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

L-M

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Similar spec car in Ireland is working out about €6,000 more expensive than buying in the U.K.

It’s the reason this thread exists...

Can you show it? Sounds like mad money in the difference of a 2016... ie 25 percent cheaper?

Idbatterim

Great feeling knowing that my next import a4.8 twin turbo petrol , will be capped at six hundred. Finally a bit of value from those rats !

AndyBoBandy

L-M wrote: »

Can you show it? Sounds like mad money in the difference of a 2016... ie 25 percent cheaper?

Have a look yourself at 2016 A6’s in Ireland vs the U.K., closer to 20% but that’s what I’m seeing...

mickdw

Idbatterim wrote: »

Great feeling knowing that my next import a4.8 twin turbo petrol , will be capped at six hundred. Finally a bit of value from those rats !

Nox only. It's 600 more than you would have paid last year

L-M

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Have a look yourself at 2016 A6’s in Ireland vs the U.K., closer to 20% but that’s what I’m seeing...

I just went to Auto trade and the cheapest in the country is 11500 Sterling. Say 12000 Sterling for the boat, travel tax etc etc etc

That’s about 14250 euro and the VRT is around 4k so 18250.

There are similar cars then with similar mileage in Irish dealers (from the UK also) advertised at 19900 with warranty....

AndyBoBandy

L-M wrote: »

I just went to Auto trade and the cheapest in the country is 11500 Sterling. Say 12000 Sterling for the boat, travel tax etc etc etc

That’s about 14250 euro and the VRT is around 4k so 18250.

There are similar cars then with similar mileage in Irish dealers (from the UK also) advertised at 19900 with warranty....

What sort of specs and what sort of mileage?

L-M

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What sort of specs and what sort of mileage?

Same spec and mileage

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201912075137439?advertising-location=at_cars&transmission=Automatic&year-from=2016&postcode=bn33ny&model=A4&sort=price-asc&page=2&make=AUDI&year-to=2016&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/audi/a4/used-2016-162-audi-a4-sport-ultra-2-0-galway-fpa-201911013920110

Well less mileage actually on the Irish one

Higgins5473

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Similar spec car in Ireland is working out about €6,000 more expensive than buying in the U.K.

It’s the reason this thread exists...

Math: exchange rate and payment charges, vrt, UK tax, nox tax, transport cost, insurance, inspection cost, travel cost...all this still saving €6k?

AndyBoBandy

L-M wrote: »

Same spec and mileage

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201912075137439?advertising-location=at_cars&transmission=Automatic&year-from=2016&postcode=bn33ny&model=A4&sort=price-asc&page=2&make=AUDI&year-to=2016&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/audi/a4/used-2016-162-audi-a4-sport-ultra-2-0-galway-fpa-201911013920110

Well less mileage actually on the Irish one

Mileage is way too high for what I want, max I want is about 60,000

Also, these are A4’s and I’m looking at A6’s

bazz26

You would get an A6 for similar money to those A4s:

https://www.carsireland.ie/detail.php?ad_id=2281488&r=s.php%3Fm%3D7%26o%3D45%26r%3D2016%26pp%3D50%26g%3D0
https://www.carsireland.ie/detail.php?ad_id=2359444&r=s.php%3Fm%3D7%26o%3D45%26r%3D2016%26pp%3D50%26g%3D0

AndyBoBandy

Higgins5473 wrote: »

Math: exchange rate and payment charges, vrt, UK tax, nox tax, transport cost, insurance, inspection cost, travel cost...all this still saving €6k?

I’ve just compared purchase price + Nox/VRT to some similar cars in Ireland, and the difference was roughly 6k

Exchange rate will be minimal (made a similar value purchase in the U.K. about 18 months ago and the rate was minimal paying direct from my bank account.
Transport will be a ferry and a 1/4 tank of juice - €200
Inspection - unaccounted for...
Insurance - I’ll get a €150 refund changing to new car
Travel to U.K.- Nothing as I regularly travel there for work, so can arrange a ‘site visit’ to coincide with picking up a car.

So maybe to be conservative reduce the saving to 4K and It’s still worth the effort.

L-M

I just did the same comparison on an A6

So the cheapest is an S line at 16500 Sterling which is around 24 euro landed.

There are buckets of them in Irish dealers for mid 20s there’s even a 171 for 24950 albeit not an S line...

Where’s the saving?

AndyBoBandy

L-M wrote: »

I just did the same comparison on an A6

So the cheapest is an S line at 16500 Sterling which is around 24 euro landed.

There are buckets of them in Irish dealers for mid 20s there’s even a 171 for 24950 albeit not an S line...

Where’s the saving?

I’m looking at around £14 - £15k price range so we must be looking at different cars.

Cheerio

L-M

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I’m looking at around £14 - £15k price range so we must be looking at different cars.

Cheerio

I just put 2016 Audi A6 into Auto trader and sorted low to high?

I’m just curious about the 6k saving.

L-M

Im only trying to save someone hassle when you could buy here for the same price and get a warranty and more than likely a better finance rate too if that applied.

Higgins5473

User1998 wrote: »

Your not curious your just trying to prove a point at this stage

Grow up and let him import his Audi

In fairness, this is one of the most helpful non argumentative threads on this site. Every single post on this is trying to help someone out and advise for nothing, including some very expert advice from the VRT side and purchase side. Your post is the first I have seen heading into that argumentative stuff.

User1998

Cheapest 16 A6 in Ireland 123k miles
€17,500

Cheapest on Auto trader 133k miles
£9295 / €11000
Ferry & Fuel €200
Vrt & Nox €3170 + €260 was it?
Total price €14430 (say €14,500)

€3,000 savings in this example

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201910113218412?advertising-location=at_cars&year-from=2016&postcode=bt358qs&model=A6%20SALOON&sort=price-asc&page=1&make=AUDI&year-to=2016&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used

https://www.donedeal.ie/view/22511628

L-M

But we’re talking about a 60k miler here.

LillySV

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I’ve just compared purchase price + Nox/VRT to some similar cars in Ireland, and the difference was roughly 6k

Exchange rate will be minimal (made a similar value purchase in the U.K. about 18 months ago and the rate was minimal paying direct from my bank account.
Transport will be a ferry and a 1/4 tank of juice - €200
Inspection - unaccounted for...
Insurance - I’ll get a €150 refund changing to new car
Travel to U.K.- Nothing as I regularly travel there for work, so can arrange a ‘site visit’ to coincide with picking up a car.

So maybe to be conservative reduce the saving to 4K and It’s still worth the effort.

What ferry is best to go with and where from? Any tips on good Trusty dealers to buy from? I’m looking at going over to get a Beamer in next few weeks

pablo128

LillySV wrote: »

What ferry is best to go with and where from? Any tips on good Trusty dealers to buy from? I’m looking at going over to get a Beamer in next few weeks

Holyhead port gives the most options. Don't discount Scotland though. I bought in Glasgow and got the ferry to Belfast which is only a 2 hour sailing. There's Rosslare too but not a huge amount of dealers very close. Both Rosslare and Belfast about 2 hours drive to Dublin.

Tiger72

LillySV wrote: »

Lads I’m just wondering if anyone is aware of what will happen should Uk leave on 31st Jan ? Does it mean vat to be charged there on or have we a transition period of year where things stay as is until dec 2020 or so, therefore no rush on me buyin car?

( I have a feeling I’ll get better deal for second hand car in feb )

Any thoughts on what this man is asking ?

bazz26

I went over with someone about 2 years ago. Bought in Preston. Flew into Manchester and got the train up to Preston, then got the ferry back from Hollyhead which was a 2 or 2.5 hour drive. Plenty of choice in that part of the UK - Preston, Manchester, Liverpool, etc.

deezell

The_Fitz wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/budget-2020-new-emissions-tax-on-new-cars-and-used-imports-1.4043840

So I'm looking at an extra 600?

You're using the Co2 figure to calculate the Nox charge, not the Nox figure, which is a seperate emissions figure. This should/may be printed on the V5C form. Nox is generally a lot lower for petrol cars, so it may not be that costly, but if the Nox figure is not on the V5C, the NCT guys will use the figure in their database if they have the exact model, but more likely will charge the petrol max of €600. I'll come back with a figure for that car Nox in a while, but check the v5c logbook at the dealers.
EDIT; ok, this astra, which must be the basic 1.4 petrol if it has CO2 of 139mg, has a NOx of 39, so that's a Nox charge of €195. You can breathe again! Heres the UK vid for this model, and make sure that figure is printed on the V5c logbook.
https://carfueldata.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/search-new-or-used-cars.aspx?vid=825041

ricimaki

For ferries, you can also get one with P&O from Liverpool to Dublin too. It's 8 hours overnight with a cabin, so could be handy for people with a bit of a drive after they get off. Doesn't cost much more than going through Holyhead either.

Has anyone got a car from Dace specialist car centre Manchester, or the other Dace dealers before?

LillySV

Tiger72 wrote: »

Any thoughts on what his man is asking ?

Yea I’m still waiting on a response to this.... I’m assuming things will stay as is for the next year while transitioning

darragh o meara

Seen just now that Cartell.ie has nox values by reg. I tried my cars UK and Irish reg and both worked. Might be handy when trying to work out VRT costs.

deezell

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I’ve just compared purchase price + Nox/VRT to some similar cars in Ireland, and the difference was roughly 6k

Exchange rate will be minimal (made a similar value purchase in the U.K. about 18 months ago and the rate was minimal paying direct from my bank account.....

I think you're underestimating the exchange rate. Its costing a stiff 18% right now to buy sterling, and that's using something like revolut or transfermate. If you transfer from your irish bank and let them do the exchage it'll be more like 20%. It's only 84.7p to the € right now, it was close to 90p to the € eighteen months ago

The_Fitz

deezell wrote: »

You're using the Co2 figure to calculate the Nox charge, not the Nox figure, which is a seperate emissions figure. This should/may be printed on the V5C form. Nox is generally a lot lower for petrol cars, so it may not be that costly, but if the Nox figure is not on the V5C, the NCT guys will use the figure in their database if they have the exact model, but more likely will charge the petrol max of €600. I'll come back with a figure for that car Nox in a while, but check the v5c logbook at the dealers.
EDIT; ok, this astra, which must be the basic 1.4 petrol if it has CO2 of 139mg, has a NOx of 39, so that's a Nox charge of €195. You can breathe again! Heres the UK vid for this model, and make sure that figure is printed on the V5c logbook.
https://carfueldata.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/search-new-or-used-cars.aspx?vid=825041

Some man.

Stuck the UK reg into cartell and its saying the charge is 80e.

Just need to make sure its on the v5c as you say.

deezell

The_Fitz wrote: »

Some man.

Stuck the UK reg into cartell and its saying the charge is 80e.

Just need to make sure its on the v5c as you say.

That means a Nox of only 16mg? That sounds seriously low, but I hope its right.

The_Fitz

deezell wrote: »

That means a Nox of only 16mg? That sounds seriously low, but I hope its right.

That's what cartell says.

195 still a lot better than 600 anyway!