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

steeo

kbannon wrote: »

...who IIRC are also allowed carry out the repairs!

Exactly so they know whats wrong and what has to be fixed instead of the clowns here that can't explain whats wrong with your car as half them can't even speak English and the other half don't know what they are talking about as they are not even mechanics.

Seth Brundle

steeo wrote: »

Exactly so they know whats wrong and what has to be fixed instead of the clowns here that can't explain whats wrong with your car as half them can't even speak English and the other half don't know what they are talking about as they are not even mechanics.

You fail to see the conflict of interest though
http://www.google.ie/search?q=mot+scam&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

steeo

In the UK people have a choice of who they go to for a MOT, the same in this country with an DOE but your stuck when it comes to an NCT.

Seth Brundle

What are you talking about? There are several NCT centres. You can choose to go to any of them. My last time doing the NCT was in Naas. The previous time was in Fonthill.
You can't really accuse the NCTS of forcing you to use one particular tester never mind an individual centre.
Anyhow, are you sure they are not qualified? I seem to recall seeing the requirement on a recruitment advert before - there is reference to it in a current web advert but it doesn't appear to be mandatory - can anyone confirm?
http://www.ncts.ie/job_vacancies/vehicle_inspector.html).

zing

Anyone bought from Big Motoring World in Kent ? Seems to be a big enough BMW shop with decent enough prices on some E60s. Just wondering what peoples personal experiences have been and/or what they've heard from others. Their site claims they'll even deliver over to Ireland but I'm sure that wouldn't be for free but for a couple of hundred quid it could be worth it. Any other decent independent BMW dealers I should be looking at ? Looking at an 04 petrol 5 series.

Celtic Mech

Zing....never heard of them but im sure they are fairly good. What kinda money you plannin on spending as a max? the way i sourced mine was by going to autotrader.co.uk and putting in the postcode for Heathrow (TW6 1JS) and selecting cars within a 20 mile radius of it. Most likely you will be able to get close enough with the Underground and even a short taxi fare. There are loads of cars about over that area especially London. Cargiant.co.uk are good...have a huge selection of BMW's but tend to have quite a few miles on the cars ,as they generally source ex-lease and ex-company cars. Immaculate condition inside and out tho. I reckon you will generally pay a bit over the top going thru BMW garage and dealerships. Try d autotrader route...it gives both private and dealer sales.

zing

Want to try get in under the 14k sterling if I can but not going to buy the cheapest car I can find as it's usually cheap for a reason. Seems to be sod all diff in vrt between a 520i, a 525i and a 530i but I reckon I'll avoid the 530i based on tax/insurance. Scanning autotrader, cargiant, etc.. all right but not tying myself to London/anywhere else but rather trying to locate cars within ~30miles of an airport that I could get a cheap enough flight into (and aren't a huge drive from a ferry port). Plenty of cars available for that money but as with most people I'm filtering based on spec and mileage to try find what appears to be the right one.

It'll be at least another 2 or 3 weeks before I can consider travelling so largely window shopping and researching atm.

steeo

kbannon wrote: »

What are you talking about? There are several NCT centres. You can choose to go to any of them.

Exactly there is about 50 NCT centers in Ireland and they are all run by the 1 company so you don't get a choice like the DOE here or an MOT in the Uk.

The_Conductor

steeo wrote:

Exactly there is about 50 NCT centers in Ireland and they are all run by the 1 company so you don't get a choice like the DOE here or an MOT in the Uk.

Its a standardised test- why should it matter that its only one company who are contracted to do it?

steeo

The test is standard but a lot of it is left up to the discression of the tester, a mate of mine went in there last week to get the test done on a 2008 Merc and it failed on emissions and the indicator lens/bulb on the o/s rear was not amber enough and all this on a car that cost him €58k and not even 500kms on the clock.

Do you get a special eye test when you apply for a job as a mechanic in the NCT that you can tell when someones indicators are the right shade of amber ???
What is the right shade of amber for an indicator ???

Seth Brundle

steeo wrote: »

The test is standard but a lot of it is left up to the discression of the tester, a mate of mine went in there last week to get the test done on a 2008 Merc and it failed on emissions and the indicator lens/bulb on the o/s rear was not amber enough and all this on a car that cost him €58k and not even 500kms on the clock.

Do you get a special eye test when you apply for a job as a mechanic in the NCT that you can tell when someones indicators are the right shade of amber ???
What is the right shade of amber for an indicator ???

and you think its better in the UK whereby the tester will sell you the correct shade bulb?
I followed the issue of bulb shade with the NCTS and whilst not defined explicitly in the manual, it is left at the testers discretion. If you don't like it then appeal - even ask for the manager!
My current car has been through two NCTs while I have owned it. The last time (in Naas), I had to go into the test area to show the tester how to open my bonnet (lever sticks). The previous time in Fonthill, I failed on headlamps the day after the car was serviced (with the test in mind and an explicit instruction to sort out the upgraded lights). I went ape and spoke to the manager who got me to drive the car back in and he showed me that in fact it was out. The garage never touched it (despite charging me).

The NCT isn't perfect but its a lot better that the UK system IMO and is quite transparent. I agree that there are some inconsistincies but there will be in any job.

geoffc

very informative tread guys

Does anyone know of a company here who imports cars from uk? I want to get an audi tt but haven't go the time to do it myself?? Cheers lads..

quattro777

Bought a car from a dealer in the UK. When I went to collect the car he had already sent the V5 off to the DVLA instead of giving it to me. Rang the DVLA when I got back, told me to send them a V756 form and that it could take up to 8 weeks to sort out. Rang the dealer, said not to send any forms and leave it with him. V5 arrived in the post 3 days later

Ta me anseo

Had awful trouble with this myself. The normal procedure in the UK for car dealers is that they bring the V5 and proof of insurance to the post office in order to tax the car (obviously provided that it is not already taxed) in the new owners name. The post office then retain and send off the V5 and give back the new keeper section. But obviously we need sections 1 thru 8 to register the car here.

I rang the DVLA to ask them about this in advance. They said that the new keeper section on it's own is enough to tax the car in the new onwers name. The full V5 does not need to be presented for tax purposes. The onus would then be on the new keeper to send the change of ownership details to the DVLA. However, in this case the tax would only be valid for 8 weeks pending the issue of a new V5.

In the end, my dealer brought the whole lot to the post office along with a letter from me confirming that I was to immediately export the vehicle and needed the whole V5C to do so. He left with everything in my name and on my Irish address and the whole V5 form too, so it is possible.

Bit of a gotcha if you're not expecting it though!!!

mccannf

Hello all,

I've started looking into this, so I'll share what I've found so far.

1. Trying to figure out how much you'll pay in VRT on a car in July?

A very useful site here: http://www.sei.ie/app_trs_search.asp

Especially for reduced rates for diesels like AUDI A3/A4 1.9 TDIs or BMW 320D saloons and 320CD coupes. Someone already mentioned the Honda Accord 2.2 diesel as well.

Note - this is not very well explained on the site: when the model says M6 it means 6-speed manual. A5 = automatic, etc. etc.

If you can't find your model in this site, try the UK one:
http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/search/search.asp

For those of you who can't remember the new VRT bands coming into effect in July:

Bands      CO2/km           VRT Rates 
A          0 - 120g           14% 
B        121 - 140g           16%
C        141 - 155g           20%
D        156 - 170g           24%
E        171 - 190g           28%
F        191 - 225g           32%
G        226g and over        36%

And what I do at the moment is use the OMSP of the car I'm interested in from the current VRT site and multiply it by the new percentage from the appropriate band above.

2. How much will you then pay in Road Tax?

Well according to the Government page here:

• Band A, which corresponds to CO2 emissions of under 120grams per kilometre - motor tax rate of €100.
• Band B, which corresponds to CO2 emissions of between 121 and 140 grams per kilometre – motor tax rate of €150.
• Band C, which corresponds to CO2 emissions of between 141 and 155grams per kilometre – motor tax rate of €290.
• Band D, which corresponds to CO2 emissions of between 156 and 170 grams per kilometre – motor tax rate of €430.
• Band E, which corresponds to CO2 emissions of between 171 and 190grams per kilometre – motor tax rate of €600.
• Band F, which corresponds to CO2 emissions of between 191 and 225 grams per kilometre – motor tax rate of €1,000.
• Band G, the top band – motor tax rate of €2,000, reflecting CO2 emissions of over 225grams per kilometre.

3. What are the greener cars to look out for so I can save on VRT?

I found the following What Car? page useful:
http://www.whatcar.com/green-car-buying.aspx

/fmc

ahsarova

steeo wrote: »

The test is standard but a lot of it is left up to the discression of the tester, a mate of mine went in there last week to get the test done on a 2008 Merc and it failed on emissions and the indicator lens/bulb on the o/s rear was not amber enough and all this on a car that cost him €58k and not even 500kms on the clock.

Do you get a special eye test when you apply for a job as a mechanic in the NCT that you can tell when someones indicators are the right shade of amber ???
What is the right shade of amber for an indicator ???

no offence mate, but I think either your mate or yourself are not telling the full story here.

1) what was a 2008 Merc doing in NCT test centre??? cars only have to be tested once 4 year old...
2) lets say the car for some stupid reason was tested(which it wasn't), if a man who bought a €58k car even mentioned a €1 bulb, I don't think he deserves that car... I don't think he deserves a car...
3) if his car did fail on that bloody bulb, it only means that this bulb was pure WHITE and not amber (fancy word for YELLOW)... and the bulb was white because with time yellow coating burnt off the bulb surface, as the car obviously was NOT 2008 (see comment 1 above)... and there are simple rules, stop lights should be red, reversing light - white, and indicators - f***** yellow! its not that hard to check before the test!

I am only posting this because I am NTC tester and I am sick and tired of listening to characters like you complaining 24/7, I am sure if you had an accident because someones indicator was not visible enough, you would be first to report it to GARDA or in Insurance claim! of course provided you survived the accident!

ahsarova

Robertr wrote: »

When you want to get a car from the UK there are a few rules to follow:

(1) You will have to pay VRT on any car coming into Ireland from any country unless over 30 years old.
(2) You will have to pay VAT on all cars coming from outside the EU, so always buy in the EU as an additional 21% will never bring it under the Irish price.
(3) You will have to pay VAT on all cars under 6 mths old or less than 6,000kms even if they are from within the EU.

what if the car that I am importing is registered in my name in the country outside EU. I know that if I can show that I owned the car for more than 6 month I won't have to pay VRT, but what about VAT??? will I have to pay Irish VAT on a car that I bought/registered in my country and paid local VAT for it etc...

The_Conductor

ahsarova wrote:

what if the car that I am importing is registered in my name in the country outside EU. I know that if I can show that I owned the car for more than 6 month I won't have to pay VRT, but what about VAT??? will I have to pay Irish VAT on a car that I bought/registered in my country and paid local VAT for it etc...

VAT will be due only if its under 6 months of age- irrespective of how long you have owned it (with certain exceptions for government officials posted overseas and diplomats). Once it goes over 6 months of age- VAT is no longer chargeable (unless you are importing the car from outside the EEA).

ahsarova

smccarrick wrote: »

VAT will be due only if its under 6 months of age- irrespective of how long you have owned it (with certain exceptions for government officials posted overseas and diplomats). Once it goes over 6 months of age- VAT is no longer chargeable (unless you are importing the car from outside the EEA).

I am importing the car from outside EEA, but I am registered owner of that car for more than a year now in that country (Russia), should I pay VAT?

geoffc

I don't get this - what's the point on importing a car from UK? If you're importing anything of 1.9 you have to pay 30% VRT which then makes it way more expensive than cae would be here??

Example - Average for 2006 Audi TT in UK circa 35k plus 30% equals circa 45k. To buy same car here would cost about 40k - Am i missing something here????

daRobot

geoffc wrote: »

I don't get this - what's the point on importing a car from UK? If you're importing anything of 1.9 you have to pay 30% VRT which then makes it way more expensive than cae would be here??

Example - Average for 2006 Audi TT in UK circa 35k plus 30% equals circa 45k. To buy same car here would cost about 40k - Am i missing something here????

Nope, we're just a secret group of self-loathing paddys, who just love to give our money to the brits. Looks like you've discovered our sorrowful club

ahsarova

daRobot wrote: »

Nope, we're just a secret group of self-loathing paddys, who just love to give our money to the brits. Looks like you've discovered our sorrowful club

5 stars !!! ))))

Esel

geoffc wrote: »

I don't get this - what's the point on importing a car from UK? If you're importing anything of 1.9 you have to pay 30% VRT which then makes it way more expensive than cae would be here??

Example - Average for 2006 Audi TT in UK circa 35k plus 30% equals circa 45k. To buy same car here would cost about 40k - Am i missing something here????

The VRT is a percentage of the Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) here, not of the price paid in the UK.

Use this official calculator to get an idea of what the VRT would be. Actual VRT charged may vary, depending on extras fitted etc.

https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/showVRT

The_Conductor

ahsarova wrote: »

I am importing the car from outside EEA, but I am registered owner of that car for more than a year now in that country (Russia), should I pay VAT?

As the car is over 6 months of age, and has been your possession for over 6 months, its my understanding that only VRT would be chargeable, not VAT. You really should confirm this with one of the Motor registration offices though- to confirm.

One thing to note: make sure your insurance coverage is sufficient for driving over here- as you are probably aware the Gardai are going after non-compliant registered/taxed/insured cars at the moment (they are particularly active in the Cork region and also in the border counties at the moment, but the plans are to have a nationwide crackdown).

S.

vibe666

quick question regarding an import from a private seller (yes, I know you told us not to, but it was a great deal and it's been inspected etc. and it's all fine.

What do I do about paperwork?

I know what happens with an exported vehicle from the UK is different than for a domestically dold car, but I'm not 100% sure what exactly needs to be done.

I seem to remember reading that there's a section of the V5 that is for exports from the UK and we both have to sign that, but then instead of him sending the whole V5 off, he jst sends off the export section and I bring the rest of it back here with me so I can register it here at my local VRO and get Irish plates on it?

or is it 'Option B' - something I haven't thought of?

ahsarova

vibe666 wrote: »

quick question regarding an import from a private seller (yes, I know you told us not to, but it was a great deal and it's been inspected etc. and it's all fine.

What do I do about paperwork?

I know what happens with an exported vehicle from the UK is different than for a domestically dold car, but I'm not 100% sure what exactly needs to be done.

I seem to remember reading that there's a section of the V5 that is for exports from the UK and we both have to sign that, but then instead of him sending the whole V5 off, he jst sends off the export section and I bring the rest of it back here with me so I can register it here at my local VRO and get Irish plates on it?

or is it 'Option B' - something I haven't thought of?

the seller in UK keeps the export section of V5, which only he/she signes and sends to DVLA in UK to say that the car is exported from UK and no longer in his name. Note, you don't need to sign export section, there is only place for seller signature.

you take the rest of the V5 and take it with you to Irish revenue to get Irish registration. Make sure to get the whole V5 from seller, NOT the new owners supplement of V5!!! supplement is not enough to import a car...

vibe666

thanks for the tip ahsarova.

swift683

OK guys,

I've read most of this thread and to be honest it just confuses me more!

I've been working in Ireland for an English company for 6 months now, previously living/working etc in England for >10years. My work contract in Ireland expires in 2010, when I'm expecting to go back to England. I'm paid in sterling in my English bank account, and I still have my English address.
(Don't know if that makes any difference, I read some parts of the thread which seemed to indicate it might!)

I'm looking to buy a car in England and keep it on its English plates until I return to England permanently. I'm probably going to buy a relatively new (but not brand new) car so the MOT is due in 2010 when I return to England permanently. I can do the road tax online and get it posted to me in Ireland, so no problems there.

I'm not trying to avoid re-registering, avoid paying VRT, or anything like that, far from it - I just want to be legal, while at the same time dont want to have to fork out for re-registering when its not necessary.

I'm particularly confused about the insurance situation - will an irish insurance company insure a car with english plates etc?

Does anybody have any experience of doing this, and can they offer any advice?

Thanks in advance,

john

The_Conductor

John-

To be quite honest, a lot of people did similar to you, particularly those working for UK/NI companies over here on 2-3 year contracts, in the full knowledge that they would be returning to the UK with their car at some point in the future. The Gardai have been doing a major crackdown on UK/NI registered cars on Irish roads though (by rights they should be targetting all the Polish/Latvian/Lithuanian regs as well, but from speaking to one Garda he said he personally prefers the UK regs as he can be certain the driver speaks English......) They can ask you to prove what date the car entered the country (normally this is proven with a ferry ticket or if on holiday and you drove over the border with a hotel booking. You are not supposed to be over here working fulltime, albeit on a fixed term contract, and driving a foreign registered vehicle. In some cases (you may recollect the RBS and Ulster Bank staff who were targetted) they liassed with the Revenue Commissioners to determine whether the people were working here and for how long. Quite a few high performance cars along with more mundane saloons were confiscated (C&E had a display of some of their seized vehicles on Sir John Rogerson's Quay a while back- some of them were really cool!).

Re: Irish companies insuring foreign reg cars- I am not sure what the normal situation is- but Quinn Direct are definitely offering insurance on UK/NI vehicles- you do have to register their normal place of usage though (much the same as I have to register the normal place of usage of my car as Dublin, despite its Galway reg- which adds EUR 120 onto the annual bill :mad: )

S.

swift683

ok cheers for that smccarrick!

I think I'm going to have a word with some of the people I work with/for -some have UK registered vehicles, some NI, Polish, Spanish, Portugese etc...all on their original plates and all displaying varying combinations or road tax/insurance and NCT discs. Surely they can't all be breaking the law in one way or another.:rolleyes:
I'm around the Galway area and I've been looking out for cars with UK plates and thats whats confused me - some have no discs, full stop. Others have a insurance disc (not required to be displayed in UK), some have normal UK road tax displayed. Now I know some of the people may be 'tourists' who are here for a limited time, but it seems to me the Garda dont seem to be interested in checking them out at all.
Having said that, I dont think I'm prepared to take that chance as it would be just my luck to have my collar felt:eek:.

Do you have any experience with re-registering? It seems like a lot of bother to me, I would consider just buying an IE reg car..... if it meant I saved hassle.

Cheers for your help