Buying cars from the north

Devito

As any one had any experiance buying cars from the north? prices seem to be much lower then in the republic, but i am sure there is a good reason for it!
what extra cost should i take into account? what about insurance? transfer of ownership? tax?

any info will be greatly appriciated.

Cheers

GristlyEnd

I will be importing a car in the summer from either the UK or the North. Your biggest expense is going to be VRT. If you know exactly what you want, you can ring your local VRT office for a quote.

I got a quote for VRT on a car I'm looking to buy and it worked out €2000 cheaper than the same car if bought here.

There is more information at the link below. I haven't found out about insurance yet so I'd be interested to hear from someone who has done this.

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/importing_car_into_ireland.html

2142

The VRT is normally 25% of the car value in the south. When you pay the VRT and convert the sterling it normally works out in or around the same price as the cars down here.

leeroybrown

Bear in mind that the VRT is 25% (or more depending on engine capacity) of the car's value down here based on an official irish motor industry valuation list. So if you pick up a car cheap in the North or UK you'll still be paying VRT on a higher amount.

Quite a few people go shopping for BMW's up north as there are more second hands at better prices.

RicardoSmith

Another thing to look out for is that salt their roads and their cars tend to rust more than a car in the republic. On a newish car thats not a big deal but a car a few years old you should always check the condition of the car underneath, and in the arches etc.

The VRT is a bit wierd. Since there are some models that don't exist in the Rep that are in the north and vice a versa. So you can get lucky and a lower VRT rate than you'd expect since they'll give it the rate of a similar car of less value. Occasionally they'll give the car the rate of high one. An example would be a G60 Golf getting the rating of a Golf GTI whereas it should be higher. Not a big difference but it pays to do some research into the VRT on different cars.

unkel

Some other considerations about VRT:

The amount due depends on the age of the car. The older, the less you pay

I've heard a lot of anecdotal evidence about inspectors assessing the value of of the car in the Republic that haven't got a clue

The previous owner of my car that imported it from the UK got away with paying less than half of what was due because they failed to recognise the model was a so called "executive" model, listing €14k more than the normal model over here

I have considered it in the past, but realised it is a bit of a gamble with the assessment being so volatile. I fail to see why they can't just publish a table with make, model, year and specification and the amount of VRT applicable.

That would give the government the opportunity to spend the savings (of getting rid of non value-adding civil servants) on much needed road improvement

Sorry if ranting

RicardoSmith

I thought you can just ring them up and they give you a valuation over the phone from the tables they look up? Do they send out an inspector now?

Devito

Thank you all for the help, ill go away and do some homework

DarrenG- thanks for the excelent link, was very usefull

Walter Ego

There's a lot of organized crime up there. Car ringing is widespread. Be very careful that the car you think are buying is the one you are getting. Make sure you check everthing out. If you un-knowingly bu a stolen car and it is later traced the owner, usually an insurance company, they can legally take it back without having to compensate you.

Caveat emptor is the phrase of the day.

knifey_spoonie

Depends on what your buying,but sometimes the VRT office will want to see the car,so if its a 7 seater jeep take out the 2 back seats easy

ondafly

the VRT cost they tell you over the phone is only a quote. You now have to bring your car to your local VRT office where it is inspected and VRT is calculated.

They should just do away with VRT altogether !

unkel

Originally posted by ondafly
They should just do away with VRT altogether !

Hear hear!

The VRT is a tax totally in conflict with the European harmonisation laws. At the time the government pressurised the EU into tolerating it using the argument they couldn't afford to abolish it. Several years later with the big car-boom ('99-'00) it became clear just how much of a cash cow this has become

Quatre Mains

- is VRT the same rate for importing commercial vehicles as for cars. Am currently dreaming of getting a 4x4....

Aidanm

Block up the back windows and import it as a commercial.
This loop hole has been going for years (",)