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

dawid niedzwiadek

statto25 wrote: »

All the answers to the above are located in this thread. Have a read through and see how you get on

I am reading this thread for last hr. but info is all over the place.
so far i now that i will need definitely
form V5C from dealer
any more info, please...

Isambard

FastFullBack wrote: »

Ya it’s definitely raising red flags, very very low mileage and about £1500 cheaper than all similar cars.

Probably best to avoid

front collision damage. CAT C or D imagine

michellie

dawid niedzwiadek wrote: »

Hi.
I need help/advice on following.
I am looking to buy a car from Belfast (SERE Motors Belfast).Had anyone any experience with them? good/bad?
it is first time i will buy in Northern Ireland, what do i need to do?
how can i pay if there is 5k limit on visa debit and 12k on credit card (car cost 11500 GBP)
what documentation do i need from seller? etc, etc,
Thanks in advance for any info.

Not sure about payment but get the v5c from the seller & an invoice/receipt.

Isambard

bank transfer?

ellee

RAC inspection or DEKRA?

Quite the premium on the RAC one at £252!!!

Dekra seems to be £189; but is it much less thorough?

Buying from a car supermarket...

AmberGold

Looking at importing a Porsche 911 C4S Widebody, Auto, 2008, 50k miles. Does anyone hazard a guess at the VRT?

Benzino

What are people's view of buying privately over in the UK? I know the OP said not to but see a few have and didn't seem to run into any issues.

Just wondering is it a lot of hassle to trust the seller not to sell the car when you get an inspection by DEKRA and book flights etc. My gut is telling me not to, so I should probably follow my gut but I do see a nice car available.

Atlantic Dawn

Benzino wrote: »

What are people's view of buying privately over in the UK? I know the OP said not to but see a few have and didn't seem to run into any issues.

Just wondering is it a lot of hassle to trust the seller not to sell the car when you get an inspection by DEKRA and book flights etc. My gut is telling me not to, so I should probably follow my gut but I do see a nice car available.

If I was buying private in UK I would stick to buying from owners who had thd car a year plus rather than wheeler dealer types who might be more inclined to fix up damaged cars to sell off quickly.

Benzino

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

If I was buying private in UK I would stick to buying from owners who had thd car a year plus rather than wheeler dealer types who might be more inclined to fix up damaged cars to sell off quickly.

That's sound advice, thank you

djPSB

Bought a car in NI last year. 2013 A6.

Thinking of changing now for BMW M Sport Coupe.

If I was to trade in up North, what would be the procedure for reclaiming VRT?

Explosive_Cornflake

Details are on Revenue's site here
It's a bit of paper work, and they take 500 quid of it.

djPSB wrote: »

Bought a car in NI last year. 2013 A6.

Thinking of changing now for BMW M Sport Coupe.

If I was to trade in up North, what would be the procedure for reclaiming VRT?

garv123

Vrt'd a car on the 10th October, I haven't got on the road yet,(but its not signed off the road) if I wait till November will I have to back tax it for October?

mgn

Car has to be taxed from month the vrt is paid.

rob316

Benzino wrote: »

That's sound advice, thank you

And make sure you do a HPI check early on as when I was looking at a couple and there was outstanding finance owed on them. Buy from a dealer if you can.

Benzino

rob316 wrote: »

And make sure you do a HPI check early on as when I was looking at a couple and there was outstanding finance owed on them. Buy from a dealer if you can.

Yeah I've decided to move on to a dealer, not worth the hassle of payment and even the worries that you might be getting scammed. The car isn't worth that sort of hassle. Thanks for the advice

rob316

Benzino wrote: »

Yeah I've decided to move on to a dealer, not worth the hassle of payment and even the worries that you might be getting scammed. The car isn't worth that sort of hassle. Thanks for the advice

Wise. Good luck with the search

burger1979

Hi folks looking for some help here. I am looking at buying a car in Belfast. The car I'm looking at is less than 6 months registered and also has less than 6000kms on it, so for the purposes of revenue I am liable to pay VAT on top of VRT. VAT rate is 23% but is the 23% applied to the OMSP given by revenue when working out VRT?
Also can I reclaim the VAT I have paid on the sell price of the car in Belfast?
Car value is £17000, VAT rate is 20% so that's £3400 (€3820).
The OMSP based on revenue is €24929, VAT @23% is €5733. So there is difference/cost of €1913.
Am I working this out correctly? Thanks

Kotek Besar

burger1979 wrote: »

Hi folks looking for some help here. I am looking at buying a car in Belfast. The car I'm looking at is less than 6 months registered and also has less than 6000kms on it, so for the purposes of revenue I am liable to pay VAT on top of VRT. VAT rate is 23% but is the 23% applied to the OMSP given by revenue when working out VRT?
Also can I reclaim the VAT I have paid on the sell price of the car in Belfast?
Car value is £17000, VAT rate is 20% so that's £3400 (€3820).
The OMSP based on revenue is €24929, VAT @23% is €5733. So there is difference/cost of €1913.
Am I working this out correctly? Thanks

Yes, your maths is spot on.

masit

burger1979 wrote: »

Hi folks looking for some help here. I am looking at buying a car in Belfast. The car I'm looking at is less than 6 months registered and also has less than 6000kms on it, so for the purposes of revenue I am liable to pay VAT on top of VRT. VAT rate is 23% but is the 23% applied to the OMSP given by revenue when working out VRT?
Also can I reclaim the VAT I have paid on the sell price of the car in Belfast?
Car value is £17000, VAT rate is 20% so that's £3400 (€3820).
The OMSP based on revenue is €24929, VAT @23% is €5733. So there is difference/cost of €1913.
Am I working this out correctly? Thanks

VAT is on the sterling price you paid converted to euro, so you will be paying Irish VAT on £13600, if you paid with a visa debit at todays rate you would be paying VAT on €15304 which is €3519 so total is €18823 plus vrt. Make sure that you can claim back the VAT on the car from the UK. Its not always the case.

dos29

Can anyone tell me what proof of import is looked for by revenue please?
Is it a print off of ferry booking or what exactly?
Also, on the invoice side of things, is a signed receipt from a private sale sufficient, or does anyone know what's looked for in that case?

IrishGrimReaper

dos29 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what proof of import is looked for by revenue please?
Is it a print off of ferry booking or what exactly?
Also, on the invoice side of things, is a signed receipt from a private sale sufficient, or does anyone know what's looked for in that case?

If you get it from the mainland UK the ferry ticket is used as proof of import if you take it in by ferry. The invoice doesn't need to be signed, I actually did my own invoice up on the computer when I got my car. I had the date, make, model and spec and the price paid included on it and that's all.

The car VRT needs to be paid and the car on Irish plates within 30 days of the car entering the state (30 days from the ferry invoice in your case).

Geuze

burger1979 wrote: »

H
Also can I reclaim the VAT I have paid on the sell price of the car in Belfast?
Car value is £17000, VAT rate is 20% so that's £3400 (€3820).

A product selling for 17,000 including 20% VAT, means the ex-VAT price is 14,166.67.

So the VAT is 2833.33.

You made the typical error of dividing 17,000 by 5, or else doing (17,000)(0.20), which of course is wrong.

VAT is 20% on top of the net cost, so the 17,000 is 1.2 times the ex-VAT cost.

So divide 17,000 by 1.20.

Negative_G

dos29 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what proof of import is looked for by revenue please?
Is it a print off of ferry booking or what exactly?
Also, on the invoice side of things, is a signed receipt from a private sale sufficient, or does anyone know what's looked for in that case?

Just to share my own experience. I didn't produce any ferry receipt, nor was I asked, i did however have an invoice from the garage which was dated within 30 days of the day which it was presented and they were happy with that.

Geuze

Kotek Besar wrote: »

Yes, your maths is spot on.

No, it's not.

djPSB

Explosive_Cornflake wrote: »

Details are on Revenue's site here
It's a bit of paper work, and they take 500 quid of it.

According to the VRT calculator, I would get €4747 when exported with administration fees included in that.

As far as I remember, I only paid €3500 when importing in January so something doesn't make sense.

dos29

IrishGrimReaper wrote: »

If you get it from the mainland UK the ferry ticket is used as proof of import if you take it in by ferry. The invoice doesn't need to be signed, I actually did my own invoice up on the computer when I got my car. I had the date, make, model and spec and the price paid included on it and that's all.

The car VRT needs to be paid and the car on Irish plates within 30 days of the car entering the state (30 days from the ferry invoice in your case).

Sorry for looking for petty details, just want to make sure I have the right thing for Revenue. Haven't booked or got the ferry yet, so don't know what the ticket is. Is it simply a print off after booking online, a la, a Ryanair flight, or is there a physical, maybe cardboard like, ticket you get when getting on the ferry. Wouldn't want to throw away the wrong thing!
Thanks for the help by the way.

IrishGrimReaper

I'd assume it's a printed ticket.

Cannon_fodder

Safest place to put this out for opinions:

Basically I looked at a new high spec supermini (I will not mention brand), test drove it, agreed a trade in price for the old 11 yr car of mine (€2,000 to €3,000) but PCP rate ranged 3.9 to 5.9% and worst still the colour I want (a standard grey metallic) cannot be sourced until possibly May 2018.

Same car is higher spec in the UK. My queries are:

1. has anyone here bought new in the UK, done the vat and vrt thing and found it worthwhile?
2. I presume I need the UK dealer to not charge VAT as it will be an export and I pay the 23% plus vrt here?
3. UK dealer (Northern Ireland) has 0% finance on this vehicle! I have a UK bank account but is there anyway to avail of this PCP rate?

Many thanks

mgn

dos29 wrote: »

Sorry for looking for petty details, just want to make sure I have the right thing for Revenue. Haven't booked or got the ferry yet, so don't know what the ticket is. Is it simply a print off after booking online, a la, a Ryanair flight, or is there a physical, maybe cardboard like, ticket you get when getting on the ferry. Wouldn't want to throw away the wrong thing!
Thanks for the help by the way.

Just print off ticket when you book online.When you check into ferry port you get a boarding card,you can take with you too.

masit

Cannon_fodder wrote: »

Safest place to put this out for opinions:

Basically I looked at a new high spec supermini (I will not mention brand), test drove it, agreed a trade in price for the old 11 yr car of mine (€2,000 to €3,000) but PCP rate ranged 3.9 to 5.9% and worst still the colour I want (a standard grey metallic) cannot be sourced until possibly May 2018.

Same car is higher spec in the UK. My queries are:

1. has anyone here bought new in the UK, done the vat and vrt thing and found it worthwhile?
2. I presume I need the UK dealer to not charge VAT as it will be an export and I pay the 23% plus vrt here?
3. UK dealer (Northern Ireland) has 0% finance on this vehicle! I have a UK bank account but is there anyway to avail of this PCP rate?

Many thanks

I haven't done that but something else to look at. Didn't the European court win a case against Ireland for changing VRT on cars the are hired or leased in the north and brought down to the republic, Anti competition or something. That someone from the south can go up north and lease a car without having to vrt it. Maybe I'm miles off but there was something on the news a few weeks back?