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

legitas2011

Hi there,

Sorry if this has been answered before but;

I am moving back to Ireland from UK and recently purchased a car. The tax disc in UK is digital but in Ireland and NI you must display it still? I am moving from Scotland, so what happens if a police in NI or garda in ROI pull me over for not having a tax disc? They will understand? Moreover, what time frame am I looking at in order to pay VRT, get plates and do NCT? ASAP or is there a 'grace' period?

thanks for the help

grogi

legitas2011 wrote: »

Hi there,

Sorry if this has been answered before but;

I am moving back to Ireland from UK and recently purchased a car. The tax disc in UK is digital but in Ireland and NI you must display it still? I am moving from Scotland, so what happens if a police in NI or garda in ROI pull me over for not having a tax disc? They will understand? Moreover, what time frame am I looking at in order to pay VRT, get plates and do NCT? ASAP or is there a 'grace' period?

thanks for the help

There is different road tax in ROI than in UK.

If you're moving to ROI, you would need to register the car in here as well - you could qualify for VRT exception, but there are conditions...

mark316

Hey looking at buying a Toyota hilux crew cab for work, would I still have to pay vrt or would I get commercial rate?

bazz26

mark316 wrote: »

Hey looking at buying a Toyota hilux crew cab for work, would I still have to pay vrt or would I get commercial rate?

You still have to pay VRT but it will depend what rate the Hilux qualifies at:

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/faqs-vrt.html#question23

Explosive_Cornflake

legitas2011 wrote: »

Hi there,

Sorry if this has been answered before but;

I am moving back to Ireland from UK and recently purchased a car. The tax disc in UK is digital but in Ireland and NI you must display it still? I am moving from Scotland, so what happens if a police in NI or garda in ROI pull me over for not having a tax disc? They will understand? Moreover, what time frame am I looking at in order to pay VRT, get plates and do NCT? ASAP or is there a 'grace' period?

thanks for the help

This can get slighltly complicated.
If you are exempt, it's a bit easier and more open as to when you need to do it.

1

" have arrived in the State within one year of the date of transfer of residence;"

If you are not exempt it's ASAP.

Make sure you have all the points coverd on exemption though. I fell into the trap before beliving I was exempt but I wasn't.

There's info here

The definition "normal residence" is complete shíte though and I don't know how it's legal.
Feel free to dicscuss here or PM me your circumstances an I'll advise.

1(http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/foi/s16/vehicle-registration-tax/vrt-manual-section-02.pdf)

legitas2011

Thanks for the reply.

maybe i am being pedantic but what I am saying is driving from the ferry to home my car will not have a tax disc and if a guard pulls me over and i explain will that be alright?

Explosive_Cornflake

legitas2011 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

maybe i am being pedantic but what I am saying is driving from the ferry to home my car will not have a tax disc and if a guard pulls me over and i explain will that be alright?

It won't be an issue as you're not in Irish plates at that time. They should be aware that's you've not need a disc in the UK for the last ~12 months?

In short it won't be an issue, but you'd never know what areshole you'd meet. In short once your civil with them, all issues can be defused.

Shefwedfan

Just wondering is there any alternatives to cargiant.co.uk?

bazz26

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Just wondering is there any alternatives to cargiant.co.uk?

Of course there is. Google UK car supermarkets, there are plenty of businesses setup similar to cargiant.

paud_c

Hi there,

Just wondering has anyone dealt with Universal Motors London Ltd. (Sorry won't let me post URL)

Cant seem to find much info/reviews of them, most of their cars seem to have pretty low mileage which makes me a little suspicious. Any help greatly appreciated :-)

Thanks!

CJhaughey

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Why doesn't the VRT calculator take into account milage anymore, after trying a few cars now and none of them is the price affected by milage whether you import it with 1 mile or 100,0000 it makes no difference. Even tried it on the export calculator and it's the same no reduction for milage.

You can claim back mileage from the revenue with a VRTPD2 (I think) form,
its in the back of the VRT manual on the Revenue website.
Its based on the premise that diesels will do 2100km per month of age and Petrol some bit less.
If yours has more than that then you can claim the excess back.

drunkmonkey

Cheers mine has only half that mileage so reckon I'll have to pay full whack. Started out last night at half 2 from home, just after boarding the ferry with her, I'm kaput getting some sleep now.

Harcrid

Congrats. Hope the whole process went well and enjoy the drive home. Stick some pics up too.

CJhaughey

I was doing the same thing not two weeks ago.
0230 from Fishguard.

drunkmonkey

CJhaughey wrote: »

I was doing the same thing not two weeks ago.
0230 from Fishguard.

Pays to be early for the ferry : )

drunkmonkey

Harcrid wrote: »

Congrats. Hope the whole process went well and enjoy the drive home. Stick some pics up too.

Without giving too much away..

grogi

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Without giving too much away.

How do you guys pay for them?

I have a GBP account with VISA card, but I guess 10k would be stretching it

drunkmonkey

grogi wrote: »

How do you guys pay for them?

I have a GBP account with VISA card, but I guess 10k would be stretching it

I paid mine by bank transfer was under a bit of pressure for time, I wouldn't really recommend that route unless you 100% sure what your buying, I knew exactly what I wanted and the spec of it, there was no other one that had everything anywhere near my budget and had agreed with the garage owner if it wasn't as straight as he said it was he'd refund me in full. Garage is open 25years with hundreds of great reviews and I had all documents scanned over before I transferred money, like service history, rac report, HPI report, mot history etc.
Cash is always King, just was working out expensive and I was trying to save every penny possible as sterling rate was pretty crap.

CJhaughey

I used Transfermate to convert Euro to Sterling, got a very decent rate from them compared to the banksters.
Then I transferred the money to my brother and he gave me the cash on arrival in London.
I also paid a deposit through Paypal.
All good and I haggled some off for a pair of tyres on arrival.
RAC check is well worth it, pricey at 200stg but at least you get a picture of the car before you arrive and its very comprehensive and includes the usual HPI type check for finance etc.
Not everyone is comfortable carrying cash but it doesn't worry me unduly.

mgn

grogi wrote: »

How do you guys pay for them?

I have a GBP account with VISA card, but I guess 10k would be stretching it

I have a BOI UK account with VISA card and i used it to pay 7000 stg for car last month

Shefwedfan

Guys

What is best process if not buying from Cargiant, I guess if buying from someone like cargiant there wont be any issue with clocking?

1. Find car
2. Check service history
3. Get HPI check
4. Get RAC full check
5. Buy car?

Shefwedfan

Guys

What is best process if not buying from Cargiant, I guess if buying from someone like cargiant there wont be any issue with clocking?

1. Find car
2. Check service history
3. Get HPI check
4. Get RAC full check
5. Buy car?

zweton

are there guys in ireland who would do this for you? put a deposit down and while over there they would bring one back?

masit

I have a GBP account with VISA card, but I guess 10k would be stretching it [/QUOTE]




Used my Irish Bank of Ireland Visa debit card to buy a £10000 car back in 2014. When the sales man processed the payment he got a message to ring Visa, he rang them, I talked to them and answered a few questions and was able to pay this way. A lot better than drafts or cash. Back then all BOI charged was something around €11 or €12 transaction fee.

flanzer

masit wrote: »

Used my Irish Bank of Ireland Visa debit card to buy a £10000 car back in 2014. When the sales man processed the payment he got a message to ring Visa, he rang them, I talked to them and answered a few questions and was able to pay this way. A lot better than drafts or cash. Back then all BOI charged was something around €11 or €12 transaction fee.

Don't mean to pry, did you lump a load of cash onto the credit card before you left? I think I only have a €3k limit on mine. I also can't find a transaction fee in the T&Cs. It's a click Visa with AIB

Yours is a good idea mind

Edit: I see you said 'Debit Card', surely the same as a credit card though for charges?

drunkmonkey

Debit and credit card aren't the same, garage could be charged 2.5% of sale price by credit card company so that would be €500 on a €20,000 transaction. The same transaction on a debit card might cost the garage 20cent.

If your using a Visa card for example the exchange rate on your debit card isn't controlled by your bank it's controlled by visa, you can see how much money will cost you using your visa debit/credit card here https://www.visaeurope.com/making-payments/exchange-rates
Your bank usually lump a transaction fee in that, maybe €10 it's nothing mental just check the small print.

If your doing a bank transfer, you use the bank rates which are updated daily, here's AIB's for example http://personal.aib.ie/our-products/current-accounts/foreign-exchange/foreign-exchange-rates-sell

Exchange rates are worth watching closely, I could have saved about €500 buying this week as opposed to last.

Just to note a garage won't release a car until the money hits there bank account so if they do take a card off you the money might not bit there account for a day or two so you'll have paid but won't be able to take the car.
The garage I was dealing with wouldn't take the payment via card, no card transaction over £1000 they said.

bazz26

Isn't there a daily limit on the amount you can take from a debit card, for security reasons? But you may be able to preauthorize it with your bank if you transfer the money to your debit card in advance.

masit

bazz26 wrote: »

Isn't there a daily limit on the amount you can take from a debit card, for security reasons? But you may be able to preauthorize it with your bank if you transfer the money to your debit card in advance.

Rang the bank twice before I went over to make sure there was no limit. There is no limit, with my bank anyway, with a chip and pin debit card. Salesman asked several times was it a debit card I was using as there was a charge on credit cards. Also got a 1 pence better rate paying this way than if I bought sterling in the bank. Sorry for going on, But I bought another car with cash, was only £7000 but salesman said that they are charged to lodge cash into the bank. Lastly, anything over the equivalent of €10000 you have to declare it to customs because from what I hear if you are caught without declaring it, it can be taken off you.

Dannyo

Hello and good evening,

I am in uncharted waters here! As per thread I am looking to buy in the UK next week preferably. I had ear marked a car from a dealership and had progressed the dialogue/deal up to the point of putting down a deposit ( I was waiting for my loan approval to commit to the deposit). As it turns out, the car sold on Monday and my loan was approved on Tuesday.... typical!

Anyway, armed with the loan approval I am eager to get a move on, and put the missed car behind me. I have now identified a private car I am interested in, this looks more appealing than the last as it has a new engine/turbos/clutch/flywheel etc down under warranty. Why is it more appealing I hear you gasp! It is because of the car, its a BMW 123D (N47 engine with 2 turbos bolted to it/ known from timing chain failure!). Hence I feel a car with all these new components will going forward be better than a car with an N47 that has not seen any chain treatment etc.

Work was carried out by BMW recently (only 60,000 miles on the car) and they admitted liability for it as the chain broke shortly after a BMW service..... and I have been forwarded all relevant documentation including itemized parts list from BMW to support this.

Anyway, the car is currently SORN and is off the road as the owner bought another car.


Questions are:

Test driving a car under SORN, how does it work or does it?
What will I need to do if I buy the car, and I want to drive it to the ferry when its under SORN?

Paying a Private seller? suggestions, I want to fly over and drive back the same day if all is good with the car.

(FYI, I have bought all my previous cars privately and never had an issue (all cash in hand affairs) touch wood, be it car wise or other, mostly performance Japanese Imports, with some Irish cars too over a 17 year period I am not a mechanic but I am mechanically minded and can spot a lot of good cover up jobs and or pending issues on inspection.)

Thanks in advance,
Danny.

Dannyo

Dannyo wrote: »

Hello and good evening,

I am in uncharted waters here! As per thread I am looking to buy in the UK next week preferably. I had ear marked a car from a dealership and had progressed the dialogue/deal up to the point of putting down a deposit ( I was waiting for my loan approval to commit to the deposit). As it turns out, the car sold on Monday and my loan was approved on Tuesday.... typical!

Anyway, armed with the loan approval I am eager to get a move on, and put the missed car behind me. I have now identified a private car I am interested in, this looks more appealing than the last as it has a new engine/turbos/clutch/flywheel etc down under warranty. Why is it more appealing I hear you gasp! It is because of the car, its a BMW 123D (N47 engine with 2 turbos bolted to it/ known from timing chain failure!). Hence I feel a car with all these new components will going forward be better than a car with an N47 that has not seen any chain treatment etc.

Work was carried out by BMW recently (only 60,000 miles on the car) and they admitted liability for it as the chain broke shortly after a BMW service..... and I have been forwarded all relevant documentation including itemized parts list from BMW to support this.

Anyway, the car is currently SORN and is off the road as the owner bought another car.


Questions are:

Test driving a car under SORN, how does it work or does it?
What will I need to do if I buy the car, and I want to drive it to the ferry when its under SORN?

Paying a Private seller? suggestions, I want to fly over and drive back the same day if all is good with the car.

(FYI, I have bought all my previous cars privately and never had an issue (all cash in hand affairs) touch wood, be it car wise or other, mostly performance Japanese Imports, with some Irish cars too over a 17 year period I am not a mechanic but I am mechanically minded and can spot a lot of good cover up jobs and or pending issues on inspection.)

Thanks in advance,
Danny.

Update:

A friend of mine who has trade plates is going to come with me and put the plates in the window to cover us on the way to the ferry. He will be driving the car.