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

masit

bazz26 wrote: »

Yes, the existing MOT will do here until it's expiry date at which time you will need to do the NCT.

Begod, didn't believe when I seen this but looked it up on NCTS.ie and you can transfer between the 2. Nct should have been doing it for years under EU law but the same as the VRT, the government just didn't bother. Charge of €15.50 but that's been waived until further notice

colm_mcm

Doesn’t the MOT have to have been done after the new transfer scheme came in?

fallen01angel

Hi all,sorry if this question has been asked/answered already but I'm taking my car to get VRT done in the morning, just found out I need to download and fill in some form from VRT.ie but I don't know which one.........can anyone clue me in!!!?????

Harcrid

Everything is here. https://www.ncts.ie/1155

mgn

You need to download the VRTVPD2

Karen23

I'm looking to buy a car I've seen advertised in a garage in Cambridge. Factoring in the price of the car, VRT, travel expenses it's still about two grand cheaper than similar cars here but is there any other costs I need to be aware of ?

Plan is to fly over in the morning, buy the car and drive (long drive) to Holyhead and get the ferry back the same night.

Any advice would be great as it seems a lot of hassle to buy a car but hoping it's worthwhile

bazz26

Make sure it's 6 months or older and >6000km on the clock otherwise you could get stung for VAT here. Also some UK dealers try and add a sneaky admin fee to the price for doing paperwork when you arrive hoping that your here now and won't want to go home empty handed.

Karen23

bazz26 wrote: »

Make sure it's 6 months or older and >6000km on the clock otherwise you could get stung for VAT here. Also some UK dealers try and add a sneaky admin fee to the price for doing paperwork when you arrive hoping that your here now and won't want to go home empty handed.

It's 2016 with 45397 miles

Karen23

He said they can tax it there before we leave for £30 , is this needed if I'm just driving to the ferry and leaving the same day ?

bazz26

For peace of mind and the sake of £30 yes. There are a lot of ANPR cameras on UK roads and the UK police might not be in the mood to let you off if they really want to be sticky on the letter of the law.

Isambard

Make sure you carry proof of Insurance and , yes, tax it to avoid it getting seized

bonkers67

Karen23 wrote: »

He said they can tax it there before we leave for £30 , is this needed if I'm just driving to the ferry and leaving the same day ?

Some of them won’t let you leave without it being taxed.

bfa1509

Karen23 wrote: »

He said they can tax it there before we leave for £30 , is this needed if I'm just driving to the ferry and leaving the same day ?

It will probably be more than £30 for the tax as you will have to buy 6 months worth. I think I had to pay £70 but you get this back when you return Section 11 of the V5C document (dealer will give you this).

Edit: I see you are paying before you leave. Don't mind me then, I paid at the dealers when I collected the car. But you should still be able to get the money back.

Edit2: It appears that only UK residents who are exporting the car need to send on section 11 of the V5C. Can anyone clarify whether Irish citizens need to post Section 11 of the V5C? I posted it but now I'm a bit confused as to whether or not I needed to

bazz26

When you go to VRT the car here as part of the VRT process the VRT office notify the DVLA that the car has been permanently exported. Seller can write to the DVLA notifying them also Just make sure the seller gives you the V5C section of the registration document as you need this to VRT the car here otherwise you have to contact the DVLA yourself to send you out a certificate of Permanent Export which takes upto 6 weeks and could result in late VRT penalties.

Karen23

I've hit a problem.
We had planned to fly into the UK , buy the car and get the ferry back the same night however the garage have said we can't take the car until the funds clear in their bank and the bank transfer can take at least 24 hours. They won't accept cash and staying over is not really an option so we're not sure how to proceed

All in all

Karen23 wrote: »

I've hit a problem.
We had planned to fly into the UK , buy the car and get the ferry back the same night however the garage have said we can't take the car until the funds clear in their bank and the bank transfer can take at least 24 hours. They won't accept cash and staying over is not really an option so we're not sure how to proceed

Have you got the car inspected by AA or similar? If so and the report showed nothing to alarm you, you could proceed with transfer without seeing the car. Also you could get car shipped rather than going over yourselves if you were happy to proceed on the basis of engineers report.

bfa1509

Karen23 wrote: »

I've hit a problem.
We had planned to fly into the UK , buy the car and get the ferry back the same night however the garage have said we can't take the car until the funds clear in their bank and the bank transfer can take at least 24 hours. They won't accept cash and staying over is not really an option so we're not sure how to proceed

All in all wrote: »

Have you got the car inspected by AA or similar? If so and the report showed nothing to alarm you, you could proceed with transfer without seeing the car. Also you could get car shipped rather than going over yourselves if you were happy to proceed on the basis of engineers report.

I purchased a car last month without seeing it. Nerve-racking but worked out well. As you said, I got an AA inspection and made sure the dealer fixed any problems before making any transfer.

I would suggest using Transferwise. I used it and I was happy. You set up an account, input the bank details of the dealer then send the funds to Transferwise who will then forward that amount in sterling to the dealer. You pay ~€30 to Transferwise and they use a much better exchange rate than the bank and are also much quicker.

Karen23

Thanks for the info.

How do I go about getting an AA inspection ?

I've set up transferwise but it says it takes 5 days, do you know if there's limits to how much you can transfer in a single transaction ?

Karen23

Karen23 wrote: »

Thanks for the info.

How do I go about getting an AA inspection ?

Found it

bfa1509

Karen23 wrote: »

Thanks for the info.

How do I go about getting an AA inspection ?

I've set up transferwise but it says it takes 5 days, do you know if there's limits to how much you can transfer in a single transaction ?

I rang the number at the bottom of the page at this link: https://www.theaa.com/vehicle-inspection/#/mini-details

Dont try and set it up online as it looks for a UK address from you. There is no issue if you give them a call, they seem well used to the business from Ireland. I got the comprehensive £200 sterling inspection.

I don't remember Transferwise taking that long to setup. Maybe it's up to 5 days? If it's very urgent maybe go with the bank to be safe.

There is no limit on transferwise but I had a 10k limit on my bank account so I had to make two payments. Before I made the payment I checked how much it would cost on the BOI website and then compared it to the cost on transferwise. There was a €300 difference! Enough to cover the AA inspection and the flights

Karen23

bfa1509 wrote: »

I rang the number at the bottom of the page at this link: https://www.theaa.com/vehicle-inspection/#/mini-details

Dont try and set it up online as it looks for a UK address from you. There is no issue if you give them a call, they seem well used to the business from Ireland. I got the comprehensive £200 sterling inspection.

I don't remember Transferwise taking that long to setup. Maybe it's up to 5 days? If it's very urgent maybe go with the bank to be safe.

There is no limit on transferwise but I had a 10k limit on my bank account so I had to make two payments. Before I made the payment I checked how much it would cost on the BOI website and then compared it to the cost on transferwise. There was a €300 difference! Enough to cover the AA inspection and the flights

Thanks a mill, I actually got an email back from transferwise about half an hour later validating my account so thats all set up now

Andrewf20

I heard there are irish garages that import cars from the uk upon request of a model type. Is this worth doing if heading to the uk is alot of hassle? How much does this service cost? Would love to get something a bit unusual in a few years, but I fear the garages would only import fairly standard, easy to sell cars if rumours are true.

bazz26

There are car sourcing crowds out there that will import a car for you but they will require a hefty deposit up front to cover themselves in case you change your mind. Most of them source their cars through auctions.

If you're looking for something unusual then your better off doing the legwork yourself, I'd doubt many of these sourcing crowds are interested in sourcing a one off rare car. They probably make the most money on mass volume sellers rather than rare or unusual cars that might pop up at auction once in a blue moon.

dwasol

who are these car sourcing crowds though? looking for a specific uk car, a local expert would help

bazz26

They are probably part time operators who have contacts in the trade in the UK who frequent the car auctions. There are a lot doing this these days but it's hard to see how anyone could make a decent living from doing it full time.

liam7831

Karen23 wrote:

I've hit a problem. We had planned to fly into the UK , buy the car and get the ferry back the same night however the garage have said we can't take the car until the funds clear in their bank and the bank transfer can take at least 24 hours. They won't accept cash and staying over is not really an option so we're not sure how to proceed

Use your debit card, funds will go through immediately iv used it twice in UK for cars

MightyMunster

liam7831 wrote: »

Use your debit card, funds will go through immediately iv used it twice in UK for cars

I've also done this, worked great. Check card limit with bank (AIB was 5000 per card). Can use multiple cards if you have them. Definitely the best option.

Karen23

liam7831 wrote: »

Use your debit card, funds will go through immediately iv used it twice in UK for cars

Thanks, I've already looked into this but I'm PTSB and the daily limit is €2500

I think Transfer Wise is looking like the only option at the moment and even then I'll have to do two transactions because the payment also exceeds my daily limit so my husband has set it up too so we'll do half from mine and half from his and fingers crossed all works out ok. I'll also have to ask the dealer to let me use his PC/laptop because the transfer can only be done from a desktop. What a mess, it's like the bank don't want me to spend my money.

Karen23

MightyMunster wrote: »

I've also done this, worked great. Check card limit with bank (AIB was 5000 per card). Can use multiple cards if you have them. Definitely the best option.

Do you know if that limit is per card or per account ? I've just remembered myself and my husband still have an old AIB joint account, I could transfer the money into that account and we could use both cards on the day

bfa1509

Karen23 wrote: »

Thanks, I've already looked into this but I'm PTSB and the daily limit is €2500

I think Transfer Wise is looking like the only option at the moment and even then I'll have to do two transactions because the payment also exceeds my daily limit so my husband has set it up too so we'll do half from mine and half from his and fingers crossed all works out ok. I'll also have to ask the dealer to let me use his PC/laptop because the transfer can only be done from a desktop. What a mess, it's like the bank don't want me to spend my money.

I'd check with the dealer to make sure this is ok. Although transferwise is quicker than doing a direct transfer, it will still take ~24 hours before the dealer will see the money in their account.