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

discombobulate

Marcusm wrote: »

You've quoted from the US eBay.com user agreement (the hint was in the next sentence referring to Utah law). The eBay.co.uk agreement has the following

For motor vehicles listed in the Classified Ad format and real estate (property), a bid or offer initiates a non-binding transaction representing a buyer's serious expression of interest in buying the seller's item and does not create a formal contract between the buyer and the seller.

"Buy it now" is not "Classified Ad" format generally and you may fid that you can't simply rescind the purchase. A material misdisclosure by the seller as to condition etc may make a difference. You have to be very careful with eBay auctions and Buy it now; both are intended to create enforceable contracts as BA has told you.

Thats fair enough. I quoted the wrong thing. But I was willing to buy the car as long as "A material misdisclosure by the seller as to condition etc may make a difference."

The AA check would have told me that and if there wasn't any misdisclosure i'd have been on plane. As i said to the guy if its as described and nothing shows up i'll buy it. He said it was perfect other than stone chips in the add so can't see where the issue was if he'd nothing to hide.

If I pulled out he would have had the 100 quid deposit I was going to pay straight away

Faith

Hi, I was living in the UK and bought a car there last September. I've moved back to Ireland now and am completely confused about reregistering, VRT, tax and insurance! Can anyone explain step by step what I need to do to change it over to Irish plates and insurance?

The_Conductor

Faith wrote: »

Hi, I was living in the UK and bought a car there last September. I've moved back to Ireland now and am completely confused about reregistering, VRT, tax and insurance! Can anyone explain step by step what I need to do to change it over to Irish plates and insurance?

You can get tax relief on the VRT on your car providing you meet certain criteria (e.g.-

1. The place you're importing the vehicle from was your place of normal residence
2. You were physically present there at least 185 days in the year ending the date of transfer of your residence
3. You weren't in the country in question primarily as a student
4. You haven't brought in another vehicle into Ireland in the previous 5 years and claimed tax relief

If you meet these criterion- you apply to the Revenue Commissioners for a VRT waiver (you have to complete form VRT - TOR (Transfer of Residence).

This link explains it in detail

gooch2k9

Moving up to Antrim soon for a new job and I'm looking to buy a car up there. Will be living there so no worries about clearing it. It's a 1.6 S HDi 307 2006 with 78k miles. Have been up to see it myself and it looks well enough, and hopefully heading up with a mate tomorrow who knows a bit more about motors to check it out properly.

Thinking of getting one of those vehicle checks done but not sure which company to go with. Any advice on this and any other advice more than welcome, biggest purchase of my life so far!

DHFrame

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Moving up to Antrim soon for a new job and I'm looking to buy a car up there. Will be living there so no worries about clearing it. Have been up to see it myself and it looks well enough, and hopefully heading up with a mate tomorrow who knows a bit more about motors to check it out properly.

Thinking of getting one of those vehicle checks done but not sure which company to go with. Any advice on this and any other advice more than welcome, biggest purchase of my life so far!

motorcheck.ie and just follow the autotrader links for uk stuff. I did it via motor check 4 times. 2 were write offs imported from the uk. 1 had a mileage discrepancy and the 4th I bought. Did one in uk via auto trader and that had finance on it.

Plates365.com

Apologies guys if this has been asked before but I cant find it.

Buying a car in the UK and I WANT a warranty.

The options I have found are carprotect.ie , warranty direct and mapfre.

Any feedback on who is the best to go with or alternative?

NOTE: I do not want to start a discussion about whether I should or shouldn't get a warranty, I am getting one and that is that. Just want feedback and best provider to go with.:)

Thanks guys.

DHFrame

Plates365.com wrote: »

Apologies guys if this has been asked before but I cant find it.

Buying a car in the UK and I WANT a warranty.

The options I have found are carprotect.ie , warranty direct and mapfre.

Any feedback on who is the best to go with or alternative?

NOTE: I do not want to start a discussion about whether I should or shouldn't get a warranty, I am getting one and that is that. Just want feedback and best provider to go with.:)

Thanks guys.

Have you tried your cars manufacturer. I bought a bimmer second hand and went straight to bmw with it to setup my services and took out a warranty. It's not the same warranty you get on new or approved cars but there is 'some' peice of mind.

Plates365.com

Thanks for suggestion, really looking for something not tied to a manufacturer as I haven't decided what I am buying yet.

gooch2k9

DHFrame wrote: »

motorcheck.ie and just follow the autotrader links for uk stuff. I did it via motor check 4 times. 2 were write offs imported from the uk. 1 had a mileage discrepancy and the 4th I bought. Did one in uk via auto trader and that had finance on it.

Do Motorcheck do UK vehicles? I've seen HPIcheck.com do three checks for 30 pound and autocheck.co.uk do five for 25 pound, any difference in the standard of these?

Mc Love

I used the AA checks and they were superb

Marcusm

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Do Motorcheck do UK vehicles? I've seen HPIcheck.com do three checks for 30 pound and autocheck.co.uk do five for 25 pound, any difference in the standard of these?

Any decent UK dealer should provide you with a copy of a HPI check as a condition of purchase - that way you don't spend money getting lots of them on cars you don't buy.

gooch2k9

Marcusm wrote: »

Any decent UK dealer should provide you with a copy of a HPI check as a condition of purchase - that way you don't spend money getting lots of them on cars you don't buy.

Cheers will look for this Monday when I'm over looking at it so.

drunkmonkey

Im looking for a 08/09 330d, VRT seems a bit crackers though, on a 08 Manual VRT is €4500 but if you go for an identical car in Automatic the VRT jumps to €6500, any suggestions, nice auto there I Like but an extra €2000 seems off the wall?

Bigcheeze

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Im looking for a 08/09 330d, VRT seems a bit crackers though, on a 08 Manual VRT is €4500 but if you go for an identical car in Automatic the VRT jumps to €6500, any suggestions, nice auto there I Like but an extra €2000 seems off the wall?

Is the auto pushing emissions into a higher vrt band?

kilclon

Hey,
This has probably been asked already but the thread is pretty big and don't have time to go trawling.
At what point do you agree a price when buying a UK car? Is it when you pay the deposit and before you travel without actually having seen the car but subject to inspection. Or are we still in haggle mode when we arrive at the dealership?
Also has anyone ever been screwed by a dealer where they would renege on an agreed upon price when you arrive over there and try to get an extra couple hundred out of you, knowing that you are already somewhat invested in getting that particular car?

Thank you all

colm_mcm

For me I researched prices for a month on different specs, figured out the trim levels I wanted while keeping an eye on Irish prices, narrowed it down to 5, rang up, negotiated a price on each. Tbh I didn't haggle hard but got a way better deal than I would have here so was happy.
Best to have a a few backups that fit the bill as you'll want to bring something home and who knows what you'll end up doing if you're carless.

plasmin

colm_mcm wrote: »

For me I researched prices for a month on different specs, figured out the trim levels I wanted while keeping an eye on Irish prices, narrowed it down to 5, rang up, negotiated a price on each. Tbh I didn't haggle hard but got a way better deal than I would have here so was happy.
Best to have a a few backups that fit the bill as you'll want to bring something home and who knows what you'll end up doing if you're carless.

I m thinking of buying from UK as well. Can you recommend any dealer there? I have no experience in this. Thanks

colm_mcm

cais wrote: »

I m thinking of buying from UK as well. Can you recommend any dealer there? I have no experience in this. Thanks

I think it'd be better to find the car then worry about the dealer rather than find the dealer and see if they have what you want.

discombobulate

cais wrote: »

I m thinking of buying from UK as well. Can you recommend any dealer there? I have no experience in this. Thanks

Cargiant generally come fairly well recommended. If you were going over without deciding on an exact car or spec etc. they'd be good as they have huge stock. Motorpoint is another car super market.

kilclon

Thanks colm_mcm,

So do I have the procedure right?
1. Find your car
2. Agree the price subject to due diligence
3. Pay deposit (refundable?)
4. Carry out hpi check followed by aa/rac/other inspection
5. If still happy and car is as described arrange a time to meet and Pay/collect car
6. If inspections show anything up either walk away or try to renegotiate a better price if you still want to continue.

discombobulate

kilclon wrote: »

Thanks colm_mcm,

So do I have the procedure right?
1. Find your car
2. Agree the price subject to due diligence
3. Pay deposit (refundable?)
4. Carry out hpi check followed by aa/rac/other inspection
5. If still happy and car is as described arrange a time to meet and Pay/collect car
6. If inspections show anything up either walk away or try to renegotiate a better price if you still want to continue.

I'd switch 3 and 4 if its non-refundable

BoardsMember

colm_mcm wrote: »

For me I researched prices for a month on different specs, figured out the trim levels I wanted while keeping an eye on Irish prices, narrowed it down to 5, rang up, negotiated a price on each. Tbh I didn't haggle hard but got a way better deal than I would have here so was happy.
Best to have a a few backups that fit the bill as you'll want to bring something home and who knows what you'll end up doing if you're carless.

So do you then bring a UK£ bank draft for the agreed amount when you travel? No in-advance deposit etc?

drunkmonkey

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Is the auto pushing emissions into a higher vrt band?

The Revenue must be trolling boards, that's what's driving it up, the manual is up €1500 to €6000 since I posted and the automatic is up €500, that's some inflation over a weekend.

08 330d Manual first registered in february is now gone to €5946 up from €4500 on friday :mad:

How can you win?

Mc Love

kilclon wrote: »

Thanks colm_mcm,

So do I have the procedure right?
1. Find your car
2. Agree the price subject to due diligence
3. Pay deposit (refundable?)
4. Carry out hpi check followed by aa/rac/other inspection
5. If still happy and car is as described arrange a time to meet and Pay/collect car
6. If inspections show anything up either walk away or try to renegotiate a better price if you still want to continue.

discombobulate wrote: »

I'd switch 3 and 4 if its non-refundable

I had to do the kilclon suggests as it was the best price on the iinternet and the UK to hold the car while i got the full AA check done (if you havent looked it up, look it up, its very thorough and comprehensive, imho well worth the fee)

discombobulate

Mc Love wrote: »

I had to do the kilclon suggests as it was the best price on the iinternet and the UK to hold the car while i got the full AA check done (if you havent looked it up, look it up, its very thorough and comprehensive, imho well worth the fee)

I'm not disputing the value of the AA check etc. I'm just saying that I wouldn't be paying a non-refundable deposit before I got it done. If its refundable based on the check not finding any issues then yeah go ahead.

Also the HPI check only takes seconds to do so no point paying a deposit before doing that either.

Mc Love

Yeah the HPI check is worth doing before you choose to do the full inspection or not. Whatever it comes down to, you'll still save yourself a few grand by importing!

kilclon

Yeah my only concern with the sequence was whether someone else would buy the car after I had paid for the car to be checked out but before I had put a deposit down. You would then lose out on the fee for the car check.
There is probably some risk there but not enough to be too worried about.

discombobulate

kilclon wrote: »

Yeah my only concern with the sequence was whether someone else would buy the car after I had paid for the car to be checked out but before I had put a deposit down. You would then lose out on the fee for the car check.
There is probably some risk there but not enough to be too worried about.

I think the AA guy rings you as soon as he's finished his check to discuss so based on that you could probably get the deposit down straight away if your still interested. I can't see a garage refusing a refundable deposit though either if their willing to stand over the car their selling

TheHulk

Hi All,

Have been speaking to an Audi main dealer in the London area about a potential purchase. The problem is they will have to tax/MOT the car before sale (car has neither at the moment)

They tell me to tax the car, the v5c form will need to be sent to the DVLA and then registered in my address. I am told it will take 10 days for the form to be sent on to me then.

Is this realistic? Or would I be best to steer clear based on the potential v5c issue?

Thanks

corktina

this is an incorrect procedure. They should hand you the V5C in order that you may re-register the car here. This is set out on the DVLA website. A V5C cannot be issued to a foreign (to the UK) address and you will have endless trouble if they do this,

They can tax the car with it in their ownership I am sure.