UK Car Import profit?

MonkeyWrench

I am currently living and working in the UK and will be here for at least another 6 to 8 months. I have heard from friends that it is possbile to buy a car in the UK and then import the car to ireland after 6 months without having to pay vrt? is this correct? If this is the case and if money was available would it be possible to buy say 3 expensive Audis, bring them back to ireland after 6 months and sell them at a profit seeing as though cars are generally more expensive in ireland? is there any other costs required apart from buying irish reg plates?

jhegarty

MonkeyWrench wrote:

I am currently living and working in the UK and will be here for at least another 6 to 8 months. I have heard from friends that it is possbile to buy a car in the UK and then import the car to ireland after 6 months without having to pay vrt? is this correct? If this is the case and if money was available would it be possible to buy say 3 expensive Audis, bring them back to ireland after 6 months and sell them at a profit seeing as though cars are generally more expensive in ireland? is there any other costs required apart from buying irish reg plates?

See Here: http://oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/importing_car_into_ireland.html


NOTE: If you are moving to Ireland and are among those exempt from paying VRT you cannot sell your vehicle for more than 12 months after the vehicle is registered.

MonkeyWrench

I take it the price of the vehicle will come down substantially after a year if that is the case. has anyone ever done this and actually made a profit from it though?

kluivert

Even adding the cost of the VRT on UK imports people here are finding out that you can still make a profit on cars compared to Irish cars.

nanook

another way of looking at it is simply, if you buy a car in the uk, clear it though the amnesty and hold on to it for a year.

If you decide to sell it 12 months after importing it here, you may lose money but nothing compared to the money lost if you had purchesed in ireland.

It is a good way to get a good car and start on the car chain.

ambro25

jhegarty wrote:

you cannot sell your vehicle for more than 12 months after the vehicle is registered.

You mean: "you cannot sell your vehicle earlier than 12 months after the vehicle is registered"

@ OP: considering the ongoing yo-yoing of applicable VRT rates for sought-after models (Audis & Beemers in general), you may well still make a profit a year after registration. If you buy right (big 'if', even in UK).

Bear in mind that, at best, you are looking at 18 months,though: 6 months ownership in the UK to qualify for VRT exemption, and assuming you can get it IE-reg'd on the dot after 6 months, then 12 months in IE on IE plates before you can sell it.

Alun

Plus don't forget that the exemption is meant for people moving permanently (back) to Ireland bringing in their household belongings, including their car. If it's just you, i.e. no partner living with you in the UK, then it's also limited to one car AFAIK. It's not designed to facilitate car dealing.

jhegarty

ambro25 wrote:

You mean: "you cannot sell your vehicle earlier than 12 months after the vehicle is registered"

that was a copy and paste from oasis....

Eoin

jhegarty wrote:

that was a copy and paste from oasis....

I think it was just poor wording on the Oasis site; i.e. you can not sell your car for a minimum of 12 months.

ambro25

Alun wrote:

Plus don't forget that the exemption is meant for people moving permanently (back) to Ireland bringing in their household belongings, including their car. If it's just you, i.e. no partner living with you in the UK, then it's also limited to one car AFAIK. It's not designed to facilitate car dealing.

Erm... not so sure about that one, Alun.

Whilst true about the 'moving permanently back' (as in: taking up residence in the Republic), if you own 3 cars for whatever reason, all 3 V5 are in your name, then they are your property and that's that: all 3 would be covered by the VRT exemption.

Unless there's incy-weeny-tiny-little catch-you text I've missed from the relevant VRO/TAX rules

Esel

AFAIK you have to have been abroad for at least a year, have owned and used the car(s) for at least 6 months (proof required such as insurance, mileage at purchase/mileage now etc.) and you can't sell here for 12 months. You also have to be taking up permanent residence here.

Mc-BigE

esel wrote:

AFAIK you have to have been abroad for at least a year, have owned and used the car(s) for at least 6 months (proof required such as insurance, mileage at purchase/mileage now etc.) and you can't sell here for 12 months. You also have to be taking up permanent residence here.

Trying to prove to the VRT office that you needed to Have/insurance/road tax 3 cars in the UK 6 months before coming to Ireland to stay will be a good trick to pull off.

I would buy cars about 3 or 4 years old were the main deprecation is done,
People don’t like cars over 2litre in Ireland and diesel is also liked.

Cars like the 320d, Audi A4 2.0 TDI, merc C-class would be all good cars

ambro25

Mc-BigE wrote:

Trying to prove to the VRT office that you needed to Have/insurance/road tax 3 cars in the UK 6 months before coming to Ireland to stay will be a good trick to pull off.

It's not a 'trick' to pull off, just the application of rules and procedure.

AFAIK, it isn't for the VRO pukes to 'judge' why you would 'need to have' 3 cars. And if they were to refuse 2 out of the 3 for doing just that (i.e. "you don't need 3 cars, so you only get to register one without VRT", then they're begging for a hurtful spanking in Court).

For all they know, you could be weird and collect Audi A4s (in the "stamp/coin collection" sense ).

Mc-BigE

ambro25 wrote:

For all they know, you could be weird and collect Audi A4s (in the "stamp/coin collection" sense ).

or they could think you could be trying to buy 3 Audi A4s to sell on without paying VRT.

I honestly wish OP well and hope he can do it , but the VRT office is not stupid and they would be all over him for backup documentation ie insurance for all 3 cars, tax on all 3 cars etc, if we can do this well he shouldn't have a problem.

ambro25

Mc-BigE wrote:

or they could think you could be trying to buy 3 Audi A4s to sell on without paying VRT.

Well, I know that, and the OP knows that, and you know that. And the VRO would make a mild SWAG (simple wild assed guess) and come to the same conclusion. Of course they'd be crawling all over the OP's paperwork - but that goes without saying, since they're already crawling all over anyone's paperwork for a single car exemption (I know that one from experience ).

I simply don't suppose that I needed to tell the OP that his documentation will need to be comprehensive, plentiful and with no timegaps.

So my point was simply, from a legal/regulatory point of view: if the OP's evidence has all its t's crossed and i's dotted and each of the car's ownership history matches the conditions (6 months ownership o/seas etc.), he'll be fine, whether it be for 1 car or 3 or more (-ish).

I honestly wish OP well and hope he can do it

Same here

MonkeyWrench

Cheers for the feedback folks!