Buying a car from the Netherlands: APK, NAP, export

Anyone searching abroad for a used car sooner or later comes across Dutch listings. One reason is openness: the register kept by the RDW, the Dutch vehicle authority, reveals more about each plate than many other European registers, and mileage readings have been recorded centrally for years. A buyer can read a great deal before even setting off.

A second reason is tax. On a car's first registration in the country, the Netherlands levies the BPM, a tax based on CO₂ output that is built into the price of a Dutch car. When a car is exported permanently, the law provides, under conditions, for a refund of the part not yet used up. That is one reason Dutch listings sometimes quote a separate price for export — and why the question of who applies for that refund belongs in the contract, not in a chat at the gate.

The third point is practical: from the neighbouring countries the distances are short, and buyers from there are nothing unusual for many sellers. That does not make the purchase easier than at home, but it does make it easier to plan — provided you know the three terms that come up in every conversation: APK, NAP and export.

The Dutch registration number, the kenteken, stays with the same car for its whole life. Using that number, the RDW publishes on its website and as open data a great deal that is not tied to a person; numerous free plate-check sites read the same data. None of them shows the keeper's name.

What the register does not show needs saying first. An accident repaired without being reported leaves no entry. The recall list is incomplete, because not every manufacturer reports every campaign to the RDW. And no online check replaces the comparison at the car itself: read the chassis number in at least two places and compare it with the kentekencard.

What it does show is still a lot. For a buyer, the following fields matter most; they can be checked while the seller is still on the phone, and they often save a journey.

The APK (algemene periodieke keuring) is the Dutch roadworthiness test. It is not carried out by the RDW itself but by garages the RDW has approved for the purpose; the garage reports the result to the register electronically. How often a car must go for its APK depends on its age and fuel type, and the RDW publishes the intervals.

The expiry date is public. Through the RDW's open data, earlier test dates and the defects found at them can also be retrieved, and many plate-check sites display them as an APK history. Read that list correctly: a defect on it does not mean it still exists — a lot is fixed during the appointment itself. What the list shows is a pattern. A car where brakes and suspension parts turn up year after year tells a different story from one where only bulbs appear.

For export, the APK has a second meaning. After deregistration the car may only be moved on Dutch roads if its APK is valid. Whether the registration authority in the destination country recognises the Dutch test for its remaining term is for that authority to decide; it is not handled the same way everywhere and should be settled before you buy.

NAP stands for Nationale AutoPas, a foundation that used to collect mileage readings. Today the RDW does it: garages, tyre dealers, test stations and dealers report the reading whenever they work on a car. The old name has survived in listings — “NAP” or “NAP logisch” refers to the RDW's verdict on those readings.

The verdict comes in three forms: logical, illogical or no verdict. Logical means the reported readings rise in a plausible order. It does not mean the odometer is right. A reading tampered with before the first report goes unnoticed, and for a car that only came to the Netherlands later, the series only starts with its Dutch registration. Illogical, on the other hand, is a serious signal the seller must be able to explain — sometimes it is a garage's typing error, sometimes it is not.

The individual readings with their dates are not public. They are in the RDW's vehicle report (voertuigrapport, formerly the tellerrapport), and only the registered keeper can call it up. A seller who is serious about selling sends it on request. Lay it next to the service book, invoices and APK reports: if dates and readings agree, you have a row of independent witnesses; if there are gaps of several years, you know where to ask.

A car leaving the Netherlands for good is deregistered for export. That happens at an RDW test station or counter, or at a business the RDW has approved for the purpose. It is cleanest if seller and buyer go together, with ID, the kentekencard and the tenaamstellingscode — the code the keeper received by letter. Whether the car itself has to be there depends on the office and the case; ask beforehand.

After deregistration the car has the status export and is no longer in the seller's name. The seller receives a vrijwaringsbewijs, proof that from that moment on they are no longer liable. For the buyer there is a paper export certificate (kentekenbewijs deel II), which the registration authority in the destination country will want together with the kentekencard. Have the export entered in your name: your details then appear on the certificate, and there is no doubt about who exported the car.

The drive to the border has its own rule. After deregistration the car may still be driven in the Netherlands for a limited period, which is stated on the export certificate — on white plates bearing the same number, with a valid APK and with insurance of its own, because the seller's policy ends with deregistration. How the route beyond the border is covered is something to settle with your insurer before you set off.

That leaves the BPM. A refund on export is applied for at the Belastingdienst, the Dutch tax authority, and it depends on conditions set out there — including who may apply. For a private purchase that means: find out beforehand whether a refund is possible at all and how it is reflected in the price, and write it into the contract.

The handover produces the folder you will put on the registration counter at home. If a sheet is missing, getting it from abroad is hard work — the seller is far away by then, and the RDW deals with whoever was in the register.

So check before you set off that everything is there. On Carvexia you can add questions about the car to an enquiry, for instance whether the COC is available or whether the seller can handle export or deregistration. Whether and when the seller answers is up to them; the answers then appear on the car's page as “Seller's statements, not checked”. They replace neither a look at the register nor a look at the papers — but they tell you whether the journey is worth making.

And plan payment and deregistration for the same appointment. Pay and leave the deregistration to the seller “whenever it suits” and you own a car that is still legally in someone else's name — without a single paper you can use at home. By the end of the appointment, at least these documents should be in your folder: