UK Import

conorgriff

I was thinking of buying a bike in the UK and bringing it back here, has anyone had any good/bad experiences of doing this? Any complications etc.? I'm aware of the VRT implications etc, it's just that there's a much broader second-hand market over there and the roads are generally better so the bikes are supposedly in better nick. Also the fact that there's so many bikes on the second-hand market there means it's a little easier to get a good deal if you shop around, any comments appreciated
Thanks, Conor

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Revenue have a field day

AFAIK, you end up paying a fortune in taxes etc

conorgriff

Here's the beef on the tax

Irish V.R.T Charges on secondhand bikes:
Two Euro per c.c. up to 350c.c. then One Euro per c.c. above 350c.c.
A sliding scale is worked - dependent on the age of the 'bike. If, for example you brought
in a 600c.c. bike that is 5 years old, this is what you pay:

Two Euro per c.c. up to 350c.c. = 700 Euro.
One Euro per c.c. above 350c.c.= 250 Euro.
Total = 950 Euro

Minus the age deduction of 70% = 285 Euro V.R.T to pay
Scale of reducing V.R.T Rate:
Years old:
1 - 2 year old = minus 20%
2 - 3 year old = minus 40%
3 - 4 year old = minus 50%
4 - 5 year old = minus 60%
5 - 7 year old = minus 70%
7 - 10 year old = minus 80%
10 years to 30 years old = minus 90%

So a 4 year old 600cc would cost under 350 in VRT to import, not that much in my opinion if you get a good deal

Oryx

https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/ShowVRT
This might help. Also a HPI check might be worth paying for.http://www.hpicheck.com/newfrontend/hpi_check.jsp

conorgriff

KatieK wrote:

https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/ShowVRT
This might help. Also a HPI check might be worth paying for.http://www.hpicheck.com/newfrontend/hpi_check.jsp

Ta Katie, yeah the calculator seems to come up with the same results as my previous post so it's not too bad if the bike is a few years old and you're not buyin a goldwing, the HPI check would defo be worth the money if you find a good deal, thanks

Garibaldi

Make sure you get the V5 documentation. You'd be in trouble, i.e. severely inconvenienced at the very least, if you don't.

Check everywhere for evidence of salt corrosion.

conorgriff

Garibaldi wrote:

Make sure you get the V5 documentation. You'd be in trouble, i.e. severely inconvenienced at the very least, if you don't.

Check everywhere for evidence of salt corrosion.

What's the V5 Documentation? Is it the registration certificate?

murphaph

conorgriff wrote:

What's the V5 Documentation? Is it the registration certificate?

Yep. You should check out the "importing a car from the UK" thread in /motors/cars. The technicalities wrt V5s, VRT will all be the same. Bike VRT is very reasonable on anything more than a couple of years old. You should always try to get ALL the V5 from the seller, though they may be unwilling to do this and will instead opt to send the part which declares the bike to be permanantly exported from the UK into the DVLA in Swansea, who should then forward on a certificate of permanent export to you, which you use to register the bike here. It's just easier and quicker to register it with the actual V5, but not the end of the world if they won't part with it.

The market is much broader over there. I'm actively looking into an eBay purchase myself.