Importing from the UK - definitive guide (Q and A)

treatyman

Can someone cast an eye these figures for me please?

2018 BMW 530E M Sport (£21k = €24500 ish) import from the UK with 70k miles OMSP = €19508...

CO2 VRT Charges
€1,755
NOx VRT Charge
€290

Vehicle Registration Tax
(payable on enquiry)
€2,045

Duty @10%; = 2k ish
VAT @23% = 4,600 ish

Total VRT,Duty + VAT = 2,450 + 2,000 + 4,600 = €9050
Price of car + transportation = 24,500 + 500 = €25,000

Total

---

€34,050 ball part figure...

in other words, not worth it!!

Isambard

treatyman wrote: »

Can someone cast an eye these figures for me please?

2018 BMW 530E M Sport (£21k = €24500 ish) import from the UK with 70k miles OMSP = €19508...

CO2 VRT Charges
€1,755
NOx VRT Charge
€290

Vehicle Registration Tax
(payable on enquiry)
€2,045

Duty @10%; = 2k ish
VAT @23% = 4,600 ish

Total VRT,Duty + VAT = 2,450 + 2,000 + 4,600 = €9050
Price of car + transportation = 24,500 + 500 = €25,000

Total

---

€34,050 ball part figure...

in other words, not worth it!!

underestimate I think by nearly 2k, ball park nearly 36000

treatyman

Isambard wrote: »

underestimate I think by nearly 2k, ball park nearly 36000

What am I underestimating?

User1998

Well the 10% customs is based on car and freight so your ‘2k ish’ figure is already underestimated

treatyman

User1998 wrote: »

Well the 10% customs is based on car and freight so your ‘2k ish’ figure is already underestimated

OK based on the invoice price. Fcuk.

User1998

Based on the invoice price + freight (transport costs)

Peppa Cig

treatyman wrote: »

OK based on the invoice price. Fcuk.

Save yourself time and heartache.

The days of importing typical cars from UK is gone (for now).

Only feasible option is the NI car (subject to it meeting necessary conditions to avoid duties etc.)

DrFunkatron

Hi folks,

Looking at importing a car through ukcarimports.ie the prices seem reasonable for certain models. Is there something I'm missing on the landed cost? They don't include VRT but everything else seems covered?

Scirocco here for example https://ukcarimports.ie/car/202012127034961

TomOnBoard

DrFunkatron wrote: »

Hi folks,

Looking at importing a car through ukcarimports.ie the prices seem reasonable for certain models. Is there something I'm missing on the landed cost? They don't include VRT but everything else seems covered?

Scirocco here for example https://ukcarimports.ie/car/202012127034961

To me, it looks like VAT @ 23% of the landed cost needs to be added. It is possible (but they haven't confirmed it) that the UK VAT baked into the price at source can be claimed from HMRC, according to their website..

Isambard

TomOnBoard wrote: »

To me, it looks like VAT @ 23% of the landed cost needs to be added. It is possible (but they haven't confirmed it) that the UK VAT baked into the price at source can be claimed from HMRC, according to their website..

yes a bit disingenuous to suggest you can reclaim UK VAT and not mention paying Irish VAT. They should know if it's a qualifying car anyway you'd think, so probable it isn't .

cavan4sam

I enquired about a car yesterday UK reg, previously have bought a car of the northern Ireland based seller
I asked him about the vat etc charges on the car he reckons just the normal vrt applicable as he'd be providing me with a shipping document dated before 31/12/20
Would this be enough for vrt or am I asking for trouble

nialler1978

cavan4sam wrote: »

I enquired about a car yesterday UK reg, previously have bought a car of the northern Ireland based seller
I asked him about the vat etc charges on the car he reckons just the normal vrt applicable as he'd be providing me with a shipping document dated before 31/12/20
Would this be enough for vrt or am I asking for trouble

Yeah, it’s enough. Maybe ask for a picture of it to see that it’s not just a handwritten docket anyone could put together.

Ask about the NOx being on the V5, they tried charging me the full €4850 as it wasn’t on the V5 but I had a print out specifying the model of the car and nox emissions. They then still said it was €4850 as they were entering it as 50g/km instead of 50mg/km. The person in the VRT centre didn’t seem to know about this.

TomOnBoard

Isambard wrote: »

yes a bit disingenuous to suggest you can reclaim UK VAT and not mention paying Irish VAT. They should know if it's a qualifying car anyway you'd think, so probable it isn't .

Their site is showing 182035 vehicles available. I suspect that they are scraping details of cars for sale from 2015 onwards from a large number of sites like Autotrader and auction sites, estimating likely duty based on origin and computing a total price landed in Dublin that includes purchase price, shipping, duty and their fee. They are unlikely to be able to know the VAT qualifying status in the UK, until a punter contacts them expressing an interest in a particular vehicle.

Take that Scirocco for example. That car is for sale on https://www.mgallaghermotors.co.uk/used-cars/volkswagen-scirocco-20-tsi-bluemotion-tech-r-hatchback-3dr/15045/ and possibly other sites. It is listed at Stg 14,769. So, that equates to Eur 17,173. They're selling it landed in Dublin, before Irish VAT,NOx and VRT for Eur 21,730. That leaves a gap of (21,730-17,173) = 4,557 to pay the shipping, customs duty and their fee. Assuming the shipping is 200, the customs duty will be (17,173 +200) * 10% = 1,697 leaving Eur 3,140 in the pot for their efforts. They could get RAC or equivalent to do a mechanical assessment and still have almost Eur 3,000 for themselves.

mgn

Isambard wrote: »

yes a bit disingenuous to suggest you can reclaim UK VAT and not mention paying Irish VAT. They should know if it's a qualifying car anyway you'd think, so probable it isn't .

The likes of UK imports or dealers here don't have to pay UK VAT on Vat qualifying cars, the just pay the Irish VAT when the sell the car here.

Chuck_Norris

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Their site is showing 182035 vehicles available. I suspect that they are scraping details of cars for sale from 2015 onwards from a large number of sites like Autotrader and auction sites, estimating likely duty based on origin and computing a total price landed in Dublin that includes purchase price, shipping, duty and their fee. They are unlikely to be able to know the VAT qualifying status in the UK, until a punter contacts them expressing an interest in a particular vehicle.

Take that Scirocco for example. That car is for sale on https://www.mgallaghermotors.co.uk/used-cars/volkswagen-scirocco-20-tsi-bluemotion-tech-r-hatchback-3dr/15045/ and possibly other sites. It is listed at Stg 14,769. So, that equates to Eur 17,173. They're selling it landed in Dublin, before Irish VAT,NOx and VRT for Eur 21,730. That leaves a gap of (21,730-17,173) = 4,557 to pay the shipping, customs duty and their fee. Assuming the shipping is 200, the customs duty will be (17,173 +200) * 10% = 1,697 leaving Eur 3,140 in the pot for their efforts. They could get RAC or equivalent to do a mechanical assessment and still have almost Eur 3,000 for themselves.

Interesting to read your comment. I've been looking into the possibility of a Passat GTE, and they're fsitly rare here. And what's here tends to be an import.

I've been trying to figure out how UK Imports were working out their figures, as I was getting wildly different amounts to theirs, when I worked out the VAT, Duty and VRT. It does look like they've not included either VAT & Duty, or VRT in their landed price.

On top of that, in the past few hours on their mobile site, I can't search for cars. It asks me to provide a link to cars that I'm interested in, pay them €9.95, and they'll work it out....

Edit: That's a €9.95 fee per car for them to work out landed cost.

TomOnBoard

Chuck_Norris wrote: »

Interesting to read your comment. I've been looking into the possibility of a Passat GTE, and they're fsitly rare here. And what's here tends to be an import.

I've been trying to figure out how UK Imports were working out their figures, as I was getting wildly different amounts to theirs, when I worked out the VAT, Duty and VRT. It does look like they've not included either VAT & Duty, or VRT in their landed price.

On top of that, in the past few hours on their mobile site, I can't search for cars. It asks me to provide a link to cars that I'm interested in, pay them €9.95, and they'll work it out....

Edit: That's a €9.95 fee per car for them to work out landed cost.

Basically, they've obviously changed their policy. Perhaps the previous pricing (such as I compared to a UK website last week) was a bit too transparent. I think most of us can identify make/models that would incur the 10% duty as well as estimating NOx/VRT, so the initial added value seems to come from establishing if the vehicle is VAT qualifying. I'm not sure how they do that, but a charge of €9.95 seems very reasonable to me for that element, assuming there's some accuracy built into it, as well as getting a totally landed price in Dublin. As for their final fee, well each punter would have to judge that one for themselves. For some ppl, to be able to source a scarce motor in good nick from the UK, with the VAT-qualifying element and import/VRT/NOx issues all dealt with, with no need to travel or feck around with tyre-kicking, sales people etc, has to be worth a reasonable fee. Determining the reasonableness would be down to each punter's circumstances.

W123-80's

nialler1978 wrote: »

AFAIK the car doesn't have to be registered in NI before that date, you just need proof of the car entering NI pre-1st Jan 2021, consignment notice, shipping invoice etc. There's also a fair bit of talk that its in the lap of the gods and whoever you get in the VRT centre. This is heard through someone in the trade who has now ceased due to the uncertainty of the whole thing.

6. Registering vehicles from Northern Ireland (NI)

Registering vehicles brought into Northern Ireland before 1 January 2021

A vehicle brought into Northern Ireland (NI) before 1 January 2021 and has remained there since, can be registered in the State with no customs obligations.

However, proof on the vehicle’s status in Northern Ireland prior to 1 January 2021 will be required, for example:

a ferry ticket showing the date of arrival in NI, and which clearly identifies the specific vehicle
a copy of an invoice from a transport company identifying the vehicle and delivery date
tax and insurance details indicating use in NI
or

a copy of the V5 showing the last registered keeper in NI and a date of registration to that keeper prior to 1 January 2021.

https://www.ncts.ie/vrt-home/vrt-faq/

Just an update for anyone interested.

My registration process was not completed yesterday in the NCT centre as they would not accept the invoice from the transport company as proof the car entered NI prior to Jan 1 2021.
Despite it being a completely legit invoice on company headed paper showing all relevant details;
Date, Car details, truck drivers name, collection address, delivery address, sailing time, sailing operator, sailing reference and company stamp.

The guy in the the NCT said revenue wouldn't accept it even though it is clearly stated on the nct website as valid proof. I asked him had he been in touch with revenue and he said he had. I found that hard to believe as he had my paperwork for approx 6 minutes!
He said a hand written invoice would not be accepted. So I said grand I'll get them to type one up and he then changed tack and said revenue would't accept it all all.
When I pointed out it said on the NCT website that it was listed as valid proof he shrugged his shoulders and said he doesn't make the rules and to take it up with revenue.
I found the whole thing very strange to be honest.

Why would it say its an acceptable form of proof that the car has entered NI prior to Jan 1st 2021 if its not acceptable?

Anyway, he told me the invoice between the dealer from where he bought the car should get it over the line. So I am getting that this morning and I am re-booked for Friday.

It all seems a bit haphazard and as much down to the guy doing the inspections discretion as any rules which is not the way it should be.

nialler1978

W123-80's wrote: »

Just an update for anyone interested.

My registration process was not completed yesterday in the NCT centre as they would not accept the invoice from the transport company as proof the car entered NI prior to Jan 1 2021.
Despite it being a completely legit invoice on company headed paper showing all relevant details;
Date, Car details, truck drivers name, collection address, delivery address, sailing time, sailing operator, sailing reference and company stamp.

The guy in the the NCT said revenue wouldn't accept it even though it is clearly stated on the nct website as valid proof. I asked him had he been in touch with revenue and he said he had. I found that hard to believe as he had my paperwork for approx 6 minutes!
He said a hand written invoice would not be accepted. So I said grand I'll get them to type one up and he then changed tack and said revenue would't accept it all all.
When I pointed out it said on the NCT website that it was listed as valid proof he shrugged his shoulders and said he doesn't make the rules and to take it up with revenue.
I found the whole thing very strange to be honest.

Why would it say its an acceptable form of proof that the car has entered NI prior to Jan 1st 2021 if its not acceptable?

Anyway, he told me the invoice between the dealer from where he bought the car should get it over the line. So I am getting that this morning and I am re-booked for Friday.

It all seems a bit haphazard and as much down to the guy doing the inspections discretion as any rules which is not the way it should be.

That's exactly what I had and it was accepted. Is there any other NCT centre you could try?

brian_gall85

Mines was a photo copy of the booking from the transport company.

I did have the original invoice from the UK auction company which she asked for. A lot of people won't have that invoice I'd imagine.

lankz92

Yeah mine was fine with just the shipping invoice. Tho i would suspect it largely depends on who you get, the woman i had pretty much said they would take any sort of proof.

W123-80's

I suspected my guy was going to be tricky from the outset.
When I questioned him on why my evidence was not enough he literally just shook his shoulders and said take it up with revenue.
Very frustrating, but I din't want to annoy him so I agreed to get the invoice he requested.

I am booked in for Friday morning so fingers crossed.
It seems wrong that something black and white can be left to the discretion of the guy doing the inspections. That makes no sense to me.

nialler1978

W123-80's wrote: »

I suspected my guy was going to be tricky from the outset.
When I questioned him on why my evidence was not enough he literally just shook his shoulders and said take it up with revenue.
Very frustrating, but I din't want to annoy him so I agreed to get the invoice he requested.

I am booked in for Friday morning so fingers crossed.
It seems wrong that something black and white can be left to the discretion of the guy doing the inspections. That makes no sense to me.

Yeah, awful, years to prepare for this and its as clear as mud on what exact proof is required or acceptable. How did you get on with the NOx or did it get that far?

W123-80's

nialler1978 wrote: »

Yeah, awful, years to prepare for this and its as clear as mud on what exact proof is required or acceptable. How did you get on with the NOx or did it get that far?

Didn't get that far, but I'm not concerned about NOx. Its printed on the UK V5 and its approx €600.
Unless there is more wiggle room for the inspector to move the goalposts on that one too!

Chuck_Norris

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Basically, they've obviously changed their policy. Perhaps the previous pricing (such as I compared to a UK website last week) was a bit too transparent. I think most of us can identify make/models that would incur the 10% duty as well as estimating NOx/VRT, so the initial added value seems to come from establishing if the vehicle is VAT qualifying. I'm not sure how they do that, but a charge of €9.95 seems very reasonable to me for that element, assuming there's some accuracy built into it, as well as getting a totally landed price in Dublin. As for their final fee, well each punter would have to judge that one for themselves. For some ppl, to be able to source a scarce motor in good nick from the UK, with the VAT-qualifying element and import/VRT/NOx issues all dealt with, with no need to travel or feck around with tyre-kicking, sales people etc, has to be worth a reasonable fee. Determining the reasonableness would be down to each punter's circumstances.

Agreed that it seems to be a change in policy for them, wasn't trying to hint at anything nefarious.

As a noob question, which has most likely been answered before in the thread, but on a VAT qualifying car, can Joe Punter claim that back from HMRC? I thought it was only companies that do so?

And a follow up, what makes a car fall into the VAT qualifying bracket?

brian_gall85

I could be wrong but if the vehicle is VAT qualifying then the dealer can sell it without the VAT if it's being exported.

Getting them to do this is another thing though.

omri

Hi everyone, did anything change regarding the NI/UK imports to ROI since brexit or is everything the same?

User1998

omri wrote: »

Hi everyone, did anything change regarding the NI/UK imports to ROI since brexit or is everything the same?

https://www.revenue.ie/en/customs-traders-and-agents/brexit/brexit-for-individuals/importing-a-vehicle-from-great-britain-gb-or-northern-ireland.aspx

omri

User1998 wrote: »

https://www.revenue.ie/en/customs-traders-and-agents/brexit/brexit-for-individuals/importing-a-vehicle-from-great-britain-gb-or-northern-ireland.aspx

So I guess the savings to be had previously are no longer there, so apart from better spec I’ll be paying same price as any dealership in the republic.

I was looking at 60-70k GBP x5 or similar, any rough idea how much on top of vrt do they charge post brexit?

reubenreuben

W123-80's wrote: »

Just an update for anyone interested.

My registration process was not completed yesterday in the NCT centre as they would not accept the invoice from the transport company as proof the car entered NI prior to Jan 1 2021.
Despite it being a completely legit invoice on company headed paper showing all relevant details;
Date, Car details, truck drivers name, collection address, delivery address, sailing time, sailing operator, sailing reference and company stamp.

The guy in the the NCT said revenue wouldn't accept it even though it is clearly stated on the nct website as valid proof. I asked him had he been in touch with revenue and he said he had. I found that hard to believe as he had my paperwork for approx 6 minutes!
He said a hand written invoice would not be accepted. So I said grand I'll get them to type one up and he then changed tack and said revenue would't accept it all all.
When I pointed out it said on the NCT website that it was listed as valid proof he shrugged his shoulders and said he doesn't make the rules and to take it up with revenue.
I found the whole thing very strange to be honest.

Why would it say its an acceptable form of proof that the car has entered NI prior to Jan 1st 2021 if its not acceptable?

Anyway, he told me the invoice between the dealer from where he bought the car should get it over the line. So I am getting that this morning and I am re-booked for Friday.

It all seems a bit haphazard and as much down to the guy doing the inspections discretion as any rules which is not the way it should be.

Welcome to Ireland. Banana republic

koutoubia

Hey,
Can anyone work out how much it would cost me to bring the Q7 in the liked ad in?
Havent a clue really how to work it out.
Its just to see if its worth it.I would go and collect it!

https://www.pavilionmotorcompany.co.uk/used-cars/audi-q7-3-0-td-s-line-tiptronic-quattro-5dr-oldham-202104201583619


The nox in the spreadsheet someone linked earlier is giving circa €300

I am coming up with a price of €20,500k based on getting the car for €11,500 (£10,000).

Am I way off?