Another question about bringing an English registered car over to Ireland

Maeve100

Hi all,

I've had a good search through previous posts but cannot find any that match the situation I have a query about...

I moved to the US for a year at quite short notice last year, and left my car (now declared off road) in a friend's garage in London. I'm am not sure how much longer I'll be in the US - could be a couple of months to a year. I'm back next week and was hoping to drive the car (if I can get it started, MOTed, etc!) over to Ireland to use for the couple of weeks I'm there, and then to leave it at my uncle's place for him to use (his has just been scrapped), and for my sister to use when she's over from London (at least five/six times a year). The car will not be going back and forth to England.

However, having read through previous posts, I realize that that this may be impossible, and that my uncle may not be able to drive it legally in Ireland. Could anyone give me a steer on what - if anything - I might be able to do. The car has Derry plates (was bought in the North), but was registered / taxed in England when I brought it over.

In particular, any ideas on how I'd get valid insurance (even just for my sis / me to drive for the year), given that the car will be in Ireland - without me, and not at my still current London address? I presume there's no way of insuring it to my uncle's address if I don't live there...
Any ideas on how my uncle might legally be able to drive the car? I'd really like to be able to help him out - but I'm guessing that if I gave the car to him and formally assigned ownership, he'd have to pay the hefty import tax on it - is that right?

Sorry for all the questions. I have no real idea of what to do. I can't sell the car for various reasons, but would have no bother assigning ownership to my sis or uncle. I can't keep it in my friend's garage for much longer, my insurance won't insure it on the road outside my London address given that I'm not there, and I have nowhere else in England to keep it. My sister doesn't want it full time as she only drives in Ireland - and lives in a pretty dodgy area of London anyway!

Thanks hugely for any advice.

galwaytt

...the short answer is that neither of your relations can drive the car here at all, under any circumstances, so long as it does NOT have and Irish reg. The Finance Act (1993?) iirc is the instrument that lays it down: an Irish resident may not drive a car with a foreign reg. Period. Not even a loan of one to go down to the shop and buy some milk ..

So, either you, or they, will have to officially 'import' the car here, register it, VRT it, and then tax & insure it here.

You personally could import the car here under your own name, without any VRT, but tbh, unless it's a rare/high value car, I wouldn't bother. The day may come when you want to move home and bring home a 'nice' one for yourself, and you can only do this exempt from VRT, once.

If it's a good car and you have no real value on it, let your relations pay the VRT, and so forth, and then have them put you on their insurance so that anytime you're home, you can at least use it. Or insure it yourself, here, and add them to your policy.

BTW - make sure you keep at least either your UK or Irish insurance up - you will lose your NCB earned here, after 2 years, if ive only every second year. It'd be a real downer to come back after a few years and find out you're screwed over with no NCB.

Ditto for your licence - keep either your UK or Ireland one current at all times - futureproofing

Marcusm

galwaytt wrote: »

...the short answer is that neither of your relations can drive the car here at all, under any circumstances, so long as it does NOT have and Irish reg. The Finance Act (1993?) iirc is the instrument that lays it down: an Irish resident may not drive a car with a foreign reg. Period. Not even a loan of one to go down to the shop and buy some milk ..

So, either you, or they, will have to officially 'import' the car here, register it, VRT it, and then tax & insure it here.

You personally could import the car here under your own name, without any VRT, but tbh, unless it's a rare/high value car, I wouldn't bother. The day may come when you want to move home and bring home a 'nice' one for yourself, and you can only do this exempt from VRT, once.

If it's a good car and you have no real value on it, let your relations pay the VRT, and so forth, and then have them put you on their insurance so that anytime you're home, you can at least use it. Or insure it yourself, here, and add them to your policy.

BTW - make sure you keep at least either your UK or Irish insurance up - you will lose your NCB earned here, after 2 years, if ive only every second year. It'd be a real downer to come back after a few years and find out you're screwed over with no NCB.

Ditto for your licence - keep either your UK or Ireland one current at all times - futureproofing

Reg 6 of the Temporary Exemption from Vehicle Registration Regulations 1993 would preclude the car from eing used by the uncle in the circumstances outlined by the OP. The sister would not be precluded from using the car as she is not resident in Ireland. The preclusion for the uncle would relate to the car being "lent" to him; there are circumstances where occasionally he might be able to drive the car but I don't think they're worth going in o.

oP: isurance would be a key issue ad it's hard to see it being sorted while you live in the UK. Your sister coud acquire the car from you and insure it in her name. It would not be so easy if the car is to be kept in Ireland for the majority of the time, could she drive it over and back on some of her trips?

Maeve100

Thanks very much for the responses. Much appreciated.

My sister wouldn't be confident enough driving it over and back to England solo, unfortunately. Flying and hiring a car would be a lot less hassle for her in the circumstances.

Such a shame this isn't going to be possible. The insane thing is that I don't seem to be able to get insurance in England either if it's not going to be kept at the address on my London driver's license, and I'm not going to be there full time...

I had no idea it would be quite such a minefield!

galwaytt

Maeve100 wrote: »

Thanks very much for the responses. Much appreciated.

My sister wouldn't be confident enough driving it over and back to England solo, unfortunately. Flying and hiring a car would be a lot less hassle for her in the circumstances.

Such a shame this isn't going to be possible. The insane thing is that I don't seem to be able to get insurance in England either if it's not going to be kept at the address on my London driver's license, and I'm not going to be there full time...

I had no idea it would be quite such a minefield!

Maybe its time to just sell the car ?