Car with EU plates in Ireland

Nikosmen

Hello Guys, recently I moved to Ireland bringing my car (EU) with me. Its a first-hand car with 80k Km (license 2009). I came with the ferry 4 days ago and I do have the ticket. The car is insured in Greece and has a green card. I started work here and I 'll stay permanently, but I am not sure if I ll keep the car for longer than 6 months or even if I do, can someone explain to me what I need to do in regard to VRT, plates etc?

I have been told that its not required to pay VRT but I need to go to NCTS before my insurance expire and then register it for getting Irish plates and insure it in an Irish company, but somewhere else I read that the car must be to ncts in 7 days after its arrival even if it doesnt need to pay VRT?

Someone give me his lights because I am completely lost here!

Thank you!

goochy

You realise you must pay tax in ireland , you will get use to it after a while !

cml387

goochy wrote: »

You realise you must pay tax in ireland , you will get use to it after a while !

Very helpful:rolleyes:

If you owned the car for a period of greater than six months outside Ireland you will not have to pay anything but there are forms you need to fill.

Have a read of this for a start

colm_mcm

You will need to pay annual tax on the car, and insurance, which can be massively expensive.

kerten

Have you compared the value of your car at home vs here ?

Insurance can be problematic/expensive with a left hand drive unless you are planning to drive it with its current insurance(that probably has number of days limit out of home country) long term

CiniO

IMO if you just moved here and never been here before, you are not yet to be considered resident in Ireland.
After you spend half a year here and intend to stay for longer then you can definitely consider your self as resident.

Before you are resident in Ireland, you don't need to have your car registered here and you can drive on Greek plates.

So if you're not sure what the plan is towards the car within next 6 months, I think you can just keep driving.

mdebets

CiniO wrote: »

IMO if you just moved here and never been here before, you are not yet to be considered resident in Ireland.
After you spend half a year here and intend to stay for longer then you can definitely consider your self as resident.

Before you are resident in Ireland, you don't need to have your car registered here and you can drive on Greek plates.

So if you're not sure what the plan is towards the car within next 6 months, I think you can just keep driving.

Not true. If you are transferring residency, you have to apply to register your car 7 days after you arrived in Ireland and 30 days to complete the process. See here and here.
You can get an exception for up to twelve months, but you need to apply for it. See here.

I don't know, where the OP works, but in if it is for a foreign Multinational, or in an industrial estate where a foreign Multinational is located, there might be a good chance that you get your car confiscated by customs if you don't follow the rules (don't know if they still do it, but when I was still in Ireland, they were regularly outside the industrial estates I worked.
You also might have a neighbour reporting you to customs if he sees you driving a foreign car and he feels pissed off by you for a reason.

CiniO

mdebets wrote: »

Not true. If you are transferring residency, you have to apply to register your car 7 days after you arrived in Ireland and 30 days to complete the process. See here and here.
You can get an exception for up to twelve months, but you need to apply for it. See here.

I don't know, where the OP works, but in if it is for a foreign Multinational, or in an industrial estate where a foreign Multinational is located, there might be a good chance that you get your car confiscated by customs if you don't follow the rules (don't know if they still do it, but when I was still in Ireland, they were regularly outside the industrial estates I worked.
You also might have a neighbour reporting you to customs if he sees you driving a foreign car and he feels pissed off by you for a reason.

All those rules apply only to people resident in Ireland.

Someone who just moved here doesn't necessarily need to be considered resident straight away after arrival. Even more very often you can't consider yourself resident straight after arrival unless your future plans clearly stipulate you are planning to stay here.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Another thing to consider before doing anything in relation to registering the car here is, the insurance (through an irish insurance company) is going to extorionate for a LHD car and your No Claims Bonus (if you have such a thing) will mean nothing here. It may not be worth keeping the car and it may be more beneficial to sell the car back to Greece or the continent and buy a RHD car.

ironclaw

OP, you'd be mad to keep your car here.

- You'll pay through the nose for insurance as you'll have a foreign license (Which most insurers won't insure), you'll have no driving history (And most insurers won't accept anything not from Ireland) and you'll have accrued no claim bonus (Again, prior driving won't be recognized here) It will never get cheaper, you'll always be paying probably 50% more than anyone else on the road and the average cost of insurance here is up in the 500EUR+ range for drivers with perfect records.

- Assuming you did get insurance, you're car has the wheel 'on the wrong side', you can forget about ever selling it here unless its something super special (Like a Porsche or similar)

- Lastly, on the wheel thing, you'll have non stop fun at car parks and tolls as you'll need arms the lengths of goal posts to reach them.

Put bluntly, I'd wager you could ship the car back to Greece, buy a new car here and insure it, for less than registering the Greek car here and insuring it. Your saving in one year would be staggering.

pcardin

mdebets wrote: »

Not true. If you are transferring residency, you have to apply to register your car 7 days after you arrived in Ireland and 30 days to complete the process. See here and here.
You can get an exception for up to twelve months, but you need to apply for it. See here.

I don't know, where the OP works, but in if it is for a foreign Multinational, or in an industrial estate where a foreign Multinational is located, there might be a good chance that you get your car confiscated by customs if you don't follow the rules (don't know if they still do it, but when I was still in Ireland, they were regularly outside the industrial estates I worked.
You also might have a neighbour reporting you to customs if he sees you driving a foreign car and he feels pissed off by you for a reason.

True, but rules/laws is one thing, enforcing them is another. In Ireland Garda is very very relaxed and inefficient. and customs, in my 12 years here I haven't once seen them on roads (not saying they are not). I moved to southside Dublin 9 years ago and since then see a Slovak registered Meriva almost every day. Surely garda/customs would have picked that up if they were anywhere close as efficient as they claim to be .

mdebets

CiniO wrote: »

All those rules apply only to people resident in Ireland.

Someone who just moved here doesn't necessarily need to be considered resident straight away after arrival. Even more very often you can't consider yourself resident straight after arrival unless your future plans clearly stipulate you are planning to stay here.

It's not about residency, its about transferring residency and that the OP is doing. Anything else wouldn't make any sense if you read the documentation from the Revenue.
You can only avail of free VRT, if your normal residency at the time of the transfer of the car is outside the state. You have to apply 7 days after the transfer (for registration or exemption). At this time, you can't be legally resident in Ireland.
The only reason for not to register or ask for exemption is if you know that you won't be resident in the state (because you are on a long holiday or a short contract) and will be out of the country before the 186 days are up, but you have to proof that when customs stops you.

fullstop

mdebets wrote: »

Not true. If you are transferring residency, you have to apply to register your car 7 days after you arrived in Ireland and 30 days to complete the process.

Cinio picks and chooses which laws to follow.

OP you'll need to fill out a TOR form and provide proof of ownership of the vehicle as well as evidence of day to day living in Greece for the past year (utility bills, bank statement etc) to prove eligibility for VRT exemption but you shouldn't have a problem getting one.

pa990

Op, how long are you planning on staying in ireland ?

If I were you, I would say/do nothing.. just drive away as normal.
If you're stopped, just say you are here on vacation, and leaving in 2weeks time.

The Garda and customs are operating on a skeleton force.., they don't have time/resources/interest to deal with small fish

fullstop

pa990 wrote: »

Op, how long are you planning on staying in ireland ?

If I were you, I would say/do nothing.. just drive away as normal.
If you're stopped, just say you are here on vacation, and leaving in 2weeks time.

The Garda and customs are operating on a skeleton force.., they don't have time/resources/interest to deal with small fish

Well that's not a very good idea if he's staying, now is it? As part of the VRT or VRT exemption process you must provide proof of the car arriving in port so if he drives around for 6 months and gets stopped and either the car seized or told to register he's going to run into trouble.

Falcon L

On the insurance angle. There are a few companies that will accept NCB from another European country. I brought mine back from Spain over 3 years ago. After the first year, you can use the NCB of the first company with any of the others.

pa990

fullstop wrote: »

Well that's not a very good idea if he's staying, now is it? As part of the VRT or VRT exemption process you must provide proof of the car arriving in port so if he drives around for 6 months and gets stopped and either the car seized or told to register he's going to run into trouble.

As I said, the limited resources of the gardai make it unlikely that anything will happen.

And if when stopped, he only speaks Greek. Its unlikely anything will happen.

fullstop

pa990 wrote: »

As I said, the limited resources of the gardai make it unlikely that anything will happen.

And if when stopped, he only speaks Greek. Its unlikely anything will happen.

It's really not unlikely at all, since the checkpoint scandal they're everywhere.

CiniO

fullstop wrote: »

Cinio picks and chooses which laws to follow.

OP you'll need to fill out a TOR form and provide proof of ownership of the vehicle as well as evidence of day to day living in Greece for the past year (utility bills, bank statement etc) to prove eligibility for VRT exemption but you shouldn't have a problem getting one.

I pick and choose laws?

People who are not resident in Ireland, can keep their foreign registered vehicle in Ireland for up to 12 months (with few exceptions allowing for longer periods f.e. foreign students studying in Ireland).

OP coming here, doesn't become resident first thing he enters the country.

Until he is here physically for more than 6 months, it would be very hard to prove by anyone that he is resident.

mdebets

CiniO wrote: »

I pick and choose laws?

People who are not resident in Ireland, can keep their foreign registered vehicle in Ireland for up to 12 months (with few exceptions allowing for longer periods f.e. foreign students studying in Ireland).

But he has to apply for it within 7 days after bringing the car to Ireland.
The Revenue rules don't make any sense otherwise.
If you bring a car to Ireland and you want to avail of free VRT, you have to have your normal residency outside of Ireland (in the same country the car was registered) for 1 year prior to the car arriving in Ireland. You also have to start the registration within 7 days of the car arriving in Ireland. By definition, you can't have your normal residency within Ireland by this time. That's why you have the choice of registering it straight for VRT (because you know you will be in Ireland for more than 1 year) or postponing it for a maximum of 12 month (you only have a 6 months contract and want to return home afterwards)

CiniO wrote: »

OP coming here, doesn't become resident first thing he enters the country.

Until he is here physically for more than 6 months, it would be very hard to prove by anyone that he is resident.

It's not the residency, it's the transfer of residency that is important and that starts at the moment you arrive. And most people would know, if they are planning to stay for more than a year or not and if they don't they can apply for the examption for up to 12 months.

CiniO

mdebets wrote: »

But he has to apply for it within 7 days after bringing the car to Ireland.
The Revenue rules don't make any sense otherwise.
If you bring a car to Ireland and you want to avail of free VRT, you have to have your normal residency outside of Ireland (in the same country the car was registered) for 1 year prior to the car arriving in Ireland. You also have to start the registration within 7 days of the car arriving in Ireland. By definition, you can't have your normal residency within Ireland by this time. That's why you have the choice of registering it straight for VRT (because you know you will be in Ireland for more than 1 year) or postponing it for a maximum of 12 month (you only have a 6 months contract and want to return home afterwards)

It's not the residency, it's the transfer of residency that is important and that starts at the moment you arrive. And most people would know, if they are planning to stay for more than a year or not and if they don't they can apply for the examption for up to 12 months.

Yes, but OP never said he is sure he is intending to keep the car in Ireland for more than 6 months.

If he actually isn't, there's no point in having it registered.

redcup342

mdebets wrote: »

Not true. If you are transferring residency, you have to apply to register your car 7 days after you arrived in Ireland and 30 days to complete the process. See here and here.
You can get an exception for up to twelve months, but you need to apply for it. See here.

I don't know, where the OP works, but in if it is for a foreign Multinational, or in an industrial estate where a foreign Multinational is located, there might be a good chance that you get your car confiscated by customs if you don't follow the rules (don't know if they still do it, but when I was still in Ireland, they were regularly outside the industrial estates I worked.
You also might have a neighbour reporting you to customs if he sees you driving a foreign car and he feels pissed off by you for a reason.

That rules applies to people that are normally resident in Ireland.

You don't 'transfer' residency in Ireland, there is no process of registration like other European Countries, i.e. registering with the local authority.

You just turn up and work, residency is based on having ties in the country.

That story you are describing does happen but it's usually Polish people that have been doing it for years and even then they still get their car back after proving their family is back in Poland and the spend the majority of their time there (Customs never seem to believe that Polish people would be bat**** crazy enough to drive back to Poznan regularly) :pac:

Being resident the day you arrive would be stupid, I was back for 6 months with my Dutch car, was I resident the day I arrived ? or if I decided to stay was a resident the day I decided to stay ?

yannakis

Good luck @Nikosmen

I think finding reasonable insurance for a left-hand drive will be a challenge. Finding one to recognise your No claims (bonus-malus in Greek terms), will be an even bigger challenge.

mdebets

redcup342 wrote: »

That rules applies to people that are normally resident in Ireland.

You don't 'transfer' residency in Ireland, there is no process of registration like other European Countries, i.e. registering with the local authority.

You just turn up and work, residency is based on having ties in the country.

The rules are written pretty clear that they apply to people who have not yet normal residency in Ireland, but will acquire it after 6 months (i.e. people transfering their residency to Ireland, not formal via registration, but just by staying here).
If you have now normally residency in Ireland, you can't import a car VRT free to Ireland, because you have to have normal residency outside of Ireland on the day, you bring the car into Ireland and you have 7 days to start the process. While you don't have to register to live in Ireland, you are still transferring your residency to Ireland (i.e. you have plans to stay and work in Ireland for longer than 6 months).
You basically have 3 options.
1) You know, you are staying in Ireland for more than 12 months and know you will keep the car for this time -> apply to VRT your car within 7 days of it arriving and complete it within 30 days
2) You know, you are staying in Ireland for less than 6 months or you know you will stay longer, but you know you will get rid of your car before the 6 months are up -> you need to do nothing, but you need to be sure to have documentation and in the case of staying longer, but getting rid of the car, it's better, you go for option 3, to avoid discussions with guards and customs on the road when caught.
3) You know you are staying in Ireland fore more than 6 months but less than 1 year or you know that you will stay longer than 1 year but are not sure, if you will keep the car or not -> you need to apply for an exemption for a maximum of 12 months, again you have to do this 7 days after arriving in Ireland.

CiniO

mdebets wrote: »

The rules are written pretty clear that they apply to people who have not yet normal residency in Ireland, but will acquire it after 6 months (i.e. people transfering their residency to Ireland, not formal via registration, but just by staying here).
If you have now normally residency in Ireland, you can't import a car VRT free to Ireland, because you have to have normal residency outside of Ireland on the day, you bring the car into Ireland and you have 7 days to start the process. While you don't have to register to live in Ireland, you are still transferring your residency to Ireland (i.e. you have plans to stay and work in Ireland for longer than 6 months).
You basically have 3 options.
1) You know, you are staying in Ireland for more than 12 months and know you will keep the car for this time -> apply to VRT your car within 7 days of it arriving and complete it within 30 days
2) You know, you are staying in Ireland for less than 6 months or you know you will stay longer, but you know you will get rid of your car before the 6 months are up -> you need to do nothing, but you need to be sure to have documentation and in the case of staying longer, but getting rid of the car, it's better, you go for option 3, to avoid discussions with guards and customs on the road when caught.
3) You know you are staying in Ireland fore more than 6 months but less than 1 year or you know that you will stay longer than 1 year but are not sure, if you will keep the car or not -> you need to apply for an exemption for a maximum of 12 months, again you have to do this 7 days after arriving in Ireland.

I'm not sure where did you get that bit (bolded)?
Why do you get the impression that you have to bring the car straight away when moving residency?

You can easily move residency, and bring the car to Ireland only few months later, and still avail of VRT exemption, provided you owned and used the car abroad for 6 months before you moved your residency.

mdebets

CiniO wrote: »

I'm not sure where did you get that bit (bolded)?
Why do you get the impression that you have to bring the car straight away when moving residency?

You can easily move residency, and bring the car to Ireland only few months later, and still avail of VRT exemption, provided you owned and used the car abroad for 6 months before you moved your residency.

I have the information mainly from the Revenue leaflet here and here.
I Think you are correct on this part. it reads

For VRT purposes, you must have had your normal residence outside the State at the time of transfer.

I read the bold part as transfer of the vehicle, but I think now it means transfer of residency.

grogi

mdebets wrote: »

I have the information mainly from the Revenue leaflet here and here.
I Think you are correct on this part. it reads

I read the bold part as transfer of the vehicle, but I think now it means transfer of residency.

Well - it does make sense right? To transfer your residency to Ireland you would have to have it outside of Ireland



You can apply for the VRT relief after 5 months 29 days. At that stage you are still not a normal resident in Ireland...

H3llR4iser

In any case OP, keeping the left hand drive car here is not a great idea - even once all the formalities, whichever they are, are taken care of you'll be left with a car that insurance companies will ask an overloaded premium for (up to double what they'd ask for a RHD car). Plus, it'll be next to impossible to sell it once you want to move on. If you intend to stay here long term, your best course of action is to bring the car back to Greece and sell it there, then get a right hand drive car here using the money.

As for the NCB, fight nail and teeth - insurances MUST recognize the years driven in an EU country. You'll need the "risk assessment" document from your Greek insurance company (essentially a paper that says "you've been insured X years without claims") and get it translated to English by a Government recognized body - it can be the Embassy, plus there are a number of authorized companies and Universities that offer the service.

redcup342

H3llR4iser wrote: »

In any case OP, keeping the left hand drive car here is not a great idea - even once all the formalities, whichever they are, are taken care of you'll be left with a car that insurance companies will ask an overloaded premium for (up to double what they'd ask for a RHD car). Plus, it'll be next to impossible to sell it once you want to move on. If you intend to stay here long term, your best course of action is to bring the car back to Greece and sell it there, then get a right hand drive car here using the money.

As for the NCB, fight nail and teeth - insurances MUST recognize the years driven in an EU country. You'll need the "risk assessment" document from your Greek insurance company (essentially a paper that says "you've been insured X years without claims") and get it translated to English by a Government recognized body - it can be the Embassy, plus there are a number of authorized companies and Universities that offer the service.

Irish Insurance market is a bloody same.

Dutch Insurer accepts Irish NCB Cert
Irish insurer won't accept Dutch Claims free years document, even if its in English

CiniO

While indeed insuring LHD car might cause premium to skyrocket as all insurers can use any even the tiniest excuse to rise a premium, but I don't agree with the fact that LHD car will be unsellable here.

It's opposite in fact.
There's quite big market for LHD cars in Ireland, usually by people who are moving away to the continent, and would like to take a car and their stuff with them.
Lot's of Polish, Slovakian, Romaninan, Bulgarian, etc people would be interested to buy LHD car if they are moving back home.

I'm quite often looking up donedeal for LHD cars, and they seem to shift pretty quickly, and often they even have higher value then RHD cars.

Strange as it is, but that's a fact.

CiniO

redcup342 wrote: »

Irish Insurance market is a bloody same.

Dutch Insurer accepts Irish NCB Cert
Irish insurer won't accept Dutch Claims free years document, even if its in English

Many insurers say they would.

Irish insurer accepted my Polish 5 years no claims driving. While that was in 2007, I don't think much changed since.