After research, I had 2 options:
- Option 1: Purchase of a commercial vehicle and conversion in Germany
- Option 2: Purchase of a passenger vehicle and conversion in Greece
I chose the first method because I found a van with some ready-made conversions on mobile.de, and I asked the seller to convert it there himself. The process took half an hour and cost about 400 euros. Also, importing a motorhome comes with a 75% tax discount on the expected Registration Tax.
Because the van was from a private individual, the Greek customs required a private agreement certified for signature authenticity by a Greek consulate in Germany. To prevent the importer from making a whole trip from Nuremberg to Berlin for the certification, we found a dealer there who bought the vehicle from the private individual and resold it to us by issuing an official invoice (Rechnung), which customs accepts automatically without bureaucracy.
Subsequently, the van arrived by road in Greece and all necessary procedures were followed, including the submission of the Special Declaration of Vehicle Arrival (DAO), the MOT test (KTEO), and the remaining bureaucratic steps for the issuance of Greek license plates.
However, I faced a major problem in Athens, as during the inspection they kept telling me that the van was not ready internally, which they were not allowed to do since the vehicle already had an official German motorhome license. Ultimately, in order to get out of this mess and be done with the bureaucracy, I was forced to go ahead and do a quick build inside the van.
Not only that, but when I managed to pass the inspection, the shortage of license plates in Greece made me wait for over 6 months for the entire process to be completed.
In the end, the van is now on the road and I can move on to the next stages.
The most important thing you might be wondering is how much it cost? In general, calculate the price of the van you will find plus approximately 5,000 to 6,000 euros all-inclusive, covering transport, import, and any setbacks you might face.