Bringing car in after arriving in Dublin port

DukeDredd

Hi folks,

Just wondering if any of you have had experience in this and can help me out. I'm currently looking to purchase a car in Japan through one of the many auction services available. They can give me pricing on cars and shipping to Ireland etc, however, the details of what happens when it arrives in Dublin are very sketchy. What happens when the ship comes in with my car on it? Do i simply arrive at the port and jump in and drive away and go to the VRT office? I presume there are port charges - are these expensive? Any info here is greatly appreciated people!

blastman

It depends on how much hand holding the company that you go through but I'll assume they simply organise things on the Japanese end and just put it on the boat for you. You should get correspondence from the shipping company once the car is on the boat letting you know when it lands on the port in Dublin. When it arrives, you pay the shipping cost, plus VAT and the shipping company give you a release docket. You then need to get the car through customs, for which you'll need a customs clearance company (you can do it yourself, but the forms are horrendous if you don't know what you're doing). They will work out the duty and VAT owing and charge you about €150 for processing everything. You can expect to be charged 20% of the costs of buying the car, which is added to the costs and then you'll have VAT slapped on the whole lot.

After that, you have to get to the docks and drive the car off the port. There are storage charges which start from when it is unloaded from the boat, so try and get the customs clearance done as soon as possible. Insurance is tricky. You can insure it off the chassis number (as it won't have a registration), but you may not get to insure it for very long this way, usually just long enough to get it to the Vehicle Registration Office to pay the VRT. Once you've paid that, they'll issue you with the new registration and then the car is Irish!

jozi

Just wondering could you post some links to sites that do the importing and places where you can buy the cars etc.
Just seems like an experience, worth it or not

Jozi

DukeDredd

Holy crap thats alot of red tape to get through to get a car in! Had no idea it was so complicated. I think i might be re-thinking the idea of bringing a car in myself to save a few bob.

Jozi have a look at these - there are probably plenty more too:

www.neweraimports.com

www.asca-int.com

www.bestjapancar.com

Seems it's much easier if you were in the UK as the companies are based there and take care of all that crap at the port for you.

DukeDredd

Actually - was just reading on a website there that if the car got shipped to the UK first and was registered as a UK car then when it is brought over here it would avoid VAT altogether...
Anyone know if this would work?

blastman

You're liable for the VAT in the UK in that case. Once you've paid the VAT at point of entry into the EU, then you're free to move it within the EU, although you will still be nabbed for VRT when you import it into Ireland of course.

The amount of red tape you deal with directly depends on how the import companies work. I was basically dealing with everything this end on my own as it was a private import. This made it interesting!

You won't save huge money importing a car on your own, to be honest. at least not for anything a little bit older. I'm not sure how prices would compare if you're importing something that's only a couple of years old.

nxbyveromdwjpg

Hi DukeDredd,
Registering in the UK wont save you paying VAT altogether, but you will pay it at a lower rate. The UK's VAT rate is 17.5% whereas ours is 21% :rolleyes:, so yes you will save a few quid but Im not sure if the hassle is worth it for 3.5%... depends on how expensive the car you're buying is I suppose.

Don't forget aswell as VAT and VRT you also have Duty, which is 10% of the purchase price. Then you are also paying VAT on the Duty you have already paid (which is really crazy, imo) and VAT on the shipping cost aswell.

There is a good price breakdown of all the costs on the Japnuts website here - http://www.japnuts.com/services.htm .
When I was looking for mine I had that saved to an excel file and would just replace the car purchase price at the top and let excel formulas work out the rest.. dead handy but I accidently deleted and havent been bothered making another one. Its still a good reference to get an idea of the actual on the road cost though. Dont worry too much about the costs on the Japan side as most of the auction sites include that in the listed price (or at least idirect definately does).

Also I'd factor in anywhere from €500 to €1000 for unforeseen costs and things you might need/want done to the car when it gets here..

This is an excellent link here aswell, import guide Japan to Ireland - http://www.fto-ireland.com/importguide.html - that one should answer almost any query you have on it with the ports etc...


good luck!

DukeDredd

Cool - good advice and a couple of great links there nm - thanks dude!

blastman

Duty is 20% on cars......

Dades

blastman wrote:

Duty is 20% on cars......

Customs duty is 20%?

With VAT at 21% and VRT avg 25% I refuse to believe that.

Have you paid 20% Customs duty on a car, Blastman?

blastman

Yep, unfortunately.

nxbyveromdwjpg

Definately 10%, unless its changed very recently...

blastman

Well, the revenue told me 20% and I paid 20% (this was October/November last year).