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

lifer_sean

cerebis wrote: »

hi all,

just a quick question about buying a car in the north...i bought a car and the dealer give the the V5c document...i didn't actually sign anything ??

i have parts all parts (ie 1-11) except part 9....

part 8 is not signed by anyone.... do i need to fill this out ?

just wondering what i do now to register the car here in ireland ?


Thanks in advance....a little worried at the mo

You don't need to fill out any of the V5. Just bring what you have into the VRO when registering the car. It will be fine !!!!

ballybrone

In relation to paying the VRT . The car i will be importing will be registered in my wifes name and her name will be on the vrt document to be filed out .Just wondering does my wife have to turn up at VRO with the car to pay the VRT or can I register if for her , or do we both need to go with the car .

EIREHotspur

As regards the VRT payment.

I will have to go to the VRT office 30 minutes away.....let them look at it/calculate the VRT and come back to my home town bank to get a Money Order or Bank Draft and head back there again.

Could do without the back and forth hassle today.

WESTAWAKE

Apologies if this has been posted before , but when VAT is being calculated on new cars (22%) being imported is it on the base price here or on the base price in the UK ( what I would have paid for it). Either way it should be reasonable considering the fact that the base price of cars here is quite low. Am I correct in this assumption?

McSpud

WESTAWAKE wrote: »

Apologies if this has been posted before , but when VAT is being calculated on new cars (22%) being imported is it on the base price here or on the base price in the UK ( what I would have paid for it). Either way it should be reasonable considering the fact that the base price of cars here is quite low. Am I correct in this assumption?

I believe t is the price you paid (i.e. UK retail minus 15% UK VAT).

If you paid VAT & VRT on Irish base price you would pay same as retail here?

Esel

McSpud wrote: »

...i.e. UK retail minus 15% UK VAT..

Just to make it clear: UK ex VAT price = (UK retail price / 1.15), not (UK retail price * 0.85)

stupidbaby

hey all,

was looking at a '05 vw golf 1.9tdi S. found one with 60k miles on it from a dealer (not a vw dealer mind).

put down a deposit pending a good RAC check.

Got the full RAC check today. Engineer gave it the all clear apart from an air bag light that won't go off, and a small oil leak which he says can be fixed easy.

Long as they are fixed RAC guy said he'd have no problem recommending to someone to buy the car. he said the air bag light can be a common problem with something to do with the seatbelts, or could just be electronic.

Dealer has agreed to fix both at no extra cost.

anyway, i got the written report and found that the last time the car had been serviced was at 31k miles --- and the car has 60k miles on it now.

should I run from it?

sounds a bit dodgy.

could loose the 600 euro deposit but so be it if i do. rather that than loosing 8-9 grand euro having bought the thing.

any advice from anyone?

The_Conductor

I'd guess its the service record you're looking at- rather than a statement that the car has not been serviced in the last 30k miles........ Very often smaller independent garages don't stamp the log. If you look at the engine- you might find chalk markings of when it was last changed on the airfilter/ elsewhere under the bonnet.

I'd query the nature of the previous servicings- but I wouldn't necessarily run from it at all- if its gotten a glowing RAC report (they really put vehicles through their paces- you can rely on that report).

S.

lifer_sean

May not be a problem. 05 UK car should have an MOT cert (even if out of date), what does that say ?
How many prev owners ? If one owner then you could guess that the miles per year is approx constant. If that's true the 31k service should have been done at half the car's age - early / mid 2007. If the service was done in 2006 then it's a problem unless the car changed hands.

At 60k I'd be doing the timing belt ....

stupidbaby

cheers for the replies

one owner - confirmed on hpi

30k miles service was indeed done in mid '07

will ask if there is a secret service history

stupidbaby

oh ya - and mot to sept '09

how often they have to do those things?

trellheim

anyone notice if OMSP has dropped off recently ?

Esel

stupidbaby wrote: »

oh ya - and mot to sept '09

how often they have to do those things?

Yearly.

yaeger

Hey guys

Deposit paid on car up north, will be bringing it down in a few days.
Had previous concerns about UK car that fell into VAT threshold so went with another up north.
Have planned for VRT, will be expensive but expecting that !
Just curious regards the road tax, the car isnt taxed up there and obviously wont be down south until i get it to VRO office. Do i have to tax it in NI to drive it that hour till south of border and then just head to office or can i get a letter of the dublin VRO office to cover me if i were pulled over??
Seems a bit annoying to go through hassle of road tax for a 40 min stretch till south of border....

Other queries....

Leather seats / mettalic paint / trim /mp3 player etc are actually standard on this model, should i just get dealer to clarify this on paper so as not to incur EXTRA's fee ??

Also, is there any restriction on someone who brought a car in (VRT exempt) previously kept it the year then sold it on and now plans to buy another but WILL be paying vrt, I ask this as there was a restriction that i couldnt bring another in and claim VRT exemption, which is fine since i live here now....i.e any limit to the amount of cars you can bring in.??

One other quickie, any point on an AA check for less then one year old and main dealer, and low low mileage, just over VAT threshold !!! seems pointless still under warranty etc etc?

O i would ring their office but they NEVER answer the fookin fone....

P.S got a beaute of a motor, saved thousands....so happy

Esel

yaeger wrote: »

Just curious regards the road tax, the car isnt taxed up there and obviously wont be down south until i get it to VRO office. Do i have to tax it in NI to drive it that hour till south of border and then just head to office or can i get a letter of the dublin VRO office to cover me if i were pulled over??

I wouldn't bother. UK road tax or not is irrelevant down here. It's up there you might have a problem, and how likely is that, especially as you will have all the papers to show you just bought it.

yaeger wrote: »

Also, is there any restriction on someone who brought a car in (VRT exempt) previously kept it the year then sold it on and now plans to buy another but WILL be paying vrt, I ask this as there was a restriction that i couldnt bring another in and claim VRT exemption, which is fine since i live here now....i.e any limit to the amount of cars you can bring in.??

No connection between the two scenarios. There is an issue with the number of imported cars you register (VRT paid) though. Revenue will be quick to spot someone who is obviously importing for resale.

madds

madds wrote: »

Hi McSpud - sorry, I missed this question of yours.

I found the car (08 Honda Accord 2.2 Ex) on this site http://www.arnoldclark.com. The car was in their Stretford Manchester dealership. I got it for £12,500 and will be heading to the VRO office tomorrow to register it. Finger crossed!

Drove from Manchester to Holyhead to catch the 2:15pm ferry this afternoon and I'm very very happy with my purchase. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.

Got a call from Tallaght Revenue office this morning with the news that I owe €6,481 VRT on this car. So with the agreed purchase price being €13,700, the cost of the RAC check, flight and ferry expenses, and increased insurance of €96 until August all taken into account, I'm very happy to have got this car onto the road for under €21k.

Have it 8 days now and its going like a dream.

Esel

madds wrote: »

I'm very happy to have got this car onto the road for under €21k. Have it 8 days now and its going like a dream.

Congratulations, great deal - you 'swam the channel', as Arthur Daly would say!

kaiserchief

Hi guys,

Looking at importing an Audi A6 from the Uk - have narrowed it down to two but have a query with the amount of VRT I'll be charged.
They are both 2006 but one is a base model SE with no extras and the other has DVD based sat nav and leather seats.
How much extra VRT is the higher spec Audi going to cost me or how is it calculated?

Cheers,
K

Traditional

Robertr wrote: »

For those looking to save a few quid here is my difinitive guide to importing cars from the UK based on my own experiences.

Firstly here is the best information you can get: Revenue.ie - VRT

When you want to get a car from the UK there are a few rules to follow:

(1) You will have to pay VRT on any car coming into Ireland from any country unless over 30 years old.
(2) You will have to pay VAT on all cars coming from outside the EU, so always buy in the EU as an additional 21% will never bring it under the Irish price.
(3) You will have to pay VAT on all cars under 6 mths old or less than 6,000kms even if they are from within the EU.

VRT

When you are looking at the price of different cars in the UK (Autotrader.co.uk is the best site) it might seem like the prices are great. This can be true for some cars but others this is not the case.

Obviously, you will firstly have to convert the price into EURO using the most up to date rate that your bank will Sell GBP (This can be quite different from the daily exchange rates that you might see in the papers).

Then you will have to calculate the VRT. This can vary in a number of ways:
(1) The % of VRT is based on the engine size of the car. You can see the table using the above link.
(2) It is not based on the price you bought the car for but the Open Market Selling Price or OMSP. This is a value decided by the Revenue. In my experience these can be way off. Sometimes they are way above the retail value and sometimes they are less than the Trade value. Depends on the car. I've noticed that they will value an Audi at about trade or less but BMW's are above what you would expect to pay on a forecourt.


Procedure for Buying:

(1) Get a shortlist of cars that you are interested in knock off about 5% of the listed price for a cash discount. Should get more off but leave that as a nice surprise.

(2) Call your local VRO office (listed in the contact page on Revenue.ie) and ask for a VRT quote. They should be able to give you the amount straight away unless it is a high-end luxury car (over say €60,000). They will then need the chassis number and they will get their VRO Department in Rosslare to do up a valuation - usually 1 day.

(3) You will now have the cost of the car.

(4) Factor in expenses, usually about €1,000.
- Flights
- Ferry
- RAC/AA inspection (has to be done!!!)
- HPI Check

(5) Contact the Dealer (never buy privately) you want to buy from and give them as many questions as you can think of. Tell them that you will be getting an inspection done so they may as well tell you everything now. If you are not 100% happy with all answers, walk away!!!!! Every Tom, Dick and Harry has a 'car dealership' in the UK, loads of guys operating out of their back gardens, so be wary. Don't bother getting a warranty from the dealer if the car is still covered by the manufacturer's warranty, in fact you should be able to get money off if you tell them you don't want it.
**EU law states that a manufacturer must stand over their warranty in every EU country regardless of which country the car was originally purchased so if something goes wrong you can go to your local dealership and you will be covered by the warranty. This does not cover Dealership warranties, only Manufacturer!!

(6) Once happy, you will have to pay a deposit, (by Credit Card) don't worry, once it’s by credit card you are covered from fraud. Make sure it is subject to the inspection not showing up anything that will change the overall value of the car from his decryption.

(7) Get inspection done. Make sure you get the expensive one. An engineer will call you to discuss the car and these guys do a great job. One time he even told me that there was a tiny dent the size of a 10P coin in one of the speakers in the back door. When I got the car it took me ages to find it. They do a really good job.

(8) Agree a date to travel over and get the Dealer to collect you from the closest Airport.

(9) Get a bank draft for the remaining GBP balance to pay the dealer.

(10) Call you insurance company and ask them to transfer your policy to the new car. They will only issue a temporary cover for a non-Irish reg that lasts for 1 month.

(11) You should have no trouble of making the journey in one day if you leave early in the morning you will be back in Dublin that night.

(12) Get a bank draft for the amount you were quoted when you got the VRT quote. Knock off about 10% from the draft and bring cash as some time will have passed and the amount they want will have gone down.

(13)With in 24hrs of arriving in Ireland you are required to present the car at the VRO. You will have to fill out a few forms and then they will have a look to see if you have honestly described the car. Don't worry about telling them about every extra, they don't seem to care as long as the Make, Model and Year as are you said. (So make sure that it’s fully loaded).

(14) They will then give you a document that will have your new Irish Reg on it. Go and get some plates done up and put them on the car.

(15) Get your insurance changed to the new reg.

(16) A few days later you will receive the Vehicle Registration Cert. This is not the same as the one that you usually have as it in only the initial cert. and is used to Tax a car for the first time only.

(17) Go to the Tax office and tax that puppy!

(18) In a few days you will have you proper Vehicle Registration Document.



In general, even with VRT, most cars are cheaper from the UK. Obviously, there more expensive the car the more you will save. Anything under €15,000 - €20,000 may not be worth your while but there are some exceptions out there!!

Anyways, hope this helps everyone. I've been doing it for a while and its had its ups and downs, so always use your commen sense and don't let the really cheap ones get the better of you.

Any questions, let me know

Good Luck!!!

simie are up to their tricks again
no selling out of driveways
and the only place you can buy a car is in a garage

ImportMeHappy

kaiserchief wrote: »

Hi guys,

Looking at importing an Audi A6 from the Uk - have narrowed it down to two but have a query with the amount of VRT I'll be charged.
They are both 2006 but one is a base model SE with no extras and the other has DVD based sat nav and leather seats.
How much extra VRT is the higher spec Audi going to cost me or how is it calculated?

Cheers,
K

As a good guide do the following (not 100% accurate but close enough)

Ok, find out the cost of the extras new - say for example it's 4K
then depreciate by 25% per year. 3 years is 4,000 then 3,000 then 2,250 then 1,700. Then multiply that by the VRT rate - I don't know what rate the A6 you are looking as is charged at - say for example is 24%. Multiply the depreciated value of the extras by the VRT rate and bingo you have the cost to the tax man. 1.7*.24% = 400 euros.

For example my cars extras cost around 5K new (got it off the bmw car configurator), the car was two years old and the VRT is charged at 16%.
works out at 420 euros. My Total VRT came to the rate on the website plus 400 euros. Plus they went to rosslare to get the exact spec from the factory.

bruce wayne

what paperwork do you need from the UK to reg the car here....Is it just the original V5 form?

derealbadger

hey guys somebody may be able to help im looking at buying a brand new 520 in the uk and i was just wondering can i buy without paying vat there as i will have to pay the vat here anyway also what is the vat rate over there for cars any help apriciated

bombers

pm sent

Whitewater-AGS

I'm thinking of buying a Kia Pro-ceed 2.0crdi from england i've been looking up a few over the net and i can get the above for cheaper than the 1.6 2007 version here. Now the only problem is that the vrt calculator on ros does not have this model listed so is there any way i can calculate the vrt? Going to try ring them during the week and see what they say. But any help in the mean time is welcomed?

PCwiggum

Whitewater-AGS wrote: »

I'm thinking of buying a Kia Pro-ceed 2.0crdi from england i've been looking up a few over the net and i can get the above for cheaper than the 1.6 2007 version here. Now the only problem is that the vrt calculator on ros does not have this model listed so is there any way i can calculate the vrt? Going to try ring them during the week and see what they say. But any help in the mean time is welcomed?

You're probably wasting your time ringing them, I had a similar problem recently and when I rang them they told me no quotes over the phone, I had to go and visit them in person and even then they weren't too helpful - they just quoted me something similar that was already on the website. Of course it was a different story when I bought the car - they topped up the original quote by another €300. You may be lucky depending which office you ring though.

Miccko

So, I imported a 320D coupe a few weeks ago and just got the VRT quote. Overall, everything went very smoothly for me. Just to outline my experience, for what it's worth:

1. Searched online and identified a number of cars I was interested in. I mainly stuck to main dealers as I don't know a lot about cars and wanted a bit more security than buying privately.
2. Rang dealers and haggled, using the fact that I could go to any dealer, anywhere in the UK. This tactic worked very well. Unlike some posters, I found the dealers more than willing to engage over the phone once I clarified I was a cash buyer, and could fly over and pick up the car very quickly.
3. Once I was happy with price, struck deal, and paid deposit over the phone with credit card.
4. Even though my car is a demo model and a little over 6 months old (so practically brand new), I decided to get the AA to inspect it. This was for peace of mind only - I wanted to be sure what I was buying could pass as being brand new. The car already had the manufacturers checks done.
5. Arranged AA check online, emailed dealer to tell him I was organising it, inspection carried out the next day. Very comprehensive and glad I got it done. I was also interested in how the dealer would react when I told him I was getting an independent inspection. He was fine with it - if he'd reacted differently, I might have got worried.
6. Once I was happy, I transferred the bulk of the funds via electronic bank transfer. I have a mate in one of the banks who organised this cheaply for me, so can't advise on the cheapest method of doing this.
7. Fly in on Saturday morning, bus to the town from airport, and dealer picked me up from centre of town. Spent about 2 hours going through paperwork, examining the car, etc. Once happy, I paid the remaining balance (which was still a few thousand) in cash. Laser would have been fine. Dealer took section 11 of V5C and sent it to Swansea. The rest, he gave to me, along with receipts, etc.
8. Drove up to Holyhead and home. The car was taxed, so no problems on UK roads. No problems with customs or anything like that. They didn't bat an eyelid.
9. Dropped in to Santry VRT about a week later. Spent 10 minutes there - he inspected the car and told me he'd have to contact Rosslare for a quote on the extras.
10. Next day, phoned me back with quote.
11. Job done.

Overall, everything went very smoothly. Dealer was very helpful, went out of his way to make sure I was happy with everything, and the car was as he described it. No problems with paperwork and no hassles with VRT. In fact, the VRT quote I got was actually a bit less than I expected. And most importantly, I'm driving a car which I couldn't afford to buy here in Ireland.

Oh, and a note on the warranty. I have emails from both BMW Ireland and BMW UK assuring me that the 3 year manufacturers warranty is valid in the Republic of Ireland. So, I have the remainder of that with the car.

Finally, everything you need to know is in this thread (not this post!!). I spent hours going through the entire thread, and still had some questions, which people very generously answered. Spend the time going through the information here and you'll have no problems.

Stevie Dakota

Nice one Miccko, good result, in my experience BMW dealers in the UK are outstanding, a pleasure to deal with.

Esel

bruce wayne wrote: »

what paperwork do you need from the UK to reg the car here....Is it just the original V5 form?

As Miccko said above, get the entire V5, except for section 11 of V5C (trusting Miccko here!) which is the permanent export section. The seller completes this part and sends it to the DVLA. Depending on the age/mileage of the car, you may need an invoice/receipt also. If you are importing a car which is under six months old or has less than 6000km on the clock, be aware that you will be liable for VAT here, but you can get the UK VAT refunded. The info on that is in this thread somewhere!

ballybrone

I too have just recently imported a Sept 2007 Ford Galaxy Zetec 1.8tdci 7 seater with Leather seats and 9000 miles on clock from the UK .I purchased it from Motorpoint in Derby .Once I had deceided on the particular car due to model,mileage,condition and price i paid a deposit of £300 to motorpoint .Then got the inspection carried out by RAC and all was well with the car so could not haggle with price on that basis.Buy actually motorpoint will not drop their prices as they are low already.
Flew from knock to east midlands airport on Thursday evening , stayed in hotel beside the garage overnight and then checked car and completed paperwork on Friday , got ferry back from holyhead to dublin on Friday night no bother.Have to say I am delighted with the car I got , it is like brand new , not a scratch on it and perfect inside .I also checked with ford ireland and was told car is copvered by 36 month warranty from date of first registration .

Breakdown of my costs

Cost of car €14600 got 90 pence to the euro using bank draft
VRT €6780
Ferry €125
Flight €55
Inspection €220
Hotel €80
Spending €100
New plates €25

Total = €22,000 .

I paid the VRT today and they gave am OMSP of €28250 .I think this is high to be honest , but not sure if I should appeal this as they did not even look at the car ,and to be honest I did not put down anything about the leather seats as extra as I thought they would look at the car themselves.
So while I think the OMSP is high for a standard zetec model I am not sure about one with leather seats as I cannot find one on Carzone .I have come across other standard zetec and also some higher spec Ghia models on carzone for around 26-27 k but they dont have the leather seats and some have higher mileage.
Does anybody know who appealed when you send off documents for appeal do you send to local vrt office or to Rosslare and do they ask to physically see the vehicle again for the appeal .If i could appeal on the grounds of same models being sold for 26 K then I believe I would be due a refund,but also dont want to draw attention to the leather seats .
Is there anybody who has appealed who can give me any info by PM .

But all in all I am delighted with the car not just on price but also the condition of the car in comparison to ones for sale in orish garages .
Also a big thank you to all who have posted in the forum as it helped me a great deal.

Gibs

My experience was much the same as other posters:

- Browsed for a long time online, mainly on autotrader.co.uk
- Decided to use Autoquake as I had heard good things about them.
- Reserved a car online and then paid 10% by credit card (you can reserve the car for 6 days using this method)
- Booked Ryanair to Leeds: €70
- Arranged an RAC inspection (the comprehensive one) : €220
- Got report emailed to me from RAC: there were a few minor problems with the car but generally got a good report
- Flew over midweek to Leeds/Bradford.
- Taxi from Airport to Autoquake: £25
- Test drove the car
- Agreed to buy it and filled out paperwork
- Used Transfermate to transfer the money into Autoquake´s account (you need to make sure you give the go-ahead before 12.30 pm in order to ensure same day transfer - arrange this a few days before you go to UK)
- Drove to Liverpool ferry (about 2 hours - traffic fairly bad)
- Drove around Liverpool for 30 mins looking for the ferry (note to self: get a better sat nav!)
- got ferry at 10pm with a cabin (€140) no problem with customs - just showed them the paperwork Autoquake gave me - V5 and receipt
- arrived Dublin at 6am
- paid VRT next day in local Revenue office (you dont have to use the one in Dublin)
- Probably saved 30-40% on the equivalent car in ireland
and would definitely do it again

Thanks a mill to all the posters here who provided such excellent info!