Car registrations saw a record level on February 1, in the first day when Romanians were able to buy and register cars without paying any tax.

A total of 6,971 vehicles were registered on Wednesday, with the large majority of them being used cars (5,923) and the rest (868) being new cars, reports Profit.ro. The figures represent an absolute record for the vehicle registration activity on a single day.

Starting February 1, the environment tax, registration tax, and any other vehicle-related tax were removed. These taxes have been gradually introduced after Romania joined the EU.

Before January 1, 2007, car imports had two limitations. One was age (eight years), the other one represented by duty and excise duty.

The most registered cars on February 1 were Volkswagen, with 1,713 units, followed by Opel, with 637 units, and Audi, with 515 cars. Some 503 BMW cars were also registered yesterday.

During the boom of the Romanian auto industry, between 2007 and 2008, some 35,000 motor vehicles were registered monthly.

editor@romania-insider.com