Tens of thousands of used vehicles are imported into our country every year. There is nothing wrong with that of course. But it is important to know that a Car-Pass is only legally required in Belgium. However, in many cases Car-Pass has access to odometer readings recorded abroad.
- Most vehicle manufacturers have a central database in which odometer readings are registered by their dealers at home and abroad. Manufacturers and importers are obliged to forward these odometer readings to Car-Pass when a vehicle of their brand(s) is imported into Belgium.
- The Netherlands has similar legislation to ours. If the vehicle comes from the Netherlands, Car-Pass will request the odometer history from the RDW, the service that manages the Dutch central database for odometer readings.
However, it is still possible that there is no odometer information available from abroad. In such a case, the first odometer reading recorded in our database is the one recorded during the import inspection. Unfortunately, there are fraudsters who clock odometers before the technical inspection. So be careful before buying a used vehicle that is imported from abroad.
For imported used vehicles, the date of first registration in Belgium will not be available, or it will be more recent than the date of the first use. The following is also stated at the bottom of the Car-Pass: “This used vehicle was imported from abroad.”