Move Ford Fiesta from Germany to Monaghan

thefoofighter

Hi,

I am currently living and working over in Germany,
I drove my Irish car over a year or so ago with the intention of registering it in Germany, Getting TUV and insuring it etc. (This didnt happen)

Anyway, Plans have changed as they do and I need to get the car back to Ireland to sell it, Irish Insurance has worn well past the 90 Days abroad allowance, The car would be due for NCT as it is an 09 model, It is still registered as Irish with my Irish Plates but I have been signing it as off the road in Ireland since it is not being driven.

I cannot drive the car back to Ireland legally because it is not insured anymore, I cant get insurance because it does not have NCT, i cannot get NCT in germany because its called TUV and I think they only test German registered cars. I wouldn't mind driving it back as its probably cheaper than shipping it.

My first Question: Is there an exemption system where I can get a temporary Insurance and temp NCT clearance to let me drive it back to Ireland?

Selling a Right hand drive car in Germany is not really an option, and Transporting it to South Africa will be an even bigger pain than trying to send it to Ireland.

So my Second Question: Does anyone know of a service that could transport the car from Germany to Ireland at a fair rate?
The services I have checked do not seem interested in my case and I was hoping someone here may know a guy who drives to Europe in a transport wagon and takes cars into the country. I have all the car documents.

Also if i were to find a service, am I allowed to put stuff in the car such as boxes of clothes and what not, I dont need insurance for the content just wondering.

Yes I know I am stupid for getting into this situation but I would appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks
Cathal

slimjimmc

Many polices don't require an NCT so you may not even need an NCT, especially if you renew with a previous insurer. Shop around and ask the question.

keithclancy

You don't need an NCT to get Insurance.

I was in your shoes a few years back, in the end I just stuck it up on donedeal cheap and some polish guy flew over to drive it back to Dublin.

Depends really, if you want more money then drive it back, if you want less hassle offer it cheap.

thefoofighter

That is good to know about the NCT,

Is it possible to insure a car for the duration of say a week?
I know the price would probably be extortion compared to paying for a full year but it would work out cheaper for me compared to my other options.

Thanks for the help

duffman3833

keithclancy wrote: »

You don't need an NCT to get Insurance.

I was in your shoes a few years back, in the end I just stuck it up on donedeal cheap and some polish guy flew over to drive it back to Dublin.

Depends really, if you want more money then drive it back, if you want less hassle offer it cheap.

Not entirely true
I wanted to move a car in Ireland probably about 15 miles away, wanted to insure it for the day but couldn't insure it because the NCT expired. Now this could be just the insurance company i was with at the time but i couldn't get it insured. I asked the question, if the NCT is expired and you want to bring it to NCT center to get the test how can i get it there if they (insurance company) wont insure the car. I was told get a mechanic to bring it...... i hung up ha

thefoofighter

I am almost afraid to even mention the NCT situation to insurance companies, or the fact that the car is abroad (they might not even botehr covering it then), I can see them hanging up on me as a lost cause...

CiniO

OP - did you cancel the policy you had on it or is the policy still in place?
3 months limit abroad applies only to extra cover on top of third party, but your third party cover remains valid no matter how long the car is abroad.

In relation to NCT, I'd be careful.
Many policies put stipulation in the policy document that vehicle needs to have valid NCT. If you don't they might not pay you if you claim, or request a money back from you for claim their paid to third party if you were liable. You'd need to find insuance policy which doens't have such stipulation. AFAIR Avive doesn't have anything mentioned about NCT in their policy.
Also, while chances of you being pulled over and fined for out of date NCT abroad are minimal, but it's still illegal to do so. So you need to be careful about it.

You don't need to worry about tax - Irish motortax is of no interest to foreign autorities, and there's nothing illegal driving untaxed car abroad.

After all those though, I'd suggest the easiest might be for you to get German export plates (which are valid f.e. for 2 weeks, and include insurance. Roadworthiness test is not needed afaik, but you'd need to find out exactly). Cost probably around 150 euro.
This would be probably easiest way to do it.

thefoofighter

Hi CiniO, Thats some good and welcoming information,

I cancelled the policy when i was in Germany after it ran out so unfortunately i cannot rely on that.
The temporary plates sound like a good idea but after some ready and asking my friends here its seems you need to have TUV, They are pretty strict on that here it seems, I am also not sure if i can simply bring my car to the TUV and ask for it to be checked,

I will ask Aviva and check with my local Export plates store for more info on this

Thanks for the help!

CiniO

thefoofighter wrote: »

Hi CiniO, Thats some good and welcoming information,

I cancelled the policy when i was in Germany after it ran out so unfortunately i cannot rely on that.
The temporary plates sound like a good idea but after some ready and asking my friends here its seems you need to have TUV, They are pretty strict on that here it seems, I am also not sure if i can simply bring my car to the TUV and ask for it to be checked,

I will ask Aviva and check with my local Export plates store for more info on this

Thanks for the help!

I'm kind of in the same shoes as you - I have Irish registered car in Poland.
It's untaxed (declared off the road), uninsured, and with expired NCT.
I used it in the summer when I was there, but to do that I managed to swap a car on my policy I have for car in Ireland into that car in Poland for a month. I risked driving without NCT. However insurer was Aviva and there was no mention about NCT as requirement in the policy.

I was thinking though about taking this car to Ireland, and I'm not sure if I'd risk driving it through most of Europe without valid NCT.

With TUV maybe they will be able to do it for you - ask them. This would kinda solve the problem.
And in relation to export plates, I think there were yellow and red, and of them them didn't require valid roadworthiness test, but I might be wrong about that.

Streetwalker

Check on anyvan.ie. You should get a quote around the 800 euro mark for collection and transport to Ireland.

Fred Swanson

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Terrontress

I think that if you go to an ADAC office, they can sort it out for you.

bear1

I really don't think the German plate system works for a foreign registered car.
The car would have to have been on German plates beforehand.
As for the TUV, I believe this also applies only to German cars - why would they test foreign cars?
Cinio: would it not make more sense for you at this stage to register the car in Poland?

CiniO

bear1 wrote: »

I really don't think the German plate system works for a foreign registered car.
The car would have to have been on German plates beforehand.
As for the TUV, I believe this also applies only to German cars - why would they test foreign cars?
Cinio: would it not make more sense for you at this stage to register the car in Poland?

If I decided to keep the car in Poland and use it there , then I'd say that would be best option.
But if I decide to take it to Ireland it just looks bit too expensive.
Cost of registering it in Poland currently would be about €500. Not worth paying considering I'd need to register car back in Ireland again when back here.

pheelay

CiniO wrote: »

Cost of registering it in Poland currently would be about €500. Not worth paying considering I'd need to register car back in Ireland again when back here.

In my experience, having exported a car to France without requesting VRT refund, and then brought back to Ireland 5 years later, there is very little to be done to register the car back in Ireland. The car was still on the Irish system and I just requested a replacement VLC, cost 12€.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

bear1

CiniO wrote: »

If I decided to keep the car in Poland and use it there , then I'd say that would be best option.
But if I decide to take it to Ireland it just looks bit too expensive.
Cost of registering it in Poland currently would be about €500. Not worth paying considering I'd need to register car back in Ireland again when back here.

I think I heard in Poland that if you owned the car prior then its free?
I'm.planning on doing this in October in Warsaw so I'm hoping this is the case

CiniO

pheelay wrote: »

In my experience, having exported a car to France without requesting VRT refund, and then brought back to Ireland 5 years later, there is very little to be done to register the car back in Ireland. The car was still on the Irish system and I just requested a replacement VLC, cost 12€.

Yes, that's true - it costs next to nothing to register it back in Ireland.
But as I said it's nearly €500 to register it Poland, so not worth it IMO to do this just to be able to drive a car back to Ireland.

bear1 wrote: »

I think I heard in Poland that if you owned the car prior then its free?
I'm.planning on doing this in October in Warsaw so I'm hoping this is the case

No, you unfortunately heard wrong.
What you heard probably is exemption from excise duty on car if you move residency to Poland (the same as if you moved to Ireland with yout car you used abroad for 6 month you'd exemped from VRT). But excise duty in many cases is not expensive (especially on older cars) so it doens't make that much difference.

I.e. lets assume 05 toyota corrolla worth €4k if you wanted to register it in Poland, you have to pay the following.

1. Excise duty - 3.1% of value = €124
2. Eco-charge - flat rate - €125
3. Translation of documents - €50
4. Roadworthiness test - €25
5. Registration cost (reg cert, number plates, etc) = €50
6. If car is RHD, you need to change lights (front and rear) to suit continental setup - so even sourcing secondhand might be expensive - assume €150.

Total: €524

If you move residency to Poland, you will be exemped from excise duty, but that will only make it cheaper by €124 in that case.

Makes much bigger difference for car with over 2 litre engine, as for them excise duty rate is around 18%.

bear1

Mines a 2.2 so seeing as I've owned it for a year then I should save close to 200e