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

heldel00

I was able to pay €4000+ using my AIB debit card in the one transaction.

Aaargh123

Hi, I cocked up when importing from uk and didn't get full V5C (I know I know)...

Presented at VRT centre and refused assessment. V5C has gone astray in UK postal system, so no chance of getting docs in time for the 30 days.

Anyone know what I can expect? How much does Revenue fine? Do they show any mercy For genuine set of circs?

Thanks all

Merri08

Hi guys
Looking for some advice , re co2 and new testing if anyone knows . Here the story so far , buying car off main dealership in uk , agreed a price and they sent vid we gave a deposit on c.c over the fone , booked flights 100for 2 of us and ferry 227 used tesco club cards points payed €7 in total then . Also saved a fortune on the exchange rates I opened up account with torfx ( money transfer company) and agreed a rate I transferred into there euro account and they forwarded on to recipient the differed was 850 in rate and transfer fee of 30 with the Bank unbelievable.
So the car we are getting in hopefully on sat was reg in sep 17 , on the books and brochures from Peugeot it’s c02 is 139 tax band B road tax 290, but on the v5 it is 143co2 . So after looking into it I’ve seen the new testing for co2 was brought in to affect in sep17 so the same car is going to have two different readings , how am I going to get the low rate from vrt and road tax on inspection ......? Does any one know or came across this yet .?also the dealer said once I send back the declaration of perment exportation , he can refund the vat what to u think

bazz26

You don't, the VRT people will go off the co2 figure in the car's V5c registration document.

Merri08

But wot about the new co2 testing same car two different results eu states u can’t be charged at the height rate

bazz26

Where are you getting that from?

The new testing is only just coming in now on brand new cars. I cannot see how it would apply to a 2017 car.

johnfás

Is it possible to pay UK road tax without a UK address? Have found the car we want and hoping to go over Saturday week to collect it but concerned about the position re road tax for the drive back to Holyhead. It will be a 5 hour drive so would like everything to be above board.

heldel00

There has to be some kind of special dispensation John. I've never heard of anyone having to tax for driving to the boat.

bonkers67

Afaik you have to pay the tax. The dealer can arrange it.

Mc Love

bonkers67 wrote: »

Afaik you have to pay the tax. The dealer can arrange it.

Some dealers wont let you leave without the car being taxed

bazz26

There is no special dispensation for not requiring to tax a car because you are driving it to a ferry port for permanent export. Same as over here, the car needs to be taxed if it's been driven on a public road. That's different to chancing not being pulled over for having no motor tax, on the way to the ferry port or that the police are in a good mood and let you on your merry way.

The garage can arrange to pay the tax for you online, to tax it for 1 month online you need to set up a direct debit and you need a UK bank account for that. The other option is to tax it for 6 months online using a debit/credit card and the garages address. When you get the car back to Ireland you can then claim the unused motor tax back from the DVLA once it is officially declared as permanently exported.

hawkelady

What does S/S mean on the model of a car. I'm looking at the vrt calculator on the revenue website , an xtrail 4x4 tekna 1.6dci is coming in at €5.6k in vrt.
An xtrail s/s 4x4 tekna 1.6dci is coming in at over 7k !!!! Kinda hoping the s/s bit isn't on the V5 papers!! Big difference

Kotek Besar

hawkelady wrote: »

What does S/S mean on the model of a car. I'm looking at the vrt calculator on the revenue website , an xtrail 4x4 tekna 1.6dci is coming in at €5.6k in vrt.
An xtrail s/s 4x4 tekna 1.6dci is coming in at over 7k !!!! Kinda hoping the s/s bit isn't on the V5 papers!! Big difference

Stop / start.

hawkelady

Jesus... didn't think a button would add another 1.5k .... I see the emissions are up 4 to 143 on the s/s model. I take it it'll be on the V5, yeah ?

awec

hawkelady wrote: »

Jesus... didn't think a button would add another 1.5k .... I see the emissions are up 4 to 143 on the s/s model. I take it it'll be on the V5, yeah ?

Yep.

hell4leather

I am thinking of bringing over a 1.4 tsi Golf 2010 as it would work out cheaper than buying here, virtually impossible to get a tsi in Ireland for decent money, majority are 1.4 80bhp, tsi is over 120 bhp. Thoughts suggestions?

mick4_2000

mick4_2000 wrote: »

Nope it's the same band as it only jumps to 119g but they have the omsp at 36k. That's the difference.

Thanks for the information on the bigger alloys I didn't realize that.

So good news I got a letter last week to say I'm going to be refunded €1600. Great result but it should not have been charged in the first place.

hawkelady

mick4_2000 wrote: »

mick4_2000 wrote: »

Nope it's the same band as it only jumps to 119g but they have the omsp at 36k. That's the difference.

Thanks for the information on the bigger alloys I didn't realize that.

So good news I got a letter last week to say I'm going to be refunded €1600. Great result but it should not have been charged in the first place.

Good stuff .. how did you go about lodging your complaint ? Also did you have to back up your claim with any evidence ? If so what did you use??
Thanks

PauloMN

hawkelady wrote: »

Jesus... didn't think a button would add another 1.5k .... I see the emissions are up 4 to 143 on the s/s model. I take it it'll be on the V5, yeah ?

Maybe I'm missing something here, but how are the emissions on the s/s model higher? Would have thought they'd have been lower - is that not the point of s/s?

mick4_2000

hawkelady wrote: »

Good stuff .. how did you go about lodging your complaint ? Also did you have to back up your claim with any evidence ? If so what did you use??
Thanks

Thanks,

I just typed up a letter in the format they have here:
https://www.revenue.ie/en/importing-vehicles-duty-free-allowances/guide-to-vrt/appeals/first-stage.aspx

Then I sent 4 adverts in total from donedeal and carzone as close to the spec and mileage as I could for the least omsp. Then I took the average omsp of the 4 ads and worked out the vrt due. They sent me a letter saying I was being refunded that exact amount and I received the cheque in the post a week later.

Well worth the half an hour effort :-)

joeysoap

Boards is a terrific forum for information.. I imported a car using the advice gained here and it was easy.

However I have a small query, which I raised today with the VRT office. The VRT levied was €2628 and I said my calculation was €2498.a a difference of €130, not huge but still,

I said the car is a Ford Fiesta 1.25 Zetec 60ps 5 door.
They said it is Ford Fiesta 1.25 Zerec 82ps 5 door.

Both have 122 Co2 emissions but the VRT is greater on the 82ps version

On the logbook (I have a copy) under p.2 max net power (kw) it shows 60.
Is this the same as 60ps? They said today it wasn’t but I don’t see 82 anywhere on the logbook.

bazz26

60kw is 82ps.

joeysoap

Thanks bazz26.


(It didn’t help that car zone doesn’t have one single fiesta described as 82ps and dozens advertised as 60ps)

bazz26

I think they phased out the 82ps version a few years back and replaced it with the higher powered Ecoboost engines instead.

joeysoap

Yes, they did. A fantastic 1l engine by all accounts. But I couldn’t source one 2nd hand, so I went for the old reliable war horse the 1.25 engine.

All the 1.25 models on carzone are described as 60ps, and to make matters more complicated the VRT website has two 1.25 engines @60ps and four @ 82ps. And an unbelievable 13 variations in the 1.25 Zetec engine alone.

Thanks for your help, happy now that I was not overcharged and that the model I have appears to have a higher omsp than the one I thought I had. (If that makes sense).

rocky

joeysoap wrote: »

...
On the logbook (I have a copy) under p.2 max net power (kw) it shows 60.
Is this the same as 60ps? They said today it wasn’t but I don’t see 82 anywhere on the logbook.

[captain obvious]

Google has a great unit converter I find. E.g. if you want to convert any currency to your local currency (that the browser has set as local), just highlight the number and currency symbol and (in Chrome) right click and "Search Google for "..." " will take you directly to a conversion to Euro in my case.

If the unit conversion is not automatic (as for kW to ps), search in google "60 kW to ps" result:

81.5773 metric horsepower

[/captain obvious]

joeysoap

In the VRT Officce yesterday I asked , jokingly, how much they took in on an average day at that particular office

On average, €250,000

bfa1509

I tried to inform myself as much as I could before posting here, but apologies in advance if an obvious answer or has been answered recently.

I have been shopping around for a particular car for a while now. To my delight, one has popped up in one of the car supermarkets (Fords of Winsford). The car is an ex-fleet first registered in Aug 2017 and has 8500 km (hasn't been serviced yet). The car looks good from the pictures (with exception of a small scratch towards the rear that they kindly informed me of). They carried out their own 88 point check, which didn't show up anything but (as the OP suggests) I would always get an AA check anyway.

Apologies for not mentioning the car make, I'm afraid a pesky reader might jump at my chance

From my research, ex-fleet cars can be a good option as a second hand car. Car supermarkets are usually safe but don't tend to be open to haggling (I asked the dealer and they will not negotiate on the price) . I think the car is reasonably priced (about £1000 lower than same spec'd cars from dealers).

My problem is that they do not accept cash/draft, only bank transfer. Which means that I would essentially be buying a car that I never saw in person before (I have test driven the same car here though and I like it). Is this a terrible idea, or is it commonly done, even with the risks?

mgn

Can you not pay them a deposit to hold the car for a few days.Then go over and have a look it and if your happy with it complete the sale.

bfa1509

mgn wrote: »

Can you not pay them a deposit to hold the car for a few days.Then go over and have a look it and if your happy with it complete the sale.

Yes I could do this but it would likely require two trips over. They would have to wait for the transfer to clear before they release the car. And they warned that even after the transfer has cleared, they do some other servicing/preparations on the car before releasing it. I doubt I could get it done in one trip.