Questions about our car and residence permit

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Afytosforever Member

Member since 25 August 2023

AfytosforeverMember25 August 2023 10:37:14

Hi Folks,

My wife and I are a Swiss/Serbian and German/Serbian freelancer couple and live part-time in Greece (6 to 9 months annually) in beautiful Afytos in Chalkidiki. We bought our property in Greece in 2014 and have overcome with the time most "teeth troubles" of a part-time ex-pat life in Greece and managed to get our permanent residence permits in 2020 without hassle, once we decided to spend extended time over six months in Greece (actually we fled from Covid to our safe village in Greece).

So we actually don't have any serious questions or issues, this is all solved and we probably could assist others with some solutions to usual issues, but I have two dumb questions (well, someone has to ask these as well).

Well, we do have a permanent residence, but our car doesn't. Until now we solved this issue with two cars, one for serious journeys, a Peugeot 407, and a small city car, Peugeot 206 and just returned to Belgrade with one car and came back with the other. With discus hernia on our backs we cannot survive 800 km anymore with the small car.

Here is the first question, has somebody noticed whether the customs authorities use cameras that register the license plates like they do in Turkey? During pandemics the plates had to be filled in in a form but now not anymore. And on the border crossings I didn't notice cameras on a height fitted for license plates. So theoretically we could drive to Belgrade and stay there for a month or two and come back with the same car since they look only into the passport stamps. Right or wrong?

Second question is similar. The residence permit is valid only together with a local Greek health insurance. Since we already have a Serbian insurance that covers as well our stays in Greece and much better than the insurances for resident permits, we only once took a Greek insurance (when applying for the permit) and never again. Until now nobody asked us at customs for the insurance (we always show only passports and residence permits). Does anyone have the experience that customs or traffic police ask for the insurance in combination with the permits or not?

Sorry to ask such questions about rather illegal stuff on first entry to the forum, but, hey, we all have to manage somehow our stay in Greece, and maybe we could help someone else with creative solutions to some issues.

Best regards to all.

RickyRO Member

Member since 20 December 2021

RickyROMember31 August 2023 18:07:46

Hello,

Surely there are cameras that record the "traffic" to/from the customs points. I am from Romania, I love Greece and I have been spending all my vacations there for over 15 years and I intend to live there in my retirement. Well, sometimes the Greek customs officer just quickly looks at my car registration number and signals me to pass, other times they ask me for all the documents (including the car documents -> probably then they check the database). But, you can be very very sure that your car registration number is recorded by the video-cameras located at the toll paypoints (on the highway). All cars are filmed there and all registration numbers are recorded.

On the other hand, I don't think (it's only my supposition) there is a centralized informatic system that correlates your car registration number with the "requirements" related to your stay in Greece. So, probably no one will be "watching" your car in a special way. BUT, if one of your neighbors in Afytos gets angry on you and complains to the police, then you will definitely be at fault and surely you will probably have to prove that that car did not stay in Greece for more than 6 months. It will be your obligation to do this.

You should perhaps take into account the purchase of a car registered in Greece with which to make those annual trips to Belgrade (because anyway you live more in Greece than in Serbia). Eventually, you can choose to keep that Peugeot 206 in Belgrade, without bringing it to Greece. I think you can also try the option by air-plane, on the Thessaloniki-Belgrade route.

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