Thanks for the reply.

Circulating a car within the EU doesn´t involve import/export taxes, sure.

But the regulations of insurance for temporary (export) registrations is not regulated EU wide in the same way.

As I wrote, the temporary 30-day-plates in Romania do not come with a "green card" like insurance and are limited to the use inside Romania only. Unlike for example German export plates, which include obligatory "green card" insurance for all over the EU.

Of course, a regular licensed Romanian car is covered by insurance all over EU, but afaik temporarilly registered cars are not. Your reply doesn´t convince me far enough of the opposite, to just cross Austria and else on Romania-only red-plates totally uninsured.

I had the same issues with cars from Spain and Italy as their temporary plates and insurance are not accepted in France and Austria. I only managed to drive those cars home by convincing the seller, to leave his plates and insurance on for the transit. I wouldn´t want to rely on this option with every deal everywhere.

Why buying a car?

Why not? Not every used car is bucket of rust. Just choose wisely. Wouldn´t be my first import of a classic on it´s own wheels across Europe which ended up as profit after some TLC in my workshop or as a priceless smile every time I enter the garage. Some didn´t, but I forgot about them.

1. there is quite a variety of reasonable priced models of classic cars in good shape on the Romanian market, where value for money right now is better than in i.e. Germany. Mainly because labour intensive body work repair is cheaper done already in Romania than in i.e. in Germany, but also - because of COVID collateral - the local middle class seems in need to sell some toys these days.

2. Sourcing a car would involve a brand new rental Dacia for a few days upfront. But there are different points of interest all along the way in AU, HU & CZ, which would involve connection flights and rental cars again. Even if a car would set me back 2-3k€ when sold at loss in Germany afterwards, it would be still cheaper than plane´n´rental car hopping all the way back for 2-3 persons. Especially as rental companies charge a serious extra fee, when not returning the car to the airport/agent where you picked it up. Especially across borders.

So, any Romanian here, who can confirm my Wiki-knowledge about Romanian temporary plates being valid for Romania only and how to buy/cover insurance for the rest of the way on the go?

Kind regards.

Edit @AnTyx: sometimes I find interesting cars in Estonia (vital Japan-Import scene). Can you tell, if there are temporary plates available in Estonia which allow driving across Europe and how to get them?