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

bazz26

1874 wrote: »

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?

Some dealers may tax it on your behalf for one month by using their bank details and you pay them there, while others won't.

Info on refund is here:

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-refund

Batesout

Easiest way to pay the road tax, is to pay by direct debit and cancel after the 1st month.

rob316

Just don't bother paying it, your going straight for the Ferry, youll be grand.

Fann Linn

rob316 wrote: »

Just don't bother paying it, your going straight for the Ferry, youll be grand.

Grand until ye meet a cnut of a cop. Then ye might end up hitching along the A55.

At the same time I'm slightly bemused however at people going to the UK to save €000s and then enquiring about how to get around 1 months tax.

Ye can pay the tax over there and claim the excess when you step back on holy ground!

JMR

rob316 wrote: »

Just don't bother paying it, your going straight for the Ferry, youll be grand.

I'd be in agreement with this. I've only imported once before. Drove London to Holyhead and to be honest didn't even consider taxing the car in the UK.
Will be doing the same again next week with a much shorter trip to the ferry, has anybody on here actually been stopped while enroute to the ferry?

bazz26

It never ceases to amuse me how some people who have just spend thousands of pounds on buying a car in the UK, go through the drama and paranoia of having to look over their shoulder all the way to the ferry port for the sake of avoiding paying a few pound in motor tax that you can even claim back a fair chunk of back when you get home.

Drove from Preston to Holyhead last summer with a friend who bought a car and we did encounter a good few police cars on the motorway. We had the car taxed when we left the garage so no idea if we would have been pulled over but for the sake of £60 (which he got around £50 back) why to God would you take the risk for the sake of £10?

searay

Many uk police cars are fitted with a registration reader that checks if cars are taxed. You can't fob a policeman off by saying you are waiting for a disc to be sent out. In my case, The garage were reluctant to let me leave without paying 6 months tax which they paid and charged my credit card.

I paid over 60, got 50 back. If I had been stopped even for an hour I'd probably have missed the ferry. 10 quid on a purchase costing nearly 20k and no stress is neither here nor there.

JMR

bazz26 wrote: »

It never ceases to amuse me how some people who have just spend thousands of pounds on buying a car in the UK, go through the drama and paranoia of having to look over their shoulder all the way to the ferry port for the sake of avoiding paying a few pound in motor tax

I take your point but I wouldn't have thought of going through any drama or paranoia because I wouldn't be looking over my shoulder.
Maybe I'm wrong in not considering it a risk, hence my question, which was an effort to determine if a real risk exists. If it does, I will happily pay a few pound to mitigate a real risk.

MarkN

I live and work close enough to Dublin Port and I'm not exaggerating when I say I saw 6 transporters full of UK cars today alone. All mixed brands and levels of models. No idea where they're all going particularly when they're mixed but it's a sure sign of what is going on with the huge increase of imports. Not since 2007 or so have I seen the levels of what I can only assume are dealers bringing in truck loads to make an even bigger profit.

bazz26

The UK is not like here where you will be told at a Garda checkpoint it's grand just pay it tomorrow if your tax is out by a few weeks. Driving in the UK with no tax is taken a lot more serious if caught. The Irish attitude of I'll be grand and I'll claim ignorance if caught may or may not wash with them. At the very least you could be missing your ferry as you explain yourself so maybe that might not phase some but if I was driving to catch a ferry on a deadline and had no tax then yes I'd be considering it somewhat of a risk and looking over my shoulder to see if there were blue flashing lights behind me. Each to their own though.

JMR

Right, you've convinced me!
I'll have to go without a coffee on the boat now😀😀

bonkers67

Has anyone been stopped by the police for no tax?

JMR

MarkN wrote: »

I live and work close enough to Dublin Port and I'm not exaggerating when I say I saw 6 transporters full of UK cars today alone. All mixed brands and levels of models. No idea where they're all going particularly when they're mixed but it's a sure sign of what is going on with the huge increase of imports. Not since 2007 or so have I seen the levels of what I can only assume are dealers bringing in truck loads to make an even bigger profit.

While researching which car I would import, I visited 3 main dealers in Dublin to test drive models I was interested in. All had what seemed to be the majority of their used stock made up of UK imports. I naively didn't think that main BMW, Audi or Merc dealers did that.
Just goes to show how the market has changed

MarkN

JMR wrote: »

While researching which car I would import, I visited 3 main dealers in Dublin to test drive models I was interested in. All had what seemed to be the majority of their used stock made up of UK imports. I naively didn't think that main BMW, Audi or Merc dealers did that.
Just goes to show how the market has changed

BMW were somewhat up front about it in the past and branded their imports the Sterling Collection

darragh o meara

bonkers67 wrote: »

Has anyone been stopped by the police for no tax?

Yes and once I explained to him what I was doing and that it wasn’t possible for me to tax it due to not having a Uk address he let me go. You could meet a cnut but if your civil with them they’re usually alright.

Also if your buying a car privately, the car if already taxed by last owner will technically still be taxed until the DVLA are informed of the sale ( a few days after you buy it ) going on this, you wouldn’t flag on ANPR on the trip home.

nice_guy80

hope to go over this week or next to pick up a car

whats the best way to transfer the money for payment?

JMR

nice_guy80 wrote: »

hope to go over this week or next to pick up a car

whats the best way to transfer the money for payment?

I'm in the same position. Would have used debit card but unfortunately AIB have a daily limit of, I think €5k. I'm using TransferMate to get same day transfer and a better rate than the banks too.
You need to fill a few forms and provide proof of identity etc but quite handy to get set up.

mailforkev

Used Transfermate last week and can recommend.

I set up the account the week before, few documents/forms to send them, and had the garage account setup as a beneficiary so I was all ready to go on the day.

Called when the deal was done and the transfer went through in under an hour.

Chuppa Siopa

Anybody used cargiant recently? What payment method did you use?

masit

Chuppa Siopa wrote: »

Anybody used cargiant recently? What payment method did you use?

I know you can only use a UK debit card. UK Debit cards, Direct Transfer and Bank Drafts payable to Cargiant Ltd it says on their website. As others have said, transfermate seem good. I'm in the process of registering with them now and it seems straight forward enough.

Chuppa Siopa

masit wrote: »

I know you can only use a UK debit card. UK Debit cards, Direct Transfer and Bank Drafts payable to Cargiant Ltd it says on their website. As others have said, transfermate seem good. I'm in the process of registering with them now and it seems straight forward enough.

Thanks. I used a sterling bank draft from bank of Ireland with them before, i just heard that bank drafts are not acceptable anymore.

nice_guy80

mailforkev wrote: »

Used Transfermate last week and can recommend.

I set up the account the week before, few documents/forms to send them, and had the garage account setup as a beneficiary so I was all ready to go on the day.

Called when the deal was done and the transfer went through in under an hour.

was hoping to use Carbase in Bristol
apparantly they don't usually do transfermate but it would take 24 hours to clear
seems strange.

I'll just have to wait in lovely Bristol for 24 hours and drinks lots of local real ale or cider.

JMR

nice_guy80 wrote: »

was hoping to use Carbase in Bristol
apparantly they don't usually do transfermate but it would take 24 hours to clear
seems strange.

Did the dealer actually tell you they won't accept payment via TransferMate? If so, that is indeed strange as to the receiver it is just another incoming payment.
I used standard transfer from my AIB account to the dealers bank for £500 deposit last Tuesday and it still hasn't arrived yet.
TransferMate guarantee same day transfer if instruction is given pre 12:00 i think

copacetic

I had dealer say that all transfers take 48 hours, transfermate arrived before 3pm, same day. Dealers finance people can need some serious cajoling to even check often for the money.

nice_guy80

JMR wrote: »

Did the dealer actually tell you they won't accept payment via TransferMate? If so, that is indeed strange as to the receiver it is just another incoming payment.
I used standard transfer from my AIB account to the dealers bank for £500 deposit last Tuesday and it still hasn't arrived yet.
TransferMate guarantee same day transfer if instruction is given pre 12:00 i think

person on the phone had to check with his boss etc etc
then he rang me back to say they'd have to leave 24 hours for payment

doogie!

Went to pay my VRT yesterday in Northpoint and I must say I found the experience painful. My thoughts are that if they can squeeze an extra 5 euro out of you they will. I will hold my hands up and say for a start i was 2 days over the 30. Penalty straight away, then I was missing the boat receipt so there was no way I was going to get it sorted in one visit. I asked the lady if i e-mail her the receipt would she print it out, she said no, it was a revenue computer and it wasn't allowed. I then had only a print out bank statement of my address, they needed an original so that meant a trip to the bank to get a stamp on my print out to verify it and when i returned today she barely glanced at it but the upshot was I now had 3 days of a penalty to pay which equated to 79 euro. My advice is to have all your documentation in order. There is no leeway with them in the office. They know every trick in the book and it's water off a ducks back no mater what you try to say to them. Condescending was the tone from the 2 ladies i dealt with. The only advice I have is have your documents in order and don't give them an excuse to get a cent more than they should.

JMR

doogie! wrote: »

Went to pay my VRT yesterday in Northpoint and I must say I found the experience painful. My thoughts are that if they can squeeze an extra 5 euro out of you they will. I will hold my hands up and say for a start i was 2 days over the 30. Penalty straight away, then I was missing the boat receipt so there was no way I was going to get it sorted in one visit. I asked the lady if i e-mail her the receipt would she print it out, she said no, it was a revenue computer and it wasn't allowed. I then had only a print out bank statement of my address, they needed an original so that meant a trip to the bank to get a stamp on my print out to verify it and when i returned today she barely glanced at it but the upshot was I now had 3 days of a penalty to pay which equated to 79 euro. My advice is to have all your documentation in order. There is no leeway with them in the office. They know every trick in the book and it's water off a ducks back no mater what you try to say to them. Condescending was the tone from the 2 ladies i dealt with. The only advice I have is have your documents in order and don't give them an excuse to get a cent more than they should.

Thanks for the info.
Was there much discussion around the actual rate they applied? Did they question trim level and extras etc or just accept the calculation you presumably had from their site?

bazz26

The NCT go with the VRT figure on Revenue's database, they don't add or subtract from those figures at their own discretion. They are only there to facilitate the registration process, paperwork and take payment. Revenue call the shots around VRT valuations. If the car's VIN is not in their database then the NCT have to send a request off to Revenue for a valuation.

doogie!

JMR wrote: »

Thanks for the info.
Was there much discussion around the actual rate they applied? Did they question trim level and extras etc or just accept the calculation you presumably had from their site?

No, it was bang on the same as the calculation i did myself bar the penalty of 79 euro for 3 days over.

michellie

doogie! wrote: »

Went to pay my VRT yesterday in Northpoint and I must say I found the experience painful. My thoughts are that if they can squeeze an extra 5 euro out of you they will. I will hold my hands up and say for a start i was 2 days over the 30. Penalty straight away, then I was missing the boat receipt so there was no way I was going to get it sorted in one visit. I asked the lady if i e-mail her the receipt would she print it out, she said no, it was a revenue computer and it wasn't allowed. I then had only a print out bank statement of my address, they needed an original so that meant a trip to the bank to get a stamp on my print out to verify it and when i returned today she barely glanced at it but the upshot was I now had 3 days of a penalty to pay which equated to 79 euro. My advice is to have all your documentation in order. There is no leeway with them in the office. They know every trick in the book and it's water off a ducks back no mater what you try to say to them. Condescending was the tone from the 2 ladies i dealt with. The only advice I have is have your documents in order and don't give them an excuse to get a cent more than they should.

To be fair, it's very clear what documents are required. It's all there on the website.