Brazilian in Portugal

Have owned Baby Bluebelle for 6 months , and just love her ! had a few little "snaging" issues, but Ian at VW Kampers has just been fab in dealing with them....sending parts out to me in Portugal and trying to explain in simple english how to fit them so I could translate to some Portuguese mechanics ! Only downside has been working too much over the summer and not being able to go away in her as much as I want to ...New Years Resolution ..work less and camp more ! It always amazes me how much attention she still gets, and I am sure she is becomig as photographed as the local beach!

I am trying to make her the first Portugese plated Brazilian Bay, ....but with lots of lovely Portuguese paperwork to get through it is not proving to be an easy task ...which is why she is apparently the first to go through the process, so if anyone knows how I can get an EU Certificate of Conformity for her it would be much appreciated !

Hey - welcome

I met Bluebelle at the Volksworld Show last year - she's a babe!

There's a lot of snag lists that go on with new builds on the Algarve - I'm out there every summer - so Bluebelle is conforming that way!

Have you tried your local Volkswagen dealer with the Certificate of Conformity? Obviously your Kombi is an oddity out there and you may find that they'd be happy to help.

Welcome AnndeJ.

Your in the right place to be owning a Kombi, Sunshine and Sea. Agree with the less work bit as well, always better things to do than work.
Sounds like she's becoming a bit of a celeb as well.

Hi Anndej,
welcome to the forum and as Peppa says blue is such a beautiful colour for a bay, ......... as is pink and green and ginger and red and purple and any other colour before I upset anybody!!!!!!!!

HI AnndeJ

To answer your first question directly...you can not get a european certificate of conformity for a brazilian... it is not a european qualified vehicle ... I know i tried for 3 years in Belgium and eventually gave up. All you can get is the Portugese (or any eu country) equivalent of SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) if it exists. That therefore means everything has to be in place to pass what ever entry laws govern portugal. So every document you can get is essential.

If you are still at the douance i think in portugal that is the Alfandega (customs and excise) and you have been on mainland europe as a resident with the van for 6 months do not be attempted to drive it anywhere in any shape or form .. only to test station is allowed but only with full insurance ....any british insurance you have is null and void...though you could try italsure.com /co.uk not sure which url tag but they organise expat/diplomatic insurance but it is not cheap. And even with their insurance it is still illegal to drive a non registered vehicle after 6 months in europe ( i have spent so many hours going through EU commission regulations i can now almost quote them)

A quirk of belgium law allowed me to re-register in the UK in my fathers name and still drive as in belgium number plates belong to the person not the vehicle so the 6 months residence rule applies on the person not the vehicle (not sure if portugal is the same but both france and spain are not)

Without a certificate of conformity any vehicle in portugal i think needs a pre IPO (MOT) test as portugal has a CO2 tax for any "foriegn" vehicle without the CO2 emmisions stated on a ECoC in g/kg a reading on a UK MOT test cert is not enough it has to be on a ECoC.

I think ..though Jason would be able to say for certain....Danbury bring kombis into UK under an fleet SVA so each vehicle is not tested individually nor to the DoT provide a certificate of SVA it is a test not a certificate...if things have not changed ..but i may be wrong. VAG can not provide a ECoC as the vehicle was never built to be sold in europe. In fact Hanover refuse to even admit that there are any in Europe, All VAG dealerships on the continent have been instructed to regard Brazilians as grey imports (i have seen the emails VAG Berens in Antwerp showed me the dealer release about them)

One thing that may make it easier is to use an official vehicle import agent ...the charge but they should also know what needs doing ... if you can find one with experience of bringing american vehicles in it will make life slightly easier... though still not guaranteed.

But the really importnat thing is to have every piece of documentation you can get ... one very important piece that in the UK no one thinks about but is important in europe is that your kombi as far as the DVLA is concerned is not a campervan it is a light vehicle fitted out privately after import ...it says as much on your log book. However you are importing a campervan as it is now converted therefore none of the original TARE designations are correct.. they are for a mini bus not a fully fitted camper. So if portugal apply full eu directive on campervans i think from memory it is Directive 94/20/CE but i have none of my belgium/europe docs here in azerbaijan with me

Like i said not sure how Portugal are applying that as every EU country puts it into national law differently. In the UK it hardly exists.. which is why danbury etc can easily bring Brazilians in.. France, belgium germany I know it becomes a pain..

So keep trying but just make sure you have every bit of paperwork preempted and just dont run the risk of having it impounded and scrapped on the spot for driving it illegally in europe

Hi Belgiumbay

Thanks so much for the info ....yep Portuguese paperwork is a nightmare, what you say about the ECoC was as I thought ...just trying to see if I can find any loopholes around it ....didnt realise that this was going to be such an issue when I was matriculating her !

I have today found someone solely deals with vehicle matirculations who has recently done some american vehicles and an ex army landrover, which initally they had problems getting the ECoC so hopefully they may be able to help ....I just love the way in the EU you can not drive vehicles without limits ...the irony is apparently what Portugal do with the matriculation process is illegal but they earn more from it than they do the fines from the EU . There are so many English plated cars out here that have been for years without any problems, but I am just aware that as Bluebelle stands out so much it is not a risk I want to take !!

Thanks for the advice and if I manage to find a way to get one will keep you updated

Any update on your Certification process Ann?

Hi Tim

To be honest I havent done anything recently as I decided to come back to the Uk in Dec so it got put on hold ...but have to say Bluebell much prefers driving around in the milder Algarve temperatures than -10 in England !!

Will keep you posted as I need to get the ball rolling again