Importing from the UK - definitive guide (Q&A)

kefir32

bazz26 wrote: »

Might be easier to trade it in up in Northern Ireland, some dealers will take southern plate cars up there. Other than that I can't answer your query.

Thanks I tried a lot of audi dealers in the UK and was nearly at the point of giving up but thankfully Liverpool audi came up trumps gave me a fair price for the car and got the 142 reg I'm looking for. I got the distinct impression most dealers don't want the hassle of re registering cars back to uk even though dvla told me it was a quick procedure.

bazz26

If the car has a kph speedo then it would need to be changed before it could be re-registered in the UK, thats probably the main reason most dealers don't want the hassle. That and the fact UK buyers might not be so keen on an import.

kefir32

bazz26 wrote: »

If the car has a kph speedo then it would need to be changed before it could be re-registered in the UK, thats probably the main reason most dealers don't want the hassle. That and the fact UK buyers might not be so keen on an import.

It was a UK car when I bought it

theaaao

With the new car year coming up in the UK in March, would prices be better come end of feb or start of March?

I'm just thinking dealers might be wanting to move on cars from their yards before new stock arrives. Or on the case of used cars, get rid of older reg'd cars. Any logic to this? My insurance is up for renewal end of February and was hoping to get new wheels for March...

bazz26

The euro - sterling exchange rate is really poor at the moment.

theaaao

Yeah I'm aware of that. Hoping it might drop to December rates by the end of the month. That would save me a bit anyway, might pay for flights and ferry costs.

Either way, I am still considering going to the UK market. Looking at getting a golf GTD. Has anyone had experience with dealers coming up to August/February and dropping prices somewhat?

maddogcork

theaaao wrote: »

Yeah I'm aware of that. Hoping it might drop to December rates by the end of the month. That would save me a bit anyway, might pay for flights and ferry costs.

Either way, I am still considering going to the UK market. Looking at getting a golf GTD. Has anyone had experience with dealers coming up to August/February and dropping prices somewhat?

1st post I'm new to boards. Interesting to read through this thread.

From my experience it made no difference. I was in the same situation this time last year as you are now and the car I was waiting to buy (Audi A6) didn't drop with any of the dealers I had been watching.
It was my first time to bring in a car this way and thought I had my homework done with regards VRT yet it cost me almost €800 extra so my advice is get the exact spec of the car, extras, etc and find their value before you bring it in.
I ended up with a beautiful car in great condition but it wasn't the value it seemed.

Ron1272

Looking for advise please, I'm a cash buyer looking for a Volvo v70 garage price approx £25k if I claim vat back in uk I save the exchange rate yes? When I bring back to dublin I VRT it approx €7k yes? Do I also need to pay irish vat ? This is my biggest problem getting head around otherwise it makes a huge saving by bringing in a uk car

Any advise greatly appreciated

George Dalton

If the car you are importing is less than 6 months old (or has less than 6000km on it) then you have to pay the VAT on it yes.

Ron1272

George, if car is over 6 months are 6k miles can I claim uk vat back, do I need to pay Irish vat of 23% plus VRT on importing car, if so is it really worth going to uk to import the car

Thanks again Ronan

George Dalton

I'm pretty sure you can only avoid the UK VAT on a new car, not on a used car. I'm open to correction on that though.

theaaao

maddogcork wrote: »

1st post I'm new to boards. Interesting to read through this thread.

From my experience it made no difference. I was in the same situation this time last year as you are now and the car I was waiting to buy (Audi A6) didn't drop with any of the dealers I had been watching.
It was my first time to bring in a car this way and thought I had my homework done with regards VRT yet it cost me almost €800 extra so my advice is get the exact spec of the car, extras, etc and find their value before you bring it in.
I ended up with a beautiful car in great condition but it wasn't the value it seemed.

Thanks. I have been reading through the thread and had picked up on getting charged VRT on the extras in the car. And with the €/£ poor at the moment, it will make more of a difference to me if €/£ performance picks up rather then dealers dropping prices. I will hold off for now.

billy few mates

I think there's a cutoff point below which there's not a lot of saving to be had. I was looking at getting a two or three year old VW Golf which are a lot cheaper over there but not worth the hassle when you factor in the effort required to source one, the travelling expenses to view and collect one, the VRT and the poor exchange rates.

On the other hand a friend of mine has just purchased a fairly high end Mercedes over there (after a lot of research) and even after the additional expenses he saved himself quite a bit compared to what it would have cost him here.

theaaao

billy few mates wrote: »

I think there's a cutoff point below which there's not a lot of saving to be had. I was looking at getting a two or three year old VW Golf which are a lot cheaper over there but not worth the hassle when you factor in the effort required to source one, the travelling expenses to view and collect one, the VRT and the poor exchange rates.

On the other hand a friend of mine has just purchased a fairly high end Mercedes over there (after a lot of research) and even after the additional expenses he saved himself quite a bit compared to what it would have cost him here.

Well Im looking at a highend golf but I know what you mean. Ive compared prices for audi,bmw models etc and see that the savings there can be signifcant. The other thing is the choice available there is bigger so models with extras and lower milage are plentiful. Still, this exchange rate is a killer!

peaceboi

Wondering if I can use my brother's car Uk reg car over here, for 9-10 months. As he is going to the Middle east for contract work. Do I need to declare to the revenue or nct dept. about this?

Marcusm

peaceboi wrote: »

Wondering if I can use my brother's car Uk reg car over here, for 9-10 months. As he is going to the Middle east for contract work. Do I need to declare to the revenue or nct dept. about this?

It couldn't be legally used by an Irish resident in these circumstances - none of the (fairly limited) exceptions apply.

bazz26

Irish resident cannot legally drive a foreign registered vehicle here. Car would have to be VRT'd and put on Irish plates afaik.

peaceboi

So how does the drive away insurance work?
will the dealer issue a temporary insurance disc?
or a letter stating? Or how do we provide evidence of Insurance if stopped by the police while driving the car
in UK?

bazz26

You ring your insurance company here and tell them you are buying a car in the UK and you want to transfer cover over to it. You then just give them the UK reg. They will cover it up to a max of 30 days by which time you should change the UK reg to the new Irish reg. After the 30 days are up and the insurance company are not notified then they are obligated to flag it with Revenue that the car is still on foreign plates.

When collecting the car in the UK make sure to have documents from your insurance company confirming that the UK car is insured by you. This makes it easier and faster for the UK police to verify. The last thing you want is to be detained at a police station awaiting confirmation from your insurance company here that you are covered when you have a ferry to catch.

Marcusm

peaceboi wrote: »

So how does the drive away insurance work?
will the dealer issue a temporary insurance disc?
or a letter stating? Or how do we provide evidence of Insurance if stopped by the police while driving the car
in UK?

If you're talking abou the 7 day insurance available through most UK franchise dealers, I have yet to see these approved for a non UK resident. IN essence, once you have agreed ot buy the car, the dealer will provide you with the contact details for the insurer and, generally, you input your details onto their site. If you are acceptable, they will issue you with an insurance certificate by email.

peaceboi

ye i was thinking about the free 7 day drive away insurance provided by the dealer.
Thought i could use that to drive up the car to Dublin :-(

Explosive_Cornflake

I know this has probably been covered a million times, but here is come conflicting information out there.

The Moving FAQ page actually doesn't mention the NCTS centre.

My Wife is moving back to Ireland.
She bought a car over there last year (March).
VRT will be free as we've had the car 10 months and it has enough mileage on it (7350 miles currently).

The car will need to remain in her name I know.
I have a insurance policy I will transfer to the car with her as a named driver. Insurance company okay-ed her being the owner and named driver.

Who do I need to meet with?
The NCTS centre to get the car checked to say it is what it is?
Do I need to go to the tax office before or after or at all to get the exemption?
What proof of address does she need? She doesn't have much proof of Irish address. Would my proof of address and marriage cert count for anything?
Will a Dublin tax office only deal with people based in Dublin?

bazz26

Some information around the exemption process here:

https://www.ncts.ie/vq11.html

So your wife needs to contact Revenue first to apply for the VRT exemption. They will then tell here what documents she needs to provide in order to get approval for VRT exemption. Once approved they will issue here with a VRT exemption letter. She then makes an appointment with the NCT for a VRT inspection. She must produce the VRT exemption letter from Revenue at the time of VRT inspection in order for the NCT to process it. Once they process it they will issue an Irish registration number for the car.

You then can get Irish number plates for the car and a few days later once it's on the motor tax database should be able to tax the car online at motortax.ie either by using the last 6 or 7 digits of the car's VIN or by requesting a new PIN from them. Motor tax disc will then be posted out to you along with the new Vehicle Registration Cert (log book).

Charliebull

Lads on the insurance, suppose one is going to car giant to pick one of three cars, then how do I give reg plate

Also if car has mot in England until August, does that run in ireland

bazz26

Charliebull wrote: »

Lads on the insurance, suppose one is going to car giant to pick one of three cars, then how do I give reg plate

Also if car has mot in England until August, does that run in ireland

You ring your insurance company and give them the UK reg the same as you would here. They should be able to do temporary cover on the UK reg until the car is re-registered over here. Just make sure you get email confirmation in the event UK police pull you over.

MOT is a UK road worthiness test. It has nothing to do with us here and has no bearing on our NCT. Once your car is VRT'd you will need to book an appointment for the NCT if it's 4 years or older, the same way you would do with an Irish car.

Explosive_Cornflake

bazz26 wrote: »

Some information around the exemption process here:

https://www.ncts.ie/vq11.html

So your wife needs to contact Revenue first to apply for the VRT exemption. They will then tell here what documents she needs to provide in order to get approval for VRT exemption. Once approved they will issue here with a VRT exemption letter. She then makes an appointment with the NCT for a VRT inspection. She must produce the VRT exemption letter from Revenue at the time of VRT inspection in order for the NCT to process it. Once they process it they will issue an Irish registration number for the car.

You then can get Irish number plates for the car and a few days later once it's on the motor tax database should be able to tax the car online at motortax.ie either by using the last 6 or 7 digits of the car's VIN or by requesting a new PIN from them. Motor tax disc will then be posted out to you along with the new Vehicle Registration Cert (log book).

Thanks Bazz, the way you have ordered it makes sense.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Question
I'm looking at buying a car in a dealership (main dealer) in the north.
Is it a completely off the wall notion that I could get finance from the dealer involved in the north? Or?

bazz26

I'd imagine you would have to be an NI resident to apply for finance up there.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

That's what I thought.
Ah well.
Additionally, it was a renault EV, does anyone have any info regarding transferring the battery lease when buying a nearly new (142 would be the ROI reg) renault?

Pangea

Is it true that the VRT isnt anywhere near as expensive as it used to be? What would it cost for a fairly new Volkswagan Golf from the North for instance?