An oldtimer or a historic vehicle is a motor vehicle that was produced 30 or more years ago, which has been preserved or reassembled in its original form in order to preserve historical heritage and technical culture; which is not used in daily traffic; and which is classified in the category of oldtimers.

FIVA categories are used to classify and categorize oldtimer vehicles. FIVA is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the protection, preservation and promotion of historic vehicles. It was founded in 1966 and its name is an abbreviation of the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens. Authorised National Federation (ANF) is a national federation, club or group that is authorized by FIVA to issue an identification document preceded by the work of evaluating and classifying oldtimer vehicles. Croatia can boast of two members of FIVA, namely the Croatian Vintage Vehicles Owners Association (HAVAP)(ANF) and the Croatian Oldtimer Savez/Croatian Oldtimer Association, which is a full member of ANF.

The vehicle evaluation and classification procedure is carried out by the Authorized Federation and is requested by the vehicle owner. The procedure itself is divided into 3 categories, namely the age, technical characteristics and preservation of the vehicle.

1) The age of the vehicle is determined according to the year of manufacture of the vehicle itself or a model similar to it, and according to the parts of that vehicle whose documentation can testify to the year of manufacture. Thus, according to the features mentioned above, the vehicle can be classified into the following categories according to age:

2) According to the technical characteristics, the vehicle is evaluated and classified into one of the following categories:

3) According to the state of preservation, the vehicle is evaluated and classified into one of the following categories:

After evaluation, the vehicle receives a character code consisting of 3 parts, i.e. the age category code (A-G), the technical category code (A, B, C, X) and the vehicle preservation category code (1-4), so the vehicle can receive a code from AA1 to GX4, i.e. from the first vehicle with serial technical characteristics and original preservation to vehicles after 1970 with acceptable technical characteristics that have been reworked.

Furthermore, after the inspection, the Authorized Federation is obliged to issue an Identification Document within a period of no longer than one month from the inspection of the vehicle, and the certificate or Identification Document is valid for 4 years. What is interesting is that this document is, of course, not valid after 4 years, but also its validity ends with a change of owner as well as modification of the vehicle's circulation. Indeed, changing the characteristics of the vehicle also changes its category to which it belongs, and thus the Identification document ceases to be valid, and the owner is obliged to return it to the Authorized Federation. 

The authorized federation maintains the register of old-timers and keeps all the necessary documentation on the basis of which the certificate was issued, and is also obliged at the beginning of the year and 6 months later to submit information about issued documents, vehicles and owners of old-timers to the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of the Internal Affairs. Likewise, the Authorized Federation is obliged to immediately inform the above-mentioned ministries in the case of granting and revocation of authority, in which case it is also obliged to submit a unique register of old-timers.

All the best from Zadar,

Your Zadar Villas Team