Saab Klub Danmark

Hi folks,

Sorry to write in English, but that is what this part of the forum is meant for. (my Danish language course starts in September). Good to see the forum is fully working again.

I live in Aarhus since January, because of my girlfriend's work. Before we came to Aarhus, we've lived in Amsterdam and Aberdeen (Scotland).

I was seeking to import both my 1970 96 and my '77 95 into Denmark, but I'm afraid it's not worth the money and the hassle. SKAT has calculated that importing my 96 alone is going to cost me a whopping DKK10.000,- I decided to bring the car back to the Netherlands (it has a Dutch reg.) and store it somewhere over there until better times. As much as it's not worth importing it, it's not worth selling is, as it's gonna pay me no more than around DKK4000,-....

I'm now on the lookout for a reasonably priced (<DKK15.000,-) V4, 99CC, classic 900 or maybe a 9000CC with Danish registration. Looks don't matter that much, technical state does as I drive to the Netherlands and back monthly for work. Any tips welcome!

Hi melle, and welcome to our (heavily taxed) country.

General places to look for used stuff, including cars:

www.dba.dk and www.guloggratis.dk

used cars at www.bilbasen.dk

Hi melle - and welcome to Saab Club Denmark and Aarhus. If you see a classic 900 8V with red leather interior or a scarabe green 9000 jubilee 2,3T driving like a madman in Aarhus, it could be me
I can recommend this car if you want a cheap and mechanically well working car:

http://www.dba.dk/saab-900i/id-76225615/

I had a testdrive in the car a week ago, and it goes really well. It has a few cosmetic issues (headliner, bumper scratches and a small damage at the body just near the rear lights right side), but it is in a general good state.
It need a new set of brakes, though.
Seller told me that price is for discussion, so i should be possible to make a bargain here.
Good luck!

Best regards

Nicolai

You would probably like to know about the MOT system here when you buy a car. Cars must be MOT'ed (synet) every two years here. The MOT follow the first year of registration, so a car from 92 will be MOT'ed even years. So the car Nicolai suggests will be called in for mot next year. He says so in the advert, but now you know about the system so you can avoid traps. Allways ask for the MOT sheet when you buy a car. If you go after a car with new MOT (nysynet), the car can be approved(godkendt) or conditional approval (betinget godkendt). If the car is only conditional approved, the items must be fixed to be legal to drive.

Good luck!

Thanks for the welcomes and the tips! I'd already seen the car Nicolai mentioned on DBA, looks good. I'm very much a V4 man, but I do around 20.000-25.000 kilometres annually, so something a bit more modern might be a better plan for now. To be honest, I prefer an 8V carburettor car, but injection would not be a reason for not buying. It 'must' be a (combi) coupe by the way, either three or five doors.

How does it work with cars sold without number plates? Is that because they've got no MOT? How do you get plates again?

Also still trying to figure out how to calculate costs on road tax and insurance. Is there a website where you can calculate road tax for a specific car? Any tips on good/ cheap insurers? In NL it's possible to get a cheap insurance for classic cars, and an OG900 or a 99 are considered classics by most companies.

På forhånd tak for hjælpen!

How about driving a car with yellow plates as a private person? Is it possible in the first place and does it save on road tax? A varebil-version would also be an option for us, as we don't need the extra seats...

Stear clear of 8 valve with catalytic converter. It has K-jetronic with a lambda circuit added. It works great, but when something goes wrong it is shit to do fault finding on. Just my opinion.

About number plates. When a car has a valid MOT but no plates you can go straight to the motor office and buy the plates. The price is 1200-1300 dkr I believe. So this has to be considered. When bidding on a car you should get at least 1000 extra off the asking price I would say. If the car has no MOT and no plates, you can get temporary plates for driving it to the MOT-test or workshop. A MOT-test is typically 450dkr. If you loose your plates (don't get the car MOT'd in time etc.) you have to buy new plates for the full price again.

It cost 380 at the motor office to get the car registered in your name. The road tax for older cars is calculated by weight of the car. http://www.nysynet.dk/vagtafgift.htm so a 900 weighting 1250 kg will be 1880 every 6 months. It is possible to get yellow plate as a private person, but the car has to be a van. A 900 could be converted to a van by removing the rear seat, and install a screen behind the driver chair etc. . But I don't know the procedures/prices etc for this.

I would suggest you try "GF-forsikring" for insurance. They have a calculator you can play around with on the homepage. The price is, of course, highly individual depending on driving experience etc. I think it may be possible to get classical insurance for cars more than 25 years. There may be restrictions like maximum km/year and it must be a second car you own.

When you buy a car from a private person, I would suggest you use a standard buyer/seller contract. They can be printed from bilbasen.dk, or fdm.dk for instance. There the seller can check yes/no on several important points, like previous collision damage, is there any debt in the car and so on.

When you decide to buy the car it has to be registered in your name. It is common for sellers not to trust buyers and they want to do the registration them selves. This is okay because this is a vulnerable spot which can be exploited in bad ways. . There is also a check point in the contract about this. The person in charge (you or the seller) for the registration need two papers: the registration certificate from the current owner and a note from the insurance company. You get the note from the insurance company by requesting them to insure the car. You don't commit to the insurance company by asking for the insurance note. If you have the insurance note (and enough money) with you to see the car, usually you can drive away in your new car. If you don't buy the car you just destroy the insurance note. You can get it by phone or in person or possibly via mail. You only need the VIN number and car brand/type from the seller. The final contract will be mailed to you when the registration is done. So you can change to another company within this period. Usually 2 weeks. The new registration certificate will also come in the mail. At the motor office you get a temporary registration certificate witch is the carbon copy of the form you (or seller) must fill in.

By the way. You can get the car to DK without paying tax. It is only when you want to register the car (MOT, numberplates etc.) you have to pay. Depending on where you want to live the rest of your life, you CAN choose to store the car in DK until better times.

For cars registered first time before July 1, 1997, the road tax is called "vægtafgift" - weight tax, and depends on the weight of the car. It is roughly around 1500-2000 DKK, every 6 months. If the car is registered with a too high weight, it is possible to have it down-weighed officially, hopefully shifting the car into a lower bracket.

For cars registered after this date, it depends on the official gas mileage of the car ("Grøn ejeraftigt" - "Green Owner's Tax"), and the price is probably a little higher. This is mostly relevant for new NG900's and later cars, so it's probably that interesting for you.

The current rates for both taxes can be seen in the link provided above by tknage (in Danish, but mostly tables). "Halvårlig" means every half year.

I am not certain, but I believe that having a car re-registered to yellow plates carries a pretty expensive fee, in addition to the work required in converting the car to a van.

If the car plates, it depends on whether the car has previously been registered in Denmark.
If it hasn't, it is probably at least 10 000 DKK to have it registered.
If it has, just a matter of getting the MOT and the price for the plates, lige tknage describes above.
With most used cars that pass the MOT, you can just keep the plates however (if it has any), and the only fee is the 380 DKK at the motor office. This is the most common way it is done.

Thanks guys, you're being very helpful!

My 96 is now in DK, but I'll bring it over to NL next week, as it's no use keeping it here whilst not being able to drive it. I've got a safe and dry workshop in NL where I can keep it and I can drive it when I'm there (couple of weeks every other month for work).
My girlfriend's work dictates that we're most likely not going to stay in Denmark for more than three years, so buying another car and selling it when we leave will be the most convenient for us now. Good reason to test out another type of Saab, but I'll dearly miss my V4 here though...

I'll keep you posted on progress.

Hmmm, harder to find a 900/ 99 than expected. I've send emails the day before yesterday to the seller of the car Nicolai recommended and to http://www.guloggratis.dk/saab/900/annonce/11713706 Both did not respond yet. Could that be because I'm writing in English?

This one also looks good: http://www.guloggratis.dk/saab/anden-mo ... e/11511218

Has anyone seen it in the flesh? How reliable is this garage?

This one's also interesting, but it comes without number plates: http://www.guloggratis.dk/saab/900/annonce/11702379

How hard is it to get plates with a car like this?

Hope to have found a nice ride by the end of next week...

English is a barrier for many in DK. Particularly older people. Or, maybe they are suspicious towards you. Many scamers approaching their victims speak English. - At least that's what we hear in the press. I think your best option is to get someone that speaks Danish to call them.

Hi Melle

The car I recommended is owned by an elder couple, and I do not think internet is their finest competence........
I think someone that speaks danish is the right solution if you want to communicate with them.
The first car (light blue) in your post looks fine, but mileage is too high, especially compared to the car I recommend.
There should be no problem in getting numberplates for the second car in the post, but mileage is also high in this car. Not that it means that the car is not a good buy, but OG900 can still be found with less than 200KKM on the clock for a reasonable price.
Is it mandatory that it is a 3 or 5 door (combi-coupe) model? Sedans are a lot cheaper - of course there is a reason for that , but if it is only ment to be a daily driver it could be of less importance?

Regards

Nicolai

Kim Terp went with us today to have a look at two 900's.

The one which Nicolai recommended:


And this one in Hobro:


I have to say tat the first one was a bit of a disappointment. It would be a perfect car for us, but it was way to expensive in relation to the quality offered. Structurally sound and a pleasure to drive, but nasty rust around the front window and the antenna, a dent in the rear right, half headliner and scruffy interior, sunroof that has been leaking, cheap tyres, matt headlights etc. We didn't get the impression that the owner was willing to drop his price below DKK12.000,-

The second car was overall nice. Some rust on and around the doors, but nothing special. Crisp interior and nice running engine (haven't driven it). The only thing is that the drive shaft tunnels were rotten. No use buying it for us now, as I don't have the time to do welding work now. Kim also warned me that Danish MOT is tough on rust in these spots.

Kim, thanks again for coming along!

Sad to hear you didn´t get yourself a car this time. Correct, the first car had some bad issues but seemed mechanically fresh and easy to drive. Low milage and structurally sound. The rust beneath the windscreen and the antenna was not serious as I remember, and the headliner is is a classic and expected issue.
Kim is right - danish MOT loves to make a hole in the drive shaft tunnels on these cars. Anyway, it should be possible to find a better example out there - maybe this one:

http://www.guloggratis.dk/saab/900/anno ... s=1#images

Last production year, airbag equipped and nice colour. As far as I can see, the rear emblem says 2,1 litre engine, but i am not quite sure. Price seems fair, and the car will go through a fresh MOT (nysynet) before delivery. Should be some sort of guarantee on this car too, since it is sold from a dealer.

I'm going to Hobro to have a look at that car tomorrow!

Tunnels and floor on the car in Nykøbing were immaculate, as far as we could see (through the almost a centimetre thick undercoat) en it drove excellent. Rust round the windscreen was quite nasty though, I wouldn't like to weld there with the screen in... Never seen this much rust in this area on a 900, strange spot... It wouldn't hold me back from buying though, it's just that the car's condition didn't justify the price. I would have bought it for somewhere in the 7000-8000 range. With new brakes and some rust treatment it would make a good car with 8 months MOT left for around DKK15000,-

I fortunately don't need a car tomorrow, although it would be nice to find a new ride shortly. I prefer public transport until the right car comes, over buying a just 'a' car for too much money.

The car in Hobro was fine, pretty solid all over, only some holes in the bottoms of the doors and some small dents here and there. Interior was OK (flawless head liner!), it drove well an the 2.1 sounded nice. The trader was a nice guy with a liking for old Saabs. I could have the car for 10.000 with a new syn, which seems pretty reasonable.

In the meantime I got an offer I couldn't really resist: Nicolai's just purchased 3-door. Very nice car, drives like new and looks very good on my girlfriend. Very happy with our new ride, thanks all for helping along finding the right Danish motor!

Hej,

Jeg er flyttet til Irland på grunden af arbejde efter 3,5 fantastiske år i Danmark. Jeg har taget 900-en med, den vil blive ombygget til højrestyret og måske turbo sener i året. Tak for nu, jeg kommer sikker forbi forummet og Danmark nogle gange i fremtiden.

Hilsen,
Melle