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

I suppose in short. Check v5 and if you see the owners details as being from NI and them having owned it prior to brexit, you are OK.

Unless you are importing a personal car and claiming a change of residence exemption, importing yourself wouldnt add up as you will have to pay vat here and vat inclusive price in uk.

Dealers can claim back uk vat.

I think an agent is required to handle customs. Traders seem to use them so must be pretty tricky without.

Just wondering does anyone know if there is any garage in ROI that will bring in a car from England and pass on the UK Vat rebate? I am looking out for a car in BCA or in a garage but am looking for certain extras , ie panoramic roof certain colour etc. if possible but obviously don’t want to pay the UK Vat. Is there any garages that will do this and just charge a fee for their service out there?

Ukcarimports.ie buy auction cars and hand them over all ready for the road here.

Don't know anything about them but look them up.

That’s great thank you. I will check them out

Will do thanks Mick

Ya cars after brexit that were registered new in NI are OK too but they cannot have been ex uk demo or anything like that or vat or duty would.be payable.

If the registration doc shows no previous owners before the NI owner, the age of the car is not important.

The pre brexit requirements relate to uk mainland imports.

Of course it’s right. NI remains in the single European market for goods. No VAT or customs duty on transfer provided it has been properly imported into the single market in the first place. The only problem is with vehicles which were initially registered in GB and subsequently transferred after GB left the single market but without undergoing VAT and customs clearance which they will not so as NI is also part of U.K. single market - think of NI as the connected part of a Venn diagram. Items can go into it and out of it in both directions but things cannot pass from GB to IE via NI.

I have found an secondhand agricultural tractor in a main dealer in NI wtith an English registered tractor..

I think for tractor direct from uk there is special procedure and its 0% duty and a special cleaning of soil approval, but an English tractor for NI .

Very often farmers down here never road register but i do want to and am not sure how this will be handled...

I'm looking at an electric car up north and would appreciate some advice.

Car is on NI reg, and last v5c issue matches when the car was bought, so seems good on the vat and vrt front

I'd hope to travel up and to view and, all going well, drive it home that day .

Regarding paying for the car, how do people typically do it?

I've seen some people mention revolut, so I'd assume that's a bank transfer as revolut seem to have a card limit of 5k per day. EDIT: not sure where I read this, but I just confirmed there is no limit with support.

Ive read that UK bank transfer happen a lot quicker than here, so would a bank transfer from revolut work out to do it same day?

Revolut have a currency transfer fee of 1% over 1000, but it's free with revolut premium, so it actually works out cheaper to pay for premium (even for the year, €108). Is there any cheaper way of doing it?

Paying by BOI card is another option I saw mentioned, that's another possibility if the dealer is ok with it, but I'd probably have to do some looking into it to see how much it would cost.

Any other alternatives worth considering?

Thanks!

Did you get any answer to this question. Interested myself. I have found 2 export companies that will buy a vat qualifying car from any dealer (for me) for a fee. Then sell it to me with the vat excluded. The only thing they said is they have to organise the export shipping which is around £900.

There is still savings compared to paying the UK vat, but if individuals can claim the vat back themselves once they prove it was exported then that's the better route.

Has anybody actually done this recently and how? Or is it even possible.

Yep nothing has changed for Northern Ireland it's the same as it was before Brexit, but you do have to make sure it's a Northern Irish car from new. i.e. NOT imported to the North from mainland UK.

Ya beckevans were the one I was in touch with.

Had some stock of their own ready to go and were happy to source vat qualifying stuff for export.

I bought from Matt in beckevans last year,great to deal with.

From stock yes,bought inc vat and got it back after I proved it was exported,I sent him a copy of the vlc

I drove back,cheapest quote was 1100 e so made a trip out of it,stayed near Swindon on Saturday night and got ferry to rosslare on Sunday,sidcup is south east of London area

Definitely the best way, I used to live in Swindon. Good central point from Wales and London.

Both cars I have I did exact same, but before Brexit.

The carexporter.co.uk guy was telling me that they have to do the export as that what HMRC specifies. With them they sell the car there and then vat free, so that's probably the reason they want to make sure it leaves UK. A bit annoying, I would go with beck Evans but the car I want is a cat N and they won't deal with it. 😐 So still trying to see whats best option.

Ok thanks, I am looking at their site and I see a car I like which is vat qualifying but I just don't understand how it is exempt from Vat, are these vat qualifying vehicles first registered in NI?

It's nothing got to do with Northern Ireland. Vat qualifying vehicles that are exported out of mainland UK and to the EU (Ireland) can be sold ex vat.

You still have to pay Vat in the Rep of Ireland so it's that you don't pay Vat twice.

It's like if you bought a brand new car in any country you would be exempt from paying vat in that country but you would pay it once you arrive in Ireland.

So not entirely vat exempt but you get around not paying it twice.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info lads, much appreciated.

Trying to make sure I don’t miss any hidden cost when I bring the vehicle in, VRT calculator says €10k cost when it lands here but still a huge saving compared to cost here.