defined as the area that is not domestic (Germany).

Example 1: You buy a vehicle from us. We transport it ourselves or have it transported by a transport company to Switzerland.

Example 2: You buy a vehicle from us. You transport it yourself or have it transported by a transport company to Switzerland.

In example 1, we, the seller, merely have to prove that the vehicle has been transported or dispatched to Switzerland because the transport or dispatch is attributable to us.

In example 2, the transport or dispatch takes place through you. As a seller, we also have to prove that your company, as buyer, has its place of business abroad.

EXPORT PLATES AND EXPORT DECLARATION

Proof for a tax-free supply of goods for export reduces to a minimum if, on the one hand, export plates were issued to the vehicle that is to be exported and, on the other hand, the export was registered electronically.

Therefore, we require for all supplies of goods for export to request export plates and to declare the export electronically. We do not leave this task to you but insist on taking care of it. This ensures that there are no errors on both fairly complex matters that endanger the export certificate as such and the associated reimbursement of your security deposit. It also ensures that the export certificate (exit results message) is automatically sent to us. Current prices for this service can be found here.

The export plates that we apply for can last 15 or 30 days. You decide yourself which time span you want. We provide you with the export plates together with the liability insurance. As a result of the electronic export declaration, you will receive from us the Export Accompanying Document (EAD). The EAD is mandatory if you want to export the vehicle properly from the EU territory.

WHAT PROOFS HAVE TO BE PROVIDED?

Proof of transport or dispatch to the third country territory

Once the vehicle has been exported to the third country territory, the seller must provide proof.

If a tax-free vehicle sale into a third country has taken place and the export has been declared electronically, the seller has then to prove the transport or dispatch to the third country territory by means of the following proofs:

exit results message containing the vehicle identification number (VIN),
documentary evidence that in the third country the exported vehicle is
- registered,
- duty paid or
- VAT-on-importation paid.

The documentary evidence in point 2 shall be canceled if the vehicle has been exported with export plates and the exit results message contains the number of the export plates. This will reduce the needed proof that the vehicle has been transported or dispatched to the third country territory to the exit results message. For this reason, we insist on applying for export plates.

Proof of the foreign-purchaser-quality

As a rule, you will transport the vehicle to a third country yourself or assign a transport company to do so. For this reason, a second condition must be met for the sale to be tax-free. The buyer, that is your company, must be a foreign purchaser. Proof of this must be provided by the seller.

In order to fulfill this obligation to provide documentary evidence, we require from you already during the business initiation a current business registration or a current excerpt from the commercial register of your company. In any event, these documents should reflect the name of the company, the legal form, the registered office and the names of the business owners or managing directors. Further information such as date of foundation, objekt of the company and other locations may be useful.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE PROOF CANNOT BE PROVIDED IN WHOLE OR PART?

The tax exemption for the supply of goods for export is only guaranteed if

the exit results message is provided and
in the event that you transport or dispatch the vehicle, you can present us a current business registration or a current excerpt from the commercial register of your company which reflects, that the place of business of your company is abroad (outside of Germany). Ideally, your company’s place of business is situated in the same country where the vehicle is exported to.

If even one of the two proofs is not available, the vehicle sale must be treated as taxable. In your case, this would mean that we do not return the deposit that was withheld but pay it as VAT to the tax office responsible for us.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO KEEP IN MIND AT THE LAST UNION BORDER CUSTOMS OFFICE IN ORDER TO GET AN EXIT RESULTS MESSAGE?

The Export Accompanying Document (EAD) that you receive from us has a barcode (MRN – Movement Reference Number). The customs office of exit (= last customs office within the EU) must imperatively scan this barcode or manually enter it in their system so that the exit results message can be issued. By doing so, the customs office of exit electronically confirms the final physical exit of the vehicle from the territory of the EU.

If the barcode is not scanned or manually entered into the system, the customs authorities will not issue an exit results message. Without the exit results message, we cannot provide proof that the vehicle has been transported or dispatched to the third country territory. Without this proof, the sale is taxable unless there is further documentary evidence clearly showing the import into the third country from the perspective of the German customs authorities. We will continue to address this matter under the next heading “Alternative Exit Results Message”.

Please note that before the final export, the customs office of exit must be visited in person during their regular opening hours. In particular, the vehicle with the export plates attached, the EAD, the registration certificates and the invoice must be shown to the customs office of exit.

Recently, we hear from customers very often that at the border customs office, the export accompanying document is no longer scanned. That is not right! Please do not confuse the border police with the customs officers at the customs office of export. You must actively seek out the customs officers and inform them of the intended final export. If you fail to do so, there is no definitive export from the EU territory under customs rules. Because this type of departure could be made by any tourist with his or her vehicle. He/She and his/her vehicle would be only temporarily in the third country and could then be easily back in the customs territory of the EU.

THE ALTERNATIVE EXIT RESULTS MESSAGE AS THE LAST POSSIBILITY TO PROOF THE EXPORT TO A THIRD COUNTRY

You and the vehicle have already arrived in the third country, but the customs office of export has not electronically confirmed the export of the vehicle (exit results message not issued)? For these cases, customs rules provide the Alternative Exit Results Message. The tax law accepts the alternative exit results message as alternative proof for VAT purposes. This means that the alternative exit results message has tax-based the same quality as the exit results message itself.

The seller may submit alternative proof to his/her customs office (customs office of export), at the earliest 70 and no later than 135 days after the release of the vehicle for export, to obtain an alternative exit results message. However, it is at the discretion of the customs office of export to issue an alternative exit results message.

In particular, the following documentary evidence or certificates may serve as alternative proof:

freight forwarder certificates (in the original),
waybills (in the original or certified as being true),
import customs clearance documents from the third country (in the original or certified as being true),
Certificates from foreign representations of the Federal Republic of Germany in the respective third country (for example diplomatic or consular representations),
a belated, that is at the earliest 70 days after being released for export, stamped EAD of another EU member state.

Please note that for import customs documentary evidence for clearance originating in the third country, the customs office of export may require the submission of an officially recognized and certified as being true translation.

As a matter of principle, the customs office of export does not accept proof of payment or invoices as alternative proof.

We would like to inform you politely that we cannot return the retained security deposit until an alternative exit results message has been obtained. Please also note that we cannot provide the customs office of export with any alternative proof before the expiration of 70 days after the vehicle has been released for export (note the date on your export accompanying document). This deadline is a procedural instruction from the customs authorities that we cannot influence.

Your participation is a prerequisite for us to be able to apply for an alternative exit results message. If you do not act in a sufficient or timely manner or if the customs office of export refuses to issue an alternative exit results message for any other reason, then the vehicle sale must be treated as a subject to mandatory tax. In your case, this would mean that we do not return the deposit that was withheld but pay it as VAT to the tax office responsible for us.

WHEN AND HOW DOES THE REFUND OF THE SECURITY DEPOSIT HAPPEN?

If we receive an exit results message or an alternative exit results message, and if, in the event that you have transported the vehicle to the third country yourself or have assigned a transport company to do so, it is proven by presentation of a business registration or an excerpt from the commercial register, that your company’s registered office is in the third country, in which the vehicle is also being carried out, we will immediately refund the retained security deposit.

The refund is usually made by bank transfer to your foreign (non-German) bank account. Please note that we will only refund you to your company’s foreign business account. Your business account is ideally located in the third country where the vehicle is exported to.

Due to the foreign bank transfer costs can arise on both sides. In this case, you bear all associated costs. This means that the security deposit may arrive on your business account reduced by bank charges incurred.

Transportation with own propulsion

INITIAL BUSINESS CONTACT

You select a car through our website and contact us by phone or e-mail.
We advise you in advance and send you on request detailed images of the vehicle.
We can reserve the car for you for a maximum of 24 hours.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

Valid ID card or passport.
A current business registration or a current excerpt from the commercial register. In any event, these documents should reflect the name of the company, the legal form, the registered office and the names of the business owners or managing directors.

YOUR ARRIVAL

Visit us during our opening hours with or without a scheduled date.
If you come by train, we will gladly pick you up from the main train station Butzbach. Please inform us about 30 minutes before your arrival.

VEHICLE VIEWING AND SALE

Details and questions will be discussed with you over a warm cup of tea or coffee.
You can calmly view the one or more vehicles on our 14,000 square meter premises without a salesperson present.
If you decide to buy the vehicle, you will go for a test drive.
After a successful test drive, we mutually sign a contract of sale. Here we collectively determine details such as the day of collection, the form and time of payment or the scope of the services we still have to provide (such as cleaning, polishing, painting).
The sale takes place without the German VAT of currently 19 percent. However, you have to provide a security deposit in the amount of 19 percent. We will refund you this security deposit upon receiving all necessary documentary evidence (see point 7).
You make a down payment of 1,000.00 EUR. We do not accept credit cards. Therefore, you must have the down payment in cash or you can simply transfer the amount. Bank transfers are made exclusively from the foreign business account of your company. Your business account is ideally located in the third country where the vehicle is exported to.

EXPORT PLATES, EXPORT DECLARATION AND PAYMENT

In return for a service fee we will apply for export plates. You can choose a time span of 15 or 30 days. Due to the limited duration of the export plates, the application will be made promptly before your planned pickup. You can find the price for our export services here.
We will lodge the export electronically and drive the vehicle with attached export plates to the customs office of export (in Wetzlar), so that the vehicle is released for export on the part of the customs office of export. With the release for export we will obtain the Export Accompanying Document (EAD).
At the same time we prepare the vehicle for the handover.
Transfer the remainder, including the security deposit, in good time before the handover (handover only possible after receipt of payment) or bring it in cash on the day of the handover. Bank transfers are made exclusively from the foreign business account of your company. Your business account is ideally located in the third country where the vehicle is exported to. Due to the new money laundering guidelines, we can only accept cash for the entire vehicle payment up to a maximum of 9,900 EUR. This amount may neither be exceeded in the case of a single nor in the case of a repeated payment.

HANDOVER

You arrive one last time on the agreed pick-up day
If you come by train, we will gladly pick you up from the main train station Butzbach. Please inform us about 30 minutes before your arrival.
If your payment has already been received by bank transfer or if you have paid the remaining amount (including the security deposit) completely in cash, we will give you the vehicle, two keys, the invoice as well as the payment confirmation.
The export plates will be already attached to your vehicle. We will provide you with the associated liability insurance including the green insurance card. Furthermore, we will hand over to you the Registration Certificate Part I and Part II as well as the Certificate of Conformity (CoC). Please ask our sales professionals for more information about insurance cover abroad.
We will hand out to you the Export Accompanying Document (EAD). The EAD is mandatory if you want to export the vehicle properly from the EU territory.
You can now start the journey home with your new vehicle.

REFUND OF THE SECURITY DEPOSIT

If you have presented the vehicle properly to the customs officers at the customs office of exit (last customs office in the EU territory) and the bar code on the EAD has been scanned by the officials, we will automatically receive an exit results message at the same time or within a few days. Please read the section “Useful information about the supply of goods for export” above so that there are not any errors during export.
If you have not yet provided proof to us that your company has its place of business abroad, please send us immediately a current business registration or a current excerpt from the commercial register. More on this topic can be found above under “Useful information about the supply of goods for export”.
If the proof from 7.1 and, if applicable, from 7.2 are available, we will transfer the security deposit back to your foreign business bank account. Possible bank charges due to the foreign nature of the transfer on both sides are charged to your business account.

In principle, a purchase can also be made with just a single visit. You should arrive from Monday to Thursday between 9:00 am and 10:00 am.

Cash Payment

Due to the new money laundering guidelines, we can only accept cash for the entire vehicle payment up to a maximum of 9,900 EUR. This amount may neither be exceeded in the case of a single nor in the case of a repeated payment.

Payment by bank transfer

You should have clarified in advance with your bank that you will make an urgent bank transfer by phone. If the payment arrives on the same day and the registration office and the customs authorities are open and available, we can hand over the vehicle, the vehicle documents, the export plates and the export accompanying document (EAD) on the same day.

Transport with a transport company