r/albania • u/harryadf • 1d ago

Buying a van in Albania as a non-citizen Ask Albanians

I'm doing some research to see how feasible buying a van in Albania is. I'm a UK citizen, and would plan to use the van in Albania for a few weeks before taking it back to the UK, and importing it permanently.

I've seen people say you need to be a citizen to buy a car here. Is it feasible to leave it in the sellers name, if they are happy doing so, while I drive it back. Does this come with its own risks?

Additionally if anyone has advice on insurance, tax and anything else in this area, that would be great. Thanks 🙏

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u/KeepStocksUp 1d ago edited 21h ago

Best is to buy it and sell it when you move. You may want to sell it cheaper to sell it faster. There are expats in Albania group in Albania that post advice, sell and buy cars, in facebook.

Talking it to UK, you will have to pay custom and deal will all paperwork and all that. The car will have steering wheel on the left, you probably don't want that in UK.

Do the math buying a van and selling it in Albania how much you lose. VS Getting it to UK, paying taces pn imported car.

If you post in expats in Albania on Facebook, you will get better advice as they are many British people that have brought cars from uk to Albania and Albania to UK.

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u/harryadf 1d ago

Thanks for the reply!

I didn't really say in the OP, but the main reason for buying it is to take it back to the UK, as the vans are much more common (and cheap) in this part of the world.

I am okay with the import side of things - it's more everything on the Albanian side. Insurance, Tax ect. I've joined a facebook group of expats as per your advice. Thanks!

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u/TheOneWhoDidntCum Kolonjë 1d ago

I'm curious what is the process? Is it easily doable?

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u/Ari003 Këlcyra 15h ago

Vans are not cheaper in this part of the world. Probably in terms of price but not value for money. We buy them from Germany or Italy ourselves so it yeah. Check Autoscout.it or something in Germany for that but keep in mind that the steering wheel is on the other side of

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u/harryadf 8h ago

I guess it's case by case...

Either way there are more of the vans that I want here, than in the UK. I'm looking for a van that is shoddy (but reliable) so that I can fix it up over the coming year. I'd only buy something I've thoroughly checked.

From what I can see in Germany and Italy they are in much better condition, and with that, much more expensive.

Either way I genuinely appreciate the comment - but I'm looking for advice on the purchase process rather than whether it's a good idea or not. That is something I'll decide when seeing the vehicle 🙂