Driving to Italy on white Dutch export plates: rules and limits

The export registration is your existing Dutch registration number, but on white plates with black letters and numbers. The plates must stay legible in any weather. A car, van, truck or motorhome gets two plates; a motorcycle, scooter, moped, caravan or trailer gets one, at the rear. At the desk you hand in the yellow Dutch plates and receive the white ones. No yellow plates any more? Then have new ones made first by an approved number plate manufacturer, as the RDW advises.

After deregistration for export you may drive on Dutch public roads for 14 days. The export registration is never valid for longer than the APK (the Dutch roadworthiness test): without a valid APK the car may not use public roads at all. A van, truck or motorhome needs both insurance and APK for this drive; a motorcycle needs insurance but no APK.

The RDW states that the rules for using a Dutch export registration abroad vary by country, and advises checking beforehand which rules apply in the country you are going to or through. NederlandWereldwijd adds: ask the local authorities whether you may drive there on export plates. Your Europe notes that temporary number plates are not harmonised in the EU, and that your insurance must be valid and the plates recognised in every country you drive through.

The route to Italy runs through Germany and Austria. No official source from Germany, Austria, Switzerland or Italy names the Dutch export plate for this journey, so check each country before you leave. German law allows a vehicle registered in another member state to be used there temporarily, but does not mention export plates. Austria describes foreign export plates with short-term insurance for vehicles being transferred into Austria, but says nothing about passing through. Switzerland is not in the EU: a vehicle that is not for your own use, for example one intended for sale, must be declared at the Swiss border. Whether that also applies to an export car in transit is not clear, so ask the Swiss customs (BAZG) beforehand or drive via Austria.

If you live in Italy, we cannot promise that you may drive in on Dutch export plates. Ask the Italian authorities first, or choose transport.

Italy has its own temporary plate: a targa provvisoria issued with a foglio di via under art. 99 of the Codice della Strada. It is valid for at most 60 days and, in principle, only in Italy. That is an Italian document, not our white plate, and it is no solution for the drive from the Netherlands.

If you are unsure about the rules on your route, transport is the alternative that always works. A vehicle carried on a car transporter or trailer usually needs no driving insurance, but it still needs the export document. For motorhomes and caravans, see motorhome and caravan export; for vans and trucks, exporting a truck or van.

The plates come with 14 days of third-party export insurance and a Green Card, which we arrange through our insurance partner: see export insurance for Italy. If the Italian registration takes longer, the insurance can be extended by 14 days at a time after approval by the insurer: see extending export insurance. The plates themselves are not extended, and after the first 14 days the rules of the country where the car is apply; they vary by country.