Front Page: Traficom
Front Page: Traficom
Menu

Vehicle decommissioning

This service is used for decommissioning a car, motorcycle or any other vehicle from traffic use temporarily. Decommissioning will enter into force immediately after the notification. Decommissioning is valid until further notice, but it cannot be done in advance, retrospectively or for a limited period. Please note that some of Traficom’s e-services and PDF forms are only available in Finnish and Swedish.

If your vehicle is unused for given periods of time, you can decommission it from traffic use temporarily and save on some of the vehicle costs.

Decommissioning will enter into force immediately. However, you can use the vehicle until the end of the decommissioning day if the periodic inspection and motor vehicle liability insurance are valid, registration plates are attached to the vehicle, and the vehicle tax has been paid. After this the vehicle must not be used in traffic before it has been commissioned. Malpractice results in an additional tax fee  of at least 1000 €.

Decommissioning from traffic use is valid until further notice, but it cannot be done in advance, retrospectively, or for a limited period. It is not necessary to return the registration plates in connection with decommissioning.

The effects of decommissioning on fees:

Cars that have been decommissioned from traffic use are exempted from vehicle tax (excluding the decommissioning date). Excess vehicle tax is reimbursed through the tax bill for next one of your vehicles unless you apply for a refund. If you commission the vehicle between decommissions, you must pay a vehicle tax fee of at least 10 € (smallest debited vehicle tax sum) for the using period.

It depends on your insurance agreement how much the decommissioning will affect the tax fee. Check the effect with your insurance company. There might be a delay of a few days before the decommissioning will be updated into the insurance companies' systems. If you want to end the  completely when decommissioning, discuss it separately with your insurance company.

You can use our calculator (External link) to check whether it makes financial sense to decommission your vehicle.

If you have sold your vehicle, you can no longer decommission it. Submit a notification of transfer to end your responsibility for paying vehicle tax and motor liability insurance. If the vehicle has been taken abroad or to the Åland Islands and has demonstrably left mainland Finland, you can decommission it as a vehicle transferred abroad

If a vehicle previously registered in the Transport Register has been registered in the military vehicle register, it can be marked in the Transport Register as decommissioned for registration in the military vehicle register .

If you never intend to use your vehicle again, submit a final deregistration . For the final deregistration, deliver your vehicle free of charge to any scrap vehicle take-back point authorised by Finnish Car Recycling Ltd (External link). (External link)

Do the following

1:

Sign into My e-Services and select the vehicle that you wish to temporarily decommission from traffic use. 

2:

Select the Decommissioning service. Pay and return to the service to receive a receipt.

3:

Finally, check in the My e-Services portal that the decommissioning has been updated in your vehicle's information. Please note that there may be a delay of 5 to 10 minutes before the information is updated.

DID YOU KNOW?

Decommissioning is sometimes referred to as laying up a vehicle, even though the two mean slightly different things. Decommissioning means a making registration notification that suspends the charges for insurance and interrupts the tax period for vehicle tax while the vehicle is off the road. Laid-up insurance is a service provided by insurance companies. It suspends insurance fees for the period when the vehicle is off the road. Most insurance companies stopped offering laid-up insurance when it became possible to temporarily decommission a vehicle.