Vehicle traders need to know who they are dealing with: to claim the 0% VAT rate, to stay out of VAT fraud chains and under national anti-money laundering law. In Germany, the GwG's due-diligence duties apply to vehicle traders mainly for cash payments of €10,000 or more (§ 10(6a) GwG); in the Netherlands, the Wwft bans cash payments of €3,000 or more for traders in goods (art. 1f Wwft). From 10 July 2027, the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) adds an EU-wide €10,000 cash limit. With the new EU authority AMLA, these rules are being enforced more consistently across member states.
The EU anti-money laundering authority AMLA will have AML rules enforced the same way in every Member State, also for car dealers, with fines and personal liability for directors.
Export compliance should not sit with the salesperson who closed the deal: that creates a conflict of interest. Separate buyer checks and export files from sales and apply the four-eyes principle.
Dutch banks will accept more cash from entrepreneurs, but car dealers stay classed as high-risk: their cash deposits remain closely monitored and a thorough KYC check stays essential.
Compliance by design builds buyer verification, VAT evidence and AML checks into every cross-border used car deal in the EU, so traders can grow despite fraud risk and stricter VAT and AML rules.
