Bringing a UK car to Turkey: customs time limits, the TURİNG carnet and buying locally instead

Driving your own car down to Fethiye sounds like the ultimate road trip. Turkish customs sees it differently: a foreign-plated car is a temporary guest, tied to your own right to be here, and keeping it longer means a carnet, a deposit and paperwork every time your permit renews.

The short version

• A foreigner's car can stay in Turkey only as long as the owner is allowed to stay, says Turkey's Ministry of Trade [1]. For British visitors, that's 90 days in any 180 [2].
• Residents who came to work, study or retire can keep a foreign car for up to 24 months at a time with a temporary entry carnet from TURİNG, Turkey's touring and automobile club, backed by a cash or bank guarantee [1][3].
• Overstaying costs TRY 2,988 to TRY 8,964 (about £44 to £133) in 2026 for up to three months late, then a quarter of the customs duties [1].
• You can't sell a privately imported car to someone living in Turkey [1].
• Back home, tell DVLA if the car will be out of the UK for 12 months or more [4].

The basic rule: the car follows your passport

Turkey's Ministry of Trade publishes a customs FAQ on "accompanied vehicles", last updated in May 2026 [1]. Under the private-use regime, people living abroad can bring in a car registered in their country of residence, and nationality doesn't matter, only residence [1]. The maximum stay is 730 days, but for foreigners, "the time limit granted to vehicles of foreigners is the period of these people can stay in Turkey" [1]. The Ministry's own example is a nationality limited to 90 days in 180, whose car is limited to the same [1].

British citizens can visit Turkey visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, says the FCDO [2]. So if you drive down for a long holiday, your car is on the same 90-day clock as you. Our guide to the 90/180 rule explains how that clock works.

What you need at the border [1]:

1. The V5C log book in your name, or a power of attorney approved by a notary, consulate or customs if it isn't your car.
2. Insurance valid in Turkey. The FCDO says you must carry a green card to show third-party cover [5]. If your policy doesn't cover Turkey, you can buy cover near the border post [1].
3. Your passport, which customs will mark to show you entered with a vehicle [1].

Right-hand-drive cars aren't restricted, and there's no age limit [1]. Only one car can be in under this regime at a time [1]. Customs charges no fee for the procedure itself [1].

Living here: the TURİNG carnet

Once you live in Turkey with a residence permit, you're no longer "resident abroad", and the route changes. TURİNG (the Touring and Automobile Association of Turkey) issues a temporary entry certificate for foreign vehicles, known as the YTGGK or blue carnet, for foreigners in Turkey to work, study or as retirees [1][3].

The main points from TURİNG's own FAQ [3]:

• The car must be registered abroad in your name, not a relative's or a company's.
• Workers and students must have spent at least 185 days abroad in the year before arriving. Retirees don't, but need a retirement document certified by a consulate and translated into Turkish [1][3].
• Dual British–Turkish citizens can't use it [1][3]. If you become a Turkish citizen, the car has to come off your name within a month [3].
• The guarantee can be a bank letter on TURİNG's template or cash in lira, dollars or euros; TURİNG gives quotes by email based on the car's details [3].
• To renew, extend your residence permit first, then apply to TURİNG, then have customs update the carnet [1][3].

The FAQs don't spell out what happens if you're living here on a short-term residence permit without working, studying or being retired. If that's you, ask TURİNG before you set off, not at the border.

Our guide to the ikamet explains the residence permits themselves.

Fines and leaving without the car

Customs fines for keeping a car past its time, as listed by the Ministry of Trade for 2026 [1]:

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = TRY 67.4414).

If you fly home and leave the car in Fethiye, you must close its entry record: sign a commitment at customs, do it online through e-Devlet, or use the foreign-plated vehicle application, and get the "with vehicle" stamp in your passport cancelled [1]. Time you spend abroad without the car doesn't count towards its limit [1]. You can also leave it in a customs bonded warehouse, for up to three months under the Ministry's rules (extendable) or a month from delivery for carnet cars under TURİNG's, with fees set by the operator [1][3].

If you give up on it altogether, you can hand the car over to the state at customs, without a fee unless you owe tax or fines [1].

The UK side

• DVLA: if the car will be out of the UK for 12 months or more, fill in the "permanent export" section of the V5C and send it to DVLA in Swansea, keeping the rest [4]. You may get a vehicle tax refund [4]. DVLA can't post a log book to an address outside the UK, so sort any V5C problems before you leave [4].
• Personalised plates: transfer or retain them before export, or you lose the number [4].
• UK sticker: check whether you need one [5].
• Registering here: the FCDO's Living in Turkey guide links to the Turkish government's pages on bringing a vehicle in and on vehicle registration [6].
• Your licence: you can drive in Turkey on a UK licence for six months, then you need a Turkish one. See our guide to driving in Turkey with a UK licence.

Buying a car in Turkey instead

For most Brits settling in Fethiye, this is the sensible answer. A permanently imported foreign car faces full customs duty, ÖTV and VAT, which makes it uneconomic for almost everyone. A TURİNG carnet car can never become a normal Turkish car you can sell, ties up a guarantee, and needs renewing with every residence permit.

Buying locally has its own shock: new and used cars in Turkey are expensive by British standards because of ÖTV, and second-hand cars hold their value remarkably well. With a residence permit and a Turkish tax number, foreigners can buy and register a car; sales of used cars go through a notary. Insurance (the compulsory traffic insurance, plus optional kasko comprehensive cover) and the twice-yearly MTV are the running costs to budget for. Our guide to e-Devlet and your tax number covers the paperwork you'll need first.

A few practical thoughts:

1. Right-hand drive is legal [1], but overtaking on the D400 from the wrong side of the car is no fun.
2. The drive itself from the UK is well over 3,000 km (about 2,000 miles) whichever route you take, through several countries' insurance and vignette rules.
3. Parts and servicing for UK-spec cars can be slower to source.
4. Many Brits manage without a car in Fethiye town and Çalış, thanks to the dolmuş network.

Before you commit either way, ask in our community group for Brits in Turkey. Someone will have done the TURİNG process recently and can tell you how long it really took.

Sources

1. Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Trade: FAQ on accompanied vehicles (18 May 2026)
2. GOV.UK: Turkey travel advice, entry requirements (updated 27 October 2026)
3. TURİNG: frequently asked questions about documents (temporary entry certificate for foreign vehicles)
4. GOV.UK: Taking a vehicle out of the UK for 12 months or more
5. GOV.UK: Turkey travel advice, safety and security (updated 27 October 2026)
6. GOV.UK: Living in Turkey (updated 31 December 2025)

Keep reading

• Driving in Turkey with a UK licence, and getting around Fethiye
• Turkish residence permits for Brits: the ikamet
• Visa-free stays in Turkey for Brits: the 90/180 rule
• Moving pets and belongings from the UK