Bringing an Irish car to England.

Toyotafanboi · 10-03-2015 1:58pm #1

I'm looking for information on doing the above for around a year. We would be working in England and looking to take our cars with us.

What is the best approach for a stay around 12 months before returning to Ireland. From googling is seems we would have to register them over there?

Would it be wise to claim the VRT refund or leave it be for when we return?
Can we claim back Irish motor tax? Both cars are taxed for pretty much a year.
Do we need to fit mph gauges?

2012 astra and a 2002 celica. We will definitely be taking the astra but i wonder would it be easier to just buy a new celica over there.

MuppetCheck · 10-03-2015 2:35pm

Buy a Celica over there.

Your Irish insurance will probably cover you for 30 days at a time, but for full coverage you'll need to get UK insurance which means registering it. You might also run into problems assuming the Astra has KM clocks. You should be able to get a set easily enough but I have a feeling they can only be done with dealer software and they won't fit used clocks. It could turn our to be very expensive. It might be tough privately but if you could sell that too I would and bring in another car when you're coming back without VRT.

I used to bring my car over for a month at a time to keep to the insurance rules, still kick myself to this day that I didn't bring something nice back without VRT.

CiniO · 10-03-2015 2:48pm

If you are going there for a set time work contract (12 month) then IMO best approach would be to leave your cars on Irish plates while in there.
Shouldn't really be any problem with that.

MuppetCheck · 10-03-2015 2:59pm

CiniO wrote: »

If you are going there for a set time work contract (12 month) then IMO best approach would be to leave your cars on Irish plates while in there.
Shouldn't really be any problem with that.

If your insurance company accepts that. Most will have an issue with an Irish vehicle being used in the UK by someone resident in the UK.

stesaurus · 10-03-2015 3:31pm

I'd sell both, surely there's a profit to be made from vrt exemption of buying 2 new cars in UK. It's a lot less hassle moving registration, insurance, reclaiming vrt etc.

joujoujou · 10-03-2015 3:34pm

As been said - sell what you have, buy better (and cheaper) over there, enjoy VRT free import after comeback.

stesaurus · 10-03-2015 3:36pm

Just remember you'll need to hold onto any vrt exempt car for 12 months. So you'll need to buy something you plan on keeping for probably 2 years minimum.

bill66 · 10-03-2015 4:01pm

CiniO wrote: »

If you are going there for a set time work contract (12 month) then IMO best approach would be to leave your cars on Irish plates while in there.
Shouldn't really be any problem with that.

This is terrible advice, if you are going to be in the Uk for 12 months and be using your cars, you have 14 days to register them in the uk. If you don't and are stopped by plod be prepared to lose your car.

This: taken from GOV UK

"You must tax and register your vehicle in the UK within 14 days if you become a resident or your stay is longer than 6 months."

CiniO · 10-03-2015 4:09pm

MuppetCheck wrote: »

If your insurance company accepts that. Most will have an issue with an Irish vehicle being used in the UK by someone resident in the UK.

Residency is not that black and white.
If OP is going there for a set contract of 12 months, and is going to return regularly to Ireland in the meantime, then he might actually not be considered resident in UK, but still in Ireland.

CiniO · 10-03-2015 4:10pm

bill66 wrote: »

This is terrible advice, if you are going to be in the Uk for 12 months and be using your cars, you have 14 days to register them in the uk. If you don't and are stopped by plod be prepared to lose your car.

This: taken from GOV UK

"You must tax and register your vehicle in the UK within 14 days if you become a resident or your stay is longer than 6 months."

Yes, that's what the law says.
I'm talking about practice.

It would be difference if OP was planning to move there permanently.
But for 12 months, if he is there only for that long, I don't believe anyone could have any issues with it.

MuppetCheck · 10-03-2015 6:35pm

CiniO wrote: »

Residency is not that black and white.
If OP is going there for a set contract of 12 months, and is going to return regularly to Ireland in the meantime, then he might actually not be considered resident in UK, but still in Ireland.

Yes but the small print of any Irish insurance policy will have a stipulation about how long the car can be used outside of the country. When I tried it I couldn't get anyone to cover it for more than a month. I'm sure there'll be someone that might but I'd imagine it would take a lot of searching.

bill66 · 10-03-2015 6:59pm

CiniO wrote: »

Yes, that's what the law says.
I'm talking about practice.

It would be difference if OP was planning to move there permanently.
But for 12 months, if he is there only for that long, I don't believe anyone could have any issues with it.

Is this a joke? If you have any dealings with the UK police you will find there is no "sure its grand attitude". They will take your car and they will crush it.

Just for an example, in operation Cubo in London alone 10,318 cars were seized in an 18 month period.

"We have had a few Porsches, BMW X5s, and a Ferrari - that one got crushed and in fact the vast majority of them are."

bill66 · 10-03-2015 7:01pm

CiniO wrote: »

Residency is not that black and white.
If OP is going there for a set contract of 12 months, and is going to return regularly to Ireland in the meantime, then he might actually not be considered resident in UK, but still in Ireland.

Yes it is!

"You must tax and register your vehicle in the UK within 14 days if you become a resident or your stay is longer than 6 months."

10-03-2015 7:05pm

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Yes but the small print of any Irish insurance policy will have a stipulation about how long the car can be used outside of the country. When I tried it I couldn't get anyone to cover it for more than a month. I'm sure there'll be someone that might but I'd imagine it would take a lot of searching.

last time i checked i was covered for 3 months out of the country

CiniO · 10-03-2015 7:31pm

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Yes but the small print of any Irish insurance policy will have a stipulation about how long the car can be used outside of the country. When I tried it I couldn't get anyone to cover it for more than a month. I'm sure there'll be someone that might but I'd imagine it would take a lot of searching.

Not that much.
FBD does offer full cover outside of the country for unlimited time.

Also if OP is not interested in having extra cover (like fire, theft, comprehensive) then third party cover will be valid without any time limits abroad by every single one insurer. That's the law they must adhere to. So OP would be still legally on the road, however without any extra cover.

keithclancy · 10-03-2015 8:00pm

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Yes but the small print of any Irish insurance policy will have a stipulation about how long the car can be used outside of the country. When I tried it I couldn't get anyone to cover it for more than a month. I'm sure there'll be someone that might but I'd imagine it would take a lot of searching.

It's the law, they must cover you for the duration of the policy, Third Party Only.

MuppetCheck · 10-03-2015 8:33pm

keithclancy wrote: »

It's the law, they must cover you for the duration of the policy, Third Party Only.

Like I said in my first post, full coverage which is something you'd want on a relatively new car like the Astra.

There's plenty if Irish cars over there and vice versa.

@cinio Interesting about FBD. Wonder what the exact conditions are with regard to living there. It's pretty black and white if you're paying taxes to HMRS.

Toyotafanboi · 10-03-2015 9:57pm

Thanks for the info.

The most logical imo seems then to be to take the astra with us and make it as a UK car which i'd imagine will cost around £1k - 1500 ish at a guestimate between registering, taxing, insuring, MOTing it and fitting mph gauges. Dont claim the VRT refund so it will cost us nothing to bring it home.

as stated, selling it to buy another one over there would be long winded and risky and we'd want fully comp cover on it as it cost a fair bit for us.

Donedeal the celica. Shame because i just bought it

.

It's all still up in the air, just trying to find out the real cost of moving and living there to see if it's worthwhile at all.

keithclancy · 10-03-2015 10:40pm

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Like I said in my first post, full coverage which is something you'd want on a relatively new car like the Astra.

:rolleyes:

challengemaster · 11-03-2015 12:17am

CiniO wrote: »

Yes, that's what the law says.
I'm talking about practice.

The difference is it's the UK. What the law says and in practice are essentially the same thing. It's not like Ireland where all the laws don't really mean anything.

keithclancy · 11-03-2015 2:13pm

challengemaster wrote: »

The difference is it's the UK. What the law says and in practice are essentially the same thing. It's not like Ireland where all the laws don't really mean anything.

No, definitely not clear at all.

We have a bunch of guys working between the UK and Germany, UK Authorities have never been clear on where your car should be registered, best answer was "At your primary place of interest"

E.G. Someone in Germany with a holiday home in the UK can leave a spare car at their holiday home (on German Plates for an unlimited amount of time, the location of the car or how long the car is in the country is not relevant.

Bringing an Irish car to England.

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