Importing from Australia

Traumadoc

I am returning from Australia in 2 months and I have just seen an ad for a 1978Ferrari 308 GTB for about 34,000 euro, before i go to inspect it i am concerned that i will be liable for VRT when i import it?

What do you think?

Would I be better to look for something older - to avoid VRT?


( I am alrady bringing back merc 270 ml that I have owned for over 6 months)

Dades

Unfortunately you will be hit for VRT.

A 3 litre car will be 30% of the Revenue's estimated value on arrival.
That could seriously eat into any bargain you might get.

Maybe you could arrange it so that the car was "sold" to you 4 months ago. Or you could wait and have it shipped in 4 months and say you've just come back with when it arrives? (Might be more difficult if you're registering the Merc in two months).

Lovely cars but that 30% really makes a difference.

ds20prefecture

Traumadoc wrote:

I am returning from Australia in 2 months and I have just seen an ad for a 1978Ferrari 308 GTB for about 34,000 euro, before i go to inspect it i am concerned that i will be liable for VRT when i import it?
What do you think?
Would I be better to look for something older - to avoid VRT?

Nice car, but you'll get whacked for VRT on it. You'll also have to pay import duty and possibly VAT on the purchase price. You might save the VAT by importing it to the UK and then to Ireland, if that's possible. I believe the UK and Australia have a commonwealth agreement that means you won't have to pay VAT, and then we have an agreement with the UK so you wouldn't have to pay VAT when importing from there.

The VAT would be 21% of the "selling price" so conceivably you could buy the car for, say, €5000 and only pay €1000 VAT.

VRT, on the other hand, is on the market value of the car, so you're screwed regardless of what you do.

Traumadoc

Well another dream destroyed revenue commissioners, if its not them its the wife!

heres the ad


http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales/!cs_content.private_vehicle?vehicle_id=2252513&current_rec=2&used_rec=1&total_rec=3&sort_type=&total_rec=3&sort_type=&make_id=44&state_id=5&search_distance=25

Dades

Well another dream destroyed revenue commissioners, if its not them its the wife!

Smashing car alright... only 7,669 km? That can't be right. Don't like the low profile tyres at all though. Ruins the classical look of one of my fav Ferrari shapes ever.

Seems a shame to come with one empty hand though!

dubtom

Well another dream destroyed revenue commissioners, if its not them its the wife!

LOL,hey, get yourself a ronnie, a tight pair of jeans and call yourself Magnum and she'll come around.

Traumadoc

i dont think mr magnum had a wife,

Anyway back to my question - would I be liable to VRT on an older car?

heres a nice example

http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales/!cs_content.private_vehicle?vehicle_id=2346700&current_rec=2&used_rec=0&total_rec=4&sort_type=&total_rec=4&sort_type=&make_id=36&model_id=2546&state_id=-1&search_distance=25

PaulK_CCI

I think the Jag would be a better proposition than the oddball "Koenig" conversion of a 308... I would be particularly wary about the set of triple rear lights clusters at the back :eek:

To get back to your original question, since the Jag is older than 30 years, YES, it would be exempt from VRT duties, irrespective of how long you owned the car. You would only pay a 50 euros registration fee. However, because the car is from outside the EU union, you will be liable for Customs & exise duties to the tune of approx 10% of the value of the car (you will have to supply purchase invoices) AND the cost of any shipping, handling, transport!! Since the value of the car is quite high (33k Euros! for the Jag if I convert the ozzie dollars correctly) it can still run up a fair amount, but the good thing is ofcourse, that you could produce any sort of invoice really, wether they buy into it is another story...

Another possible approach is to try and import the car as a "Work of Art". It seems - and this is from an executive in the Revenue Office (!!) - that it is possible to import a car from outside the EU union free of duties, by applying for an excemption at the Revenue Office to have the vehicle declared a 'work of art'. For this the vehicle must be over 30 years of age and the steering, engine and chassis not been modified in any significant way.

Because I don't import from outside the EU union, I haven't any personal experiences with this regulation, but it sure is worth a try, especially on vehicles that have a higher value than normal.

Traumadoc

Thanks for the info., it all depends of course on how much I get from selling my house here.

Classics tend to be on the expensive side here but the tend to be well maintained with little rust.
There are a lot of classic cars enthusiasts here, one day while driving through the city there were 2 gull wing mercs and a 300 sls in front of me- there were form all over the world and come here for the classic car rally