Crossing borders on an export kenteken: what to check before you leave

The Dutch rules give an export kenteken 14 days on Dutch public roads, never longer than the APK (the Dutch periodic roadworthiness test) is valid. They do not apply beyond the Dutch border. According to the RDW, the Dutch vehicle authority, the rules for using a Dutch export kenteken abroad differ from country to country, and you should check beforehand which rules apply in the countries you travel to or through.

So the question is not only whether your plates are valid, but whether you may drive in that country, on that day, on those plates. The answer comes from the country you are in.

Make a list of every country on your route, including those you only cross. For each of them, find out:

• whether a vehicle on a Dutch export kenteken may drive there, and for how long;
• whether your Green Card covers that country;
• which papers you need to carry.

Ask the authorities of those countries before the export, not at the border. Note down the answers, with the date and the name of the office, and keep them with the vehicle papers. NederlandWereldwijd, the Dutch government's information service for people abroad, advises asking the local authorities whether you may drive in their country with your export plate.

With our export insurance you receive a Green Card, the international certificate of insurance. The Green Card system of the Council of Bureaux spans 47 countries, and the card proves that the vehicle has at least the third-party cover a visited country requires by law.

Which countries and which drivers your own cover applies to is stated on your Green Card and policy, so read both before you leave. We are not the insurer: we arrange the temporary export insurance through our insurance partner. You receive the Green Card at the desk and by e-mail as a PDF. More on cover and drivers is on the page about insurance for Dutch export plates.

Keep these together in the vehicle:

• the kentekenbewijs deel II (the Dutch export certificate);
• the kentekencard (the Dutch registration card) with one corner cut off;
• the Green Card and the insurance confirmation;
• your passport or identity card;
• the purchase contract or invoice, which your registration office at home may ask for.

You need the export certificate together with the registration card to register the vehicle in your own country, so keep the originals safe throughout the trip. If you share the driving, check that every driver is covered under the policy and the Green Card.

From our desk in Hengelo, the A1 continues into Germany as the A30 at De Lutte. According to the German motoring club ADAC, a used car bought in another EU country is brought to Germany on its own wheels with an export or transfer plate of the country where it stands, and for the Netherlands it names the export kenteken.

That statement concerns bringing a car into Germany. For a transit through Germany to Poland, Lithuania or elsewhere, ask the German authorities before you go: we cannot promise that it is allowed.

Driving is not the only option. If a country on your route does not accept the export kenteken, if the APK is about to expire or if the distance is too long for the time available, the vehicle can travel on a trailer or a car transporter. For a vehicle carried this way no driving insurance is usually needed, but the export document remains necessary.

If the journey takes longer than planned, the export insurance can be extended by 14 days at a time after the insurer agrees. That does not change the rules on Dutch roads, which are explained on the page about how long Dutch export plates are valid.

If your destination is outside the EU, for example the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Serbia or Morocco, the Dutch government requires an export declaration with Customs as well as the RDW export. We can prepare this EX-A document for you: see exporting a vehicle outside the EU with an EX-A. We make no promises about the rules in the destination country itself.