APK (periodical vehicle check)

Fact: in 2003 more than 6 million vehicles were APK approved and 38000 were condemned.

The periodical vehicle check (APK) is an obligatory European safety measure to increase the safety of vehicles and to protect the environment.

According to law, private and company cars which when fully loaded weigh no more than 3,500kg, must be checked yearly if the vehicle is older than 3 years. The date of acceptance (which is printed on your vehicle registration document) is important for this. Three years after this date, the car will have to be checked for the first time and every year following after that.

Responsible owner
Although some garagists send their customer a notice when it is almost time for their car to get APK checked, it is the responsibility of the owner to get their car checked timely. Tracing unchecked cars is done by comparing the registers of the RDW (national roads service). Vehicles not used for longer periods of time still have to be APK-checked regularly. If or when, a vehicle is not checked on time, the owner can be fined. The owner can also be fined if the APK-papers cannot be shown or are unreadable.

Lorries
Not having a proper APK-checked lorry is, for lorries which are used professionally, an economical offence which means higher fines (at least 650,-)