Importing from Germany

Tiesto

Hi all.
Im currently living in Germany but moving back to Ireland next month. The cars are extremely cheap over here and im thinking of bringing one back to Ireland in a few months. I have a brother living here so he could hold onto the car for the 6 months. So if i wait 6 months, I can avoid paying the VAT?
Im thinking of buying a second hand audi a3 tdi or something in that range...
Your talking around 10,000 for a 2006 2.0 tdi..
Sounds very cheap but im looking on autoscout24.de and thats what im coming up with..
So i got a couple of questions :
What additional costs will I incurr apart from paying the Vrt, travelling and transportation. Anyone got a rough idea of how much the vrt would be on a car like that?
Is there any brands of car in particular that anyone can recommend for which i can make a very good saving...
and a very relevant question. What are insurance companies like in Ireland when it comes to insuring a car with the steering wheel on the other side.

Anan1

I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you've left it too late. If you had ordered a new RHD car in Germany and had owned it for 6 months prior to your departure then you would have been allowed to register it here without paying VRT. If it's any comfort to you, LHD cars are worth very little here, so it wouldn't have been worth your while anyway unless the car was RHD, ie either new or perhaps imported from the UK.

Tiesto

Anan1 wrote:

I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you've left it too late. If you had ordered a new RHD car in Germany and had owned it for 6 months prior to your departure then you would have been allowed to register it here without paying VRT. If it's any comfort to you, LHD cars are worth very little here, so it wouldn't have been worth your while anyway unless the car was RHD, ie either new or perhaps imported from the UK.

Yeah i think u might have missed a bit of my post.
I have a brother who will be here for the long term.. So he could own it for the first 6 months and then we could make an exchange

Guy:Incognito

But if he owns it it doesnt count as you owning it, and you'll have to pay VRT.

They also know all about people not living in the country they claim to live in. Ie if you pay tax here while your supposedly living in Germany, they'll know your not living in Germany.

deman

You will have to prove ownership and show proof of residency in Germany for the six months before coming back to Ireland.

Proof of residency normally means Rent, electricity bills, phone bills etc.

Do you have any of these?

BTW, I think you're exaggarating about the price. The cheapest 2006 A3 I could find on autoscout is €17,910. http://www.autoscout24.de/home/index/detail.asp?ts=6969197&id=gqbsns22ctm&source=as24_inseratsg_detail_ueberschrift

VRT would come to €6925 according to ros.ie

Sam_irl

I lived in Germany but I sold my car before I came here. You will need to go to a lot of hassle to get it over here and they are right you have left it too late.

Mc-BigE

Agree with everyone here, you left it too late, for future reference, if you’re going to live in LHD country for more then 6 months. i.e. Germany, the best thing to do is fly to UK, buy a second hand RHD car there and drive it to Germany, you could re-register it in Germany if you can't insure it with UK plates and drive/tax/insure it in Germany for the remainder of your 6 month stay. Then just drive it back, and make sure you keep every receipt when you were living in Germany for the VRO office.

Is it possible to stay in Germany for longer? Or if your brother is coming home for good in the future, he could do it and sell it on to you after 1 year in Ireland.