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

Zane97

Some of the cars listed at BCA say log book n/a. Whats that about?

MidlandsM

Robbie G wrote: »

Some of the cars listed at BCA say log book n/a. Whats that about?

it means the logbook is not available....and you'd have to apply for it, and if you are not a uk resident, forget about it.
Re; Going to BCA and buying a car with your credit card, bring vaseline, you'd get rode sideways buying a car worth many thousands in stg, with credit card fee's :eek:

bazz26

Logbook not available says reposed car to me. You will have all sorts of agro here with the VRT people if you don't have the UK registration documents

Zane97

Ok then. So the best way to pay if going ?

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Robbie G wrote: »

Ok then. So the best way to pay if going ?

I dunno how it works at BCA, but I brought a bank draft and some cash when I was buying in the UK before. Defo steer clear of credit cards, as MidlandsM said, you'd be shafted. If you can find out who you would need to make out the draft to beforehand of course.

timmy4u2

deccurley wrote: »

I dunno how it works at BCA, but I brought a bank draft and some cash when I was buying in the UK before. Defo steer clear of credit cards, as MidlandsM said, you'd be shafted. If you can find out who you would need to make out the draft to beforehand of course.

If you bring a bank draft you will have to wait five to seven days for it to clear before you can take your car away, and I am speaking from experience.
They are regarded with the same scepticism as cheques. You will not be going home with your car the day of the auction.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

timmy4u2 wrote: »

They are regarded with the same scepticism as cheques.

Is that right? By who, BCA? If so, thats the strangest thing I have ever heard, a bank draft and a personal cheque are 2 completely different things.

timmy4u2

deccurley wrote: »

Is that right? By who, BCA? If so, thats the strangest thing I have ever heard, a bank draft and a personal cheque are 2 completely different things.

Strange or not your bank draft will have to clear before you get you goods and I found this in two main dealer garages also.
I have a UK bank account-an Irish bank- and I even had to wait for the draft to clear even though I felt that a phone call should have sufficed

MidlandsM

timmy4u2 wrote: »

If you bring a bank draft you will have to wait five to seven days for it to clear before you can take your car away, and I am speaking from experience.
They are regarded with the same scepticism as cheques. You will not be going home with your car the day of the auction.

BCA's policy is that if you are not an a/c holder, yes - you will have to wait for it to clear. A/C holders like me can pay for vehicles today, and take away today, but not the general public.

BCA are a tight shower. If you pay cash up to 4 or 5k is the limit I think, and there's cash handling fee's. There is fee's on CC's, however debit card transactions are free....just make sure these is no individual limit or daily limit on your debit card.

timmy4u2

Cease to be amazed
BCA terms
http://www.british-car-auctions.co.uk/buy/Useful-information/How-to-buy-at-auction/Payment,-delivery-and-collection/
And I did forget to say that the other problems associated with buying at auction are
If you tender a draft and you have to wait five to seven days for it to clear the auction will charge you stg £17 plus VAT for every period of 24 hours after the 1st 24 hrs.

The next problem is the V5 (registration book) none of the auctions will give the V5 out to you, they will fill it in with your details, you must have a UK address.

If you are very lucky you may be able to persuade them to give you the left hand side of the V5 and to fill out section 11 on the right hand side.
Most will not because the way the instructions are written out pertaining to section 11 refer to the registered owner exporting the car rather than the buyer.

You are wasting your time coming home without a V5 as you must make an appointment within seven days of arriving home and complete the process within 30 days and the chances of getting a new V5 or a certificate of permanent export before that time are slim and may lead to revenue penalties.

I think that you would be far better buying od an independent seller.
They go to the auctions, spend the time sussing out good cars, will have them checked out and most of them take a small enough profit working on a quick turnover.

You will be able to discuss the car with them. Often they will pick you up at the airport and you can HPI the car in the meantime and they can also tell you what the co figures are on the logbook as it varies even among similar models and could add to your VRT charges

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

timmy4u2 wrote: »

Strange or not your bank draft will have to clear before you get you goods and I found this in two main dealer garages also.
I have a UK bank account-an Irish bank- and I even had to wait for the draft to clear even though I felt that a phone call should have sufficed

It shouldn't be the case though, a bank draft is guaranteed by the bank that issues it. Although with Irish banks.......:pac:

Still, if it happened, it happened. I bought my car at a car supermarket, there was no problem.

Edit; Don't take it to heart!

timmy4u2

deccurley wrote: »

It shouldn't be the case though, a bank draft is guaranteed by the bank that issues it. Although with Irish banks.......:pac:

Still, if it happened, it happened. I bought my car at a car supermarket, there was no problem.

Edit; Don't take it to heart!

Unfortunately it is the case. Drafts have lost their magic touch and my experience was way before the tiger died.

Doylers

Hey lads im still confused by all this been reading a few other threads. Can someone give me an answer on

Theres a lad selling a UK reg car here on done deal. I assume its logbook is in his name or whatever.

Whats the story can I buy it and reg it in my name here or does paperwork go back to the Uk first etc? Really nice car but this whole vrt thing is scaring the **** outa me Car is up sale for 2700euro

timmy4u2

Doylers wrote: »

Hey lads im still confused by all this been reading a few other threads. Can someone give me an answer on

Theres a lad selling a UK reg car here on done deal. I assume its logbook is in his name or whatever.

Whats the story can I buy it and reg it in my name here or does paperwork go back to the Uk first etc? Really nice car but this whole vrt thing is scaring the **** outa me Car is up sale for 2700euro

If you are to go by the letter of the law a private seller is not legislated for as regarding selling a UK registered car in Ireland.
The vehicle has to be presented-not physically-to VRT office within seven days of arrival in the state and processed within 30 days.
Of course there is nothing to stop such a seller selling it for export.
I think your way out of it is to conclude the deal at a Northern Ireland address.
The proofs have been indicated here several times

Andycap8

Hi guys,
Just wondering if anyone has any experience importing a car from the US?

I know there's vrt and vat normally payable but I intend to buy it at least a year before returning home and keeping it for a number of years so i shouldnt (as i see it) be liable.

im hoping to get a muscle car - camaro or challenger or mustang but not yet decided and have to convince the mrs I'm defo having a mid life crisis. God knows what the insurance would be.

Cheers for any help or suggestions.
Andy

Esel

Andycap8 wrote: »

Hi guys,
Just wondering if anyone has any experience importing a car from the US?

I know there's vrt and vat normally payable but I intend to buy it at least a year before returning home and keeping it for a number of years so i shouldnt (as i see it) be liable.

im hoping to get a muscle car - camaro or challenger or mustang but not yet decided and have to convince the mrs I'm defo having a mid life crisis. God knows what the insurance would be.

Cheers for any help or suggestions.
Andy

Look up Transfer of Residence on www.revenue.ie

BoardsMember

One thing I just noticed on the VRT Calculator, which I had missed to date. The bottom area of the result page identifies the CO2 emission that was used in calculating the VRT amount. I have found that this is often inaccurate, for example a number of Audi A6 models it was showing as 169 for the CO2. When I put in the correct figure of 140, it dropped the VRT figure by about 1700 euro.

So the question is - are the sites like Autotrader reliable regarding the CO2 amounts, or do you have to battle when VRTing your car to try to convince them that the figure they have is not correct? I'd appreciate input on this because it makes a significant difference in the greater scheme of things. Thanks!

rocky

VRT crowd use the figure from the V5.

BoardsMember

rocky wrote: »

VRT crowd use the figure from the V5.

Ok, thanks. I see the V5 is a registration document that should have the correct CO2 figure on it.

ambro25

A quick heads-up in this thread (which I searched about the following, but found nothing), about a growing problem in the UK regarding 'proper' ownership of cars advertised for sale there, which I recently heard about and which could be of interest to some on here.

Like elsewhere I'm sure, many Brits have resorted to "logbook loans" (eye wateringly-expensive short-term loans secured against their car) to bridge difficult end-of-months. The problem is that such loans are frequently as not entirely unregistered (yet contractually binding and enforceable), and will not show up on an HPI (or the like) finance history check. There is still no legislation in place regarding compulsory recordal of such charges on cars at the DVLA.

Cue the growing problem of more and more buyers seeing their cars repossessed out of the blue by the loan sharks, when everything (incl. HPI/outstanding finance report) looked tickety-boo at the time of purchase. With not much at all in the way of redress.

I'm not sure about how much of an issue this actually constitutes for Irish buyers exporting the car out of the UK...but a heads-up all the same, just something else for you guys to be aware of.

Katiedaly87

Hi everyone, wondering if I could get a quick answer for this:

I just bought a uk reg car 2weeks ago, if I wait until the new year to VRT, will it be much cheaper to take in??

Also, when I do go to VRT the car, what documentation do they want to see? For example, I'm insured on the car so do they ask to see insurance docs??

Thanks 😊

discombobulate

Katiedaly87 wrote: »

Hi everyone, wondering if I could get a quick answer for this:

I just bought a uk reg car 2weeks ago, if I wait until the new year to VRT, will it be much cheaper to take in??

Also, when I do go to VRT the car, what documentation do they want to see? For example, I'm insured on the car so do they ask to see insurance docs??

Thanks 😊

Doubt it'll be much cheaper. Also VRT is payable from the day the car enters the country. They'll ask for a receipt or ferry receipt to show this. Probably not overly strict on it though. Your also running the risk of being stopped and having the car impounded if stopped which is more likely than usual as your a bit of a target to them unless your living on the borders.

Katiedaly87

discombobulate wrote: »

Doubt it'll be much cheaper. Also VRT is payable from the day the car enters the country. They'll ask for a receipt or ferry receipt to show this. Probably not overly strict on it though. Your also running the risk of being stopped and having the car impounded if stopped which is more likely than usual as your a bit of a target to them unless your living on the borders.

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I do live close to the border and have been keeping off main roads..I was going to hold off until the new year but If it's not that big of a saving I might just book it in now. They don't require insurance docs though??

discombobulate

Katiedaly87 wrote: »

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I do live close to the border and have been keeping off main roads..I was going to hold off until the new year but If it's not that big of a saving I might just book it in now. They don't require insurance docs though??

No didn't ask me for them anyway. May be a slight reduction but I would be surprised if it was much. Would depend on the age and value of the car also. What are you importing?

Unrealistic

My VRT bill dropped by about 4% by waiting until Jan 2nd to import.

DieselPowered

Katiedaly87 wrote: »

if I wait until the new year to VRT, will it be much cheaper to take in??

Your insurance company notify Irish revenue 42 days after you are insured on the car if it still has UK plates from day x so they will know.

You will also need to provide proof of import date and they are sticky on it.
There is a major clampdown over the last 18-24 months for these type of revenue streams, so they are not going to ignore it.

MidlandsM

DieselPowered wrote: »

Your insurance company notify Irish revenue 42 days after you are insured on the car if it still has UK plates from day x so they will know.

You will also need to provide proof of import date and they are sticky on it.
There is a major clampdown over the last 18-24 months for these type of revenue streams, so they are not going to ignore it.

+1

and many insurers will terminate their policy with you after 30 days, if you dont vrt the car and give them the new reg details.

The days of driving around endlessly on a yella plate is over.

timmy4u2

Katiedaly87 wrote: »

Hi everyone, wondering if I could get a quick answer for this:

I just bought a uk reg car 2weeks ago, if I wait until the new year to VRT, will it be much cheaper to take in??

Also, when I do go to VRT the car, what documentation do they want to see? For example, I'm insured on the car so do they ask to see insurance docs??

Thanks 😊

You will need to bring the car with you. You will need to be able to point out where the chassis number is.
You will need to have id as in driving licence
You will need evidence of pps number on official documentation.
You will need a utility bill, bank statement, showing your attachment to your address and that documentation cannot be more than six months old.
You will need a signed dated invoice for the purchase of the car that also shows the purchase price.
You will also need the V5 or a certificate of permanent import.
You will need the VRT payment. If paying in cash they will not accept more than €250.
Credit cards are subject to a surcharge.
You will need shipping details.
Depending what age bracket the car falls into there could be a reasonable saving waiting until the new year but you must get over two issues first
(1) The car has to be notified within seven days of entering the state
(2) The car has to be fully processed within thirty days.
If you bought in Northern Ireland and the date of clearing is outside the thirty days you will have to show evidence of where in the North it was stored.

DieselPowered

timmy4u2 wrote: »

You will need the VRT payment. If paying in cash they will not accept more than €250.

The reason for the VRT inspection is for them to go off and figure out how much you need to pay, so you don't need the VRT payment (which you don't know yet) when you present the car to them initially. They call you back/you call them within a couple of days with the amount owed and then you go and pay it back in the same office.

timmy4u2

DieselPowered wrote: »

The reason for the VRT inspection is for them to go off and figure out how much you need to pay, so you don't need the VRT payment (which you don't know yet) when you present the car to them initially. They call you back/you call them within a couple of days with the amount owed and then you go and pay it back in the same office.

If you have a standard car it isusually very easy to work out what it will cost to clear, or you will come very close thus saving yourself time and travelling costs.
I get a bank draft for a sum close to the mark and then I have cash to top up if there is a difference.
It is very important to note that for whatever reason you do not complete the transaction within the thirty days you are into the penalty situation.
Also if you are to blame for a return visit you will be charged extra for that visit and what ever penalties apply if the return date is outside the thirty days.
A lot easier to get everything done on the one day instead of making a song and dance of it.
If you decide to nominate someone on your behalf you need to nominate them in writing and state they may declare the car in your name.
You will need to give them all the aforesaid documents and get themto bring their own id also.