Tax Queries

mvpr

Good evening all,

After years of talking about it, I'm finally gona bite the bullet and buy myself a van for weekends away.

I intend buying a post 2000 lwb VW Transporter/Renault Trafic-sized van. I was in a taxi recently that was originally a van. The guy had it converted with seats in the back and had to pay a few grand in VRT on it.

If I convert a van into a motorhome, will I have to pay VRT?

If this was the case, might an alternative be to just to set up the back of the van with bed/cooker etc and keep it as a 'commercial'? Would I loose out by paying higher insurance/tax as a result?

Any other advice on starting out would be most appreciated.

Sorry if these are basic questions to most of you, I'm just looking for a point in the right direction.

Thanks!

champer

I am not too sure of the details buit i am sure someone else will fill you in

The standard tax for a motorhome is €65 per year so this would be considerably lower than your commercial road tax. And as for insurance, I think pretty much across the board it is something like €310 for open drive insurance, so this is probably a little less than your van as is.

Good luck with it
C

peasant

Well ..I'm not sure of the details either.

But yes, you would have to pay VRT on conversion, as your commercial originally had a low VRT rate and a camper (under 3 tons unladen) has a higher one ...so there would be a difference due.

The other thing is if your particular conversion would actually be recognised as a "motorcaravan". The critical issue there is the interior height of 1.8 m.
Recently they seem to have disallowed pop-up roofs, so you would need a high roof.

The tricky question then is, if your conversion is disallowed, what do you have then? Is a commercial with fitted camping gear (and possibly even seats!) still a commercial? Or is it a "private car" ...or what?

What will your tax rate be and more importantly, what are the insurance implications?

I would strongly suggest, that you go down to your local VRO and discuss your plans before you start converting and don't forget asking your insurance also.

Depending on the outcome, you might be better off buying something that already is recognised as a "motorcaravan".

stapeler

I'm sure if VRT was previously paid when converted there would be a good argument for exemptions when converting to a Camper. VRO are definetly the people to talk to. I'm guessing here but a '00 Camper conversion would have a value of say €15000 then vrt bill would be around €1800, assuming you meet headroom conditions etc. If the vehicle was taxed privately then tax could be approx €600 per year (God knows what the Greens will do with road tax) as opposed to €78 for a MH/Camper. Would be well worth having it registered as a camper.

If anybody was a copy of the VRT manual just drop me a PM. Cant remember the link where I downloaded it from.It's a 4Mb file with 650pager of garbage.....

mvpr

I will have to contact the VRO and see what they say.

If I find any answers I'll be sure to post them up here.

Thanks everyone!

fade2che

Hi mvpr, I am thinking about going down this route too. it would be great if you could keep us informed of how you get on. Hope it all works out for you.

folkswagen

Don't forget to check out the "proper" camper vans in the top thread here and on adverts.ie

Will save you a lot of hassle in the long run - I hear so many horror stories now trying to get classification as a camper - not as easy as it once used to be:(

mvpr

folkswagen wrote: »

Don't forget to check out the "proper" camper vans in the top thread here and on adverts.ie

Will save you a lot of hassle in the long run - I hear so many horror stories now trying to get classification as a camper - not as easy as it once used to be:(

When trying to get a panelvan conversion classified as a camper, who decides on the classification?

Is there a list of requirements that must be met (dual stove/sink etc)?

peasant

There is a list of requirements (see link in the first post of "basic information" thread)

This being Ireland, the "list" is sufficiently vague to warrant a discussion with your local VRO office to discuss what you can and can't do and what they will pass on the day, as it's basically down to the inspector on the day.

Pick your inspector in advance, get a guideline from them (best in writing) and present to the same inspector when you're done.

That's how I would do it, anyway