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

Boardie50

Hello all
I have read through this thread and I am seeing posts with lads saving 3k, 5k 9k, etc and I see the stats about the # of uk cars on the road in IRE, so people seem to be saving money for sure, and fair play to all who have.

But in all the checks I have done so far - I am not seeing any huge savings. (I understand some older posts when Sterling was weaker - people did better)

Specifically I am looking at a 2016 or 2017 Kia Sportage mid to high Spec.
In IRE, for a cash deal I could get a 2016 for 23K or a 2017 for approx. 25K.

When I price the same cars on autotrader and apply the VRT - the saving seems to be around 1000 eurs or so - if you factor in travel over and ferry and all that - it doesn't seem a lot of saving any more? I know its 1000 euros but with so many lads buying from over there I thought the gains would be higher..

I called about 8 garages this weekend on cars that match what I am looking for, almost all of them said the price listed was the price id pay one or 2 said they'd potentially give a couple of hundred pounds off so the advertised prices seem close to what they would accept for a car it seems?

I am wondering if I am missing something when I am working the VRT out or something?
Do I just need to look harder for a deal ?

Anybody with any recent purchase for a similar wagon to the sportage with a better saving than I am seeing?

Thanks in advance for any advice, replies.

bazz26

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

They're both 6 year old cars from back street type dealers though. They're not particularly expensive and I don't need a warranty so I'd be ok with going that route if the AA report checks out.

Ok, it seems a bit odd that cars of that age would still have outstanding finance as generally there is no value in the car for the finance company if the loan went south and they needed to repossess it to sell it on.

I'd tread very carefully though and do proper background checks including into the dealers themselves as dodgy dealers selling questionable cars is universal the world over.

mailforkev

I’m heading over to pick my new one up on Thursday. VRT appointment booked for Sat morning.

Once the inspection is done, and I’ve paid and I have my Irish reg number and plates, I’m presuming I need to tax it.

Can I do it on my phone there and then with my reg number and use VIN 6 digits as PIN or do I need to wait for anything else to be issued?

Also, is it definitely the case that I keep the entire V5C including the export section?

I will probably UK tax it in the dealership and claim a refund when home. Tight few hours drive that I’d rather went smoothly. Presuming this is still doable? Will I need to send the V5C export section for this purpose?

Are Transfermate pretty quick these days?

JMR

Posting here as it's a UK import specific question....

I've seen a Northern Ireland registered car in a dealer in Liverpool, thought it was a bit odd.

I queried the dealer on it and he said all his cars are ex-fleet and this one was originally registered in Belfast. He wasn't sure how it came to be in mainland UK.

Is this perfectly normal or is it anything to worry about?

ra0044

JMR wrote: »

Posting here as it's a UK import specific question....

I've seen a Northern Ireland registered car in a dealer in Liverpool, thought it was a bit odd.

I queried the dealer on it and he said all his cars are ex-fleet and this one was originally registered in Belfast. He wasn't sure how it came to be in mainland UK.

Is this perfectly normal or is it anything to worry about?

Normal enough.

When i lived in the UK some of the garages i looked at cars in used to claim they were " semi personalised " reg plates that people had ordered specially. When you pointed out they were cars from NI some dealers laughed it off and some actually believed them to be these mythical " semi personalised plates ".

All chancers.

copacetic

mailforkev wrote: »

I’m heading over to pick my new one up on Thursday. VRT appointment booked for Sat morning.

Once the inspection is done, and I’ve paid and I have my Irish reg number and plates, I’m presuming I need to tax it.

Can I do it on my phone there and then with my reg number and use VIN 6 digits as PIN or do I need to wait for anything else to be issued?

Also, is it definitely the case that I keep the entire V5C including the export section?

I will probably UK tax it in the dealership and claim a refund when home. Tight few hours drive that I’d rather went smoothly. Presuming this is still doable? Will I need to send the V5C export section for this purpose?

Are Transfermate pretty quick these days?

Can’t do it straight away, takes 24 hours for the reg to be on the system then can do it. Don’t have to put plates on for a few days either.

Transfermate transfer arrived within a couple of hours for me last month. And depend a lot on dealers finance people spotting it etc.

darragh o meara

copacetic wrote: »

Can’t do it straight away, takes 24 hours for the reg to be on the system then can do it. Don’t have to put plates on for a few days either.

Transfermate transfer arrived within a couple of hours for me last month. And depend a lot on dealers finance people spotting it etc.

Out of interest what were the fees like for the transfer? I was looking at their site earlier and can’t see anything about the fees, I also noticed that their rates for sterling were a good 3-4p lower than say the post office etc. is the fee built into this difference in rates?

wilser

Am buying a van in northern Ireland on Thursday, got a mechanic to look at it last week, paid small deposit and trying to get my head around the paperwork.
It's a private individual I am buying it from so do I need to fill out vrtpd1 form or vrtpd2 form? Does the seller fill this out or buyer?
The van hasn't been taxed since last February, but has a valid mot until February. Will I be liable to back tax after buying it?
Done a motorcheck and everything else is ok.
Thanks for any input on this.

California Dreamer

Boardie50 wrote: »

Specifically I am looking at a 2016 or 2017 Kia Sportage mid to high Spec.
In IRE, for a cash deal I could get a 2016 for 23K or a 2017 for approx. 25K.

I called about 8 garages this weekend on cars that match what I am looking for, almost all of them said the price listed was the price id pay one or 2 said they'd potentially give a couple of hundred pounds off.

Now I am certainly open to correction but the discounts from U.K. Car dealers is generally crap. It's not like wheeler dealers. I've seen a lot of dealers let a sale away over £100!!

As regards the Kia. Some makes are not as popular in the U.K. As they are in Ireland. Brands like Kia, Hyundai, Toyota do not have the same prescience and don't command the same discount level on used stock.

aujopimur

The outstanding finance is often internal dealer arrangements, in that the dealership themselves are financing their own stock.

Royale with Cheese

aujopimur wrote: »

The outstanding finance is often internal dealer arrangements, in that the dealership themselves are financing their own stock.

If I ring the dealer and this is the answer they give me, what exactly should I be looking for from them to prove it?

JMR

Looking at a 3 year old car in a UK dealer.
Full main dealer service history, MOT valid etc. All checks come back good.
Is an AA mechanical inspection necessary in these circumstances in people's experience?

Eoghanaldo

Boardie50 wrote: »

Hello all
I have read through this thread and I am seeing posts with lads saving 3k, 5k 9k, etc and I see the stats about the # of uk cars on the road in IRE, so people seem to be saving money for sure, and fair play to all who have.

But in all the checks I have done so far - I am not seeing any huge savings. (I understand some older posts when Sterling was weaker - people did better)

Specifically I am looking at a 2016 or 2017 Kia Sportage mid to high Spec.
In IRE, for a cash deal I could get a 2016 for 23K or a 2017 for approx. 25K.

When I price the same cars on autotrader and apply the VRT - the saving seems to be around 1000 eurs or so - if you factor in travel over and ferry and all that - it doesn't seem a lot of saving any more? I know its 1000 euros but with so many lads buying from over there I thought the gains would be higher..

I called about 8 garages this weekend on cars that match what I am looking for, almost all of them said the price listed was the price id pay one or 2 said they'd potentially give a couple of hundred pounds off so the advertised prices seem close to what they would accept for a car it seems?

I am wondering if I am missing something when I am working the VRT out or something?
Do I just need to look harder for a deal ?

Anybody with any recent purchase for a similar wagon to the sportage with a better saving than I am seeing?

Thanks in advance for any advice, replies.

I know it's very much apples and oranges, but there are huge savings to be made. Granted, the savings definitely stretch with the more you are going to spend but it has been very much worthwhile. Just back from the UK with a 9-month-old E220d AMG Premium, absolutely loaded with extras, that I had provisionally agreed to a sale price of £32k on. Once there at the dealership on Friday (although the car was essentially brand new and in sparkling condition), I feigned being unsure about it based on one small item that I thought was included (Drivetronic) and said I would call back in to them in a short while, once I went to the Audi dealership just down the road. Within 2mins of my walk I got a call from the dealer agreeing to drop the price to 31k as offered in that morning. For the most part, dealers are agreeable and obviously flexible to a large degree in my limited experience.

So, the main point is this - the overall cost. I paid €70 for flight into Birmingham, picked up by the dealer, €60 for the hotel Friday night, got a full tank on the car from the dealer and €190 for the ferry. With currency conversion, VRT (granted, this is a calculation from the online calculator) and travel included, all-in price is €43238.
One similar in Ireland - more miles & half the spec = €54950
Adding price of outstanding extras alone = €61k

So either a saving all-in of €11,712, or
a saving of €17,762

copacetic

darragh o meara wrote: »

Out of interest what were the fees like for the transfer? I was looking at their site earlier and can’t see anything about the fees, I also noticed that their rates for sterling were a good 3-4p lower than say the post office etc. is the fee built into this difference in rates?

think the fee is €10 or something, 3 or 4p difference in rates doesn't sound right at all.

I just checked and an post rate is showing better than transfermate live rates and also xe.com live rates etc, so think it's just out of date on their site.

mailforkev

Is it easy to tax the car online over there for the journey to the ferry?

As per https://vehicletax.service.gov.uk, do I get a V5C/2 form from the dealer with the reference number on it?

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

If I ring the dealer and this is the answer they give me, what exactly should I be looking for from them to prove it?

Ask for a screenshot of the HPI check. Should say Unit Stocking on it.

uncle-mofo

mailforkev wrote: »

Is it easy to tax the car online over there for the journey to the ferry?

As per https://vehicletax.service.gov.uk, do I get a V5C/2 form from the dealer with the reference number on it?




Ask for a screenshot of the HPI check. Should say Unit Stocking on it.

I had absolutely no problem taxing my car at the dealership on Friday. Not sure what all the fuss is. The dealership gave me the full v5 form.

mailforkev

uncle-mofo wrote: »

I had absolutely no problem taxing my car at the dealership on Friday. Not sure what all the fuss is. The dealership gave me the full v5 form.

Good to hear. Did you just do online via the “Taxing a vehicle as a new keeper” option?

bazz26

From my experience unless you have a UK bank account, you cannot tax the car for the minimum of 1 month as it can only be done via direct debit/standing order. You can however tax the car for 6 months with a debit/credit card. You can then claim back the unused tax once the car is officially exported with the DVLA.

Royale with Cheese

mailforkev wrote: »

Ask for a screenshot of the HPI check. Should say Unit Stocking on it.

Ok, might try that so. Another one I'm interested has gone up, this one also says outstanding finance. WTF is going on with these cars.

mailforkev

bazz26 wrote: »

From my experience unless you have a UK bank account, you cannot tax the car for the minimum of 1 month as it can only be done via direct debit/standing order. You can however tax the car for 6 months with a debit/credit card. You can then claim back the unused tax once the car is officially exported with the DVLA.

Will do that and claim back.

Presume easy to do online?

Do I send the export bit of the V5C to the authorities when home? Or will our revenue let them know?

masit

mailforkev wrote: »

Will do that and claim back.

Presume easy to do online?

Do I send the export bit of the V5C to the authorities when home? Or will our revenue let them know?

The garage should send off the export bit along with a note with date exported and so on.

bazz26

mailforkev wrote: »

Will do that and claim back.

Presume easy to do online?

Do I send the export bit of the V5C to the authorities when home? Or will our revenue let them know?

You don't have to do anything about the Export bit. You need the full V5c log book however to register the car here. The seller can keep the Permanent Export bit and send it off to Swansea if they like but when you re-register the car here Swansea will get notified that it has permanently exported anyway.

Royale with Cheese

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Ok, might try that so. Another one I'm interested has gone up, this one also says outstanding finance. WTF is going on with these cars.

I rang the dealer, he said it was clear and sent me a (blurry) picture of the report he ran. I ran the check on another HPI site and it comes back as being on unit stocking finance, the car only went up for sale today though so could take a few days for that info to trickle down if it has been paid off?

Just rang the finance, they tell me they still have an interest in the car. Would the dealer's report not flag up finance on the car owed by themselves? Actually just looking again, the date of registration and date of last transfer of ownership are different on the report he sent me to the two I ran.

Edit: Right I finally got an in focus report off him. The VIN he ran the check against doesn't match the plate. Fúckin hell.

Quick question: I'm thinking of buying a Volvo v60/s60 across the water and bringing it back, approx. 4 years old with approx. 80k k/m.

If i do so would it be wise to get the timing belt/chain done when i bring it back if it hasn't been done before? And how much are we talking for that?

bonkers67

Will the U.K. police always do you for the tax thing? Do they not give a little leeway considering you’ve just bought the car and are exporting it?

bazz26

It's like anything, depends who stops you and what sort of mood they are in. They could send you on your way, read you the riot act or escort you to the station and start looking for proof of insurance.

Given the generally low rate of the tax and the ability to get a partial refund it's just not worth chancing the hassle of being pulled over and all that if your rushing for a ferry.

1874

Boardie50 wrote: »

Hello all
I have read through this thread and I am seeing posts with lads saving 3k, 5k 9k, etc and I see the stats about the # of uk cars on the road in IRE, so people seem to be saving money for sure, and fair play to all who have.

But in all the checks I have done so far - I am not seeing any huge savings. (I understand some older posts when Sterling was weaker - people did better)

Specifically I am looking at a 2016 or 2017 Kia Sportage mid to high Spec.
In IRE, for a cash deal I could get a 2016 for 23K or a 2017 for approx. 25K.

When I price the same cars on autotrader and apply the VRT - the saving seems to be around 1000 eurs or so - if you factor in travel over and ferry and all that - it doesn't seem a lot of saving any more? I know its 1000 euros but with so many lads buying from over there I thought the gains would be higher..

I called about 8 garages this weekend on cars that match what I am looking for, almost all of them said the price listed was the price id pay one or 2 said they'd potentially give a couple of hundred pounds off so the advertised prices seem close to what they would accept for a car it seems?

I am wondering if I am missing something when I am working the VRT out or something?
Do I just need to look harder for a deal ?

Anybody with any recent purchase for a similar wagon to the sportage with a better saving than I am seeing?

Thanks in advance for any advice, replies.

I guess it depends on the vehicle type and cost, I looked at certain cars online for my partner (ordinary vehicles) and the savings was significant, the spec was better, the mileage lower, spotless cars, well presented with loads of information, cars that commanded a significantly higher price here.

useeme

.

Caliden

Vehicle Particulars Section B of Declaration for registration - "country whence consigned" - what does this mean?

The car is originally from mainland UK (not sure if Scotland/Wales/England) and I bought it in the north.

1874

bazz26 wrote: »

From my experience unless you have a UK bank account, you cannot tax the car for the minimum of 1 month as it can only be done via direct debit/standing order. You can however tax the car for 6 months with a debit/credit card. You can then claim back the unused tax once the car is officially exported with the DVLA.

It seems some have said dealers will tax for a month and then recover that? or let it slide, maybe they take that into account or it can be negotiated with them.
Any idea how much can be claimed back out of the 6 months?