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

trellheim

revolut or transfermate if I am doing this ?

darragh o meara

artanevilla wrote: »

Hi folks, doing my due diligence on a car before I ring dealer. Car is showing outstanding finance "unit stock", doing my research there should be nothing to worry about as it is a standard loan taken out by the dealer, and will be cleared on sale.

Anyone had any issues with this type of finance when buying?

Its a dealers finance to have the car on the forecourt. It will disappear once the car is sold. Once the dealer is someway reputable, it will be fine.

darragh o meara

trellheim wrote: »

revolut or transfermate if I am doing this ?

My preference is Transfermate as you need to have a premium account for Revolut which costs a lot more than the fees for Tranfermate.

MahatmaGeansai

paddydriver wrote: »

Re the Revolut questions.. I have a Revolut Premium and I was thinking as regards any differences on what it may have given me. I got the market rate - i.e. what you see on XE.com etc. Just watch at weekends cause you do not get a market rate and they seem to pick a "safe" rate for them on Friday and then that's what you use - this caught me out cause I paid £1k deposit last Sat and didn't get rate I had hoped for.. maybe 0.3% off market rate.

I asked Revolut re any transfer and conversion limits and they said you can do something like 75k per day - nothing near what I needed. I transferred to my Revolut IBAN/BIC the same as any other bank transfer. Think took 1.5 days from my BOI to Revolut and 1 day from Revolut to UK dealer account.. or could have been same day.

I did ask dealer if I could settle balance using my Revolut debit card and they said many customers pay using debit on the day but I just didn't want to risk anything going wrong so just paid the whole lot beforehand - it was a main Ford dealer so was happy to trust them on this; I would not pay a smaller dealer or individual up front.

When I transferred into my Revolut it just appeared on my € balance - this is assuming that your Revolut is in €. Once I had it there I then watched the rates and done an exchange when I got rate I was happy with and that instantly converted to STG. You can watch it in real time as to what you are paying in € to get the amount you want in STG - i.e. you input how much STG you want and then watch the € required amount move up and down in real time. Once I had converted to STG I kicked off the transfer to the UK dealer account. When you specify it is a STG account then they still use Sort/Account number whereas the € to € from BOI to Revolut uses IBAN.

One thing that caught me out was that on the day I did try get the car tax paid but could not use an IBAN to setup DD with DVLA - nor could I get a Sort/Account number from my Revolut because my account in €. I decided to take chance and just drove to ferry with no issues.

Finally.. BOI have a daily limit on transfers - possibly €10k - so just check what AIB have as you may need to transfer the €20k over 2 days; and weekends Sat/Sun do not could as single days so watch out for that.

Hope this helps.. let me know any more questions. Thanks for the replies. Happy with the car so far... bit more love from the wife and kids on it might help.. but that's always the same..:P:P

BTW.. got a Jan 2018 Ford SMax Vignale.. extravagant but has all the the toys and interior that I like, but nothing my wife will use..:D Lovely car and loads of space for our lot and the dog.

Thanks for this! I know there's a fee to convert from euro to stg on revolut, but is there also a fee to then transfer this to a UK bank a/c? I'm guessing the answer is no but just want to completely rule it out. Thanks

paddydriver

MahatmaGeansai wrote: »

Thanks for this! I know there's a fee to convert from euro to stg on revolut, but is there also a fee to then transfer this to a UK bank a/c? I'm guessing the answer is no but just want to completely rule it out. Thanks

I have Revolut Premium so was no conversion fee.. Honestly not sure on a Standard account. No fee on transfer as it is just like a regular bank transfer.. Again I cannot be sure on Standard Revolut.. Sorry.

Edit.. just checked and there is a monthly limit of €6k per month for free exchanges on Standard Revolut.

BorneTobyWilde

WHat is cost to vrt a commercial vehicle? 7.5 ton.

I was told today that you can't, that you need to be a limited company to VRT a commercial?
WTF?

slave1

artanevilla wrote: »

Hi folks, doing my due diligence on a car before I ring dealer. Car is showing outstanding finance "unit stock", doing my research there should be nothing to worry about as it is a standard loan taken out by the dealer, and will be cleared on sale.

Anyone had any issues with this type of finance when buying?

darragh o meara wrote: »

Its a dealers finance to have the car on the forecourt. It will disappear once the car is sold. Once the dealer is someway reputable, it will be fine.

+1, this came up on my Finance check so I just asked the dealer to forward me a copy of a clear Finance check which he did about a week later, nice to have these to show due diligence when selling on in a few years times

mayota

Can a valid UK MoT be exchanged for a CVRT cert ?

elperello

mayota wrote: »

Can a valid UK MoT be exchanged for a CVRT cert ?

Yes.

https://www.cvrt.ie/en/Certificate-of-Roadworthiness/Pages/Recognition-of-EU-Certificates.aspx

mayota

elperello wrote: »

Yes.

https://www.cvrt.ie/en/Certificate-of-Roadworthiness/Pages/Recognition-of-EU-Certificates.aspx

Thanks for that.

Horse1920

Nonsense, but some counties will not tax it unless you have a vat number … then other ones are not that fussy - there is a big thread on it --taxing commercials … in here somewhere !

Irishcarguy

Hi All,
I’m currently having a bad experience with a car dealership in Northern Ireland, I put down a holding deposit on a car early this week with the intention of travelling up from Dublin to view it this weekend but since then I have found a better offer in Dublin. It’s obviously not worth going up now but the car dealership is playing hard ball with me now saying they won’t return my deposit of £250 as they took the car off their website as tradable. This was all news to me as not for one second did they say it wasn’t refundable when I asked before I paid them the deposit. Has anyone else experienced a situation like this? Should I contact the UK Motor Ombudsman?

Gumbo

ballybro wrote: »

Heading up north on Tuesday.Should have gone a week ago with a better exchange rate.A question for anyone who has paid with transfermate.From the time u call them to make the payment how long does it take for the dealer to get the payment.

It can be instant or can take a couple of hours.
It really depends on the system and how many people are in front of you.

Gumbo

Irishcarguy wrote: »

Hi All,
I’m currently having a bad experience with a car dealership in Northern Ireland, I put down a holding deposit on a car early this week with the intention of travelling up from Dublin to view it this weekend but since then I have found a better offer in Dublin. It’s obviously not worth going up now but the car dealership is playing hard ball with me now saying they won’t return my deposit of £250 as they took the car off their website as tradable. This was all news to me as not for one second did they say it wasn’t refundable when I asked before I paid them the deposit. Has anyone else experienced a situation like this? Should I contact the UK Motor Ombudsman?

Deposits are non refundable.
Car taken off web and possible buyers gone now.

Chalk it up to experience.

bazz26

That's the whole point of a deposit. It protects the seller from the buyer changing their mind or messing them about.

MM3

Hopefully someone has experience of this - I'm looking at a 2015 BMW from a uk main BMW dealer which comes with a 1 year warranty. Dealer isn't sure if the warranty would be valid here - anyone know for certain?

Thanks

M

DrZeuss

MM3 wrote: »

Hopefully someone has experience of this - I'm looking at a 2015 BMW from a uk main BMW dealer which comes with a 1 year warranty. Dealer isn't sure if the warranty would be valid here - anyone know for certain?

Thanks

M

If it is BMW Used Approved Warranty you should be good.

I had one of those used approved warranties which was provided in the UK but was valid in Ireland upon registering here (I did contact BMW Ireland once I had a registration number to ensure it was updated).

But don't take the word of a random person on the internet as gospel, these things change with manufacturers from time to time and personally when I was checking it out I fired off an email to BMW Ireland so I'd have written proof should the need arise (they were very quick to reply too).

California Dreamer

Do the Ford Transit Connect van carry the €200 VRT charge?

MM3

DrZeuss wrote: »

If it is BMW Used Approved Warranty you should be good.

I had one of those used approved warranties which was provided in the UK but was valid in Ireland upon registering here (I did contact BMW Ireland once I had a registration number to ensure it was updated).

But don't take the word of a random person on the internet as gospel, these things change with manufacturers from time to time and personally when I was checking it out I fired off an email to BMW Ireland so I'd have written proof should the need arise (they were very quick to reply too).

Cheers , I figured it would be ok but I'll confirm with BMW next week, dealer just gave me a fright when he said he wasn't sure

Justin10

Can anyone recommend someone to inspect a hybrid car, Dakra and AA don't seem to inspect them.

bazz26

If it's a Lexus/Toyota then maybe have it booked into a nearby main dealer who will plug it in to check the hybrid system. They don't give much trouble but it might be your only option for peace of mind.

elperello

Horse1920 wrote: »

Nonsense, but some counties will not tax it unless you have a vat number … then other ones are not that fussy - there is a big thread on it --taxing commercials … in here somewhere !

Best to go on your local authority website and check their requirements.
Then get all the documentation together and it should be only one trip to the tax office.

Damo W

Hi Guys,

My understanding is that to tax a UK car (driving out of dealership) for a month (drive back to ferry) you have to set up a direct debit and then cancel it on return to Ireland.

Am I right in this or is there an easier way. ie one cc payment for a months tax?

Thanks again

bazz26

You can only setup a direct debit if you have a UK bank account. You can pay via cc for 6 months though and then claim back the unused tax from the DVLA after the car is permanently exported from the UK and registered in Ireland.

gaillimh

Damo W wrote: »

Hi Guys,

My understanding is that to tax a UK car (driving out of dealership) for a month (drive back to ferry) you have to set up a direct debit and then cancel it on return to Ireland.

Am I right in this or is there an easier way. ie one cc payment for a months tax?

Thanks again

You could always take the chance and not tax it if you wanted also.
That’s what I did two weeks ago and all was fine.

Stallingrad

VRT'd the car this morning, always a relief when it is exactly as per the online estimate!

Stallingrad

gaillimh wrote: »

You could always take the chance and not tax it if you wanted also.
That’s what I did two weeks ago and all was fine.

Dealer can tax it, then you can claim it back via post from the refunds Dept at the DVLA in Swansea by sending them the blue part of the VR5 when you re-register the car here. Just send invoice, travel receipt as proof.

tanko

Anyone know how much NCT centres charge for new number plates?
Are they any better or worse quality than what's available in a motor factors?

gaillimh

In the scenario where the particular model you bring in doesn't exist on the Revenue system, is there typically much of a delay to the Revenue contacting you with a price?

Stallingrad

tanko wrote: »

Anyone know how much NCT centres charge for new number plates?
Are they any better or worse quality than what's available in a motor factors?

€25 at Greenhills, €20 usually anywhere else.