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

Dante7

bazz26 wrote: »

New VRT rates announced in the budget come into effect on Jan 1st too so it could end up costing more so don't just assume it will drop because it's a year older.

The car I'm looking at has a low NOx rating so the new rates won't effect me. But the car being a year older would drop the VRT from €2670 to €2060. I'm not sure if the depreciation will drop automatically on Jan 1st, but I'm going to try and buy it so that it enters the country near the start of December and schedule the inspection for early January.

User1998

The depreciation does drop automatically on Jan 1st

Wildly Boaring

Also CO2 was affected a lot more than NOX


CO2 is adjusted up to try to mimic WLTP

Dante7

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Also CO2 was affected a lot more than NOX


CO2 is adjusted up to try to mimic WLTP

Ok, thanks for that. I checked out the formula they are using, for petrol it is:

Petrol: y = x(0.9227)+34.554

The car I am looking at has a CO2 rating of 164g/km and is currently in the 27% VRT band. Applying the formula will bring it into the new 31% on Jan 1st. Taking into account the depreciation that will be applied on Jan 1st, my two options are:

Register before 1st Jan: VRT = €2607
After Jan 1st: VRT = €2305

cloughy

As mentioned the OMSP and depreciation rate used by VRT is updated not in real time, it will be another month older and not a year, so have you factored that in rather than a year, as March 2020 to Dec would depreciate by say 9 months so in Jan would be 10 months, not another year older.

Also in 2021 could have customs and import duty with UK not in Europe.

Dante7

cloughy wrote: »

As mentioned the OMSP and depreciation rate used by VRT is updated not in real time, it will be another month older and not a year, so have you factored that in rather than a year, as March 2020 to Dec would depreciate by say 9 months so in Jan would be 10 months, not another year older.

Also in 2021 could have customs and import duty with UK not in Europe.

Are you sure about the depreciation rate changing by the month? Any car I enter has the same current OMSP for any month in a given year, and I don't recall it changing when we moved to November from October.

There will be no customs or import duty for any car in Jan 2021 once the car was imported prior to Jan 1st.

User1998

cloughy wrote: »

As mentioned the OMSP and depreciation rate used by VRT is updated not in real time, it will be another month older and not a year, so have you factored that in rather than a year, as March 2020 to Dec would depreciate by say 9 months so in Jan would be 10 months, not another year older.

Also in 2021 could have customs and import duty with UK not in Europe.

Do you a vrt calculation for a car first registered in November and then change it to December, no change in VRT.

Do it again for December and January and a full years depreciation is applied

Wildly Boaring

But the depreciation isn't changed by a year on Jan 1.

They spread it over the year.

dsh1985

Hi, this is probably a stupid question - but I’m lost with the VRT changes.

Do the VRT changes apply to all imports after 1 Jan 2021, even secondhand cars - ie; if I purchase a January 2020 car in the UK will I be hit with higher rates if not registered here before the end of this year

Isambard

no one can be sure but if there's no deal then yes. If there is a deal, the probability IMO is yes too..

dsh1985

Isambard wrote: »

no one can be sure but if there's no deal then yes. If there is a deal, the probability IMO is yes too..

Thanks.

What is the current situation in terms of wait time’s on getting VRT cleared?

pat1981

dsh1985 wrote: »

Thanks.

What is the current situation in terms of wait time’s on getting VRT cleared?

I did a car last month for a family member and it took 14 working days to get a figure from revenue.
I'm presently waiting for same on my car since Tuesday, the guy said he would reset the clock so the 30 days would begin from vrt inspection.

LillySV

Lads, just wondering.... if I got a machine into country early dec but couldn’t get an appointment in vrt til Jan, will I be processed with old method of vrt or new method?

Is there anyone here who would have a good idea of vrt rates on the likes of an Audi s6 also? I’m trying to work out rates for a 2015 s6 saloon but when I find it on the vrt calculator it gives me results of 11k and seems to be quoting the older model s6 with co2 of 225g/km vs the newer model with co2 of 214g/km. I note that if I tried for vrt quote for the avant version of a6 it comes back as around 14k! I could try stomach 11k for car but not an extra 3k plus! Is there a likelyhood that the vrt centre would honor the first figure or could they pull a mad omsp out of their arse!?

colm_mcm

New method I think. This happened with nox last year if I remember correctly. Few people got rightly caught.

bazz26

Are you looking at an A6 or S6, you mention both but they are totally different machines especially when it comes to VRT valuations. With the likes of a S6 I wouldn't put much faith in what the VRT calculator says on a car like that, there are not many of those being imported and I'd put money on the NCT centre having to request a VRT figure from Revenue on such a car. Revenue could come back with any figure really. They will only honor the S6 VRT figure from the VRT calculator if the car you import matches that stat code exactly.

LillySV

bazz26 wrote: »

Are you looking at an A6 or S6, you mention both but they are totally different machines especially when it comes to VRT valuations. With the likes of a S6 I wouldn't put much faith in what the VRT calculator says on a car like that, there are not many of those being imported and I'd put money on the NCT centre having to request a VRT figure from Revenue on such a car. Revenue could come back with any figure really. They will only honor the S6 VRT figure from the VRT calculator if the car you import matches that stat code exactly.

Sorry, it’s the s6 I meant. I can get a 2014 one that’s the same co2 as that one on vrt calculator but not as good value as the 15 one... sounds like a safer bet if I did decide to go down that route . As matter of interest, if I got a car/suv and it happened to have upgrade such as sunroof or bigger alloys , do nct centers charge extra for these things and would the difference be much typically If so?

Thanks

colm_mcm

Not on a 2014.

You’d have to be sure the extras didn’t affect the Co2 though.

deezell

It matters not whither you buy 214 or 225 co2 car, both are 34% VRT currently, and both will be on the new 37% VRT rate in January.

deezell

And as regards the OMSP, the depreciation is fairly decent at 57%, taking an €80K new car to about €34K OMSP for a 2015. There's a 2013 on Cars Ireland asking €46K.
http://www.carsireland.ie/2636816

LillySV

deezell wrote: »

And as regards the OMSP, the depreciation is fairly decent at 57%, taking an €80K new car to about €34K OMSP for a 2015. There's a 2013 on Cars Ireland asking €46K.
http://www.carsireland.ie/2636816

And that’s what worries me, could the vrt boys come along and claim because the 2015 model I looked at isn’t the exact same, they consider a different omsp similar to the cracked price the dealer on cars Ireland wants

garo

Yes it is always possible. You can file a VRT appeal then if you find a few low-priced ads for cars with the same spec as yours. But it's a risk you have to be willing to take.

LillySV

garo wrote: »

Yes it is always possible. You can file a VRT appeal then if you find a few low-priced ads for cars with the same spec as yours. But it's a risk you have to be willing to take.

Sounds a lot safer to by a standard yoke! Haha

colm_mcm

deezell wrote: »

It matters not whither you buy 214 or 225 co2 car, both are 34% VRT currently, and both will be on the new 37% VRT rate in January.

It matters if Revenue have to do a clean sheet calculation because the one you have isn’t already on the system.

deezell

colm_mcm wrote: »

It matters if Revenue have to do a clean sheet calculation because the one you have isn’t already on the system.

That's for OMSP, VRT rate is set, 191-225 is 34%. They're currently depreciating the S6 Quattro 4L petrol by 57% for 2015 model, that's a top of the range car, near 80K new price, it has an OMSP of about 33.5-34K, VRT 11K+ and €600 nox. This won't change by much, there's not a whole lot more you can add to this car, and even an extra ten grand of stuff on the new price reduces to 10×0.43×0.34, €1462 extra VRT. It's unlikely revenue will value an instance of this car at 90 grand.

deezell

This 2015 A8 Quattro is a super buy if you're thinking of splashing €30k plus. Fully loaded, road tax only €380. Beast of a car.
http://www.carsireland.ie/2139923

LillySV

deezell wrote: »

This 2015 A8 Quattro is a super buy if you're thinking of splashing €30k plus. Fully loaded, road tax only €380. Beast of a car.
http://www.carsireland.ie/2139923

It was the v8 part that made me have a think of the s6. I’d love to spend as little as possible on a car to be honest but the way tax and vrt is, your pushed to pay too much to get anything decent.

garo

At that price bracket importing a 2015 Tesla S85 from the UK is a viable option. A real world winter range of 300km+ and it takes off way faster than that Quattro ever could.

deezell

garo wrote: »

At that price bracket importing a 2015 Tesla S85 from the UK is a viable option. A real world winter range of 300km+ and it takes off way faster than that Quattro ever could.

Last time I looked a 2015 Model S on AutoTrader was near €45-50K

garo

deezell wrote: »

Last time I looked a 2015 Model S on AutoTrader was near €45-50K

Look again! Prices have come down a lot.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?sort=price-asc&postcode=LE16%208NB&radius=1500&make=TESLA&model=MODEL%20S&year-to=2020


A couple of 2014s down to sub 26k GBP including one with a 1 year Tesla CPO warranty (but only 6200 miles) still left. The cheapest 2015 is 30k GBP so will be under 35k VRT included as long as you don't change your money at a bank. VRT is currently 14% on these with a 5k waiver. Road tax 120 and running costs much lower than a petrol or diesel. The window is closing fast though as we don't know what will happen after 31st Dec.

LillySV

garo wrote: »

At that price bracket importing a 2015 Tesla S85 from the UK is a viable option. A real world winter range of 300km+ and it takes off way faster than that Quattro ever could.

If u referring to the model se85 it’s actually way slower? Don’t know much about Tesla’s so maybe u meant another one?

I’m afraid I’m not sold on electrics ... I’ll take them on in 2030 onwards when I’ve no other choice! Haha

I see there’s such a thing as rac approved cars. Anyone ever go that route? Just wondering does the rac guarantee the car here if u buy one