Technical article

What a Car Costs Each Year in France, the Netherlands and Portugal

Now they are weighing a move to Europe, and they wonder if one car, or none, would do.

By Neil Solomon · 6 min read

Picture a couple named Dan and Helen. Both are 64. At home they own two cars and rarely think about what each one costs. Now they are weighing a move to Europe, and they wonder if one car, or none, would do. Before they decide, they want the yearly tax pieces on paper.

I looked for the tax offices' own pages. Insurance, fuel and repairs did not turn up on any official page I could read, so they are missing here. What I found is the tax side.

What I could confirm

The Netherlands

The tax office says the bill depends on the type of vehicle, its weight, its fuel, how much it pollutes and the province where the holder lives. A bill arrives soon after the car is registered in your name. The page gives one example. A petrol car with an empty weight of 1,000 kg paid EUR 126 a quarter. From 1 July 2026 the tax office uses a new weight, "massa rijklaar", which is 100 kg higher. The page says the example car moves up one weight class and the quarterly amount stays at EUR 126. Four quarters would be EUR 504 (my arithmetic). The page does not say whether a provincial amount is added to that, and it gives no full table. The tax office points to a calculator for the exact figure. The page was last changed on 18 August 2026.

Portugal

The yearly circulation tax is set in Article 10 of the law, and the tax authority publishes it. The page I could read is marked as an earlier wording, so the current text could differ. Here is what it showed.

Cars first registered after 1 January 2017 with higher CO2 pay an added EUR 29.39 or EUR 58.97. A multiplier also applies by year of first registration: 1.00 for 2007, 1.05 for 2008, 1.10 for 2009 and 1.15 for 2010 and later. The current page of the tax authority (read 10 October 2026) says the tax is the amount from the tables times that year coefficient, and it lists Lei 82/2023 of 29 December 2023 as the latest change. Its two tables appear only as placeholders, so I cannot say whether the euro amounts above still hold, and I do not add the two columns up here.

Buying a car as a newcomer in Portugal. The tax authority says a vehicle tax called ISV applies to new cars and to used cars that come from another EU country or from outside the EU. It depends on engine size and CO2, and on particles for diesel cars. Fully electric cars are left out. It is due within 10 working days of the notice. VAT on a new car is 23% on the mainland, 22% in Madeira and 16% in the Azores. The page gives no ISV amounts and sends readers to a simulator that needs a login.

A used car that was registered in another EU country gets a cut in ISV by age, from the customs site. The page says: "Os veículos usados, provenientes de terceiros países não gozam de qualquer redução do imposto." That means used cars from outside the EU get no cut.

I left out the in-between years. The page shows every year, and the page gives no date for these cuts.

France

France charges a regional tax once, when the car is registered. The government page, published 26 February 2026, says it equals the regional rate times the car's fiscal horsepower. A car rated at 5 horsepower would pay EUR 215 in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (EUR 43 a horsepower), EUR 300 in Normandy (EUR 60) and EUR 344.75 in Île-de-France (EUR 68.95), by my arithmetic. The page also lists Pays de la Loire at EUR 51, Occitanie at EUR 59.50 and Corsica at EUR 53. One detail does not match. The page says the rate is "capped at EUR 60", yet it lists EUR 68.95 for Île-de-France. I show both and do not pick. The service-public.gouv.fr page on the cost of the registration certificate (checked 8 September 2026) lists two fixed amounts: a fixed tax of EUR 11 and a delivery fee of EUR 2.76. That is EUR 13.76 in fixed fees (my arithmetic). The page says other charges vary and are worked out with the site's simulator. No yearly ownership tax on any official page I could read was found.

Greece

The Greek tax authority's own page would not open for automated reading, but its search listing and guides (read 11 October 2026) show the structure. Road tax ("telē kykloforias") is annual and indivisible: it is owed for the whole year even if the car is on the road for one day. For passenger cars the amount follows a scale that depends on the engine size and on the date of first registration. For cars first registered up to 2000 the bands start at EUR 22 for up to 300 cm3, EUR 55 for 301 to 785 cm3 and EUR 120 for 786 to 1,071 cm3. The scale for newer cars is on the authority's page, and a person should read it for the car in question.

What is left open

• Insurance, fuel, repairs and inspection costs in all four countries.
• The Dutch rate table and provincial amounts.
• The euro tables in the current wording of the Portuguese circulation tax (the current page shows only placeholders for them), and any ISV amount.
• Any yearly French ownership tax.
• The Greek scale for cars first registered after 2000.
• Any special rule for people who move their residence with a car. An accountant or lawyer who works with Americans abroad could confirm that.