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

ravendude

Question re. when the revenue charge for extras (looking at 1-ish year old audis and bmws)...

Do they include metallic/pearl paint?

Looking at say the "options included" on approved audis in the UK, say for an S-Line, or Black Editrion, - usually a bunch of things that are included in the S-ine/Black edition trims are listed as options, - which I expect is also what they see when they look up the VIN/Chassis number. Do they typically have the cop-on to realize they are all included in the trim? or do they go nuts and use them to bump up the OMSP?

ciarsd

ravendude wrote: »

Question re. when the revenue charge for extras (looking at 1-ish year old audis and bmws)...

Do they include metallic/pearl paint?

Looking at say the "options included" on approved audis in the UK, say for an S-Line, or Black Editrion, - usually a bunch of things that are included in the S-ine/Black edition trims are listed as options, - which I expect is also what they see when they look up the VIN/Chassis number. Do they typically have the cop-on to realize they are all included in the trim? or do they go nuts and use them to bump up the OMSP?

Once you choose the precise trim level for the car on the calculator, it'll cover what's included in that or those packs. Anything outside of this thats an extra from factory (extractable from the VIN) is chargeable, but not always charged from my own experience.

My most recent import is a 2 year old car with a lot of extras from factory and from dealership and I was only charged for the trim level and initial pack that were fitted from factory and nothing that was spec'd outside of this.

Amouar

I'm very interested in car from Evans Halshaw and wanted to know if I should get the car inspected by AA/RAC or I shouldn't bother as their cars as generally good?

Anyone bought a car from them and had it inspected by AA/RAC?

Thanks

ravendude

ciarsd wrote: »

Anything outside of this thats an extra from factory (extractable from the VIN) is chargeable, ...

How about metallic paint? Ever been caught for this?

ciarsd

ravendude wrote: »

How about metallic paint? Ever been caught for this?

Never in any of the cars I've imported no. It's on a sliding scale if you are unlucky, with them being depreciated over the first 5 years.

Less than 3 months 0% (read as no deduction)
Less than 1 year 10%
Less than 2 years 25%
Less than 3 years 40%
Less than 4 years 55%
Over 4 years 100% (read as no charge)

bazz26

Amouar wrote: »

I'm very interested in car from Evans Halshaw and wanted to know if I should get the car inspected by AA/RAC or I shouldn't bother as their cars as generally good?

Anyone bought a car from them and had it inspected by AA/RAC?

Thanks

I went over with a friend last year and he bought a Kuga from them. The branch we bought from in Preston were good to deal with. The car was as described and clean when we got there. Some garages will meet you at the train station but these guys said they were not allowed to even meet us at the nearest train station. Luckily their garage wasn't that far from the train station and we walked to it. The car itself was as described and they brought us for a good test drive in it. No budging on the asking price though and they did try to charge us a £99 admin fee on top of the price but held firm on that and they eventually wilted.

They have a lot of garages around the country and turn over a lot of cars so each branch is going to have a different experience. I've heard people say they were not impressed with some of their other branches. Basically the car not being in the condition described, not cleaned for resale or very pushy about up selling other products or services while your there.

So I'd recommend their Preston branch from personal experience. You can fly into Manchester airport then get a train to Preston and be there in about 1 hour. You then have the option to get the ferry back from either Liverpool or Holyhead (Holyhead is about a 2.5 hour drive) to Dublin.

Amouar

bazz26 wrote: »

Amouar wrote: »

I'm very interested in car from Evans Halshaw and wanted to know if I should get the car inspected by AA/RAC or I shouldn't bother as their cars as generally good?

Anyone bought a car from them and had it inspected by AA/RAC?

Thanks

I went over with a friend last year and he bought a Kuga from them. The branch we bought from in Preston were good to deal with. The car was as described and clean when we got there. Some garages will meet you at the train station but these guys said they were not allowed to even meet us at the nearest train station. Luckily their garage wasn't that far from the train station and we walked to it. The car itself was as described and they brought us for a good test drive in it. No budging on the asking price though and they did try to charge us a £99 admin fee on top of the price but held firm on that and they eventually wilted.

They have a lot of garages around the country and turn over a lot of cars so each branch is going to have a different experience. I've heard people say they were not impressed with some of their other branches. Basically the car not being in the condition described, not cleaned for resale or very pushy about up selling other products or services while your there.

So I'd recommend their Preston branch from personal experience. You can fly into Manchester airport then get a train to Preston and be there in about 1 hour. You then have the option to get the ferry back from either Liverpool or Holyhead (Holyhead is about a 2.5 hour drive) to Dublin.

Did your friend pay a deposit to secure the car or you just went over there and found it available?

bazz26

Paid a deposit to secure the car.

donkey balls

I'm sure this has been asked before somewhere on the tread if you are to buy just say from a main dealer ( Audi ) is there a need to have the car checked out by a mechanic?
The reason I'm asking is my last car which is also an Audi I bought from a main dealer and they e mailed me the history of the car and I never had someone check over the car for me.

omri

A quick question about insuring the car thats being imported. So as been said here before I should just call my insurer to ask them to cover the car with english reg on my current insurance policy. However I just sold my old car two days ago. How should I go about this now? Should I cancel what was left of my insurance on the old car and get fresh one for thr english car or keep this policy and ask to get the UK car covered ?

bazz26

Talk to your insurance company. You should be able to pause your policy temporarily once you are in between cars. Then just tell your insurance company to start cover on the new car when you go over to collect it, they should be able to reactivate the policy and accept the UK reg until you get it transferred to Irish plates here.

rai555

Practical question about payment. Would like to proceed on Saturday or Sunday. Seen good feedback about Currency Fair but discovered they don't do transactions on weekends. Visa has limits, cash is unsafe, bank draft does not suit the garage. Your advise will be appreciated. Thank you

Amouar

Hi all,

I'm very interested in a car (Not this one in this thread ) and agreed a price with a main dealer. I told him that I will most likely arrange for the car to be inspected after paying the deposit, and asked him to tell me if there are any issues with the car. His answer was:

"As a main dealer the car will be fully inspected by Nissan trained technicians but you can still arrange a check if you wish"

Do you think that it's still worth it to get the car inspected by Dekra?

rai555

To continue my previous post, clearly there's no banking transfers on Saturday and Sunday, whichever way to use, own bank, transfer mate or currency fair. All stops till next working day. Does it means cash is a king, particularly over the weekend?
No replies perhaps means no other ideas

gwalk

Ive transferred money between UK banks on a Sunday before

and have had wages arrive in on a Saturday that were due on the Monday

ravendude

rai555 wrote: »

Practical question about payment. Would like to proceed on Saturday or Sunday. Seen good feedback about Currency Fair but discovered they don't do transactions on weekends. Visa has limits, cash is unsafe, bank draft does not suit the garage. Your advise will be appreciated. Thank you

There is also a GBP 10K limit on what they can accept in cash due to money laundering regs. AFAIK so be aware of that

Amber 123

Hope this is the correct thread to post - please move if incorrect. Registering a car in Ireland which was originally registered in England and then owned by a person in N Ireland. Country of Origin = country of manufacture (Germany) or country of first registration (England)? Also, what does “country whence consigned” mean? Thanks for the help!

stek

Document s required for vrt inspection.. I've everything except a letter with my pps number on it.. I've a copy of p60 from February 2018, which is just over 6months old, and a original letter from the revenue but it's 2 years old.. will these be accepted? Any help appreciated..

Karen23

Finally got VRT done tonight, couldn't believe the receptionist just went out to the car and took down the mileage and checked the VIN and that was it, I was expecting some kind of inspection.

Cost was €2862 another €25 for plates. I'll put a year's tax on it tomorrow night once it's on the system and ring the insurance with the new reg and then we're done.

Final cost was €13500 for the highest spec Hyundai I40 161, exact model , colour, and extras I was looking for. That total includes price of the car, flights to London for three of us, train to Cambridge , 12 months UK motor tax, ferry back, VRT, reg plates and 12 months Irish motor tax.

Not too bad at all.

Karen23

stek wrote: »

Document s required for vrt inspection.. I've everything except a letter with my pps number on it.. I've a copy of p60 from February 2018, which is just over 6months old, and a original letter from the revenue but it's 2 years old.. will these be accepted? Any help appreciated..

Do you have a public services card, that's what I used

bazz26

Karen23 wrote: »

Finally got VRT done tonight, couldn't believe the receptionist just went out to the car and took down the mileage and checked the VIN and that was it, I was expecting some kind of inspection.

Cost was €2862 another €25 for plates. I'll put a year's tax on it tomorrow night once it's on the system and ring the insurance with the new reg and then we're done.

Final cost was €13500 for the highest spec Hyundai I40 161, exact model , colour, and extras I was looking for. That total includes price of the car, flights to London for three of us, train to Cambridge , 12 months UK motor tax, ferry back, VRT, reg plates and 12 months Irish motor tax.

Not too bad at all.

They don't need to inspect the car anymore outside checking the reg, VIN and current mileage. The VIN can tell them everything else they need to know about the car's specification from the factory.

stek

Karen23 wrote: »

Do you have a public services card, that's what I used

No I do not..

Marcusm

rai555 wrote: »

To continue my previous post, clearly there's no banking transfers on Saturday and Sunday, whichever way to use, own bank, transfer mate or currency fair. All stops till next working day. Does it means cash is a king, particularly over the weekend?
No replies perhaps means no other ideas

Debit cards! Few enough dealers would be willing to receive much cash.

rai555

My debit card has 2500 EU a day limit. You can't buy much with this amount

CJhaughey

I used Transfermate, did it in two transactions because of the 10k limit.
Transferred half on a Monday and the rest on the Tuesday because I was picking the car up on the Wednesday.
The payments were held for the 48hrs or so and once I had looked the car over I rang Transfermate and they transferred immediately it took about 3 hrs to come in from a 1300hrs phone call.

I bought mine from a Honda Main dealer in Norwich and they sent a taxi to the train station to pick me up.
Very good service there.
I paid 6 mths UK motortax to the dealer and they taxed it for me on the spot so I was covered, UK tax can't be paid by an Irish Card, has to be a UK card.

The J Stands for Jay

Karen23 wrote: »

Finally got VRT done tonight, couldn't believe the receptionist just went out to the car and took down the mileage and checked the VIN and that was it, I was expecting some kind of inspection.

Cost was €2862 another €25 for plates. I'll put a year's tax on it tomorrow night once it's on the system and ring the insurance with the new reg and then we're done.

Final cost was €13500 for the highest spec Hyundai I40 161, exact model , colour, and extras I was looking for. That total includes price of the car, flights to London for three of us, train to Cambridge , 12 months UK motor tax, ferry back, VRT, reg plates and 12 months Irish motor tax.

Not too bad at all.

Just watch out for the plates. The tape they give you won't hold them.

Karen23

McGaggs wrote: »

Just watch out for the plates. The tape they give you won't hold them.

Thanks , knew by looking at the tape it wasn't up to much , gonna drill them on today.

omri

Are there any govt. grants for a hybrid/electric car if you import it from the UK? (I would presume there's none).

bazz26

It's built into the car's VRT figure.

omri

I'm trying to find the VRT quote for the 530i touring from 2017/18, M Sport. It's a 2l petrol with 252bhp, but there's the list doesn't seem to have it. If I go with 530I it comes up as some V8 model with 3l engine, the other one I have found under 520 model, estate, with the same engine is the SE Model, which isn't the correct one either. Any idea how could I get the correct VRT quote on that ?

UPDATE: after talking over the phone to a rather unfriendly guy from the VRT office, I was told I should present the car to the NCT place which would do the inspection and send the file to CVO, which would then calculate the VRT. This is all re the model that's not listed in the calculator. His advice was to pick the closes possible model and try to guess maybe. Found it bit bizzare that there is no way of getting this information from Revenue or VRT or whoever unless I buy a car and have it over in Ireland.