Moving back to Ireland, and bringing cars in...

neffa

Hi all,

First post on the board. Tried to search on this, so forgive me if I've missed a thread on this elsewhere.

We are planning on moving back to Ireland from England late next year or early '06. Given the higher price of cars in Ireland, we want to try to bring cars in with us.

Does anyone know how many you can bring in? One per adult or more?

Also, with the move to using kph in Ireland which I understand will happen soon, when will new cars in Ireland be supplied with a kph speedo?

We are thinking of bringing in a Touran or Grand Scenic and a 5-Series or new A6. If I bought them in Ireland now, would I get a kph speedo as standard?

Any advice appreciated.

Neffa

Merrion

You have to have owned the car for at least 6 months before bringing it to Ireland or you will have to pay the full VRT on it.

garthv

Aye,
After VRT the differences in the car prices isnt all that much,a couple of hundred bills or so.As far as i know you can bring as much cars as you want but i doubt you will get a kph speedo on it yet,but im not too sure,if worst comes to worst you can get an mph to kph converter kit for about 50 quid and is piss easy to fix.

unkel

Hi neffa, welcome to the forum

First of all, don't worry about kph. New cars here generally are the same as in the UK in relation to the speedo settings. As said, it is easy to adapt to kph later

neffa wrote:

Does anyone know how many you can bring in? One per adult or more?

Notes:

1. Only one car per adult**

2. The adult must have owned the car in his/her name for at least 6 months. This must be proved

3. The owner cannot sell the car within 12 months of (free) registration in Ireland, or otherwise VRT is due

**Afaik it is one car per adult. It would not make sense if it was more than one car otherwise one could get rich very quickly by importing loads of cars, rent them out for 18 months and then sell them all on for about the same as you purchased them for

Victor

Naughty, but you could buy a car here, export it immmediately (no VRT) and then bring it in next year. VRT has the effect of puching down the pre-VRT here.

leeroybrown

As Victor suggests, you could use your stronger Sterling to buy a car here at our lower pre-tax list prices, then register it on ZZ (export) plates and drive it to the UK. Pay the VAT and Tax there. That will save you on the list price, Vat rate and VRT. It's well worth looking into.

PhilipMarlowe

I test drove a new A6 recently (the new model just released, 3 litre diesel quattro) and it had a kph speedo fitted...

unkel

Licksy wrote:

I test drove a new A6 recently (the new model just released, 3 litre diesel quattro) and it had a kph speedo fitted...

:eek: Is that a first? Does that mean that all '05 cars will be kph?

dcGT

unkel wrote:

:eek: Is that a first? Does that mean that all '05 cars will be kph?

Ah at last, Jap import speedos will make more sense

DC.

dubhthach

unkel wrote:

:eek: Is that a first? Does that mean that all '05 cars will be kph?

hopefully after all the speed limits are been converted over in the next 2-3 months to kph if the cars are still in mph on the speedometers there's going to be alot of confusion that's for sure.

PBC_1966

Don't just about all new cars now sold in the U.K. & Ireland already have dual MPH and km/h speedos anyway?

dubhthach

Correct most of them have dual but they have the MPH in "superior preference" all cars on sale from next year onwards should have it reversed where kph is in dominant position on the gauge

dcGT

PBC_1966 wrote:

Don't just about all new cars now sold in the U.K. & Ireland already have dual MPH and km/h speedos anyway?

True, but the KPH is the secondary measurement (smaller numbers). Maybe they're going to reverse this or eliminate the MPH all together.

DC.

leeroybrown

My assumption is that manufacturers will just switch the markings so that the KPH ones are on the outside and more visible.

PhilipMarlowe

The audi had kph only...

unkel

Licksy wrote:

The audi had kph only...

Great news

You might be surprised but Michael Collins was giving out hell almost 100 years ago about the ridiculous imperial system wasting years of education for nothing forcing those silly calculations onto kids. I just can't wait until people finally shut the fook up about miles / gallons / ounces / pounds and what not, including lbs/ft torque :mad:

Nice time for Jeremy Clarkson to retire and Ireland finally to become a EU state, no longer a GB colony

I'm probably dreaming - most people over here like to lick up to the British way of life

Full Irish - me arse. Just a British derivative. Orange juice, bread and boiled egg please

neffa

Thanks for confirming the details. I did think that the chances were that you would only be able to import one per adult.

The other question I have is what if the variant is not sold in Ireland. We will probably buy a 2.0 Grand Scenic Privilege Auto which is not sold in Ireland - only the 1.6 engine variant seems to be available. Do insurance companies really hammer you in Ireland if you have a car variant which is not sold there? I was also looking at a "old shape" A6 with the 4.2 engine which does not seem to have been sold in Ireland so it may apply to both cars we bring in.

I thought about the export/re-import thing. Problem is that I cannot see that it is cheaper. A new 2.4 A6 is Euro 50K list in Ireland. They can be bought from brokers in the UK for £ 22.5K. Even taking the VRT and VAT off, then converting to sterling and adding back VAT here, the car would be more expensive.

Cheers

Neffa

unkel

neffa wrote:

Do insurance companies really hammer you in Ireland if you have a car variant which is not sold there?

Hard to tell. You really have to ring them up

neffa wrote:

I was also looking at a "old shape" A6 with the 4.2 engine which does not seem to have been sold in Ireland so it may apply to both cars we bring in.

Make sure you have an insurance quote in writing before you buy the Audi. You might not be aware, but very few insurers here take on cars over 2.5 liters. Also a 4.2 Audi is very hard to sell over here. Also road tax on any car over 3.0 liters is €1343 per year

Second hand slightly older cars with big engines are the cheapest here compared to pretty much any other European country

PBC_1966

unkel wrote:

You might be surprised but Michael Collins was giving out hell almost 100 years ago about the ridiculous imperial system wasting years of education for nothing forcing those silly calculations onto kids. I just can't wait until people finally shut the fook up about miles / gallons / ounces / pounds and what not, including lbs/ft torque :mad:

Far be it from me to take up this argument again, as we've already done that in another thread, but didn't you in Ireland add to the confusion by using an Irish mile in the old days, longer than the normal statute mile of 1760 yards?

I seem to recall seeing a reference to 2240 yards. The only reason I can see for adopting such a measure is that it corresponds with 2240 lb. in an Imperial (long) ton.

I'm probably dreaming - most people over here like to lick up to the British way of life

Seeing what the average British way of life has become these days, I can't imagine why.

Victor

PBC_1966 wrote:

Far be it from me to take up this argument again, as we've already done that in another thread, but didn't you in Ireland add to the confusion by using an Irish mile in the old days, longer than the normal statute mile of 1760 yards? I seem to recall seeing a reference to 2240 yards. The only reason I can see for adopting such a measure is that it corresponds with 2240 lb. in an Imperial (long) ton.

There was also an Irish acre, but then again before the Statute Mile (1760 yards, 5280 feet, 1609 metres), "mile" could vary from locality to locality. Indeed in the 1840s, every town in Britain had it's own time, you could leave one town at 923am and arrive at the next at 918am.

http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~jsm28/british-time/


So pot, kettle....

dubhthach

unkel wrote:

I just can't wait until people finally shut the fook up about miles / gallons / ounces / pounds and what not, including lbs/ft torque :mad:

One of the things i liked the most about doing Taekwon-do for the last 5years (other then becomming a 2nd degree black belt ) was the fact i no longer think of my weight in terms of stone and pounds. All the competitions i entered we were weighted in kilos result when it comes to my weight i've gone totally metric don't even know what i weight these days when it comes to stone and pounds