Importing a car from Poland: registration, COC and paperwork

The documents to gather

From the seller, you should leave with the dowód rejestracyjny (registration certificate) and, on older vehicles, the karta pojazdu (vehicle card), together with a sales contract or invoice quoting the chassis number.

For the registration file itself, three items come up every time: the registration document of the country of origin, the certificate of conformity and the tax clearance. A roadworthiness test is added depending on the age of the vehicle and the rules of your country of registration.

The exact list depends on the authority that will process your file.

The certificate of conformity: why it is often missing

Poland occupies a particular place in the European vehicle trade: it is as much a destination market as a transit market. A large share of the vehicles resold there were first registered in Germany, Belgium or the Netherlands and imported once already.

Every import is an opportunity to lose a document. The certificate of conformity, which was not needed day to day in the country of origin in the first place, almost never survives a second change of country. That is why the proportion of Polish files with no manufacturer document at all is higher than average.

The upside is that the procedure is unchanged: we start from the chassis number and query the manufacturer, however many borders the vehicle has crossed.

Step by step

1. 1

   The purchase

   Collect the complete Polish documents and note the chassis number, 17 characters.

2. 2

   The certificate of conformity

   Start the request at signing: it is the longest step, because it depends on the manufacturer.

3. 3

   Tax clearance

   Handled in parallel with the tax authority of your country of registration.

4. 4

   Roadworthiness test

   Required depending on the age of the vehicle and the rules that apply where you register it.

5. 5

   The registration application

   It brings all the documents together. A single missing item blocks the file.

The only turnaround we state is the manufacturer’s, brand by brand: the administrative steps depend on the authority concerned.

The cost of the COC by brand

The brands most represented among imports from Poland:

Indicative prices including VAT, confirmed once the chassis number has been checked. Full list: price by brand. Turnarounds: turnaround guide. What the eCOC changes in 2026: our eCOC guide.