You bought a car in Germany. How do you get it home?

Buying is the pleasant part. You found it, the price is agreed, and then comes the question almost nobody thinks about in advance: how does that car get to the Netherlands? It sits three hundred kilometres away, it carries German plates, and you cannot simply drive off in it.

There are four ways. They do not cost the same and they do not ask the same of you. I have set them side by side below, including the way I do it myself, so you can see where that does and does not make sense.

Option 1: collect it yourself

Train or a cheap flight out, and back behind the wheel. On paper this is the cheapest route and for many people the most enjoyable one: you see the car for the first time, you drive it home, done. Count on losing a day, plus the outbound journey, plus fuel and tolls on the way back. What muddies the sum is the registration, and that is what the next section is about.

The export plate is the fiddly part

You cannot drive off on the seller's German plates, because those are deregistered on sale. What you need is an Ausfuhrkennzeichen, the German export plate with the red edge. You apply for it at the Zulassungsstelle in the region where the car is, and you need a Doppelkarte for it: proof of cover from a German insurer. What it costs varies widely by office and by insurer — I have seen figures from around a hundred and fifty euros to well over three hundred, depending on how long the plate needs to stay valid. So ask the office where you will collect it rather than assuming a number you read somewhere.

And there is a tax rule attached

As a resident of the Netherlands you are in principle not allowed to drive here on foreign plates. An export plate is an exception, but you have to apply to the Dutch tax authority for a temporary exemption, and it is short-lived — the sources I consulted mention a maximum of two weeks. That means you have to move straight on to the inspection and the declaration after you arrive. I am not a tax adviser and I will not pretend to be: check this with the tax authority or an import agency before you drive off, because the rules change and the fine is larger than anything you save on transport.

Option 2: on a trailer

A transport company loads it and puts it at your door. This is the right route if the car does not run, has no valid inspection, or is special enough that you do not want a single extra kilometre on it. It is also how most dealers do it, because they fill a whole truck. The drawback for a private buyer: you are tied to the carrier's schedule, your car sits somewhere for a few days, and nobody looks in on it along the way.

Option 3: have someone drive it

This is what I do. I travel out, check the car at the seller, and drive it to you. No trailer, no stopover at a depot. You get photographs of the condition I find it in before I drive off, and you hear from me along the way about where it is. The difference with a carrier is not the price — that gap is smaller than people think — but that there is someone present who can call you if something is not right.

Option 4: let the seller deliver it

Larger German dealers offer delivery. Convenient, and sometimes already included in the price. Do pay attention to what is actually being delivered: the car often travels on a partner's trailer, and the check at departure is done by the selling party itself. With a reputable dealer that is fine. With a private seller or a small trader it is an inspection carried out by the one party with an interest in your not noticing anything.

What goes wrong at the seller

This is the part you will get the most out of, because it almost never goes wrong on the road. It goes wrong at collection. The four things I run into most: there is only one key where the advert showed two; the service book is missing or has not been filled in; there is damage that fell just outside the frame in the photographs; and the paperwork is not ready, leaving you waiting half a day or driving back empty-handed.

What you can do about it

Put in writing, before the purchase, what comes with the car — number of keys, books, spare wheel, second set of wheels — and what happens if it is not there. Pay the final instalment on collection, not up front. And make sure whoever collects it compares the car with the advert before anything is signed. Whether that is you or someone else does not matter, as long as it happens before the money is gone.

What I do and do not do

I drive, I check, and I document. What I do not do is the paperwork: the Dutch RDW inspection, the vehicle tax declaration and the registration are yours to arrange, or an import agency's. I would rather say that up front than have you find out later. What the driving costs depends on the distance; on the quote page you work it out yourself in half a minute, without having to leave any details.

Where it lands

Does the car run and do you have a day to spare? Go yourself, and arrange the export plate in good time. Does it not run, or is it a car you want no extra kilometres on? Then a trailer is the right call. Are you somewhere in between — it runs, but you do not have the day, and you do want someone to look at it before money changes hands — then that is exactly the gap I sit in.