Is a car cheaper in Germany?
Live price gaps between BE, NL and DE

23 July 2026 · 8 min read

Sometimes thousands of euros cheaper, sometimes not at all: whether a car is cheaper in Germany depends on the model and shifts from week to week. If you blindly assume Germany is always the cheapest market, you can end up keeping less after transport and taxes than if you had bought at home. If you track the gaps per model, you find the best margins around. This article explains how those price differences really work, what importing actually costs and where you can follow the current numbers live.

The answer differs per model (and per week)

The German used car market is the biggest in Europe. More than a million cars are for sale at any moment: lots of ex-lease cars, lots of well-equipped diesels and lots of premium models that simply sell in bigger numbers in Germany. More supply pushes prices down, but not equally hard for every model. A model that is widely available there but not much loved by German buyers sits at a sharp price. A model German buyers fight over themselves can be more expensive than in Belgium or the Netherlands.

On top of that, the gaps move. Asking prices follow the week's supply: a handful of sharply priced examples pulls the median down, a sold-out market pushes it up. A gap of thousands of euros this week can be halved next week or even reversed. A list from last year therefore tells you little; you want today's numbers.

How we measure it: median asking price per model in three countries

Autoflip continuously monitors five platforms: 2dehands and AutoScout24 BE for Belgium, Marktplaats and AutoScout24 NL for the Netherlands plus Mobile.de for Germany. Per model we calculate the median asking price per country: the middle price of all current listings. The median is insensitive to that one dream bargain or that one overpriced example and therefore gives a more honest picture than an average.

We publish the biggest gaps live at autoflip.eu/prijsverschillen. There you see per model in which country the median is lowest and how big the gap is. Because the numbers come straight from live listings, you are looking at today's difference, not at last year's report.

The honest import reality: a lower price is not yet profit

A German listing that sits thousands of euros below the Belgian or Dutch median feels like free money. It is not. Between the German asking price and a registered car on your own driveway sit costs and paperwork that shrink the advantage and sometimes eat it completely.

Importing into the Netherlands, BPM is the big item. This import tax depends on the CO2 emissions and the age of the car and can be substantial: on some cars BPM eats the entire German price advantage, on others plenty remains. Add the RDW inspection and the Dutch registration. So always calculate the BPM before you drive to Germany, not after.

Importing into Belgium, you register the car with the DIV and have it inspected. Watch the VAT rule for young cars: a car less than 6 months old or with fewer than 6,000 kilometres counts as new for VAT purposes and then you pay Belgian VAT on the purchase. And the Car-Pass? It only covers mileage registered in Belgium. You check the German history through the service booklet, the invoices and the TUV reports.

In both directions, add transport (driving yourself on German export plates or using a transporter), a possible language barrier during the negotiation and a day or two of your time. None of these items is dramatic on its own, but together they decide whether a paper advantage is also a real one. You find the full step-by-step plan, from search to registration, in our complete guide to importing a car from Germany.

Worked example: from German price advantage to real advantage

The amounts above are deliberately fictional: every model and every situation calculates differently. Fill in your own numbers with the free flip calculator; it subtracts all costs from the price advantage and shows what you actually keep. How you then calculate your margin on a resale is covered in calculating the profit margin on a used car.

Who this is interesting for: flippers and targeted buyers

For the average buyer who just wants a solid family car, importing is rarely worth it: the gap on mainstream models is often too small for the extra work. It gets interesting for two groups. Buyers looking for one specific model where the gap is currently large. And flippers, who structurally hunt for models where margin remains after all costs: how to approach that is covered in our guide to flipping cars in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Mobile.de is included in Autoflip's All-in plan. You set your filters once (model, year, price, mileage) and receive every new German listing within seconds as a Telegram alert, next to those from 2dehands, Marktplaats and AutoScout24. That way you see immediately when a German example dips below the median in your own country and you get there before anyone searching by hand.

Frequently asked questions

See which models are cheapest in Germany right now.

Autoflip measures the median asking price per model live in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Telegram alert within seconds for every new match. 14 days free.

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