Bringing my Leaf back from the UK - a 500km+ trip

Marcusm

NIMAN wrote: »

Question about the V5C on a used car from the UK.

Normally when a person sells a car in the UK, they complete one section of the V5C and give it to the buyer. The seller retains the rest of the V5C and sends it off to Swansea to notify the DVLA that there is a new owner of the vehicle. Swansea then send out a new V5C to the buyer.

But what happens in the case of selling a UK car to an Irish resident when the car is going to be registered in Ireland? Does the Irish buyer have to ask for the full V5C and take it with them when returning home?

I know there is a section for the owner of the car to say that they are moving the car out of the UK (permanent export), but I think this is more for those that are retaining ownership, and not selling it on to someone else to take out of the UK?

By my understanding, I take the full V5C, get the VRT inspection done, the NCT guys take the V5C and they inform DVLA that the car is now in Ireland. Is that right?

The process you outline is correct for a private sale.

Where a car is traded to a dealer, the seller fills out a little tear off slip (section 9 on page 3) to notify DVLA of a sale into the trade and gives the rest to the trader. When the trader sells to you, he should give you everything he has left (most importantly the sheet comprising pages 1 and 2) and then the trader will notify DVLA by letter.

joss

Brought my 2014 Leaf back from the UK yesterday - an exhausting 26-hour, 400km+ journey.
Thanks to posters on this thread and forum for the tips!

isnottheword

joss wrote: »

Brought my 2014 Leaf back from the UK yesterday - an exhausting 26-hour, 400km+ journey.
Thanks to posters on this thread and forum for the tips!

Well done. Which model did you buy - what spec and pricepoint?

unkel

joss wrote: »

Brought my 2014 Leaf back from the UK yesterday - an exhausting 26-hour, 400km+ journey.
Thanks to posters on this thread and forum for the tips!

Well wear!

How come it took that long?

FishOnABike

joss wrote: »

Brought my 2014 Leaf back from the UK yesterday - an exhausting 26-hour, 400km+ journey.
Thanks to posters on this thread and forum for the tips!

I'd be interested in knowing the logistics of that.

How was the 26 hours broken down time/distance/charge (starting % and finishing %) wise on the road and ferry?

KCross

FishOnABike wrote: »

I'd be interested in knowing the logistics of that.

How was the 26 hours broken down time/distance/charge (starting % and finishing %) wise on the road and ferry?

I did a similar journey and logged and posted those figures here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99372631

Obviously it depends on where you are coming from and what ferry you are catching.

joss

isnottheword wrote: »

Well done. Which model did you buy - what spec and pricepoint?

Thanks! 2014 (142) Acenta basic specs, 30,000 miles.
£8000, which equated to €8700 or so.

joss

unkel wrote: »

Well wear!

How come it took that long?

A combination of bad luck and insufficient planning, I'd say. Not a great deal of options for charging during the first portion of my route.

joss

FishOnABike wrote: »

I'd be interested in knowing the logistics of that.

How was the 26 hours broken down time/distance/charge (starting % and finishing %) wise on the road and ferry?

26 hours all-in. Left home just before 5am for a 6.30 flight to Bristol, then National Express, local bus, and train to South Wales.

Left the dealership in South Wales at 11am, and got to an industrial estate south of Hereford in an hour or so. The only rapid charger in the area was offline, as Polar (the provider) had lost contact with it. Drove into Hereford, charger in a car park was in use and wasn't tethered (car only came with granny cable). Eventually managed some slow charging in a friendly Nissan dealership, but spent 3 hours in Hereford when it should have been 30/35.

Was touch and go to get to next rapid charge in Shrewsbury, so I was afraid to charge phone. Got to charge point, phone ran out of power before I could set charging to start, took 20 minutes to charge from laptop. Straightforward from then on.

Ebbw Vale to Hereford - 37 miles - 1 hour travel, 1.5 hours charging
Hereford to Euro Garage Shrewsbury - 52 miles - 1 hour 40 minutes travel, 40 minutes charging
Shrewsbury to Euro Garage Hollywell - 61 miles - 1 hour 30 minutes, 30 minutes charging

At this point I had planned a 63 mile run to Holyhead, but had no chance of getting the 8.30pm ferry so I went by Prestatyn for some Indian food. Then drove on to Holyhead, charged at ferry port, and had a calm but slightly grim 2.30am crossing to Dublin. Home at 6.45am.

goz83

joss wrote: »

26 hours all-in.

Ouch. That was a rough one. My journey was almost twice that (Luton area), with an intentional overnight stay and it didn't take much longer. We could have done ours in well under 26 if we decided to get a late ferry rather than wait til the next day.

mel.b

It can be a long day depending on where you are starting from and where the car is. Mine took 22hrs all up (dept limerick at 2.15am, back to Clare at midnight). I just missed a ferry so had to wait around 3hrs I think for the next one which didn't help It is fun though and I would do it again. I'd love to take me Leaf on a proper road trip.

KCross

mel.b wrote: »

It can be a long day depending on where you are starting from and where the car is. Mine took 22hrs all up (dept limerick at 2.15am, back to Clare at midnight). I just missed a ferry so had to wait around 3hrs I think for the next one which didn't help It is fun though and I would do it again. I'd love to take me Leaf on a proper road trip.

So how has Leaf ownership been mel.b?

Have you had any of your long work days where the 30kWh (vs 24kWh) proved vital?

And how are you getting on with claiming mileage? Did it raise any eyebrows when you declared it was an EV, because its now making you money rather than just reimbursing you!?

mel.b

KCross wrote: »

So how has Leaf ownership been mel.b?

Have you had any of your long work days where the 30kWh (vs 24kWh) proved vital?

And how are you getting on with claiming mileage? Did it raise any eyebrows when you declared it was an EV, because its now making you money rather than just reimbursing you!?

It has been brilliant - I love the leaf and I rave about it to everyone who will listen . It suits me down to the ground. I do need to do a run to the tip next weekend and I'm sure then I'll miss the extra space I had with the jazz but overall no regrets at all.

I've had two work days were the 30kwh has been vital - once was today where I got home with under 10% and the other time I did 185km in the day and got home with 10%. If I had time i could have done today's trip in a 24kwh (but I wouldn't have actually had the time so it's a moot point really!) and the other couldn't have been done in the 24kwh as there were no charges. Today though, I was near a charger and did actually pull in as i needed lunch and thought I could do a quick little topup while getting lunch. However there was another leaf already charging. They were finishing by the time I came out, but I didn't actually need the charge to get back to Ennis so I decided to leave and as I was pulling out of the carpark another leaf was pulling in, so I'm glad I didn't actually charge as I'm sure they needed it more than me.

I was paid my first travel claim with the EV last week and nothing was said so that's good :D

NIMAN

So, I have my VRT appt in the morning, and wondering if I am missing anything to bring along?

I have:

V5C
Bill of Sale
Return ferry ticket showing car reg
VRTVPD1 & VRTVPD2 completed (not sure which one I require)
Certificate of Insurance
Passport
Electricity bill to confirm address

Missing anything?

KCross

NIMAN wrote: »

So, I have my VRT appt in the morning, and wondering if I am missing anything to bring along?

I have:

V5C
Bill of Sale
Return ferry ticket showing car reg
VRTVPD1 & VRTVPD2 completed (not sure which one I require)
Certificate of Insurance
Passport
Electricity bill to confirm address

Missing anything?

The one that caught me was proof of address. A printout from your online electricity account won't be accepted. It has to be an original.

I ended up having to go back with an original revenue letter. They wouldnt accept my electricity bill.

NIMAN

KCross wrote: »

The one that caught me was proof of address. A printout from your online electricity account won't be accepted. It has to be an original.

I ended up having to go back with an original revenue letter. They wouldnt accept my electricity bill.

This turns into a right pain.

All I have is a printout, I have gone for paperless billing so don't get bills sent out.

I had this problem recently too.
We are all encouraged to go paperless then they want a proof of address.

ELM327

NIMAN wrote: »

This turns into a right pain.

All I have is a printout, I have gone for paperless billing so don't get bills sent out.

I had this problem recently too.
We are all encouraged to go paperless then they want a proof of address.

I had a p21 from the revenue with my address on it so I used that.
Failing that, you could always request a bank statement online?

NIMAN

ELM327 wrote: »

I had a p21 from the revenue with my address on it so I used that.
Failing that, you could always request a bank statement online?

I work in NI unfortunately. So nothing there. I do have documents from Revenue but they are >6 months old. Are they strict on the age of documents?

Surely if I request a bank statement online I'll have to print that out too? And then that won't be the original! My appt is tomorrow so receiving one in the post is out of the question.

I have documents from the insurance company with my name and address on, would they do?

ELM327

NIMAN wrote: »

I work in NI unfortunately. So nothing there. I do have documents from Revenue but they are >6 months old. Are they strict on the age of documents?

Surely if I request a bank statement online I'll have to print that out too? And then that won't be the original! My appt is tomorrow so receiving one in the post is out of the question.

I have documents from the insurance company with my name and address on, would they do?

Ah ok. Yes they are strict, they refused my bank documents before - couple of years ago now - as they were out of date.

I don't think they accept insurance. I would bring the best of what you have, worst case scenario is that they will reschedule you. Request the bank statements posted out to you and be ready for the next appt.

KCross

Call into the bank instead. They might print you something over the counter. It will save you going for another VRT appt.

NIMAN

KCross wrote: »

Call into the bank instead. They might print you something over the counter. It will save you going for another VRT appt.

I just did. Only thing they could offer was one of their in store printers.

I printed out a statement, but it's on very shiny paper, and no colour. No bank logos etc.
I think it might not be sufficient either.

Other option is to register car in wife's name, she has a lot more documents that me at our address.

KCross

NIMAN wrote: »

I just did. Only thing they could offer was one of their in store printers.

I printed out a statement, but it's on very shiny paper, and no colour. No bank logos etc.
I think it might not be sufficient either.

Other option is to register car in wife's name, she has a lot more documents that me at our address.

Sounds like you are stuck then. Just go to the appt with what you have and get revenue and the bank to send you statements and hopefully you will have one of them by the time the new appt comes around.... or hope you get an understanding clerk at the VRT desk!

Do you have any other bills via post.... Credit card, Sky, Landline, Credit Union... any originals of those will do too. The Credit Union might be more likely to give you a statement over the counter if you have one of those accounts?

NIMAN

Got none of them, unfortunately.

I called the vrt office in Dublin.and explained that the statement you get from the bank on their instore printers look crap and nothing like one they'd post out, but nothing I could do about it.

The vrt person said to get the bank to put their official stamp on it and it would do.

Will see if it satisfies the local vrt staff in the morning.

Soarer

Bring the wife's documents, and a letter from her stating you can register it in her name. You can always transfer ownership afterwards.

NIMAN

All passed off peacefully!

UK reg gone.

Soarer

Congrats fella.

KCross

NIMAN wrote: »

All passed off peacefully!

UK reg gone.

Cool.
Did they accept a copy of proof of address or did you get an original in the end?

NIMAN

They accepted a statement printed out in the bank yesterday and stamped by the bank.

They were not overly fussy at all.

Seámus-Púbach

NIMAN wrote: »

So, I have my VRT appt in the morning, and wondering if I am missing anything to bring along?

I have:

V5C
Bill of Sale
Return ferry ticket showing car reg
VRTVPD1 & VRTVPD2 completed (not sure which one I require)
Certificate of Insurance
Passport
Electricity bill to confirm address

Missing anything?

Re the ferry ticket, was it the actual ticket you had from the boat?

I have a situation where I've a car here on UK reg plates for past year or so. As circumstances have it, I'll be looking to change over to Irish plates ASAP. Wondering if I can avoid doing the round trip to Holyhead by just booking a one way from Holyhead with my reg on an email.....

Unlikely, but would save some serious hassle for me!

NIMAN

Yeah it was printed on the Stenaline boarding pass for the return journey.

Girl in the VRT office was a bit shocked that I held on to it, I think I brought too much documentation in the end.

gally74

Seámus-Púbach wrote: »

Re the ferry ticket, was it the actual ticket you had from the boat?

I have a situation where I've a car here on UK reg plates for past year or so. As circumstances have it, I'll be looking to change over to Irish plates ASAP. Wondering if I can avoid doing the round trip to Holyhead by just booking a one way from Holyhead with my reg on an email.....

Unlikely, but would save some serious hassle for me!

Print out should be fine,

gally74

I'm looking at the Kia soul ev, any ideas on vrt not on the website

unkel

Pure EVs have a €5000 discount on the VRT, so unless your Kia Soul EV is deemed to be worth more than €35k, the VRT payable will be zero

viking

I'm looking at bringing a Leaf back from the UK on Thursday. I don't have the ESB card yet (not arrived) and I'm flying out tomorrow, will the ESB allow me to charge without a card if I call them while at the charge point?

KCross

viking wrote: »

I'm looking at bringing a Leaf back from the UK on Thursday. I don't have the ESB card yet (not arrived) and I'm flying out tomorrow, will the ESB allow me to charge without a card if I call them while at the charge point?

Yes
Just check the app before you go to make sure that they are all in service.
Likewise on the UK side.... don't just assume they will be working.

Soarer

viking wrote: »

I'm looking at bringing a Leaf back from the UK on Thursday. I don't have the ESB card yet (not arrived) and I'm flying out tomorrow, will the ESB allow me to charge without a card if I call them while at the charge point?

I've a spare ESB card if you're around Cork and want to borrow it.

viking

Soarer wrote: »

I've a spare ESB card if you're around Cork and want to borrow it.

Thanks for the offer! I'm not near Cork unfortunately so I'll go ahead and wing it by calling the esb if I need them to turn on the charger.

Thanks again

NIMAN

Download the Ecotricity app, you can use their chargers in the UK using it.

Starscream25

I'm buying from the uk next weekend and the nerves are starting to get at me. I'll be travelling from Dublin to cork thereafter. I'm buying privately so I won't have the documentation that the esb require to send me out a card on time.

Just wondering is there much waiting around once I call the esb to allow me to charge at a station? its a Sunday trip and considering its Easter weekend I'm wondering will there be anyone to receive my call at all?

The leaf I'm getting has the 6.6 onboard charger with the 24kwh battery 1.5 gen, so I'm thinking of similar route taken by others, Dublin port to port Laois, then onto Cahir and finally one more stop along the way.

mel.b

Starscream25 wrote: »

I'm buying from the uk next weekend and the nerves are starting to get at me. I'll be travelling from Dublin to cork thereafter. I'm buying privately so I won't have the documentation that the esb require to send me out a card on time.

Just wondering is there much waiting around once I call the esb to allow me to charge at a station? its a Sunday trip and considering its Easter weekend I'm wondering will there be anyone to receive my call at all?

The leaf I'm getting has the 6.6 onboard charger with the 24kwh battery 1.5 gen, so I'm thinking of similar route taken by others, Dublin port to port Laois, then onto Cahir and finally one more stop along the way.

The esb lines are meant to be available 24/7 so there should be someone to take your call. They will be able to activate the machine immediately but its worth trying a RFID card (like your contactless atm card) first as people report that that works as well.

I can’t comment on your route or charging points but just remember with the cold weather you may have less range so plan accordingly. Depending on the ferry you may be able to charge onboard, and if you are leaving from holyhead there is a charger at the port (right down the back past the hertz office)

KCross

Starscream25 wrote: »

The leaf I'm getting has the 6.6 onboard charger with the 24kwh battery 1.5 gen, so I'm thinking of similar route taken by others, Dublin port to port Laois, then onto Cahir and finally one more stop along the way.

For you to make it from the port to midway(jct 17) you will need to be coming off the ferry with 100% and you'll need to watch your speed. Its over 100km so it will do that easily enough but not if you are doing 120km/h.

Cashel will probably be your next stop because you will likely be leaving midway with 80% not 100% so Cashel is the best bet.

And then another stop, maybe in Fermoy, depending on what part of Cork you are going to.

It really all depends on how fast you intend to drive. Considering its your first jaunt in an EV start slow and get a feel for the range and adjust accordingly. A good rule of thumb is 1km=1% in the 24kWh Leaf.

viking

Starscream25 wrote: »

Just wondering is there much waiting around once I call the esb to allow me to charge at a station? its a Sunday trip and considering its Easter weekend I'm wondering will there be anyone to receive my call at all?

I ended up spending about 3 hours at the fast charger in Dublin Port as it could not be remotely started, I was eventually helped out by a taxi man who fired up the charger for me with his card once he was done charging.

Wouldn't have been so bad except we got off the ferry about 11.30pm and I had my 11 year old kid with me. Finally arrived home about 4am utterly shattered

No regrets though, love the Leaf

Starscream25

This is fairly daunting stuff, I’ve my dad who has insisted on coming along with me who will no doubt start moaning about the short comings of ev’s once/if something happens to prolong the trip too much.

Stena confirmed for me that there are no onboard chargers and that using an extension lead onboard is against health and safety policy(I wonder would staff onboard be more ....flexible), would I be right in saying the charger at Holyhead has a fast charging facility? I have purchased the flexitime ticket so if I’m stuck for juice I can wait as long as needs be to get to 100% before boarding.

I’m just looking at the port laoise fast charging facility on the ESB app and it’s out of order, how long would it typically take for ESB to sort them does anyone know?

Thanks for the suggested route K Cross, it’s pretty much what I plan to do. I’ll be in no rush and happy to cruise along at 100 km/h so I think I should have little to no trouble reaching those areas.

Can someone just confirm for me, I have an onboard 6.6 charger, those this mean the station I use has to be a fast charger or can I use my 6.6 on any standard charging station, if so there doesn’t seem to be many fast chargers between Dublin and Cork, being a Sunday I’m hoping and assuming there won’t be too many people on the roads.

mel.b

Starscream25 wrote: »

This is fairly daunting stuff, I’ve my dad who has insisted on coming along with me who will no doubt start moaning about the short comings of ev’s once/if something happens to prolong the trip too much.

Stena confirmed for me that there are no onboard chargers and that using an extension lead onboard is against health and safety policy(I wonder would staff onboard be more ....flexible), would I be right in saying the charger at Holyhead has a fast charging facility? I have purchased the flexitime ticket so if I’m stuck for juice I can wait as long as needs be to get to 100% before boarding.

I’m just looking at the port laoise fast charging facility on the ESB app and it’s out of order, how long would it typically take for ESB to sort them does anyone know?

Thanks for the suggested route K Cross, it’s pretty much what I plan to do. I’ll be in no rush and happy to cruise along at 100 km/h so I think I should have little to no trouble reaching those areas.

Can someone just confirm for me, I have an onboard 6.6 charger, those this mean the station I use has to be a fast charger or can I use my 6.6 on any standard charging station, if so there doesn’t seem to be many fast chargers between Dublin and Cork, being a Sunday I’m hoping and assuming there won’t be too many people on the roads.

Make sure you have the ecotricity app on your phone so you can pay for the chargers in the UK. When i used Holyhead fast charger it charged my car right up to 95%, however you are getting the 24kwh version so the charge will slow down significantly after 80%. In this case you are better to see if Holyhead has a slow charge point as with the 6.6 charger on board you’ll probably nearly charge faster on that past 80%. Others may be able to comment about staying past 80% on an ecotricity charger which you are paying for.

If a charger is OOA, esb may not be able to fix it over the phone. So best to charge before you need to and with enough that you could reach the next charger if the first is OOA. Slthough portloaise isn’t showing out of order on my app?

With the 6.6 charger on board you can use both FCP and SCPs, with the advantage that you’ll charge faster on a SCP than you would if you only had a 3.3. The FCP are still much faster though!

KCross

Starscream25 wrote: »

Stena confirmed for me that there are no onboard chargers and that using an extension lead onboard is against health and safety policy(I wonder would staff onboard be more ....flexible), would I be right in saying the charger at Holyhead has a fast charging facility? I have purchased the flexitime ticket so if I’m stuck for juice I can wait as long as needs be to get to 100% before boarding.

There is a good chance the car wont charge onboard with an extension lead either. My Leaf failed to charge onboard the Rosslare Irish ferries.

Starscream25 wrote: »

I’m just looking at the port laoise fast charging facility on the ESB app and it’s out of order, how long would it typically take for ESB to sort them does anyone know?

It doesnt look out of order to me. Its showing as occupied so its up and running as far as I can see. Unusually, actually, I cannot see a single rapid out of order at the moment. There is usually 6 or 7!

If it were out of order it could take any random amount of time for it to be fixed so you should plan to avoid any chargers shown as out of order.

Starscream25 wrote: »

Can someone just confirm for me, I have an onboard 6.6 charger, those this mean the station I use has to be a fast charger or can I use my 6.6 on any standard charging station, if so there doesn’t seem to be many fast chargers between Dublin and Cork, being a Sunday I’m hoping and assuming there won’t be too many people on the roads.

You've a bit of learning to do!
Your Leaf has two charging ports.... AC (upto 6.6kW) and DC(upto 45kW)

You use the AC port for overnight charging or if you are leaving the car somewhere for 2-3hrs. You use the cable that came with the car to use this port.

On the eCars map the AC charge points are the green icons and the DC chargers are the blue icons.

When you are driving on the motorway you will use the rapid chargers only and they are all DC so it doesnt matter whether your car is 3.3kW or 6.6kW as it will be using the DC port and will charge in 30mins or so. The rapid chargers have a cable attached to them so you dont use the cars cable for that.

Maybe take a look at the charging videos on the eCars website so you are familiar with it.

goz83

When using the ecotricity app to find chargers, I find it is best to have a pre-planned route and google maps as a back-up. Plan to stop every 50 miles (80km) and don't push beyond 60 miles (95km) as you will usually be starting at 80%.

Ecotricity used to stop feeding the car after 30 mins, but they now charge per kW, so you can leave the car charging for more than 30 minutes while you grab some kfc or whatever and you should have more than 80% when you come out.

There is an ecotricity charger at the port in holyhead before you pass the check-in huts. Drive to the left of the huts and the charger is at the end beside the fence. Good opportunity to get to 100%.

There should be no issue getting chargers activated. Try any rfid card or borrow one from someone with an EV. ESB have been known to be flexible and may send you a card if you explain you have decided on a car. Send emails as proof. I got mine before I got my car. But it will probably take longer than a week to get a card.

Good luck.

JackieChan

goz83 wrote: »

When using the ecotricity app to find chargers, I find it is best to have a pre-planned route and google maps as a back-up. Plan to stop every 50 miles (80km) and don't push beyond 60 miles (95km) as you will usually be starting at 80%.

Ecotricity used to stop feeding the car after 30 mins, but they now charge per kW, so you can leave the car charging for more than 30 minutes while you grab some kfc or whatever and you should have more than 80% when you come out.

There is an ecotricity charger at the port in holyhead before you pass the check-in huts. Drive to the left of the huts and the charger is at the end beside the fence. Good opportunity to get to 100%.

There should be no issue getting chargers activated. Try any rfid card or borrow one from someone with an EV. ESB have been known to be flexible and may send you a card if you explain you have decided on a car. Send emails as proof. I got mine before I got my car. But it will probably take longer than a week to get a card.

Good luck.

This has now increased to 45 mins

Starscream25

So I have the leaf back at home today, it was an eventful trip, at my first charge in singing kettle my phone would not connect to the charging station, I had to ring the helpline where it could be remotely activated for me. Charged up at Holyhead no problem.

Left Dublin port with 83% and stopped at monasterevan and charged up to 85%, the temperature was dipping to 1 degree and later to 0 from here on, this only gave me ~50 miles a go driving with cruise control at 60 mph. Due to nerves I decided to stop next at urlingford and then Cahir. Thought I would have enough to home from here with 80% left. My phone died at this stage even after bringing a battery pack.

Nearer to home 15 miles range dropped to 7 very quickly, after this the dash started flashing (- - -), I managed to get home at 23.15 after setting off at 05:00 the same day and was ready to drop.

Have been driving it today without any of the issues I had yesterday and am loving it.

I think the combination of all hills from south Tipperary to the dunkettle roundabout together with the very low temps really zapped the range (more than I expected), baptism by fire I guess.

Next is registration. Hopefully I can get it done this week.
I have the V5c/2 section of the v5 document, but now realise that I was supposed to take the rest of the v5c section which is now being sent to me by the previous owner.

Thanks for advice all, Great resource for those importing.

NIMAN

Best of luck with it now.

You've got over the hard bit, you'll learn very quickly now how the range fares and how best to drive it daily

Well wear !