Buying in UK, but importing later.

CiniO

I started considering option to change a car, and as often buying in UK seems reasonable.

However in some future I'll be driving from Ireland to Poland for about a month and then back.

I though I might try to join these two events. Literally sell my current car in Ireland, fly to UK, buy a car and drive it to Poland for a month, to come back to Ireland eventually, pay VRT and register it.

Obviously I would have to keep it on UK plates for the whole time before coming back to Ireland.

I'm not sure about few things.

1. Would my insurance company cover me on UK plates for over a month? (i remember something that most companies would limit time of cover on foreign plates only to 30 days, while I would need bit more. I know it's rather question to my insurer, but maybe someone here knows.. Insurer is allianz.

2. Does second hand vehicle prices in UK fall by new year? F.e would certain car be much cheaper in January 2013 than December 2012, as it happens in Ireland and pretty much anywhere else in EU? (car becomes one year older f.e it's not 5 years old anymore but 6) Or UK is different, and because of March - September half year reg thing, cars don't seem to loose on value over new year?

3. I assume VRT for certain car would be cheaper in January than December previous year. Am I right?

4. After buying car for export in UK (and collecting V5C) would I be able to drive again through UK a month later? (for the purposes of coming back to Ireland)

5. How would revenue look at situation that car was bought over a month ago before being VRTed? Surely car needs to be vrted only after arriving in Ireland, so everything would be by the book, but would ferry ticket be enough proof that car was brought to Ireland only now, while receipt from sale was from over a month ago?


Thanks for any ideas?

colm_c

#1 This is down to the insurance company, I did a similar thing with my motorcycle, I rode it around europe for over a month on UK plates, no problem.

#2 Usually yes, but it does depend on the car

#3 I think it's more around the aniversary of the car rather than the new year fall

#4 Yes, but you'll need to have valid road tax in the UK.

#5 Once you have a ferry ticket/receipt for travelling to Ireland you should be ok.

BigEejit

If you are buying from one of the large car supermarkets like cargiant they seem to get loads of stock in the new year (I guess company car fleets get renewed in the new year so 2+ year old cars go back)

Prices seem to be better in start of year too, but that might be larger demand for second hand cars these
For example, cargiant has just under 2000 cars for sale right now, but when I bought my car a few years ago in Feb they had ~4500


Prices on some cars don't look very competitive at the moment, could be numbers of cars in stock or it could be that far more people are buying second hand cars

CiniO

I rang my insurer, and they said they won't be able to swith my cover to UK registered car normally, all they can do is swith it temporarily (maximum one month) - as I won't be a registered owner of this car until I register it in Ireland.
So it looks like this ruins my whole plan anyway.

Mar4ix

get uk insurance for it ? there is short term insurance up to 28 days (2 days enough to go to Poland, you can do it online, and get certs via email. also i recon, you can get insurance on foreign reg car in Poland... at least in Latvia i had insurance for uk registered car , it was slightly dearer , but not really much, and then before going to Ireland, get uk short term insurance for few day, until youll come over, ............ or in middle of your stay in Poland, get Irish insurance.

CiniO

Mar4ix wrote: »

get uk insurance for it ? there is short term insurance up to 28 days (2 days enough to go to Poland, you can do it online, and get certs via email. also i recon, you can get insurance on foreign reg car in Poland... at least in Latvia i had insurance for uk registered car , it was slightly dearer , but not really much, and then before going to Ireland, get uk short term insurance for few day, until youll come over, ............ or in middle of your stay in Poland, get Irish insurance.

Heh.
Only problem that most of those short term insurances would be only thrid-party.
If I will be able to get insurance for it in Poland (which I doubt will be that simple) it will be only third party.
I don't want to risk with new car to have only third party on it.

Anyway other arguments that at new year it's going to be cheaper also tell me to wait at the moment.

Mar4ix

CiniO wrote: »

Heh.
Only problem that most of those short term insurances would be only thrid-party.
If I will be able to get insurance for it in Poland (which I doubt will be that simple) it will be only third party.
I don't want to risk with new car to have only third party on it.

Anyway other arguments that at new year it's going to be cheaper also tell me to wait at the moment.

alright , you not goin buy "new" car, you goin buy new car :pac:
yea, most of those insurances are third party though. ... might would get comprehensive, but it would be too expensive though.... would it be expensive get register in Poland ? in Latvia we cant get register car with right hand steering wheel.

CiniO

Mar4ix wrote: »

would it be expensive get register in Poland ? in Latvia we cant get register car with right hand steering wheel.

Impossible to register RHD in Poland so far, but it should change in next few months.
Anyway - it wouldn't be worth it as there is a duty to be paid on importing.

Mar4ix

CiniO wrote: »

Impossible to register RHD in Poland so far, but it should change in next few months.
Anyway - it wouldn't be worth it as there is a duty to be paid on importing.

well. then i cant see any way as get short term insurance from uk,and keep top up every 28 days ....

or if you have friends there ( I mean in UK ), so you can another insurance policy there get registered on that address, get direct debit, then when you are coming to Ireland, cancel direct debit and policy.