What does the mileage in the RDW register actually prove?

It shows the readings filed at tests and by affiliated garages, each with a date, and the register grades the sequence itself as consistent or not. A straightforward rollback becomes visible that way. What it cannot show is a period nobody ever reported: a car registered abroad for years and then imported starts its Dutch sequence at the import, with nothing before it, and those earlier years live only in the foreign paperwork. So check first whether the sequence begins at first registration or at an import mark.

The car runs on LPG. What do I need to watch for?

LPG is more widespread in the Netherlands than in most neighbouring markets, and a retrofitted installation is first of all a paperwork question. Ask to see the approval of the installation and its entry in the vehicle documents; without that entry, registering the car at its destination turns into a procedure, because the installation has to be recognised there all over again. Technically the tank and its periodic requalification belong in the sum — a tank running out of certification is a cost item like any wear part. And ask whether the engine was built for gas or converted to it: on some designs the valve seats are where that difference eventually shows.

Used cars from the Netherlands

Searching in the Netherlands gets you two things that exist in this form nowhere else. First an open register: for any Dutch plate the RDW holds the test history, the reported mileages and its own verdict on whether that sequence is plausible — readable before you have written a word to the seller. Second a stock shaped by the BPM: because that levy attaches to first registration and is assessed on CO₂ output, and because company-car taxation pulls the same way, the market is unusually rich in young electric and plug-in cars and unusually poor in large petrol ones. The typical car from there is young, economical and came off a lease.

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What matters

Plate lookup: the RDW answers publicly for every Dutch plate — test dates, reported mileages with the register's own plausibility verdict, first registration, import marks. Asking for the plate is therefore the first question to put to a Dutch seller, not the last.
The annual road tax is assessed on weight, fuel and province, and it falls far harder on diesel and LPG than on petrol. A Dutch diesel is accordingly expensive to keep at home and cheap in the listing — take it out of the country and you leave behind precisely the item that pushed the price down.
Salt and sea air: nowhere in the country is far from the coast, the roads are gritted in winter, and garages are scarce — most cars live outdoors. Wheel arches, sills and the bottom edges of the doors therefore deserve more attention than the odometer, which the register confirms for you anyway.
Exporting: a Dutch car is deregistered for export with the RDW, and the seller needs the vrijwaringsbewijs to get out of road tax and liability — he is right to insist on it. Within the EU no customs declaration follows; into Switzerland one does. The other direction, with the BPM declaration and the RDW test station, is in the import guide below.

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How people search in Netherlands

A used car is called:: tweedehands auto
The technical inspection is called:: APK
The registration document is called:: kentekenbewijs

These words appear in the papers and in every listing from Netherlands — worth knowing before you assess a car from there. Ask where the APK stands before you travel.

Makes that shape the stock in Netherlands

By body and drivetrain in Netherlands

By price band

Places in Netherlands

Read on

Importing a car into the Netherlands

Common questions

What does the mileage in the RDW register actually prove?: It shows the readings filed at tests and by affiliated garages, each with a date, and the register grades the sequence itself as consistent or not. A straightforward rollback becomes visible that way. What it cannot show is a period nobody ever reported: a car registered abroad for years and then imported starts its Dutch sequence at the import, with nothing before it, and those earlier years live only in the foreign paperwork. So check first whether the sequence begins at first registration or at an import mark.
The car runs on LPG. What do I need to watch for?: LPG is more widespread in the Netherlands than in most neighbouring markets, and a retrofitted installation is first of all a paperwork question. Ask to see the approval of the installation and its entry in the vehicle documents; without that entry, registering the car at its destination turns into a procedure, because the installation has to be recognised there all over again. Technically the tank and its periodic requalification belong in the sum — a tank running out of certification is a cost item like any wear part. And ask whether the engine was built for gas or converted to it: on some designs the valve seats are where that difference eventually shows.