Driving a UK-registered car in the Netherlands: the two-week rule, what BPM and the RDW cost, and what to do instead

How long can I keep it on UK plates?

It depends on whether you are registered in the Dutch population register (BRP). Registration is compulsory if you live in the Netherlands for more than four months, and once you are registered, or should be, you may not drive a car on foreign plates here. The one exception for an ordinary resident is the exemption for short-term use: at most two consecutive weeks from the first drive in the Netherlands, requested online from the Belastingdienst before that drive, once a year for the same car, and with the car still insured abroad. If you use the car after that, you must file a BPM return and pay BPM and motor vehicle tax (MRB) from the first day of use. The Belastingdienst says it checks regularly; unpaid BPM is then back-assessed with a fine, and in published court cases the fines were 40% and 50% of the BPM. There are separate exemptions, to be applied for, for a company car provided by a foreign employer, and students and employees posted here temporarily may use a foreign car without BPM or MRB. If you are not registered in the BRP, for example with a holiday home, you may use the car for up to six months a year. On the UK side, the DVLA expects you to notify it when a vehicle leaves the UK for 12 months or more, as a permanent export.

Can a right-hand-drive car be registered?

Yes, right-hand-drive cars can be registered in the Netherlands, but RDW warns that on right-hand-drive cars the headlamps often don't meet the European rules, so expect to adjust or replace them for driving on the right before the inspection. Since Brexit a car from the UK is a non-EU import: if it has a usable EU type approval (a certificate of conformity, or a complete EU approval number that RDW can verify), RDW only identifies it and checks the documents at an inspection station; if not, it needs an individual approval at the RDW test centre in Lelystad. Dutch buyers pay less for right-hand drive.

What registering it involves

1. Before the first drive: request the short-term exemption (up to two consecutive weeks) from the Belastingdienst, or use RDW's free one-day plate for the inspection day, or move the car on a trailer.
2. RDW inspection, which the owner must attend in person: identification and a document check if the car has a usable EU type approval, otherwise an individual approval at the RDW test centre in Lelystad, with the headlamps set or replaced for driving on the right.
3. BPM return to the Belastingdienst, with the depreciation method you choose (price list, valuation report or flat-rate table); on paper if you claim the BPM exemption for people moving home.
4. Registration: RDW sends the Dutch registration certificate within 5 working days of approval. Then Dutch insurance, plates from an approved maker, an APK at a garage if no valid one was carried over, and MRB every month or quarter.

What it costs

• BPM: gross BPM minus depreciation. Gross BPM comes from the car's CO2 figure and the tariff table, plus a surcharge per g/km for a diesel. The 2026 table runs from €687 plus €2 per g/km up to 77 g/km to €14,538 plus €594 per g/km above 155 g/km, with a diesel surcharge of €114.83 per g/km above 70 g/km.
• The 2026 table may only be used with a WLTP CO2 figure. Cars built before 2018 have none, and a car tested only under NEDC must be calculated with its NEDC figure and an older table, one in force between two months before its first registration and June 2020.
• Depreciation: by a Dutch price list (koerslijst), by an independent valuation report (taxatierapport) for a car with more than normal wear or no list price, or by the flat-rate table, whichever gives the largest reduction. The table gives 75% at 90 months plus 0.25% a month, so 76.5% at eight years (96 months), and 81% from 114 months; a car first registered 17 years and 10 months ago or more pays no BPM under it.
• The Belastingdienst gives valuation reports extra checks and since 2026 may also check price-list figures. A valuation report's deduction for damage is normally capped at 31% of the repair cost.
• Example (illustrative CO2 figures, 2018 table, flat-rate depreciation at 96 months): 2018 VW Golf 1.5 TSI petrol, 116 g/km NEDC. Gross BPM about €4,580; payable about €1,080.
• Example (same basis): 2018 Ford Kuga 2.0 TDCi diesel, 135 g/km NEDC. Gross BPM with the diesel surcharge about €13,300; payable about €3,100.
• Example (same basis): 2018 Range Rover Sport SDV6 diesel, 185 g/km NEDC. Gross BPM with the diesel surcharge about €33,600; payable about €7,900.
• RDW inspection in 2026: €36.50 to €220 for identification and a document check, depending on how many items are assessed. An individual approval at Lelystad costs €1,128 for a car (€1,986 if built from 2024), and €650 for a re-test.
• On top: headlamp work, the APK, plates, Dutch insurance and MRB.

Moving home with the car?

If you lived outside the EU, in the UK for example, for at least 12 months and owned and used the car for at least 6 months before moving, you can claim the BPM exemption for people moving home: you still file a BPM return, on paper, but pay no BPM. The RDW inspection, any headlamp work, the APK, plates and MRB still apply. If you sell, hire out or lend the car within 12 months of its Dutch registration, the BPM becomes due after all. For many Dutch people coming home from the UK the BPM is therefore not the problem; the question is whether a right-hand-drive car is worth the RDW work and a weaker resale price here.

The alternative: sell it back to the UK

The obvious comparison is driving it back to the UK yourself. From the Randstad it is about 300–400 km to Calais, or a North Sea ferry, plus the crossing, the journey back and then the job of selling the car in the UK. It only works while the MOT and UK insurance are valid, and once you are registered in the BRP the drive itself has to fit inside the two-week exemption. We collect the car free from your address on a transporter, handle the export paperwork and pay you in pounds sterling (£) by bank transfer on collection day.

Common questions

Rules, rates and thresholds change. This guide is a general summary as of October 2026, not legal or tax advice — check the current position with the registration authority before relying on it.

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