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

MarkN

Would you get an inspection on a car sold in a main BMW dealer here? Personally if you’re getting the premium selection warranty I’d be happy enough.

You’d need specific details to find out if you’re saving €8,000 but on a year old X5 I’d well believe it, if not more.

fishy_fishy

What's the story with getting an inspection done on cars in NI? How would I find a mechanic to do it?

ciarsd

Robbie G wrote: »

Im looking to go to the Uk for a bmw 5 series xdrive 2017 for my father.

It looks we would save €8000. Would this be correct? Also, should we get aninspection be done on it.

Main Bmw dealer is selling it.

Having just imported myself, I didn't feel the need for an inspection as the car was sold as a Premium Selection Approved Used Car, so came with BMW's warranty, transferrable throughout the dealer network.

I did however run an HPI check for finance for piece of mind and the sake of a small fee, even though that would/should also be covered by the dealer during their trade in deal with the previous owner.

Having just had my VRT inspection this evening, and now in possession of my final VRT figure owed, I'd well believe the savings of 8k for what you are looking at. Best of luck

bazz26

Just make sure the car is 6 months or older and has 6000km or more on the clock, otherwise you could be liable for VAT here too.

fishy_fishy

Just a quick question for those with experience buying up north, have you found the price to be open to negotiation?

ciarsd

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Just a quick question for those with experience buying up north, have you found the price to be open to negotiation?

Not really, maybe by £100-300 from my previous experiences. From a main dealer, you might get fuel, mats, paint protection worked into a deal but the asking price there and the UK as a whole is not far off the selling price.

The low ball offers made here in the south are not entertained there, in fact you're laughed at and a dealer will let you walk. Funny how polar opposite it is to the South - car up for 10k, receive a text "will you take 5k for it" :rolleyes:

loki7777

Quick question:
-me-privet buyer, doing vrt by myself: i need to fill declaration do reg... and VRTVPD2?
And how to pay vrt if for my car it will be €2600 as they accept up to 2,5k from card? Will the split it into 2 payments?
Final question: proof of address - all my bills are online - which way to make them to accept one. I have letter from county council regarding house loan, and one letter from social welfare - will it be enough?

kittycat_84

loki7777 wrote: »

Quick question:
-me-privet buyer, doing vrt by myself: i need to fill declaration do reg... and VRTVPD2?
And how to pay vrt if for my car it will be €2600 as they accept up to 2,5k from card? Will the split it into 2 payments?
Final question: proof of address - all my bills are online - which way to make them to accept one. I have letter from county council regarding house loan, and one letter from social welfare - will it be enough?

You can split into two payments.. it's always advice to make a draft for less the exact value. Like in your case you can do a draft of 2000. And rest you can pay through your card. Because the value may change on that day.

About your address proof.. you can ask your provider to send a hard copy bill to your address.. I did the same for me. But actually I felt a colour print out also do the same. But I didnt take the risk.

ciarsd

Confirming printed bills off your online account for utilities/tv/broadband etc are ok for VRT. I used these this week without issue. For PPS, anything official from Government with it quoted is good enough - including letters/cards etc

heldel00

I'm sure it has been said already but you need to be completely certain on the correct VRT amount.
My sister was in Dundalk office last week. They wanted €800 more than she had allowed for. Twice they argued that she was incorrect. She didn't have enough on her card to meet it so left but rang the garage man and he said definitely not.
She went back to the office to argue further and the dopey fecker behind yhe desk says "oh god you're right i see it here now!"

ciarsd

If you input the precise details into revenues VRT calculator and retain the statistical code generated, you've covered yourself as best you can. My last two VRT bills were precisely to the cent and €200 below respectively.

hawkelady

Has everyone who has applied for a rebate from revenue for paying too much vrt been successful ?

ciarsd

hawkelady wrote: »

Has everyone who has applied for a rebate from revenue for paying too much vrt been successful ?

Lots have. Once you've firm evidence of the over valuation on the OMSP of the car under dispute - use plenty of examples of similar spec cars currently for sale.

Johnnyscotsman

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Just a quick question for those with experience buying up north, have you found the price to be open to negotiation?

No experience up north but from memory, the last 2 I bought in UK were £1k and £500 less that window price. Depends how long car has been stuck with dealer/margins/need to move it on. From friends experience of buying here, I would say it appears that ROI dealers are more susceptible to windscreen overpricing.

adeduntan

Hi
Please does anyone know how much the penalty for late VRT registration is? I bought a car and reported for Irish registration but NCTS claimed the registration slip wasnt complete I ran back to the UK to get the other part from DVLA after 4 weeks By then it is well after 30 days since it first came in
Any help please

jb73Dub

Thinking of importing new car, something about €40k - two door - easy to get in and out of and looks good on road. No more than 5 years old - suggestions please

Big Nasty

Hi all. Close to putting a deposit on something shortly. Would prefer to pay the balance on collection rather than transfer in advance. What's the most economical way to do this?

Sorry if asked recently.

bazz26

jb73Dub wrote: »

Thinking of importing new car, something about €40k - two door - easy to get in and out of and looks good on road. No more than 5 years old - suggestions please

Audi A5 or BMW 4/6 Series?

Big Nasty wrote: »

Hi all. Close to putting a deposit on something shortly. Would prefer to pay the balance on collection rather than transfer in advance. What's the most economical way to do this?

Sorry if asked recently.

Debit card? Daily limit will depend on your bank. I'd check with the seller too as some of them have restrictions to protect themselves.

ciarsd

adeduntan wrote: »

Hi
Please does anyone know how much the penalty for late VRT registration is? I bought a car and reported for Irish registration but NCTS claimed the registration slip wasnt complete I ran back to the UK to get the other part from DVLA after 4 weeks By then it is well after 30 days since it first came in
Any help please

Section 1.4.8.4
https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/vehicle-registration-tax/vrt-manual-section-01.pdf

Big Nasty wrote: »

Hi all. Close to putting a deposit on something shortly. Would prefer to pay the balance on collection rather than transfer in advance. What's the most economical way to do this?

Sorry if asked recently.

You're a bit stuck on options for what you want to do, unless you're willing to prolong the sale process by the guts of up to 5 working days for a bank (SWIFT) transfer.

Transfers in our banks right now are typically capped at €10k per day max (5k online & 5k telephone banking) outside of SWIFT payments.

I use TransferMate - Irish FinTech company, could not recommend them enough, nor their FX rates. A dealer outside of the state will not accept anything other than a bank transfer (if a card payment cannot cover the purchase price). Not even a bank draft is sufficient for them.

adeduntan

ciarsd wrote: »

Section 1.4.8.4




You're a bit stuck on options for what you want to do, unless you're willing to prolong the sale process by the guts of up to 5 working days for a bank (SWIFT) transfer.

Transfers in our banks right now are typically capped at €10k per day max (5k online & 5k telephone banking) outside of SWIFT payments.

I use TransferMate - Irish FinTech company, could not recommend them enough, nor their FX rates. A dealer outside of the state will not accept anything other than a bank transfer (if a card payment cannot cover the purchase price). Not even a bank draft is sufficient for them.

Thanks for your help

MarkN

jb73Dub wrote: »

Thinking of importing new car, something about €40k - two door - easy to get in and out of and looks good on road. No more than 5 years old - suggestions please

640d coupe.

loki7777

I just did VRT without any problems.Paid what i was thinking that i will pay:)

fishy_fishy

Just want to sense check - l need full V5C from dealer in the north to be able to do VRT here. Do I need anything else from the dealer?

Isambard

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Just want to sense check - l need full V5C from dealer in the north to be able to do VRT here. Do I need anything else from the dealer?

a receipt (and some evidence of date of travel might be asked for, maybe a petrol receipt with the reg no added?

awec

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Just want to sense check - l need full V5C from dealer in the north to be able to do VRT here. Do I need anything else from the dealer?

Invoice.

ciarsd

Invoice and full V5

Isambard wrote: »

a receipt (and some evidence of date of travel might be asked for, maybe a petrol receipt with the reg no added?

Not necessary for NI imports unless the date of invoice is over 30 days ago, then you need to prove that the import was stored up north for the intervening time, otherwise you are into fine territory.

For imports other than NI, then you need proof of travel i.e. ferry ticket for date of entry into the State.

noel100

Bought a 151 mini from dealership in Belfast.
Done the transaction using revolut
£500 as deposit on revolut card
And rest of the money paid by transfer using revolut.

Highly recommend revolut.

VRT will be done on Sunday
It's a basic model automatic.
The VRT is 2660 on calculator.

Garage upgraded the alloys on the car for free, the price cost 2600 here.

Will I have to pay VRT on these alloys.

FastFullBack

Looking for advice/opinions.
Bought a Nissan Qashqai from Nissan UK dealer in November. 3 year Manufacturer warranty ran out in Jan, but it came with a 12 month extended Nissan Cared4 warranty. It turns out after reading the fine print, this warranty is only valid I live in the UK. I know, stupid me, I should have read the details closer when I was buying, but I didn't and the salesman insisted there was cover for repairs in Europe, which there is but only if you live in UK.

The air con is now broken in the car and needs a condenser rad, pipe and re gas, so about €1K if I want to fix. This type of issue is covered under the warranty, but obviously the UK warranty team have now told me my warranty isn't valid and they wont cover.

I'm going to ring the dealership I bought it from later and going to either try to push them to escalate to Nissan Europe so that this can get covered or else ask for a refund on the warranty, seeing as the Salesman knew he was selling to me in Ireland and the warranty wouldn't be valid.

I know I probably wont have much chance on either, but I'm going to try. I've been trying to read the UK consumer rights act to see if I have any rights seeing as the UK salesman sold me a warranty that was never going to be valid.

Any thoughts?

bazz26

Contact a Nissan dealer in the North and see if they will fix it under warranty. I'd say the dealer you bought it from won't care now.

FastFullBack

bazz26 wrote: »

Contact a Nissan dealer in the North and see if they will fix it under warranty. I'd say the dealer you bought it from won't care now.

I'm from Cork so going to the North will be a looong trip. I think the problem is now my extended warranty isn't valid. It's only 5 months out of 3 year manufacturer warranty and apparently this is a known issue with these cars, so if this was a normal Irish car Nissan would cover under goodwill. I just need a way to get them to do this dealing with UK/Ireland handover