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

baz_ctr

The_Conductor wrote: »

Get onto Honda with the VID/VIN and they will issue you with 'Certificate of EU Conformity' which lists the factory specs for the vehicle in question, including its emissions.

Cheers thanks for that.

bazz26

Revenue go off the V5C document that comes with the car. The V5C is the official UK registration document which reflects what the car manufacturer supplies to UK Revenue including official Co2 figures.

rabbitinlights

Contact potential sellers to send a photo of the V5c, I was in the same position - all the sites said 139g, but the V5c said 142!

baz_ctr

rabbitinlights wrote: »

Contact potential sellers to send a photo of the V5c, I was in the same position - all the sites said 139g, but the V5c said 142!

I got the reg and put into the dvla website here and the emissions is on it. i assume this is what the V5c will say

https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/ViewVehicle

Pete123456

Worth mentioning that BOI have scrapped the daily transaction limit on a debit card, as long as you have the funds in your account. I asked would a €20000 transaction go through in the UK, and i was told it might be refused the first time, and the second time it will show a phone number on the terminal that the merchant can call to get the authorisation code. You also get very close to mid market rates from Visa, so its a big saving if it works!

Apologies if this was mentioned already

baz_ctr

bazz26 wrote: »

Revenue go off the V5C document that comes with the car. The V5C is the official UK registration document which reflects what the car manufacturer supplies to UK Revenue including official Co2 figures.

cool thanks bazz good to know

Marcusm

rob316 wrote: »

Buddy went over to a place called big motor world in Kent few weeks ago looking at cars. He had planned on buying that day and was happy enough as all the cars came with AA comprehensive reports. He made a deal and was good with the price, salesman asked are you exporting the car he said yes of course. No problem Sir, there is a £500 admin fee for exports just to make you aware. He wouldn't budge and the buddy walked and was left too.

Pure shakedown. He got sorted in a BMW dealer 5 miles away and drove off that day with no admin fee.

I have to confirm poor prior experience with Big Motoring World which is a BMW only dealer with huge stock levels but not a main dealer. Ultimately we were happy with the car (3 year old 750Li) but suffice it to say they had sharp elbows.

AH92

Hey guys,
Is there an issue if my invoice for my car states that the vat amount is 0 but on the next line it says total price including vat is 17495.
Going to bring it up next week to get it vrt'd and going to have that invoice along with my their documents.
I paid for the car the amount which was the same price advertised on auto trader.
Thanks.

rob316

AH92 wrote: »

Hey guys,
Is there an issue if my invoice for my car states that the vat amount is 0 but on the next line it says total price including vat is 17495.
Going to bring it up next week to get it vrt'd and going to have that invoice along with my their documents.
I paid for the car the amount which was the same price advertised on auto trader.
Thanks.

Mine was the same wouldn't worry.

Inviere

Probably a stupid question folks, but do insurance companies load up on a policy if the car is a UK import? I'm considering importing, but am wondering about the "is the car an import" question that insurance companies always ask...

rob316

Inviere wrote: »

Probably a stupid question folks, but do insurance companies load up on a policy if the car is a UK import? I'm considering importing, but am wondering about the "is the car an import" question that insurance companies always ask...

that really applies to jap imports not UK imports. there will be no difference between an Irish and UK car.

Inviere

rob316 wrote: »

that really applies to jap imports not UK imports. there will be no difference between an Irish and UK car.

Great, thanks very much

darragh o meara

rob316 wrote: »

that really applies to jap imports not UK imports. there will be no difference between an Irish and UK car.

Haven't experienced it myself with Axa but I have heard of others having a bit of bother because of the car being a UK import. Unusual but it depends o Lin their interpretation of the word "Import"

Can't remember what companies off hand but I'll try find out.

To be honest it's not really surprising, dealers here are suffering from people going to the UK themselves to pick up cars. Another conversation I had recently centred around how the banks were lobbied to reduce the amount of cash car loans they gave out. I know my own bank will only give a car loan for a car bought in a Simi garage, whereas a few years ago they'd give you a car loan to buy in cash, so maybe there's some truth in the rumour.

slave1

AH92 wrote: »

Hey guys,
Is there an issue if my invoice for my car states that the vat amount is 0 but on the next line it says total price including vat is 17495.
Going to bring it up next week to get it vrt'd and going to have that invoice along with my their documents.
I paid for the car the amount which was the same price advertised on auto trader.
Thanks.

Just hand write an invoice out with blank seller name, what you paid for the car is your business you do not have to share with the Revenue, they just want something that says invoice on it, if you turned up without an invoice they would give you a blank piece of paper and ask you to handwrite it.
It's only really needed to prove date of purchase or more specifically approximate date of entry to the state.
I bought of a main dealer but had a hand written "invoice" without a seller name, just a "to whom it concerns" type piece of paper...signed with just "the seller" in my handwriting.

Wizard!

Hi all...

Very long thread, so, maybe my question is already answered. Feel free to point out on a page...

I am interested in buying a motorcycle from a private seller. The bike has UK plates and it's here more than a month.

How should I proceed?
What do I need to make sure the seller has (documents) ?

Arciphel

Hello all, great thread and very informative. So informative that I went and bought a car up in the North today...

Wanted to ask a quick VRT question, I'm trying to book a VRT inspection online on the NCTS website but it says all the Dublin test centres have no availability and to ring them, in people's experiences does it take very long to get a free slot this way or will you be told to turn up on a day and they will fit you in?

Secondly, in terms of the vehicle invoice, all I currently have from the seller (garage) is a Visa debit receipt, I assume that won't be enough and that I will need them to send me a proper invoice with the date of sale and the registration of the car on it?

Gumbo

Arciphel wrote: »

Hello all, great thread and very informative. So informative that I went and bought a car up in the North today...

Wanted to ask a quick VRT question, I'm trying to book a VRT inspection online on the NCTS website but it says all the Dublin test centres have no availability and to ring them, in people's experiences does it take very long to get a free slot this way or will you be told to turn up on a day and they will fit you in?

Secondly, in terms of the vehicle invoice, all I currently have from the seller (garage) is a Visa debit receipt, I assume that won't be enough and that I will need them to send me a proper invoice with the date of sale and the registration of the car on it?

I bought in Scotland last Thursday 2nd March.
I booked it online 1st march and earli st I could get in ballymun was the 19th March.

I've been ringing everyday and no cancellations and they are currently taking bookings for the 25th onwards.

Why can't you book online?

Invoice : A4 page. Write invoic on top. Write uk reg number and vin number. Write date of sale. You sign it. Sign the salesmans name on the other side. Sorted.

aujopimur

Arciphel wrote: »

Hello all, great thread and very informative. So informative that I went and bought a car up in the North today...

Wanted to ask a quick VRT question, I'm trying to book a VRT inspection online on the NCTS website but it says all the Dublin test centres have no availability and to ring them, in people's experiences does it take very long to get a free slot this way or will you be told to turn up on a day and they will fit you in?

Secondly, in terms of the vehicle invoice, all I currently have from the seller (garage) is a Visa debit receipt, I assume that won't be enough and that I will need them to send me a proper invoice with the date of sale and the registration of the car on it?

You can write your own receipt.

AH92

So brought my car to the VRT centre today and was told it's not on the system so they have to send it out to revenue and they will call me back in a few days.
For anyone who had this situation was your vrt higher than the calculator amount when you got a call back for the final amount?

Cheers.

bazz26

There is no yes or no answer to that. They could come back with a lower figure, the same figure or a higher figure. Revenue will contact the manufacturer with the car's VIN to get details of the spec and then base their OMSP and VRT figure on that.

AH92

bazz26 wrote: »

There is no yes or no answer to that. They could come back with a lower figure, the same figure or a higher figure. Revenue will contact the manufacturer with the car's VIN to get details of the spec and then base their OMSP and VRT figure on that.

Thanks bazz I was slightly expecting this to happen as it's a 150 ps R Line Scirocco blue motion TDI at 109 emissions.
Only R Line they have in the system is a 170Ps one which comes at 5700 but because of the higher emissions. Here's hoping it stays near the 4K mark.

zweton

kceire wrote: »

I bought in Scotland last Thursday 2nd March.
I booked it online 1st march and earli st I could get in ballymun was the 19th March.

I've been ringing everyday and no cancellations and they are currently taking bookings for the 25th onwards.

Why can't you book online?

Invoice : A4 page. Write invoic on top. Write uk reg number and vin number. Write date of sale. You sign it. Sign the salesmans name on the other side. Sorted.

can i ask where you bought in scotland?

dylbert

OK so, I've been looking into buying a CT200H for a while now and from the looks of it a lot of them seem to be imported from the UK by dealers. I've been doing a bit of research on importing one myself, this is what I've put together so far.

Car - 2013 CT200H F Sport = €11,800, might be cheaper based on cash deal (based on current exchange rates)
VRT = €1,589 (F Sport is not listed on the VRT calculator so I just selected the highest spec option)
RAC inspection = €220
Flight to Birmingham = €70
Ferry, Holyhead to Dublin = €125
NCT = 55
Motor Tax = €180

So I reckon I could get a car on the road for about €14k, similar cars hear (with less spec) seem to be starting around €17k so a good saving can be had.

Is there anything I'm missing expenses wise?

j4vier

A question regarding switching of insurance for collecing a car in the uk.

My insurance did not ask me for the english reg, they only needed to know the specs of the car as they have no system that can access uk number plates. Is this normal?

Also I did not receive an email confirmation about the switch in policy to cover a uk car from the date which I needed it from so I have no physical evidence that I am insured. is that needed for the garage to release the car to me?

They said if I get stopped by the police, they can get in contact with the insurance to confirm that I am indeed insured.

The problem is I'll be in the uk until 830 pm to catch the ferry, what if I get stopped between 6pm and 830 pm when the insurance offices are closed??

I'm with AIG btw

elperello

All in all wrote: »

Hi, I have just bought a car in Manchester and have done all the necessary checks. I had planned on getting the car home by a transporter, but the garage had offered to deliver the car to Holyhead or Liverpool and said it can be arranged to be put on ferry and collected at the port. Does anyone have experience of doing this and the logistics of it?

How did you get on with this and which garage?

Silpac

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Yes you should have. Happens to the best. You have exactly what I got, the little V5C/2 slip, and I was refused at the NCTS centre the other day with that.

And there is no way you can get a V5C now as the DVLA will not issue one to you as you're not a British resident.

However, what the DVLA will issue to you is a 'certificate of permanent export' which will be accepted at the NCTS centre.
You have to download a V756 form from the DVLA website which is an application for said certificate and then you send that to Swansea and within a couple of weeks (hopefully) you have your docs in order.

I'm now likely to go over the 30 day rule. If I just buy a ferry ticket one way from Fishguard , it will show arrival within 30 days - is this ok?

Silpac

Ok I'm a complete spanner , when I bought the car the chap in the dealer sent off the v5c form to the dvla so I don't have, that I to this board I know what to do and my certificate of export will be here in 2 to 3 weeks.
I'm then likely to be 2 weeks over the 30 day rule; will I

1 ignore it and pay the fine , my vrt will be 6k so that probably 40 days at .01% is €240 or

2 buy a new ferry ticket for this week and make like I just brought the car in ?

I'm thinking the second one , but Then I read punters saying they have records from the cars coming off the boat in Dublin !?

Thoughts ?

All in all

elperello wrote: »

How did you get on with this and which garage?

Got on great. Bought from Chorley Group. I had check done on the car. Agreed a price on a Friday evening, car was ready by Tuesday evening, serviced, etc. I booked car on p&o liverpool to Dublin sailing, through p&o freight. The dealer brought the car to the port on Wednesday and it sailed the early hours of Thursday morning. I collected from Dublin port on Friday morning (I could have collected Thursday). All very straight forward and delighted with the car.

There was no need to tax car as it was transferred to the port under trade plates.

masit

All in all wrote: »

Got on great. Bought from Chorley Group. I had check done on the car. Agreed a price on a Friday evening, car was ready by Tuesday evening, serviced, etc. I booked car on p&o liverpool to Dublin sailing, through p&o freight. The dealer brought the car to the port on Wednesday and it sailed the early hours of Thursday morning. I collected from Dublin port on Friday morning (I could have collected Thursday). All very straight forward and delighted with the car.

There was no need to tax car as it was transferred to the port under trade plates.

Do you mind me asking how much was P&O ferry. It's something I'm thinking of. As with the new car tax rules in the UK coming into effect soon, the way I do it will get a bit expensive. Flight, ferry car tax. Plus only been able to travel to UK at weekend to pick up car.

All in all

masit wrote: »

Do you mind me asking how much was P&O ferry. It's something I'm thinking of. As with the new car tax rules in the UK coming into effect soon, the way I do it will get a bit expensive. Flight, ferry car tax. Plus only been able to travel to UK at weekend to pick up car.

It was approx €220.