Unexpected Bill

fidobsa · 2012-03-28T15:48:10+02:00

Discuss unexpected car bills in Hungary, including local road taxes and confusion over costs. Get insights on vehicle expenses for expats.

fidobsa Serial expat

Member since 11 November 2011

fidobsaSerial expat28 March 2012 13:48:10

505

I today received a bill relating to my Hungary registered car which I bought a couple of months ago. It was generated locally in my village and is for 2 instalments, 3800 Ft for the first half year, 5700 Ft for the second half year. Is this some kind of local road fund licence? I just paid about 43,000 Ft for a vignette so it looks like I will end up paying more road tax in Hungary than I would for the same type of car in UK.

szocske Serial expat

Member since 24 December 2009

szocskeSerial expat28 March 2012 18:27:40

839

Yes, probably some local tax.
The adequate term is "chimney tax": some tax that some agency wants to collect so they tax something everyone has or does.

bjonesphotography New member

Member since 23 November 2011

bjonesphotographyNew member30 March 2012 11:18:38

Yes it is a local road tax, weused to pay it when we had a car...聽 Not sure what for though as the roads are certainly not maintained

If yours is anything like ours it didn't come on these handy yellow slips, we had to go into a bank to pay it

GuestPoster279 Guest

GuestPoster279Guest02 April 2012 20:09:41

bjonesphotography wrote:
Yes it is a local road tax

Actually, szocske is right. It is a local "having a car" tax, not a road tax. The tax and its rate is set by the local government.

The roads in Hungary are now maintained by a non-profit corporation, and they can not gather taxes directly.

bjonesphotography New member

Member since 23 November 2011

bjonesphotographyNew member03 April 2012 10:14:21

klsallee wrote:
bjonesphotography wrote:
Yes it is a local road tax

Actually, szocske is right. It is a local "having a car" tax, not a road tax. The tax and its rate is set by the local government.

The roads in Hungary are now maintained by a non-profit corporation, and they can not gather taxes directly.

Thanks for the info, we got rid of our car 18 months ago as the cost of keeping it on the road was crippling and used my limted language skills and a dictionary to decipher the bill

Ours was worked out on the power output of the car so our big 4X4 cost us somewhere in the region of 22,000Huf per annum in 2 installments.

fluffy2560 Hungary Expert

Member since 21 July 2009

fluffy2560Hungary Expert03 April 2012 10:57:08

13199

bjonesphotography wrote:
Ours was worked out on the power output of the car so our big 4X4 cost us somewhere in the region of 22,000Huf per annum in 2 installments.

22K HUF p.a. seems very cheap by comparison with the UK. Taxes there are getting ridiculous.

fidobsa Serial expat

Member since 11 November 2011

fidobsaSerial expat03 April 2012 11:22:55

505

You can get 50cc cars here and they suddenly appear more attractive! I'm not sure that public transport is the cheapest way to get around though. It costs me 465 Ft each way to get a bus to town and the shops like Lidl, Tesco and Penny Market are a further 2 Km from the town centre so would really need an extra bus ride. Train fares are quite cheap but the trains are so slow that you lose potential earning time if travel is work related.

fluffy2560 Hungary Expert

Member since 21 July 2009

fluffy2560Hungary Expert03 April 2012 16:00:12

13199

fidobsa wrote:
....It costs me 465 Ft each way to get a bus to town and the shops like Lidl, Tesco and Penny Market are a further 2 Km from the town centre so would really need an extra bus ride. ...

No free bus from Tesco?