Belgian residents may not drive Luxembourg cars in Belgium!

(ADW) A young Belgian cross-border worker was forced to pay a fine of 850 euros in Belgium because he was driving his girlfriend's Luxembourg registered car.

Shocked that he was unable to drive freely in whatever car he wished no matter wherever it may be registered, he contacted RTL in Belgium to understand what had just happened to him.

Indeed, like many other Belgian residents travelling between neighbouring countries, he was unaware of a law against registration fraud. This means that Belgian residents, whatever their nationality, may only drive Belgian registered cars (inside Belgium) and pay the country's road taxes and registration.

However, from there on it gets rather complicated as a Belgian resident is allowed to drive a Luxembourgish or French registered car in the Grand Duchy or France, just not in their own country!

The only exception is for Belgian residents working in Luxembourg and driving a car registered in the Grand Duchy and in their name, such as a company car. In this case they are the only person who can drive this car in Belgium. Not even a spouse has the right to drive it.

Note that if you are a Belgian resident and break down abroad and are forced to return to Belgium in a rental car, this is accepted.

Although this all sounds quite a negative minefield for those living on Belgian soil there is one point that is reasonably positive: you may have a foreign registered car for an entire year in the country before re-registering it to Belgium.