Why is Hungarian registration mandatory?
You may only lawfully use Hungarian roads with a vehicle carrying valid Hungarian plates. At the end of the process the vehicle is entered in the official register and receives its registration certificate and the title proving ownership. For a vehicle imported from abroad, this is what we call registration.
The process has seven official stages and the order is fixed: each step needs the certificate from the previous one. That is the most common reason people have to make the same trip twice.
Where and how can an authority slot be booked?
At the transport authority of the county government offices, at the former authority test stations, through the online booking system. As a private individual, for registration slots you typically 2–3 months is the wait, in summer even longer — the test stations are extremely busy.
This is the bottleneck of the process. Every other step is a matter of days; it is the inspection slot that eats months. Through our contracted inspection partners we cut this to days — if you only want a slot, the fee is 29,990 Ft below 3.5 tonnes and 49,990 Ft above 3.5 tonnes — while the full-service registration package already includes booking the slot.
If you only want to entrust this one step to us, we take that on too. Priority appointment booking →
KPM or authority inspection? The difference is 46,200 Ft
KPM stood for the old Ministry of Transport and Posts, NKH for the National Transport Authority. Today both are officially called the Transport Authority. Which procedure applies to you depends on the state of the foreign inspection — and that is the single largest item in the whole registration.
An administrative procedure. For this, the foreign inspection with an inspection report must be proven — a date in the registration certificate is not enough.
This is the procedure total from the authority’s 2026 fee table; it is not to be added to the registration fee.
For a passenger car this fee is 28.200 Ft, for a motorcycle 18,300 Ft, for a van 29,600 Ft. Which of the three procedures applies is decided by the papers, the vehicle’s characteristics, the urgency and the transport needs, case by case — there is no general rule, so we do not guess on your behalf. Call us and we will tell you.
These are basic official fees. On top come our service fee and, for a priority case, its fee.
- A vehicle from a third country — United Kingdom, Switzerland, USA, United Arab Emirates, Norway
- Registering a new vehicle
- Individual inspection, post-modification approval, examination
- An expired foreign inspection, or no inspection report — with Austria and Italy the expiry date in the registration papers is often unclear
- A vehicle with incomplete papers, origin-verified
- If field “K” of the registration certificate has no European approval, or the vehicle is not in the register
What to take to the government office
The registry office is the last stop — you can only arrive there with a complete file. If any certificate is missing, the application will not be accepted.
- Foreign registration certificate
- Vehicle title — Fahrzeugbrief, Typenschein, Osvedčenie, V5C
- Bilingual sales contract or a foreign invoice
- ID card, address card, tax card
- For a company, a company extract no older than 30 days and a specimen signature
- Technical data sheet or the registration inspection papers
- Decision on the identity check — valid for 60 days
- Tax office certificate of the registration tax paid
- Motor liability policy in force
- Proof that the transfer duty has been paid
Bilingual sales and gift contracts in 31 language pairs in our shop can also be obtained for 999 Ft, with instant download. That saves you the cost and time of a certified translation.
How much does it cost? A concrete example
The official cost in August 2026 of a 90 kW, 1600 cm³, Euro 6 passenger car first registered in June 2021 155.955 Ft, with a valid foreign inspection. Without it 202.155 Ft.
On top of this come the motor liability cover, the transport home, and if needed the translation and the COC. A calculator calculates for your own vehicle, with the 2026 fee rates.
Motor liability cover without a plate
At the registry office you must already present a Hungarian compulsory motor liability policy. As the vehicle has no Hungarian plate yet, the insurance to the VIN must be taken out. Once the new plate is issued, the insurer must be notified.
If the policy has no plate attached, the insurer usually can be cancelled within a week the policy. So do not take it out weeks before the government office visit — timing matters here.
As a preferred broker partner we pick the best offer from 30 insurers. Alongside full-service registration, insurance advice and taking out the policy are free of charge. Our insurance partner is Netrisk.
Pitfalls most people run into
If the second part of the foreign registration certificate is missing, the authority may refuse to issue the plate. Origin verification is then required: an official fee of 14,715 Ft and several weeks. Ask for the original before buying. In certain cases the document can be replaced — that takes up to 2–3 months, a fee of 29,990 Ft comes on top of the official payment, and there is no guarantee: it is only possible if the car is in order in the foreign country (not pledged, not wanted).
A “fresh MOT” tag proves nothing. On Austrian and Italian registration certificates the expiry date is often ambiguous — in that case the authority requires a new inspection, a route that costs 46,200 Ft more.
The VIN and the seller’s details must match the documents letter for letter. A single character is enough to have the file rejected.
The decision is valid for 60 days. If you are waiting months for an inspection slot, arrange the inspection first and only then take it for the identity check — otherwise you pay twice.
Registration tax depends on the code in field V.9 of the registration certificate, not on the Euro number. Within the same kW band the wrong class makes a difference of between 47,000 and 1,128,000 Ft.
The car should not be under a foreign bank loan or a Hungarian public debt. It is worth checking this before you buy.
Or leave it to us
If you have read it through and concluded that it is a lot — that is exactly why our service exists. From handing over the foreign papers to the new Hungarian plate, we handle everything, from 49,990 Ft. The official fees are the same whichever way you decide.