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

tea and coffee

peaceboi wrote: »

Yes, I had similar experience from Motorline group UK, they have nissan and Hyundai franchises. When enquired about buying 2017 nissan leaf, they said they can only sell to somebody with UK address, & that's their company policy! Finally kept my cousin's Belfast address, got the new v5c send to their address.

Interesting. I bought from a Motorline with no issues at all.

peaceboi

Mine was from motorline Oxford.
Lucky for you

brdlry

peaceboi wrote: »

Yes, I had similar experience from Motorline group UK, they have nissan and Hyundai franchises. When enquired about buying 2017 nissan leaf, they said they can only sell to somebody with UK address, & that's their company policy! Finally kept my cousin's Belfast address, got the new v5c send to their address.

Yes, i can give an address of a friend of ours in the North. Did you give your name and your cousin's address then to Motorline? Any issues then when you went to the VRT office showing them the v5 doc that had your name with a UK address?

peaceboi

I kept his name and address as the new owner, also send his driving license copy & address proof via email. Once, he got the new v5c, it was sent to me. Cash was transferred via transfer wise. He received the new v5c within 4-5 working days, after sale. So, for vrt appointment, it was shown as I purchased the car from him @ Belfast.

brdlry

peaceboi wrote: »

I kept his name and address as the new owner, also send his driving license copy & address proof via email. Once, he got the new v5c, it was sent to me. Cash was transferred via transfer wise. He received the new v5c within 4-5 working days, after sale. So, for vrt appointment, it was shown as I purchased the car from him @ Belfast.

Ah right. This then adds another owner to the history of the car though....

Irish Steve

Mr.Fantastic wrote: »

Hi just wondering with the VRT for the proof of address would they be able to tell if you printed off an estatement? From the looks of it looks near identical to the actual statement?

Don't have any utility bills in my name have ordered a duplicate statement to be delivered by post but just in case it doesn't come in time.

I raised this with them recently, and the response was to print a bank E-statement, then call into the branch and get it stamped and signed by a member of the bank staff, and they will accept that.

Can't understand why the new style driving licence isn't good enough, as that has an address on it, but that would be too easy.

brdlry

Elbow head wrote: »

Hi. No it's a mazda 6.


I got the impression that it was more of a situation you outlined aujopimur.

If I were to give the Northern address, how would I then go about registering it in Ireland? I would need the dealer to complete the relevant section of the v5 for Swansea?

Thanks very much for the replies.

Did you buy this car in Scotland? I have the same issue at the moment with Audi garages in the UK. Need to give a UK address....

tea and coffee

peaceboi wrote: »

Mine was from motorline Oxford.
Lucky for you

I wonder does it depend on the franchise. Mine was just outside London and not a high value car; plus diesel: I'd say they were delighted to get rid of it

donkey balls

Hi all,

Just a quick question regarding importing a used car from the UK and having read the guide regarding cars under 6 months or 6000km, I have had people tell me that when you import a car and they do the inspection to see that its the actual model and year etc.
They also check every extra the car has to calculate the VRT yet there is only the option on the revenue website for the year mileage car make and type+ engine size etc.
I am playing with the idea of getting an A6 Quattro and have factored in the VRT according to the revenue website I just don't want to be hit with any extras, Also I would be buying from an Audi main dealer so is there a need to have an engineer and do some sort of check on the car for finance history etc.

bazz26

The VRT calculator doesn't take factory extras into account. VRT on factory extras are only taken into consideration on cars 2 years or younger and they tend to focus on premium brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes, etc.

They used to go out and inspect the car for extras but these days they don't need to as they can check via the car's VIN. They still inspect the car though to make sure the car is what it's registration states and mileage, etc. If the car isn't on Revenue's system then they need to send a query off to Revenue who will come back with a VRT figure.

Mr.Fantastic

Irish Steve wrote: »

I raised this with them recently, and the response was to print a bank E-statement, then call into the branch and get it stamped and signed by a member of the bank staff, and they will accept that.

Can't understand why the new style driving licence isn't good enough, as that has an address on it, but that would be too easy.

Thanks for this. I was thinking it seemed a bit silly alright.

Will do this

donkey balls

bazz26 wrote: »

The VRT calculator doesn't take factory extras into account. VRT on factory extras are only taken into consideration on cars 2 years or younger and they tend to focus on premium brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes, etc.

They used to go out and inspect the car for extras but these days they don't need to as they can check via the car's VIN. They still inspect the car though to make sure the car is what it's registration states and mileage, etc. If the car isn't on Revenue's system then they need to send a query off to Revenue who will come back with a VRT figure.

Any ideas on what they class as extras also buying from a main dealer should I still get the car checked out by an independent assessor?

bazz26

Anything that was not standard equipment on that model from the factory. The dealer should be able to tell you what factory extras are on the car.

bonkers67

bazz26 wrote: »

Anything that was not standard equipment on that model from the factory. The dealer should be able to tell you what factory extras are on the car.

Do you know how they calculate for sat nav, park assist etc etc?

bazz26

bonkers67 wrote: »

Do you know how they calculate for sat nav, park assist etc etc?

The depreciate the cost of factory extras over the first 2 years of the car and the VRT on those extras is based on the car's VRT bracket.

For example, lets take rounded figures - Factory extras cost 2k and the car is 10 months old. So factory extras are now valued at 50% or 1k for VRT. VRT figure on those extras will then be a percentage of that 1k.

If the car is over 2 years old then they don't consider the factory extras.

zetor 4911

Sent 250 sterling (by banking 365) as a booking deposit to Lloyds bank for a jeep Lloyd are the bank for the seller's of the vehicle but Lloyds took a handling fee so the seller's only received 243. My question is if I pay for the vehicle through transfermate will the receiving bank (lloyds) take a handling charges and leave the seller short?

givyjoe

zetor 4911 wrote: »

Sent 250 sterling (by banking 365) as a booking deposit to Lloyds bank for a jeep Lloyd are the bank for the seller's of the vehicle but Lloyds took a handling fee so the seller's only received 243. My question is if I pay for the vehicle through transfermate will the receiving bank (lloyds) take a handling charges and leave the seller short?

That doesn't sound right. Transfermate would have been depositing sterling into the sellers account. Taking a £7 cut for 250 being transferred into their customers account seems extortionate. Would be worth checking with transfermate. Associated costs of the transactions are meant to be covered by whatever they charge you.

zetor 4911

givyjoe wrote: »

That doesn't sound right. Transfermate would have been depositing sterling into the sellers account. Taking a £7 cut for 250 being transferred into their customers account seems extortionate. Would be worth checking with transfermate. Associated costs of the transactions are meant to be covered by whatever they charge you.

Just to clarify the 250 was paid from my bank of Ireland account (365) not from transfermate but just wondering if the same handling fee will apply when I go to transfer the bulk of the payment from transfermate to the same bank

givyjoe

zetor 4911 wrote: »

Just to clarify the 250 was paid from my bank of Ireland account (365) not from transfermate but just wondering if the same handling fee will apply when I go to transfer the bulk of the payment from transfermate to the same bank

Id still say talk to transfermate and confirm, but I had no issues with service charges etc as I just paid the whole lot, no deposit.

JMR

zetor 4911 wrote: »

Just to clarify the 250 was paid from my bank of Ireland account (365) not from transfermate but just wondering if the same handling fee will apply when I go to transfer the bulk of the payment from transfermate to the same bank

Transfermate will provide you with an exact cost in Euro to transfer therequired Sterling funds to the sellers account.
This will include their charges.
You lock that price in and transfer the Euro amount to their account, then when instructed they transfer the required amount in Sterling to the sellers account.
It's all up front, no hidden or extra costs

zetor 4911

JMR wrote: »

Transfermate will provide you with an exact cost in Euro to transfer therequired Sterling funds to the sellers account.
This will include their charges.
You lock that price in and transfer the Euro amount to their account, then when instructed they transfer the required amount in Sterling to the sellers account.
It's all up front, no hidden or extra costs

Thanks for the reply.
The issue here is not with Transfermate as there charges are clear but the receiving bank (Lloyds) are deducting a fee from the money that Transfermate send to the motor dealers bank account. They (Lloyds) have deducted 7 pounds sterling from the 250 deposit. My concern here is if Transfermate transfer the balance of the payment for the vehicle(18000) and Lloyds deduct 7 Pound for every 250 pounds sent that would mean a deduction of about 500 sterling.

givyjoe

zetor 4911 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
The issue here is not with Transfermate as there charges are clear but the receiving bank (Lloyds) are deducting a fee from the money that Transfermate send to the motor dealers bank account. They (Lloyds) have deducted 7 pounds sterling from the 250 deposit. My concern here is if Transfermate transfer the balance of the payment for the vehicle(18000) and Lloyds deduct 7 Pound for every 250 pounds sent that would mean a deduction of about 500 sterling.

You said earlier that the money was sent from your BOI account, to their LLoyds account, not via transfermate?

zetor 4911

givyjoe wrote: »

You said earlier that the money was sent from your BOI account, to their LLoyds account, not via transfermate?

The deposit went from my BOI account but the bulk of the payment will go from Transfermate account. Sorry for the confusion.

givyjoe

zetor 4911 wrote: »

The deposit went from my BOI account but the bulk of the payment will go from Transfermate account. Sorry for the confusion.

Exactly, so Transfermate will build in the cost of the transaction in the price they quote you, another poster above gave a better explanation. The dealer I bought from received the exact amount in sterling they wanted. Check with them (Transfermate) and I'm sure they'll be happy to confirm.

Zzippy

Going to be over in London end of next week and taking a trip to Cargiant to hopefully pick up a car. It's a work trip so return flight booked anyway in case I don't find anything. Account set up with transfermate, but I'd like to have the Cargiant a/c details in advance so I can set up the transfer easily without having to wait. Anyone used them before who could PM me the IBAN etc? Have read the thread so fairly prepared, but any more recent tips welcome!

drunkmonkey

Zzippy wrote: »

Going to be over in London end of next week and taking a trip to Cargiant to hopefully pick up a car. It's a work trip so return flight booked anyway in case I don't find anything. Account set up with transfermate, but I'd like to have the Cargiant a/c details in advance so I can set up the transfer easily without having to wait. Anyone used them before who could PM me the IBAN etc? Have read the thread so fairly prepared, but any more recent tips welcome!

Get the bank details direct from car giant not via pm on a public board.

Zzippy

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Get the bank details direct from car giant not via pm on a public board.

Cheers, yeah realised anyone could send me their own IBAN!
Had heard Cargiant wouldn't give out those details over the phone but obviously that's the better way to go...

bonkers67

Someone posted up the iban details further back in this thread. Go back a few pages and you’ll find it.

peaceboi

I rang up a private seller seeing his ad. On auto trader website. He says he is selling behalf of his deceased dad. So the current name of owner in the v5c is his deceased Dad . I did a vehicle check and it's clean. He said he did not want to change name because it will add up the no.of owners for a 1 year old car with 5500miles. Is it safe/ideal to go through with this transaction? Your opinions please. Cheers

givyjoe

peaceboi wrote: »

I rang up a private seller seeing his ad. On auto trader website. He says he is selling behalf of his deceased dad. So the current name of owner in the v5c is his deceased Dad . I did a vehicle check and it's clean. He said he did not want to change name because it will add up the no.of owners for a 1 year old car with 5500miles. Is it safe/ideal to go through with this transaction? Your opinions please. Cheers

It seems as though you need the V5 cert for the VRT here. He'll need to be prepared to let you walk away with that, which he may not.