Owners face higher costs for unused cars next year

Maintaining an unused car in Estonia will become more expensive next year, ERR reports, as vehicles left in the register may incur motor vehicle tax.

The number of unused vehicles registered in Estonia has fallen from 225,290 at the start of the year to 158,274. On Nov. 1, the Transport Administration will automatically remove vehicles whose registration entries have been suspended for more than seven years.

Owners who later want to put a deleted vehicle back into use will have to pay a registration fee. The amount depends on the vehicle’s power and could reach thousands of euros, Transport Administration traffic services director Siim Sarapuu said. Owners can temporarily remove a car from the register for up to two years. If they do not, and the car remains registered but unused, motor vehicle tax will apply from next year.

Owners whose vehicles exist in the register but no longer physically exist should have them removed. Doing so costs 15 euros this year; from next year, the fee will be 800 euros.

Abandoned cars remain a problem in Tallinn, although people have become more willing to donate or dispose of them, said Šahrijar Abdullajev, a senior inspector with the city’s municipal police in the Lasnamäe district.

About 9,300 certificates of destruction have been issued this year, around 200 fewer than last year, said Siim Sellik, head of the Estonian Association of Car Dismantlers. Last year, vehicles could be removed from the register without a state fee, prompting some owners to deal with their old cars early. A dismantler typically pays 200 to 300 euros for an old passenger car.