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

currans5

Hi

I am returing to college for a 9 month spell over to Wales, during this period i will be living in Wales
I am interested in buying an UK Reg car, is it true that if you are grater than 6 months out of the country that i will not have to pay VRT on this car when i return.
Does this only apply to people that are working over in the UK for > 6 months or this also apply to students

Seth Brundle

As has been said already, you cannot avail of the 6 month amnesty if you are a full time student.

pa daly

but if you do qualify do you still get irish plates if you dont have to pay vrt.

probably a stupid question

The_Conductor

pa daly wrote:

but if you do qualify do you still get irish plates if you dont have to pay vrt.

probably a stupid question

Yes, your vehicle must be registered, and have valid road tax and insurance- irresepective of whether you qualify for the VRT exemption or not. It is an offence to drive a foreign registered vehicle on Irish roads unless you are a tourist visiting the country for a short period of time.

Seth Brundle

...or if you are not Irish but will be working here less than 12 months and have notified the VRO.

IncredibleHulk

Robertr wrote: »

Sorry, all cars have to registered within 24hrs of arriving in the country. Only exception is for dealers who can wait until the car is sold on but you have to register for this.

Robertr

What is your website please? I read in it was in your sig but I do not see it.
Thanks

silverski

smccarrick wrote: »

Yes, your vehicle must be registered, and have valid road tax and insurance- irresepective of whether you qualify for the VRT exemption or not. It is an offence to drive a foreign registered vehicle on Irish roads unless you are a tourist visiting the country for a short period of time.

So does this mean we have a huge number of tourist visitors on our roads at the moment.

The_Conductor

silverski wrote: »

So does this mean we have a huge number of tourist visitors on our roads at the moment.

A more accurate reading might be that we have a large number of Garda vehicles with "Traffic Corp" plastered all over them, who have zero enthusiasm for enforcing some of our traffic regulations.......

silverski

smccarrick wrote: »

A more accurate reading might be that we have a large number of Garda vehicles with "Traffic Corp" plastered all over them, who have zero enthusiasm for enforcing some of our traffic regulations.......

So True, So True, but they are experts at spotting an out of date tax disc at a thousand yards ( or 1KM)

PowerHouseDan

I managed to get exempt from vrt on my car,i no i cant sell it for 12 months but can my partner drive my car?

dudey

Hi there,
Was just wondering,i heard that you can't sell on any car that you import from England for a period of 12 mts,is this true ?

Dudey

dudey

Hi there,
Was just wondering,i heard that you can not re-sale any car that you import and pay VRT on,for a period of 12mts,is there any truth in this ?

Dudey

The_Conductor

Providing you follow the rules and register the car promptly, paying the VRT due etc- it then becomes an Irish car, with Irish documentation (it will take a few weeks for an Irish registration book to arrive in the post though). As it is at that point an Irish car for all intensive purposes, I really can't see why you wouldn't be allowed to sell it here? If there is some rule- perhaps someone can point out a link to it- I can't find anything......

Dwilly

PowerHouseDan wrote: »

I managed to get exempt from vrt on my car,i no i cant sell it for 12 months but can my partner drive my car?

I did the same thing and my wife was allowed to drive the car no probs, I assume 'partner' is the same thing.

mrincredible

Hi guys, I've read through about 18 pages of this post but still can't find a situation the same as mine- if anyone has any advice it would be gladly recieved.
I've been a resident for over 26 years (ie. born there) I've worked in the north for 10 years now. About a month ago I changed my car and bought myself an 04 VW golf, problem is I applied for a job in limerick about 3 months ago - heard nothing and assumed i hadn't got it - then had a call last week to offer me the job which I accepted.
I'm starting in about 3 weeks time. I will be keeping my house in the north (renting it) and keeping bank accounts, credit cards etc going (as I still have quiet a few outgoings there) and also doing the odd bit of self employed work..
My question is simply - am i gonna get f£cked over with vrt? or is it worth my while holding off for a few months to try and import and avoid paying.. I'll be up and down to the north quite often.
If anyone can offer me any advice or has been in this situation and can help I'd be greatful.
Bit of a nightmare situation. Has turned the new job into a bit of a bitter sweet affair..

drdre

mrincredible wrote: »

Hi guys, I've read through about 18 pages of this post but still can't find a situation the same as mine- if anyone has any advice it would be gladly recieved.
I've been a resident for over 26 years (ie. born there) I've worked in the north for 10 years now. About a month ago I changed my car and bought myself an 04 VW golf, problem is I applied for a job in limerick about 3 months ago - heard nothing and assumed i hadn't got it - then had a call last week to offer me the job which I accepted.
I'm starting in about 3 weeks time. I will be keeping my house in the north (renting it) and keeping bank accounts, credit cards etc going (as I still have quiet a few outgoings there) and also doing the odd bit of self employed work..
My question is simply - am i gonna get f£cked over with vrt? or is it worth my while holding off for a few months to try and import and avoid paying.. I'll be up and down to the north quite often.
If anyone can offer me any advice or has been in this situation and can help I'd be greatful.
Bit of a nightmare situation. Has turned the new job into a bit of a bitter sweet affair..

You should be fine, If you have documents to prove you live there then if you do get pulled just say you are working her part time.There shouldnt be a problem

jimmycrackcorm

drdre wrote: »

You should be fine, If you have documents to prove you live there then if you do get pulled just say you are working her part time.There shouldnt be a problem

It's a mixed bag. you'll get away with driving your car for a fair amoutn of time because your documentatio shows you lived up north. However to import it you'll likely get caught out by the import rule that says you have to have owned the car for 6 months prior to moving over.

Now that might not be such a big issue considering you have proper documentation of an existance in the north. However where you'll get caught out is with the job as revenue will look for supporting documentation for what you have been doing whether it's working or studying etc.

At worst though you''l have to pay VRT. At best you'll get to drive on northern plates for quite a while and the VRT will go down.

Santa Claus

dudey wrote: »

Hi there,
Was just wondering,i heard that you can not re-sale any car that you import and pay VRT on,for a period of 12mts,is there any truth in this ?

Dudey

Once you pay the VRT on a car it becomes an irish car and can be sold on the next day if you wish !
You'll notice quite a few garages in Dublin with used cars for sale still on english plates, this is what they do...when they get a buyer they register the car here.

kindalen

you could say your primary home is still the north you work there(have proof) and spend 4-5 nights a week in the north....you are only visiting the south for "part" of your work...

Santa Claus

mrincredible wrote: »

Hi guys, I've read through about 18 pages of this post but still can't find a situation the same as mine- if anyone has any advice it would be gladly recieved.
I've been a resident for over 26 years (ie. born there) I've worked in the north for 10 years now. About a month ago I changed my car and bought myself an 04 VW golf, problem is I applied for a job in limerick about 3 months ago - heard nothing and assumed i hadn't got it - then had a call last week to offer me the job which I accepted.
I'm starting in about 3 weeks time. I will be keeping my house in the north (renting it) and keeping bank accounts, credit cards etc going (as I still have quiet a few outgoings there) and also doing the odd bit of self employed work..
My question is simply - am i gonna get f£cked over with vrt? or is it worth my while holding off for a few months to try and import and avoid paying.. I'll be up and down to the north quite often.
If anyone can offer me any advice or has been in this situation and can help I'd be greatful.
Bit of a nightmare situation. Has turned the new job into a bit of a bitter sweet affair..

My best mate is from Belfast and was working down here for 3 years.
As long as you can show that you go up to Belfast at least 2 weekends a month then you're OK !
He had a house up there too so his home was Belfast and he was renting down here to work so his situation was pretty much identical to yours.

Slightly off topic but one of my workmates has a girlfriend who works in Belfast and comes back down home every weekend in her UK reg company car and gets stopped at least once a month by the gardai. She questioned at one stage why they never stop any of the eastern european reg's driving round Dublin 365 days a year and one garda told her "sure there's no point, they don't speak english" (which would make working over here fairly hard for them) !

mophead

hey lads, livin ere in london,what cheaper cars would be best to bring back,thinking along the lines of 1990 bww
1997 bmw
1996-99 corolla???????????
thanks;)

galwaytt

none of the above, actually.........:D we've loads of cheap cars here, as it is !

Seth Brundle

Santa Claus wrote: »

My best mate is from Belfast and was working down here for 3 years.
As long as you can show that you go up to Belfast at least 2 weekends a month then you're OK !
He had a house up there too so his home was Belfast and he was renting down here to work so his situation was pretty much identical to yours.

My wife from Belfast was caught out because she hadn't enough documentation to prove that her family ties were in NI. There was insufficient banking transactions, phone records, etc. made in NI to justify calling it a permanent residence. The VRO wanted her to go home and then straight away go out and spend loads of money!

Santa Claus wrote: »

Slightly off topic but one of my workmates has a girlfriend who works in Belfast and comes back down home every weekend in her UK reg company car and gets stopped at least once a month by the gardai. She questioned at one stage why they never stop any of the eastern european reg's driving round Dublin 365 days a year and one garda told her "sure there's no point, they don't speak english" (which would make working over here fairly hard for them) !

She is not here most of the week but knows reckons that the gardai never stop any Eastern European cars?

The_Conductor

mophead wrote: »

hey lads, livin ere in london,what cheaper cars would be best to bring back,thinking along the lines of 1990 bww
1997 bmw
1996-99 corolla???????????
thanks;)

To be perfectly honest- I wouldn't bother bringing back any of those. Its only really worth your while with something that has scarcity value here- or a very high specc'ed model that wasn't available here in the first place. There are no shortage of cheap BMWs available here- the VRT isn't high on the older ones- but you will get whacked with punitive tax and insurance on them. Its about 700 road tax for a 1.8 litre and the insurance could be even more- depending on your age and record.

S.

mophead

thanks for the response,,any suggestions on what types of cars i could bring back on a regular basis that might sell quick:rolleyes:??

TheBigLebowski

smccarrick wrote: »

Its about 700 road tax for a 1.8 litre

No need to exaggerate. It's €484 for 1.8 litre.

The_Conductor

TheBigLebowski wrote: »

No need to exaggerate. It's €484 for 1.8 litre.

Sorry-

1.6 = €414
1.8 = €484
2.0 = €689
2.5 = €961

Proposals are to increase roadtax for anything over 1.6 by 16% p.a. (with a more complex measurement of carbon emissions for diesels/dual fuels etc on the cards for next year).

S.

Gigiwagga

Would anybody have some advice for me I have a couple of questions.
I'm interested in buying a car (2001) in Belfast at the moment the `VRT is about €2800, if I bought before xmas and waited until 1st of Jan to Reg, how much am I likely to save. And another thing, I would like to have an inspection carried out on the car, but the AA don't do it in the north, and I dont want the hassle/cost of bringing a mechanic of from Cork. Any suggestions. Really great thread.

Spipov

quick question: i live here but my brother lives and works in uk and has a lexus there. he wants me to have it for around 4-6 months driving here while he tries his hand on a different car. can i get insured on his car (as a 3rd party driver) and drive it over here? ill have insurance and bills and whatever needed to show the car is registered under his name in the uk. im going to give it back to him after those few months or if it stays here then id get it vrt'ed even though thats probably not an option as vrt is damn expensive on the lexus... cheers for answering

Spipov

would just like to make a quick update to re ask the question as 1/4 of the thread got chopped off with the m3 issue. cheers