Nissan Leaf UK import

Pfinn07

BoatMad wrote: »

buy small petrol car, save you lots , thats way to little motoring to benefit from electric usage cost savings

Considering I am currently driving a 3.0 petrol X5 you can do the math re petrol and road tax.

I have scoured my options and just haven't found a smaller car which ticks the boxes as much as the higher spec leaf as it provides some of the creature comforts I currently enjoy plus things like the ability to pre set heating before journey is something the wife will appreciate.

BoatMad

Pfinn07 wrote: »

Considering I am currently driving a 3.0 petrol X5 you can do the math re petrol and road tax.

I have scoured my options and just haven't found a smaller car which ticks the boxes as much as the higher spec leaf as it provides some of the creature comforts I currently enjoy plus things like the ability to pre set heating before journey is something the wife will appreciate.

at 20 miles a day , thats a good choice, buy a old big engined ex-exec mobile, sure the tax is a killer, but you can swan around in a BMW 3 litre for peanuts

I was offered a 3.5 5 series in great visual nick, engine OK, some electronics faulty for 2.5 K. really nice silver etc ..

big engines are really cheap , unburstable etc

sure switching on the heater ( if you can get carwings to actually work) is " useful", .....:D

So Boat Mads take on all this is don't buy an EV for 20 years until all the data comes in OMG LOL !

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

So Boat Mads take on all this is don't buy an EV for 20 years until all the data comes in OMG LOL !

NO , Im saying that let nissan carry the risk ( buy new) and other wise for another 5 years you are buying on " faith " rather then knowledge, faith has a habit of being wrong......

Pfinn07

I take it you are certainly not a leaf fan BoatMad 😄

For me the cost believe it or not of 30-40euros weekly for fuel plus €1500 pa for tax makes the leaf over 4- 5 years pay for itself.
I absolutely love the X5 a great car with 93k but she is a 02 and regardless of having been well cared for it is only a matter of time before the years start to show and the money pit of repairs start so it is time to move on.

BoatMad

I take it you are certainly not a leaf fan BoatMad 😄

all being well, Im hopping to order a new one tomorrow !.... its costed to suit a very particular purpose and I have no illusions as to its capabilities or lack of them having had one for a week. I wouldn't dream of buying a used one

For me the cost believe it or not of 30-40euros weekly for fuel plus €1500 pa for tax makes the leaf over 4- 5 years pay for itself.

not a chance, compared to what a new X5 , sure, but thats not apples and apples comparison,

Pfinn07

BoatMad wrote: »

all being well, Im hopping to order a new one tomorrow !.... its costed to suit a very particular purpose and I have no illusions as to its capabilities or lack of them having had one for a week. I wouldn't dream of buying a used one



not a chance, compared to what a new X5 , sure, but thats not apples and apples comparison,

Sorry I mean the cost of a used one.
Sure I would prefer the best option of buying a new vehicle but for me currently my budget suits to purchase a used vehicle.

Anyway we are going a bit off my original question which is, are there any other costs other than the transporting over from UK and NCT ?

DrPhilG

I bought in Leeds. Flew to Liverpool, train to Leeds and then drove home via the Liverpool-Belfast ferry.

I saved about €4k compared to similar models in Ireland, plus I had a far greater range of colour/6.6kw/SVE options available.

If you buy from a UK dealer they will lend you an Ecotricity card which should give you plenty of range to get home. And if you pay an online deposit the ESB will send you out your access cards for here.

Pfinn07

DrPhilG wrote: »

I bought in Leeds. Flew to Liverpool, train to Leeds and then drove home via the Liverpool-Belfast ferry.

I saved about €4k compared to similar models in Ireland, plus I had a far greater range of colour/6.6kw/SVE options available.

If you buy from a UK dealer they will lend you an Ecotricity card which should give you plenty of range to get home. And if you pay an online deposit the ESB will send you out your access cards for here.

That is similar to what I am planning, I have sourced a 2013 tekna which was damaged but once I know about the true information up front I do not have a problem once the repairs are top quality, I have a vehicle engineer with this type of qualification doing a report before I head over.

Insurance checks out ok, there is an increase in premium but they could/would not tell me if this is down to being a repaired car or just the increases everyone seems to be hit with in their insurance renewals?

I had examined a 2013 standard model 2 weeks ago which was a good price here in Ireland but I was a able to tell that at the very least one wing had been sprayed even though the owner insisted that the car had not been crashed/damaged so buying private is a gamble both here or uk.
With an engineer doing the checks for me I am at least putting the odds a bit more in my favour of getting a car with similar savings to what you have found after all my expenses maybe 3.5k at least.

Does anyone have suggestion of how to get recharge for my trip home? ESB will not issue a card without proof of purchase which I will only get that same morning, they have told me that I can ring at charging station to get remote access but I am a bit apprehensive doing this, has anyone had to use remote access?

mr.dunkey

Pfinn07 wrote: »

That is similar to what I am planning, I have sourced a 2013 tekna which was damaged but once I know about the true information up front I do not have a problem once the repairs are top quality, I have a vehicle engineer with this type of qualification doing a report before I head over.

Insurance checks out ok, there is an increase in premium but they could/would not tell me if this is down to being a repaired car or just the increases everyone seems to be hit with in their insurance renewals?

I had examined a 2013 standard model 2 weeks ago which was a good price here in Ireland but I was a able to tell that at the very least one wing had been sprayed even though the owner insisted that the car had not been crashed/damaged so buying private is a gamble both here or uk.
With an engineer doing the checks for me I am at least putting the odds a bit more in my favour of getting a car with similar savings to what you have found after all my expenses maybe 3.5k at least.

Does anyone have suggestion of how to get recharge for my trip home? ESB will not issue a card without proof of purchase which I will only get that same morning, they have told me that I can ring at charging station to get remote access but I am a bit apprehensive doing this, has anyone had to use remote access?

ESB will remote access the FCPs, or have a trailer organsied to get it home

DrPhilG

Pfinn07 wrote: »

Insurance checks out ok, there is an increase in premium but they could/would not tell me if this is down to being a repaired car or just the increases everyone seems to be hit with in their insurance renewals?

Does anyone have suggestion of how to get recharge for my trip home? ESB will not issue a card without proof of purchase which I will only get that same morning, they have told me that I can ring at charging station to get remote access but I am a bit apprehensive doing this, has anyone had to use remote access?

Are you insuring this on a new policy or changing? I switched from my old car and got money back.

Are you buying from a dealer? If so, can they not just email you a confirmation that they are holding the car for you etc? Esb will accept that. I had only paid a few hundred quid deposit to secure my car and the ESB accepted that.

Alternatively any dealer in the UK should have a fee access cards of their own and should Ltd you one. My dealer loaned me an Ecotricity card and I posted it back when I got home.

If not, try sites like "speakev". A few people there offered me a lend of a card if the dealer hadn't loaned me one.

Pfinn07

DrPhilG wrote: »

Are you insuring this on a new policy or changing? I switched from my old car and got money back.

Are you buying from a dealer? If so, can they not just email you a confirmation that they are holding the car for you etc? Esb will accept that. I had only paid a few hundred quid deposit to secure my car and the ESB accepted that.

Alternatively any dealer in the UK should have a fee access cards of their own and should Ltd you one. My dealer loaned me an Ecotricity card and I posted it back when I got home.

If not, try sites like "speakev". A few people there offered me a lend of a card if the dealer hadn't loaned me one.

I am changing it will be extra but I'm not sure if that is part of the insurance hikes or increased valuation.

I am having car checked out tomorrow by an engineer and had €9.99 flight booked last week so no major loss if car does not pass inspection, I am leaving ferry booking until as late as possible, (can you actually pay at ferry port?) Seller has offered a UK card but as I will be trying to do deal in one visit I do not have time or paperwork to get Esb card, I will have to try remote charge and keep the fingers crossed but it is a long trip to Kerry.

cros13

Pfinn07 wrote: »

I am changing it will be extra but I'm not sure if that is part of the insurance hikes or increased valuation.

I am having car checked out tomorrow by an engineer and had €9.99 flight booked last week so no major loss if car does not pass inspection, I am leaving ferry booking until as late as possible, (can you actually pay at ferry port?) Seller has offered a UK card but as I will be trying to do deal in one visit I do not have time or paperwork to get Esb card, I will have to try remote charge and keep the fingers crossed but it is a long trip to Kerry.

You definitely need a card. Several chargers on that route have poor mobile signal and will not reliably remote charge.

Rafal

There are chargers that ESB cannot activate remotely at all, as I have learned from talking to them in front of the one at Tesco in Bray. In the words of their engineer, that one has "not contacted them since July".

DrPhilG

Are you buying from a dealer?

DrPhilG

The insurance hikes should not affect a change, only a renewal.

123.ie initially tried to charge me an an extra €900 on top of my €570 original policy. After a lengthy battle they figured out that their system had the Leaf in the wrong class.

mr.dunkey

Good luck on your trip. Do all possible checks. Get previous damage pics etc. The charge point at the nose of the car would want to be tested. DC and AC point.

If your engineer oks it and Nissan will cover full warranty it seems good to go. If the car in a few months stops charging it may be costly repair if Not warranted.
Remember if a deal seems too good there's a reason.

They're are alot of Cat D cars on Irish roads and repaired LEAFs for sale in UK/ireland not done properly.

If this guy has experience in repairing EVs you might be good

k123456

Hi Folks, interested too in importing

About how is to be saved in Euro, for a Mk1.5 , needs to be the SV or SVE level

Year not important, But I assume we are talking 2013 onwards for a MK 1.5

DrPhilG

k123456 wrote: »

Hi Folks, interested too in importing

About how is to be saved in Euro, for a Mk1.5 , needs to be the SV or SVE level

Year not important, But I assume we are talking 2013 onwards for a MK 1.5

I bought a 141 Tekna (SVE) in England. Cost me the equivalent of about €18,500 including the cost of ferry and flight.

There were only 3 or 4 in Ireland at that model, age and mileage available, cheapest was €22,500.

k123456

DrPhilG wrote: »

I bought a 141 Tekna (SVE) in England. Cost me the equivalent of about €18,500 including the cost of ferry and flight.

There were only 3 or 4 in Ireland at that model, age and mileage available, cheapest was €22,500.

4k saving, certainly a good saving

But the exchange rate isn's as good today which will narrow the gap.

DrPhilG

[Deleted User] wrote: »

But the exchange rate isn's as good today which will narrow the gap.

Not by much.

If you do low miles PCP could be a lot cheaper PM than buying 2nd hand and worth it if you don't intend to keep the car after 3 years if it works out as cheap I wouldn't bother buying 2nd hand. Not unless it was 3 + years old.

mr.dunkey

k123456 wrote: »

Hi Folks, interested too in importing

About how is to be saved in Euro, for a Mk1.5 , needs to be the SV or SVE level

Year not important, But I assume we are talking 2013 onwards for a MK 1.5

Can be decent savings if bought from UK, Some good deals on Irish cars. Always do your homework on the car, there has been two LEAFS advertised one with Dodgey mileage and one with only 10 bars. There is another that has bad crash repairs.
If buying get the seller to produce a Cartell or some other history check.
This will show any finance, Insurance claim and should have milege logged too.

Pfinn07

Just to clarify for me, do you have to pay VRT or am I right thinking a used leaf is exempt?
Are there any other charges for a car over 12 months and more than 6000 miles?

mylesm

Pfinn07 wrote: »

Just to clarify for me, do you have to pay VRT or am I right thinking a used leaf is exempt?
Are there any other charges for a car over 12 months and more than 6000 miles?

you can go here and check VRT I tried and it shows 0 Vrt but you could call them and they will clarify

https://www.ros.ie/evrt-enquiry/vrtenquiry.html?execution=e1s1

mylesm

mr.dunkey

Pfinn07 wrote: »

Just to clarify for me, do you have to pay VRT or am I right thinking a used leaf is exempt?
Are there any other charges for a car over 12 months and more than 6000 miles?

Car has to be more than 6 months old plus over 400omiles/6000klms to avoid VAT

BEVs have 5000 euro exemption on VRT so basically not cost for used LEAF

cros13

Pfinn07 wrote: »

Just to clarify for me, do you have to pay VRT or am I right thinking a used leaf is exempt?
Are there any other charges for a car over 12 months and more than 6000 miles?

More correctly while there is usually no VRT owed on a used Leaf, that's not because it's exempt. The VRT exemption was replaced by a €5k credit in 2012.
Which is the reason I ended up paying more in VRT on my i3 than the credit.

KCross

DrPhilG and mr.dunkey
Both of you have imported from UK so this should be an easy question....

The Carwings/ConnectEV system is mobile SIM based... correct?
i.e. there is a SIM in the car that allows you to connect and exchange data with the car.

If that is the case how does it work when you import a UK LEAF to Ireland. Presumably that SIM is a UK one and will be effectively roaming to Ireland. Do Nissan have a Europe wide agreement for the SIM's they include in the cars or what?

Or do I have to buy an Irish SIM when I bring it back?


FYI: The more I look at buying new with PCP or importing used from the UK, the UK option is becoming more and more appealing.
The only downside to importing right now is that you cant get the 30kwh version. Other than that you can get any variant you like at much better prices. Taking exchange rate, flight and ferry into account the saving is of the order of €3k-€4k, maybe more depending on model you pick. The choice over there is very good.... e.g. 2015 Tekna(SVE) with 6.6kw charger can be bought for about £13k. Flight, ferry, exchange rate comes in at less than €18k and thats from a Nissan main dealer with reasonably low mileage. New here it would be just shy of €28k.

I dont think I can justify buying new, signing up to PCP and paying an extra 8% interest on a higher borrowing amount which works out at over €3k in interest alone not to mind the extra depreciation you always have to take on the chin for a new car. The savings in going to the UK and buying a year or two old with low mileage where you still have several years of Nissan warranty and the big depreciation figure already taken out seems more sensible based on the figures I'm getting. Then again, if I had money sloshing around in my pocket I'd just buy new, so its a personal decision for each individual I suppose.


Back on point.... if those that have imported know a bit about the ConnectEV SIM situation on import, I'd appreciate to hear about that.


thanks
KCross

goldfish

KCross
I brought a late 2013 Acenta model in from the UK (Still has just under a year of warranty left). 35,000km. €12,200 including flights and ferry (plus a day out of my life!). Definitely savings to be made bringing in from UK. If you can get a 2015 Tekna for €13k I'd say that's a great deal. One thing to ensure is that its not a Flexi (Battery Lease model). Generally you'll have to pay about £1,500-£2,000 more for a purchased battery version of the same thing.
Re the Connect EV, I emailed my proof of purchase and UK vehicle reg to Nissan UK when I returned and then was able to setup ConnectEV online and in the car. Seems to work on the same SIM as the UK.