Originally Posted by
foama
In Europe, there is a CoC ( EEC Certificate of Conformancy) that describes your vehicle in great detail and lists all sorts of technical data. It is issued by the manufacturer/importer. That needs to be presented to the registration authorities when the vehicle is being registered for the first time.
In different European states, there are different regulations, but following applies to most:
First time registration: You get in contact with the insurance company of your choice, and buy insurance. The cost depends on your age, the age of the vehicle, the type rating for that vehicle, and many other factors. The insurer issues you a certificate.
You go to the regional/local registration authority, bring along the insurance certificate, the CoC, proof the car has received and passed the technical safety and emission inspection. and you need your personal identification papers. They start processing the registration, give you a piece of paper stating the new registration number. Then you run out to a place that makes numbers, give them the note, and pay for making the plates. You quickly run back in to the registration authority with the new plates. They put official seals on the plates, and issue a "Registration certificate Part 2" that says the particular vehicle is owned by you. You keep this at home. The also issue a registration "Certificate Part 1" to be kept with whoever is driving the car. This is what is presented on spot checks. The authority lets you pay for their services, and lets you put on the plates, the car is registered. The insurance company is contacted by the registration authority, and you get an insurance bill, same applies to the vehicle tax.
When the vehicle gets sold to the next owner, it will need to be insured and registered for the new name. The registration authority will usually not want the CoC any more. They will want to receive the Registration Certificate Part 1 and part 2 and proof of successful technical and emission tersting. Together with new plates and new insurance, the new owner applies for a new registration as above. The new owner gets listed in the registration certificate part 2, and the Cetificate part one is freshly issued with the new owner listed.
Every two years every registered car has to pass an elaborate technical and emission testing! Without it can not be operated. The test is also proof the car has not been modified to differ from original type approval as noted on the Coc.
In other words, you can NOT modify your own car in any way unless that modification has been technically approved and tested and written into your Certificate Part 2 by the authorities in charge. It can be quite a challenge to get the most simple modification officially accepted including all paperwork, but without it you can not operate the car. If you do not comply you easily get in jail.