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

Mc Love

Amouar wrote: »

I test drove a low milage (8k miles) 2015 Peugeot 2008 yesterday and really liked it therefore I'm interested in buying it. The Irish dealer is asking for 15k€. In order to see if it's a fair price or not, I decided to have a look at autotrader and search for a similar car near Manchester/Leeds/Liverpool, and found a couple of 2016 Peugeot 2008 for around 13.7k€ including VRT and potential costs of flight ticket and Ferry. That's over 1k€ saving compared to the Irish dealer and the car is a year younger and has more HBP.

I have the following questions and apologies if they were previously asked:

1) I'd like to arrange for AA/RAC to inspect the car and wanted to know if it's possible to do it while still in Ireland? Also how can I guarantee that the car is not sold to someone else after I arrange and pay for the inspection? Do I have to pay the dealer a deposit using a CC over the phone?

2) I never had car insurance in Ireland, therefore i wanted to know if any Irish insurer will be able to insure the car while it has UK reg? If not then I'm thinking of getting insurance with dayinsure.com as they cover non UK residents and allow EU travel. The only restriction is the trip needs to end in the UK therefore not sure how they'll make sure of that, especially that my insurance will expire while I'm in Ireland. Did anyone use dayinsure to bring their car to Ireland?

3) How can I take the car to VRT without a valid insurance ? If that's not possible then I'll probably get a 30 day policy cover from dayinsure. Is it possible to get the VRT and irish reg done within 30 days?

Thanks!

1 - Yes it's possible to get the RAC/AA check while in Ireland. Dealer will accept deposit to hold the car, just let them know you purchasing the car will be subject to the report being positive

2. You can or well I did transfer my insurance from my old car to the new car for a small fee.

bazz26

You cannot drive a car on a public road here without it being insured. You get cover on the UK reg until it's transferred to Irish plates. Most insurance companies will cover it on UK plates for upto 30 days which gives you ample time to sort out the VRT and Irish plates.

Karen23

We transferred our insurance over the night before we flew over so we were insured to drive it back, no extra charge. They said if we decided not to purchase just ring back and they'll put it back on to the original car. Disc came in the post a few days later with the UK reg. Finally managed to get an appointment for VRT so I'm presuming I ring them back for a new disc once I get the Irish reg.

bazz26

Yes once it's transferred to Irish plates you need to notify your insurance company with the Irish reg.

uck51js9zml2yt

Has anyone a list of the reliable big dealers in the UK that are being used ?

Isambard

Karen23 wrote: »

We transferred our insurance over the night before we flew over so we were insured to drive it back, no extra charge. They said if we decided not to purchase just ring back and they'll put it back on to the original car. Disc came in the post a few days later with the UK reg. Finally managed to get an appointment for VRT so I'm presuming I ring them back for a new disc once I get the Irish reg.

you should really have had written proof that the vehicle is insured otherwise you run the risk of the UK police seizing it. They can't access Irish insurance companies to check.

Amouar

I checked with an Irish insurance and it's possible to buy the insurance policy from them with a UK reg but will need to transfer it to irish reg within 21 days.

Amouar

Do you recommend getting any UK breakdown cover in case the car breakdown on the way to holyhead or this should be covered by the Irish car insurance?

masit

Madison Full Newsstand wrote: »

Has anyone a list of the reliable big dealers in the UK that are being used ?

Arnold Clark.com
Motorpoint.co.uk
Cargiant.co.uk
Lookers.co.uk
EvansHalsaw.com
Inchcape.co.uk
Jct600.co.uk

These are some of the big car dealer groups in the UK. Many have garages from north to south. And there is lots of smaller dealers (compared to the list above) with 2,3, or 4 garages.

Mc Love

masit wrote: »

Arnold Clark.com
Motorpoint.co.uk
Cargiant.co.uk
Lookers.co.uk
EvansHalsaw.com
Inchcape.co.uk
Jct600.co.uk

These are some of the big car dealer groups in the UK. Many have garages from north to south. And there is lots of smaller dealers (compared to the list above) with 2,3, or 4 garages.

Good thing to note, none of the above will shift on the price. Because it's so competitive in the UK, the price is usually the lowest price they will go on the car.

stueymc

Hi,

Wonder if someone can help me. How do I go about calculating the VRT of a car model that is not listed on the VRT website? Revenue do say there is a calculate done using CO2 value of car, OMSP, and then a reduction for above average mileage. But where do I get the OMSP for a particular car, and how is the mileage reduction calculated?
Or if anyone wants to try, the car in question is a Renault Megane Estate, 2010, 1.4 TCE(Petrol), Dynamique, 140000 miles.
CO2 value is 154g

Thanks.

TripleSSS

Hi there...

I have a few questions for everyone on here.

I lived and worked in England for the past 2 years. Recently bought a car 3 months ago while living there as my old car kicked the bucket. I got offered a new job in Ireland 2 weeks ago and have moved home last week.

Will I still have to pay full vrt change over or can I get an exception?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Amouar

For those who already imported a car from the UK: Did you also pay for a breakdown cover (AA or similar) in order to cover you in the event of a breakdown? If so did you buy it before traveling or only after buying the car?

Esel

TripleSSS wrote: »

Hi there...

I have a few questions for everyone on here.

I lived and worked in England for the past 2 years. Recently bought a car 3 months ago while living there as my old car kicked the bucket. I got offered a new job in Ireland 2 weeks ago and have moved home last week.

Will I still have to pay full vrt change over or can I get an exception?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pretty sure you have to have proof of owning and using the car in the UK for at least six months to qualify for the exemption.

P_Cash

Karen23 wrote: »

Well, we got back late last night, delay with the ferry due to an accident just outside the port but apart from that everything went like clock work.

We flew into Standstead yesterday morning and got a train from the airport to Cambridge, £5 in a taxi from there to EMG motor group. Spent about an hour there buying the car and headed out on to the motorway for Holyhead.

We got an absolute bargain , the travelling was fine, I'd recommend it to anyone.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice here and especially to bfa1509 who suggested Transfer wise as a way to pay. This was what we used and we got a better rate and less charges.

do you mind me asking how much the flights were, and how much the boat back was.
its probably an expensive time of year to do both

P_Cash

Can someone tell me how transferwise works.

you open an account. then

do you like top it up with EURs from a bank Card,
Im looking at 18/21 K for a 2016 Ford SMax.

I have access to PTSB Visa Debit and BOI Visa Debit,

i see people here using BOI Visa Debit to pay, and also Transferwise.

Surely i will run in to problems spending 20K on a card in one go?

Id appreciate if someone could outline the steps on using transferwise.

ravendude

P_Cash wrote: »

Can someone tell me how transferwise works.

you open an account. then

do you like top it up with EURs from a bank Card,
Im looking at 18/21 K for a 2016 Ford SMax.

I have access to PTSB Visa Debit and BOI Visa Debit,

i see people here using BOI Visa Debit to pay, and also Transferwise.

Surely i will run in to problems spending 20K on a card in one go?

Id appreciate if someone could outline the steps on using transferwise.

Interested in this too, - can you transfer to Transferwise from your internet banking? I presume you can set up your Transferwise account temporarily as a Payee? (best to remove afterwards in case it is hacked, you could conceivably find your bank account cleaned out)
Also, - can you rely on Transferwise making a payment to the car dealer on the same day? or could it take overnight?

Karen23

P_Cash wrote: »

do you mind me asking how much the flights were, and how much the boat back was.
its probably an expensive time of year to do both

Flights were 19.95 each Dublin to Stanstead 8.30 on a Wednesday morning. The ferry back was 139.00 for the car, two adults and a child

Karen23

VRT is booked in for next Wednesday, after that's done can I tax the car online or do I have to do it in person at a motor tax office ?

P_Cash

Karen23 wrote: »

Flights were 19.95 each Dublin to Stanstead 8.30 on a Wednesday morning. The ferry back was 139.00 for the car, two adults and a child

same set up as myself, thinking of an over night stay and bring our little one.

thanks for getting back Karen.

one question on transferwise, when did you transfer the money from your bank to the transfer account, and when did you instruct to pay the dealer, how long did it take for the dealer to get the money then.

regards
P _ Cash

bazz26

Karen23 wrote: »

VRT is booked in for next Wednesday, after that's done can I tax the car online or do I have to do it in person at a motor tax office ?

You have to wait around 24 hours after VRT is paid for the car's Irish registration to turn up on the motor tax website. Once that's there then you can use the last 7 digits of the car's VIN as the PIN for the motor tax website and login to tax it. You won't receive the Irish log book either until it is first taxed.

Karen23

bazz26 wrote: »

You have to wait around 24 hours after VRT is paid for the car's Irish registration to turn up on the motor tax website. Once that's there then you can use the last 7 digits of the car's VIN as the PIN for the motor tax website and login to tax it. You won't receive the Irish log book either until it is first taxed.

Thanks for that

Karen23

P_Cash wrote: »

same set up as myself, thinking of an over night stay and bring our little one.

thanks for getting back Karen.

one question on transferwise, when did you transfer the money from your bank to the transfer account, and when did you instruct to pay the dealer, how long did it take for the dealer to get the money then.

regards
P _ Cash

We set up the transfer wise account and used our bank cards to transfer the money. Our cards are PTSB and have a daily limit of 2500 so we needed to do four transactions, we have an account each and a joint account which we both have a card for, so used all four cards. As far as I know AIB have a daily limit of 5000.

So, before heading over we got the dealers bank details and set them up as a payee. When we got there we logged into transfer wise and input each cards details as you would any online purchase to the payee and transferred the money. They got an email to say they'd received a payment, after the fourth email they checked their bank and the funds were there.
We could've just used the cards in the chip and pin machine but transfer wise have much smaller fees and better exchange rate. Also, we could've loaded the money to the transfer wise account but I was unsure about getting the money back to my bank if we decided not to buy the car.

Marcusm

TripleSSS wrote: »

Hi there...

I have a few questions for everyone on here.

I lived and worked in England for the past 2 years. Recently bought a car 3 months ago while living there as my old car kicked the bucket. I got offered a new job in Ireland 2 weeks ago and have moved home last week.

Will I still have to pay full vrt change over or can I get an exception?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

6 months prior ownership is strictly required. If you look on Revenue site you will see circumstances in which they are willing to accept exemption claims which do not strictly meet the rules (I seem to recall theft and/or total writeoff but I could be wrong).

R.O.R

bazz26 wrote: »

You have to wait around 24 hours after VRT is paid for the car's Irish registration to turn up on the motor tax website. Once that's there then you can use the last 7 digits of the car's VIN as the PIN for the motor tax website and login to tax it. You won't receive the Irish log book either until it is first taxed.

Just incase - it's actually the last 6 digits of the chassis for the PIN number on first taxation.

newmember2

Can anyone tell me, when sending a letter to the Revenue Commissioners to appeal the VRT charged, does one include bank details for the purpose of receipt of any refund, or would this be seen as a bit presumptuous?

bazz26

I thought they sent you a draft?

bfa1509

newmember? wrote: »

Can anyone tell me, when sending a letter to the Revenue Commissioners to appeal the VRT charged, does one include bank details for the purpose of receipt of any refund, or would this be seen as a bit presumptuous?

I don't think it would be presumptuous as the whole idea of sending an appeal is that you are under the presumption that you are entitled to get a refund.

Having said that, I didn't even think of including my bank details but one day two letters showed up one saying how much I was getting back and the other looking for my bank details so they could pay it. Nice.

newmember2

bazz26 wrote: »

I thought they sent you a draft?

Ah OK, yes that makes sense.
I thought I'd read somewhere about including your bank details but it may have been to do with something else.

martco

NEW VRT RULES 31 July 2018

has anyone got experience on the business end of this yet?

I was planning to go across to buy myself a 2016 VW Transporter LWB panel van. 3 seats, plylined, straight simple van.

I've just read the new VRT regs - it seems to suggest that now I'll be expected to stump up 13.3% cat B in VRT which is a bit shocking...anyone been caught for this yet??


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