Do I need to pay UK tax when purchasing a second hand car in the UK?

millhousegirl

I'm buying a 08 BMW 320d in the UK. The garage is insisting that I must pay the UK 6months tax of £55. They reckon they cannot let the car out of the garage without it being taxed and also claim the car wont be insured unless it is taxed.

I've explained that the car will be covered by my insurance company here in Ireland whilist driving it to the ferry regardless whether it is taxed or not.

It seems pointless for me having to pay 6mths taxed for the 3 hours it will be on UK roads driving to the ferry.

Has anyone had this issue before?

Matt Simis

Bull$hit, everytime Ive bought a UK car I arranged money off the asking based on them getting a refund on the motor tax remaining on the car. Just what would they know about your "foreign" insurance policy anyhow.

Crap like this would make me go elsewhere (is UK definitely cheaper inc VRT than ROI?), 320d's must be two a penny on Autotrader.co.uk.

ballsymchugh

you can't tax it in the uk unless it's insured, so their point is arseways.
there shouldn't be an issue. when you buy the car it's yours. whether or not you want to tax it should be up to you only, and whether you want to risk the welsh police pulling you over.

Dave147

You don't need to tax it, I've brought plenty of cars over with no tax, if on the slight chance you are pulled over simply show your Irish licence and your ferry ticket and explain you are exporting the car. You will be sent on your way.

Matt Simis

ballsymchugh wrote: »

you can't tax it in the uk unless it's insured, so their point is arseways.
there shouldn't be an issue. when you buy the car it's yours. whether or not you want to tax it should be up to you only, and whether you want to risk the welsh police pulling you over.

At which point you show them the car is marked for permanent export and doesnt exist in the UK system anymore..

bkehoe

millhousegirl wrote: »

I'm buying a 08 BMW 320d in the UK. The garage is insisting that I must pay the UK 6months tax of £55. They reckon they cannot let the car out of the garage without it being taxed and also claim the car wont be insured unless it is taxed.

I've explained that the car will be covered by my insurance company here in Ireland whilist driving it to the ferry regardless whether it is taxed or not.

It seems pointless for me having to pay 6mths taxed for the 3 hours it will be on UK roads driving to the ferry.

Has anyone had this issue before?

Had this a few years ago - according to the garage it's illegal for them to sell an untaxed car (it was expired by 11 days in my case). The issue only arose in my case after I'd flown over on a one way flight and handed over the bank draft.
So after a bit of debating the issue I said no problem, I'll pay for the tax but obviously I can't supply a UK address. That shut them up. They also said they couldn't tax it to their address. So the salesman went off to the manager and they they typed up a disclaimer letter which they asked me to sign absolving them of the responsibility of taxing and insuring the car and off I went.

Marcusm

If you do a search you'll see that this topic comes up every month or so. No reputable UK motor dealer will allow the car off the lot unless it is taxed. The dealer will generally buy the tax disc at the post office but will need your insurance cert to do this - generally the cert is available for download as a pdf from UK insurers and this is used. If you do the search, you'll see that you can get all but one month's tax back - the dealer can no longer obtain this refund so will insist on full payment.

Our man in Havana

Marcusm wrote: »

If you do a search you'll see that this topic comes up every month or so. No reputable UK motor dealer will allow the car off the lot unless it is taxed. The dealer will generally buy the tax disc at the post office but will need your insurance cert to do this - generally the cert is available for download as a pdf from UK insurers and this is used. If you do the search, you'll see that you can get all but one month's tax back - the dealer can no longer obtain this refund so will insist on full payment.

Will they tax a car on those day insurance certs?

Marcusm

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Will they tax a car on those day insurance certs?

They're generally 7 day insurance certs and they did on my first car (4 years ago this month). If the dealership has lined up with a provider of this, you generally have to deal directly with the insurance company for privacy reasons and then email the cert on to the dealer. Not sure how easily the insurance is provided to a non UK resident.

Our man in Havana

With great difficulty I have found in the past. I have had to use a friends address to get cover.

DonegalMick

I Bought a new car in the uk in 2008, they insisted the car was taxed before it left the garage, i had agreed the price of the car before so the garage absorbed the cost, there was no way that they would let me take the car. I also collected a second hand car for my sister later that year but the car had tax on it. I previously bought cars in northern ireland and it was never an issue

bazz26

How far from the ferry port is the dealership? If it is with in a reasonable distance maybe you could ask the garage to put the car on the back of a flatbed truck if they have one and meet you at the ferry port. Might be an option worth exploring.