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

Marcusm

copeyhagen wrote: »

might be buying privately up north in next few days.

cars costing me £5250 sterling.
rang ptsb and they order sterling in on Thursdays, for the following Wednesday! was hoping to go get the car tomorrow or Friday/Sat.

anyone else been in a similar situation? options?

bank draft or something, if they will accept? never had to do anything like this before.

thanks,

Rob

Use your debit card!

Marcusm

bazz26 wrote: »

Most of the big garages in the UK can arrange temporary insurance for buyers, some will charge you while others will offer it for free as part of the car buying process. However the problem is that these insurance policies may not actually cover you if your not a UK resident. Yes they may well accept a UK address when at the dealership when your driving off but if the **** hits the fan and your involved in an accident over there then that's the moment when you find out if you were actually covered or not. I wouldn't risk it.

It's worse than that, the insurance is certainly not valid and you run the risk, if caught, of being charged with obtaining insurance by deception which can carry a prison sentence.

Marcusm

12 element wrote: »

Has anyone any idea about importing a vehicle from the Isle of man?
Pretty sure the IOM is VAT exempt but as it is outside of the EU i'm not sure what extra forms I might need for VRTing it?

Isle of Man is in a customs union with the UK and EU so will likely be treated as an intra EU acquisition. Jersey/Guernsey is different.

PauloMN

copeyhagen wrote: »

might be buying privately up north in next few days.

cars costing me £5250 sterling.
rang ptsb and they order sterling in on Thursdays, for the following Wednesday! was hoping to go get the car tomorrow or Friday/Sat.

anyone else been in a similar situation? options?

bank draft or something, if they will accept? never had to do anything like this before.

thanks,

Rob

Draft will work if the seller accepts, you'd need to square that with them though. Personally I wouldn't take one, so I could understand completely if they didn't.

For that amount, cash is king really. Can you just go to a bigger branch of your bank to get sterling cash without that wait?

Cannon_fodder

copeyhagen wrote: »

might be buying privately up north in next few days.

cars costing me £5250 sterling.
rang ptsb and they order sterling in on Thursdays, for the following Wednesday! was hoping to go get the car tomorrow or Friday/Sat.

anyone else been in a similar situation? options?

bank draft or something, if they will accept? never had to do anything like this before.

thanks,

Rob

Buying private - cash is King, dealer - use a debit card as I did last month

Negative_G

Cannon_fodder wrote: »

Buying private - cash is King, dealer - use a debit card as I did last month

Im looking at bringing in a car in the £15-£18k mark. Anytime I've got sterling from a bank/credit union I've always been given £20/£50 notes.

Has anyone had any experience in requesting such an amount in say £100 notes to reduce the footprint of carrying such an amount?

The thoughts of traveling with that amount of cash make me very uneasy but as you say, with a private seller, there is no other option really.

Harcrid

I would not do it personally. I travelled with 8k cash once and swore never again due to the worry of it getting stolen. Plus from about 10k and over I believe has to be declared to customs. If you do go with cash make sure you can prove where it came from.

Harcrid

Actually you don't need to declare it all according to this. I was mistaken.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/travel_to_ireland/customs_regulations_for_travellers.html

Negative_G

Harcrid wrote: »

I would not do it personally. I travelled with 8k cash once and swore never again due to the worry of it getting stolen. Plus from about 10k and over I believe has to be declared to customs. If you do go with cash make sure you can prove where it came from.

What other options are there?

A private seller as was pointed out earlier is unlikely to accept a bank draft/cheque for obvious reasons.

bazz26

Look into setting up a Transfermate or Currencyfair account where you can deposit the money and then do an electronic transfer of funds from there into the seller's account?

dg647

I will be bringing the car for the VRT appointment but the car will be in my wife's name. I have a letter signed by her saying that I can put the car in her name. Do I need to get her to sign the V5 cert?

bazz26

No, it has no relevance to the VRTing of the car here.

BuzzFish

Hi folks,
Fresh off the ferry this morning after picking up a car from CarGiant yesterday. As there has been so much useful info in this thread I thought I'd share a few notes while fresh.

Process:
After searching online we settled with a car that was being sold by CarGiant in London. They will hold a car only for 24 hrs before viewing so as per recommendations we lined up a couple of backup cars in case the first choice was gone while we were booking travel etc. We arranged 3 test drives, one after the next VIA their website. We called them 24hrs before we arrived to reserve our first choice and it was still available, thankfully!

I set up a Transfermate account and although CarGiant will not provide the bank details to you until they have your deposit on a car, I got them from a mate who bought from them previously and had them set up as a beneficiary in advance. This allows you to book in the transfer on the rate of any given day if you want certainty. You can give the reference number (car reg) at time of actually executing the transfer. Just saved the hassle and I confirmed that I had the right details in place once CarGiant gave the bank details to me. CarGiant bank with Natwest for anyone with a UK account who wants to instantly transfer to them.

We booked the flights on Monday to head out Thursday for 49euro each leaving Dublin at 7:35 for Gatwick (the flight was over an hour late departing due to air traffic control in Gatwick and then busy runway in Dublin). We also booked the 02:40am ferry from Holyhead with the "flex" option. We hoped to get there for 8pm though and swap to earlier on the day. 

Cargiant is easy to get to by train so we prebooked the rail tickets (£12.50 each) from the nationalrail website to get us to Willesden Junction. This required just one change from Gatwick and took less than an hour. Trains run every 15 to 20 mins and our prebooked tickets could be used on any time. Cargiant is a 10 min walk from the station. Follow the exit signs fromt eh station for Hythe Road. You go over a narrow walkway and down a lane. Don't worry, it is the right direction!

CarGiant... So the first thing is that they are unbelievably friendly and helpful so don't be shy asking questions. They are ultra professional. Tell them immediately that you are exporting and need to be on the road by lunchtime to get to a Ferry. They will give you the key and send you to the car yourself, allowing about 15 mins to "kick the tyres". Take a notepad and note every little detail you notice... if anything. The sales guy will follow down and give you a chance to test drive (very short run around the block) and give feedback. We found inside the filler cap dirty and a small stain on the leather and it was agreed this would be sorted as part of delivery.

Back to the office where they will try to sell you a warranty (that can be used in Ireland apparently) and will try also to sell you the super valet delux yadda yadda. I just told them I didn’t want to be rude but would not be interested in any extras to hurry him along. By now it was 1pm. The delayed flight had messed up our plans already but we decided it was more important to be thorough with the car. At this point I called Transfermate, confirmed the details, set the reference to the reg of the car and executed the transfer. Car Giant need 2 hours to clear the car for release. They basically do their own version of an MOT and sign the car off for delivery. The couple of bit’s we’d picked up on were also sorted in this time, although I was assured that the 2 hours was standard and this bit of work added no time. There is a canteen at CarGiant and we got some grub there. £18 for 2 dinners. At 3pm, the car was ready and the funds were cleared. We completed final paperwork and hit the road before 3:30

We were very tight for the ferry at this point and a closed M6 and very busy A/M40 meant we’d certainly miss the 8:20pm ferry. We diverted to Cheshire Oaks where more damage was done to the funds and we got something to eat. We basically killed time and headed for Holyhead and ended up on the 2:40am ferry. Used the opportunity to grab some cheap booze etc from ASDA. These things happen. A mate of mind did the same trip recently and got the earlier ferry no issue. I think the late arrival of the flight goosed us from the start. However, we believe we have saved 5K (excluding the booze!!) and this delay did not damped the spirit. It was a grand ol’ adventure!


TIPs:

• Prebook Train Tickets as queues at ticket machines were very long. Separate machines for pre-booked tickets were empty.
• 07:35 flight was >1hr late going down the runway so we were behind from the start. Next time I'll be on the 06:30.
• CarGiant want £200 cash deposit in the sales area. They DO NOT accept Irish debit cards or credit cards. Have cash with you and make sure you set up the transfermate booking for the car price minus this 200. Bear in mind the £149 admin fee on all advertised car prices too. I only had about 50 cash and was surprised that the 2 ATMs on site at Cargiant did not accept Irish cards. We had to take a 10 min walk to the nearest Texaco garage which has a proper ATM machine. They just needed this cash by 3pm so it did not delay us further and was grand chance to stretch the legs.
• CarGiant need 2 hrs between taking the deposit and releasing the car due to pre-release checks they need to do. This cannot be reduced. They do not allow deposits over the phone the day before. Someone has to view the car in person. Bear this in mind when planning. I would suggest that you need to be at the point where deposit has been paid by 12pm or you’re going to miss your 8pm ferry if doing it all same day. Next time I’ll be in CarGiant for 10am (opening time).
• CarGiant put 1 gallon of fuel only in all cars. Texaco is nearby to fill up to get you going (same place we went to for ATM). All these little delays do add up.
• CarGiant have so many of the same car its mind boggling. They have 14,000 cars and proudly display a Guinness World Record plaque for the world biggest car dealer. So if you arrive and the car you had your eye on is a pup, you’d have to be very fussy not to be driving away in something. Saying that the cars look to be spotless and they do not do many high milers. I could not recommend them more at this point.
• The SD cards (or CDs) for navigation units are removed from all cars by default. Make sure that they have the SD card if you want. If they have it, they will provide it when handing over the keys at the end od the sale. Make a point of asking before you pay the deposit as some cars arrive to them without the SD cards and you don’t want to have already bought the car to be disappointed driving away. If it wasn’t in the car when it arrived to them they will not have one for you and display on their sign boards that they accept no responsibility for missing cards.
• May as well fill up with petrol on the UK side right now as it is cheaper than home. If not doing this, add a bit extra for any details on the motorways. Be a pain to have to stop twice enroute.
• Online the cabins for the ferry were sold out but on-board they were available. €25 for single, €50 for double. Head straight to the desk when you board to have the best chance as there was a queue and not many keys from what I saw.
• Cannot recommend TransferMate enough. The lady I dealt with was superb. Friendly, helpful and professional.
• I’d buy again from CarGiant in a heartbeat based on experience so far and car was exactly as described. The small niggles were sorted without issue or question.

Now for the VRT....

oodles19

BuzzFish wrote: »

Hi folks,
Fresh off the ferry this morning after picking up a car from CarGiant yesterday. As there has been so much useful info in this thread I thought I'd share a few notes while fresh.
Process:
After searching online we settled with a car that was being sold by CarGiant in London. They will hold a car only for 24 hrs before viewing so as per recommendations we lined up a couple of backup cars in case the first choice was gone while we were booking travel etc. We arranged 3 test drives, one after the next VIA their website. We called them 24hrs before we arrived to reserve our first choice and it was still available, thankfully!.
I set up a Transfermate account and although CarGiant will not provide the bank details to you until they have your deposit on a car, I got them from a mate who bought from them previously and had them set up as a beneficiary in advance. This allows you to book in the transfer on the rate of any given day if you want certainty. You can give the reference number (car reg) at time of actually executing the transfer. Just saved the hassle and I confirmed that I had the right details in place once CarGiant gave the bank details to me. CarGiant bank with Natwest for anyone with a UK account who wants to instantly transfer to them.
We booked the flights on Monday to head out Thursday for 49euro each leaving Dublin at 7:35 for Gatwick (the flight was over an hour late departing due to air traffic control in Gatwick and then busy runway in Dublin). We also booked the 02:40am ferry from Holyhead with the “flex” option. We hoped to get there for 8pm though and swap to earlier on the day. Cargiant is easy to get to by train so we prebooked the rail tickets (£12.50 each) from the nationalrail website to get us to Willesden Junction. This required just one change from Gatwick and took less than an hour. Trains run every 15 to 20 mins and our prebooked tickets could be used on any time. Cargiant is a 10 min walk from the station. Follow the exit signs fromt eh station for Hythe Road. You go over a narrow walkway and down a lane. Don't worry, it is the right direction!
CarGiant... So the first thing is that they are unbelievably friendly and helpful so don't be shy asking questions. They are ultra professional. Tell them immediately that you are exporting and need to be on the road by lunchtime to get to a Ferry. They will give you the key and send you to the car yourself, allowing about 15 mins to "kick the tyres". Take a notepad and note every little detail you notice... if anything. The sales guy will follow down and give you a chance to test drive (very short run around the block) and give feedback. We found inside the filler cap dirty and a small stain on the leather and it was agreed this would be sorted as part of delivery.
Back to the office where they will try to sell you a warranty (that can be used in Ireland apparently) and will try also to sell you the super valet delux yadda yadda. I just told them I didn’t want to be rude but would not be interested in any extras to hurry him along. By now it was 1pm. The delayed flight had messed up our plans already but we decided it was more important to be thorough with the car. At this point I called Transfermate, confirmed the details, set the reference to the reg of the car and executed the transfer. Car Giant need 2 hours to clear the car for release. They basically do their own version of an MOT and sign the car off for delivery. The couple of bit’s we’d picked up on were also sorted in this time, although I was assured that the 2 hours was standard and this bit of work added no time. There is a canteen at CarGiant and we got some grub there. £18 for 2 dinners. At 3pm, the car was ready and the funds were cleared. We completed final paperwork and hit the road before 3:30
We were very tight for the ferry at this point and a closed M6 and very busy A/M40 meant we’d certainly miss the 8:20pm ferry. We diverted to Cheshire Oaks where more damage was done to the funds and we got something to eat. We basically killed time and headed for Holyhead and ended up on the 2:40am ferry. Used the opportunity to grab some cheap booze etc from ASDA. These things happen. A mate of mind did the same trip recently and got the earlier ferry no issue. I think the late arrival of the flight goosed us from the start. However, we believe we have saved 5K (excluding the booze!!) and this delay did not damped the spirit. It was a grand ol’ adventure!
 
TIPs: 

• Prebook Train Tickets as queues at ticket machines were very long. Separate machines for pre-booked tickets were empty.
• 07:35 flight was >1hr late going down the runway so we were behind from the start. Next time I'll be on the 06:30.
• CarGiant want £200 cash deposit in the sales area. They DO NOT accept Irish debit cards or credit cards. Have cash with you and make sure you set up the transfermate booking for the car price minus this 200. Bear in mind the £149 admin fee on all advertised car prices too. I only had about 50 cash and was surprised that the 2 ATMs on site at Cargiant did not accept Irish cards. We had to take a 10 min walk to the nearest Texaco garage which has a proper ATM machine. They just needed this cash by 3pm so it did not delay us further and was grand chance to stretch the legs.
• CarGiant need 2 hrs between taking the deposit and releasing the car due to pre-release checks they need to do. This cannot be reduced. They do not allow deposits over the phone the day before. Someone has to view the car in person. Bear this in mind when planning. I would suggest that you need to be at the point where deposit has been paid by 12pm or you’re going to miss your 8pm ferry if doing it all same day. Next time I’ll be in CarGiant for 10am (opening time).
• CarGiant put 1 gallon of fuel only in all cars. Texaco is nearby to fill up to get you going (same place we went to for ATM). All these little delays do add up.
• CarGiant have so many of the same car its mind boggling. They have 14,000 cars and proudly display a Guinness World Record plaque for the world biggest car dealer. So if you arrive and the car you had your eye on is a pup, you’d have to be very fussy not to be driving away in something. Saying that the cars look to be spotless and they do not do many high milers. I could not recommend them more at this point.
• The SD cards (or CDs) for navigation units are removed from all cars by default. Make sure that they have the SD card if you want it and they will provide it when handing over the keys at the end if they have it. Make a point of asking before you pay the deposit as some cars arrive to them without the SD cards and you don’t want to have already bought the car to be disappointed driving away. If it wasn’t in the car when it arrived to them they will not have one for you and display on their sign boards that they accept no responsibility for missing cards.
• May as well fill up with petrol on the UK side right now as it is cheaper than home. If not doing this, add a bit extra for any details on the motorways. Be a pain to have to stop twice enroute.
• Online the cabins for the ferry were sold out but on-board they were available. €25 for single, €50 for double. Head straight to the desk when you board to have the best chance as there was a queue and not many keys from what I saw.
• Cannot recommend TransferMate enough. The lady I dealt with was superb. Friendly, helpful and professional.
• I’d buy again from CarGiant in a heartbeat based on experience so far and car was exactly as described. The small niggles were sorted without issue or question.

Now for the VRT….

Great write up, I had a broadly similar experience with Cargiant myself. How did you handle the insurance aspect? Did you go for the warranty?

BuzzFish

We transferred insurance to the new car between 1pm and 3pm while waiting. With Aviva and was able to see the change online a few mins later, so we had evidence of insurance in case were were stopped on the way.
Did not buy warranty or any extras.
Also, something I missed: CarGiant did NOT require me to tax the car. They said it was entirely up to me and handed me the complete V5 except the small section they need to send to Swansea. I used the computers they provide to tax it anyway. £30 and worth it (to me) for the hassle of being pulled over by one of North Wales finest.

oodles19

BuzzFish wrote: »

We transferred insurance to the new car between 1pm and 3pm while waiting. With Aviva and was able to see the change online a few mins later, so we had evidence of insurance in case were were stopped on the way.
Did not buy warranty or any extras.
Also, something I missed: CarGiant did NOT require me to tax the car. They said it was entirely up to me and handed me the complete V5 except the small section they need to send to Swansea. I used the computers they provide to tax it anyway. £30 and worth it (to me) for the hassle of being pulled over by one of North Wales finest.

That's funny, I bought mine on Sunday, and thought similarly to you, that for £20 I'd just go ahead and tax it anyway, and the site wouldn't let me tax it!

bazz26

If you were only taxing it for 1 month then taxing online requires a UK bank account. Strangely if you tax it for 6 months it will accept a card payment.

PauloMN

bazz26 wrote: »

If you were only taxing it for 1 month then taxing online requires a UK bank account. Strangely if you tax it for 6 months it will accept a card payment.

Yep I bought a car in July in the UK and we tried with my bank account to set up a direct debit (which I would then cancel as soon as I got the car here) but the website was having none of it. Ended up giving the seller the £20 in cash and he did the bank stuff with his account (using my email address though so I could see the cover and have it in case stopped). He cancelled it then a while later and I got the notification.

Motor tax doesn't transfer anymore in the UK like it does here. Pain in the arse when exporting a car and when you just need cover for a day or two. Should be an online system to take one off payments to give the temp cover - people wouldn't mind paying £20/£30 for the peace of mind.

2010RACHEL

Just wondering in this if buying vehicle from dealer in UK and getting it transported on transporter does it need taxes and can I still drive it here with no tax until vrt registered.

Tax finished June 2017.

Not big deal as is next to nothing just another thing to organise it needs doing.

bazz26

If it's being transported then it doesn't need tax. And you cannot tax a foreign registered car here, it needs to be VRT'd and issued an Irish registration before you can tax it.

Negative_G

BuzzFish wrote: »

We transferred insurance to the new car between 1pm and 3pm while waiting. With Aviva and was able to see the change online a few mins later, so we had evidence of insurance in case were were stopped on the way.
Did not buy warranty or any extras.
Also, something I missed: CarGiant did NOT require me to tax the car. They said it was entirely up to me and handed me the complete V5 except the small section they need to send to Swansea. I used the computers they provide to tax it anyway. £30 and worth it (to me) for the hassle of being pulled over by one of North Wales finest.

Did you have any joy negotiation a price with them or are they competitively priced?

bazz26

Cargiant will not negotiate on the sticker price and will let you walk away for the sake of £10. Think of it as the same as walking into Tesco for a litre of milk and trying to negotiate the price with them.

darragh o meara

PauloMN wrote: »

Yep I bought a car in July in the UK and we tried with my bank account to set up a direct debit (which I would then cancel as soon as I got the car here) but the website was having none of it. Ended up giving the seller the £20 in cash and he did the bank stuff with his account (using my email address though so I could see the cover and have it in case stopped). He cancelled it then a while later and I got the notification.

Motor tax doesn't transfer anymore in the UK like it does here. Pain in the arse when exporting a car and when you just need cover for a day or two. Should be an online system to take one off payments to give the temp cover - people wouldn't mind paying £20/£30 for the peace of mind.

Never had an issue with tax. Last dealer I bought from taxed it for a month for me and previous dealer told me to not worry as the previous owner doesn't get a refund until its registered in new owners name and because I was heading straight for the ferry it wouldn't highlight on the ANPR system. Once the car isn't sitting there for months it should be ok.

bazz26

They changed the motor tax rules in the UK earlier this year and had first hand experience of what I described in my last post.

oodles19

bazz26 wrote: »

Cargiant will not negotiate on the sticker price and will let you walk away for the sake of £10. Think of it as the same as walking into Tesco for a litre of milk and trying to negotiate the price with them.

Yup, I found it refreshing to be honest, no haggling wheeler dealer dance, sticker price is sticker price. One proviso is that they'll knock a bit off if there's something like scratches/damage/issues that they haven't themselves noted

Isambard

darragh o meara wrote: »

Never had an issue with tax. Last dealer I bought from taxed it for a month for me and previous dealer told me to not worry as the previous owner doesn't get a refund until its registered in new owners name and because I was heading straight for the ferry it wouldn't highlight on the ANPR system. Once the car isn't sitting there for months it should be ok.

that's assuming it is actually still taxed of course, they could have had it in stock for months.

Tabby McTat

I'm looking to buy a 2014 A4 from a main dealer in the UK. It will be sold through the Audi Used Approved scheme.

Would you still reccomend getting my own independent check from RAC/AA/Dekra.

Benildus

barrac wrote: »

I'm looking to buy a 2014 A4 from a main dealer in the UK. It will be sold through the Audi Used Approved scheme.

Would you still reccomend getting my own independent check from RAC/AA/Dekra.

I got the basic 'peace of mind' check when buying from a main franchise dealer

maidhc

I bought a car over last week, so my 2c:

I bought it in Southhampton from a main Toyota dealer. Car itself is an 2.0 Avensis Estate, 2016, 8k miles, Excel spec, so has toys aplenty, was was previously owned by Toyota GB, and registered to an address near their plant in Burnaston.



There was very little haggling, but the price was OK to to begin with. I put down a £500 deposit, and after that they didn't really care how I proceeded. They told me after they made £700 out of the sale, as they had reduced the price a few times to shift it (Avensii are bad sellers in the UK...)

Anyway, I paid the balance by EFT the day before collection. Some might view it as risky, but it seemed reasonably logical to me. I used my Revolut account as there was a saving of about €500 on the rate on offer and Bank of Irelands rate.

Flew to S'hampton on Sunday morning, walked around for the day. Got a train to close to the dealer on Monday morning and got the late sailing home Monday night. I visited the Submarine museum on Gosport too as it was on my way. Slept a bit on the ferry, and was in at work at 10 on tuesday.

I didn't bother with the tax, I just took the odds i'd get away with it purely on the basis the car was going to be gone from the Country within 14 hours of me collecting it. Reckoned I'd talk my way out of it if stopped by the coppers (been there done that...).

Oh, I didn't test drive the car either, I assumed it would drive like an Avensis with 8k miles, and so it does.

Only issue was I think I broke the electric lumbar support while waiting for the ferry. It is booked if for a warranty repair on monday morning.

nerrad01

Anybody bought from cargiant in london? Good or bad experiences? i know they wont hassgle on price at all but wondering if they are a reliable source due to being so big/ move so many cars that they wouldnt have any time for anything dodgy?