First of all, you need to make sure that you have all the documents confirming the legality of your car purchase, as well as documents that the previous owner is obliged to transfer to the new one, namely:
- Sale agreement document, containing the data of the seller, the buyer, information about the transport and the cost of the transaction itself
- Vehicle certificate, that is, a document containing data on its make, model, engine power, gas tank capacity, etc.
- Registration certificate, the confirmation of the car’s registration and belonging (When buying a car from hand, it will contain the data of the previous owner, when buying in brand new, you need to provide confirmation of the purchase of the car instead (a check, invoice or sale contract will do)
- Insurance policy (if applied), if it is still valid. Otherwise, it will need to be issued (instruction how to do this can be found here)
To register a car, you need to submit an application form and a bundle of relevant documents to the public transport department of the local municipal government (Wydział Komunikacji i Transportu Starostwa Powiatowego). In addition to the documents listed above, you will need:
- Statement of the owner of the car on its registration, the form itself can be found here
- Plates with car numbers if it had a previous owner
- Your passport or other identity card (if you have any) along with a visa or other document confirming the legality of your stay in the country. The validity of the registration will depend on expiration date of this document, so ideally you should not buy a car a few months before the expiration of your visa or residence permit
- If the owner of the car is a company and not an individual, you need to provide an extract from KRS (Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy) on company’s registration
- In the case of registering a car in the name of a third party, you need to prepare a notarized attorney and its certified translation, if it was issued in another country
