Odense Travel Forum

Hi all,
Though this isn't the most active forum, I was hoping to get some help. I am moving to Odense in August and have 2 questions:
1) Where can I find out about a realistic range of prices for an apartment? My wife and I want something with at least a living room, bedroom and office that is nice... and lots of windows! :) Is there a newspaper I can look at or can someone just give me a rough estimate of prices?
2) We are also going to buy a car. My wife is German and I am wondering if it is cheaper to buy in Germany than Denmark?.... this may be a tough question to answer but any help would be great.

okay, if it turns out that I get some responses, I am sure I'll have plenty more questions in the next couple weeks...

thanks!!!

The car issue is a bit tricky. Car taxes are very heavy in Denmark. Thus, a car bought in Denmark costs almost three times as much as a car bought in Germany, since cars are taxed 180% registration tax plus 25% VAT (and you also pay VAT on the registration tax!). Likewise, if you choose to import a car from abroad (which is not previously taxed in Denmark), you will have to pay Danish registration tax on the vehicle to get it on Danish licence plates. And finally - a person residing in Denmark cannot drive a car in Denmark on foreign licence plates (to avoid tax fraud).

Because of the high taxes, the net price of new cars is often a bit lower in Denmark than in the surrounding countries, since some car manufacturers give a discount on the net price to keep the price a bit down.

The conclusion is that you can't save anything by buying a car in Germany, actually it will be more expensive and involve a lot of bureaucracy regarding inspection, taxation and licence plates.

If you import your own car or a used car, the situation is similar - you have to pay registration tax (but not VAT if it is your own car or a used cars from the EU) to get Danish licence plates.

There are some workarounds, though: If your stay in Denmark is *temporary* you can get permission to pay the registration tax by instalments. you will have to fill in an application if you wish to do so.