Ireland to England and travel to Birmingham Ferry advice/Route 2016

Pebbles82

Hi Boarders,

Just moved to an area outside Birmingham and looking to bring over my Irish car. its old but I'm hoping to convert to english reg and trade it in...would this be wise or should I just drive it on my Irish plates til I'm forced to change? Does anyone have any experience with insurance, will my Irish insurance cover me over there?

Mainly wondering if anyone has any advice on which ferry route is best. I'll be travelling from the west so either port is an option on the Irish side but not sure what the journey is like on the UK side.

Any tips would be appreciated

Atlantic Dawn

How old is the car? Does it have a valid NCT, if it doesn't there's no point as in order to register the car as you will need to obtain an MOT as part of the process. A car will typically be worth less in UK than in Ireland, given the expense of ferry travel it might be a better option to just sell it private here instead.

It's around £55 to register, details here...
https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/new-registrations

coylemj

If your Irish car is 'old' then it it's probably worth nothing in the UK, get rid of it here.

There is a huge fleet of company cars in the UK, they come on the market after the three year lease expires and as a result, the secondhand value of cars plummets after 5-6 years because there's a constant supply of decent three year old cars coming into the secondhand market.

Jimmy Iovine

You might get up to 90 days on the insurance but they won't like it if you have moved permanently over there.

I remember looking into switching plates a few years ago and I think it's a long enough process. Probably not worth the hassle. Better off selling it in Ireland.

Pebbles82

ok thanks for the info re sale of car think i'll bring it for the 3 months and sell it at home when I go back and purchase one over here then.

Any ideas on the ferry route? on the uk side?

Jimmy Iovine

Where is the area you're living? Is it north or south of Birmingham and where are you coming from in Ireland?

'The west' and 'outside Birmingham' are very, very vague.

Don't know about your insurance history but I found it to be very expensive in England when I went about it.

Pebbles82

West is Clare and outside Birmingham is Wolverhampton.... expensive have to start somewhere I suppose was hoping my irish NCB would work

ProudDUB

I'd go Clare to Dublin Port to Holyhead to Wolverhampton.

If you go via Limerick, its motorway all the way to Dublin. Approx 2 1/2 hr journey time, provided you are not doing it at rush hour, especially for the M50/Newland Cross leg of the trip. On the other side, it'll be about 2 1/2 to 3 hrs to Wolverhampton. The roads are good, so you should make good time, provided there are no accidents or road works on the motorway.

I wouldn't go via Rosslare. I did Limerick to Rosslare a couple of years ago. It was a lovely Sunday in summer and the trip took the guts of 4 hrs. I was knackered when I finally got there...lots of hold ups along the way, in smallish towns, getting stuck behind the inevitable snail slow tractors, 50 km speed limits in towns, all made it a very long trip.

When we got to Fishguard, we drove eastwards towards Oxford, we didn't head north towards B'ham or Wolv'ton. But my memory of that part of southern Wales is lots of small towns & narrow winding roads. It was all very picturesque, but not a route you'd want to be driving, if you want to get somewhere quickly.

Jimmy Iovine

You will have the A55 across to Chester from Holyhead and then you'll cut across to get the M6 to Birmingham.

It's a scenic enough journey across North Wales. Plenty of stops along the way. Keep to motorways. Long journey could get even longer if you start going into towns.

piperh

We do dublin to Birmingham regularly and by far the easiest way is the A55 straight out of holyhead, it's sign posted as you leave the docks.

You have a choice of going either through RAF valley and Betsy-coed (A5) which is very scenic but does involve more driving through village and more B rds, or going through Conway Bay (A55) which is a slightly quicker and shorter trip but is mainly a bypass.

Unless on a schedule we use the scenic route but that's a personal choice.

gucci

Regarding your actual UK insurance when you come to sorting it out (for a UK car)

Your Irish NCB will be considered by some insurers, but not all. It may be worth checking with a few old fashioned high st brokers as opposed (or as well as) to going on a comparison website.
Like everything else there are multiple factors considered, down to your postcode, occupation and if you have access to a company car.

I got reamed on my first insurance here on a 1l car, because I had no UK no claims bonus, and my Irish NCB was deemed expired because it was over 4 years old. I cannot remember what insurance companies were the ones who considered it, but I am sure like everything else it varies on the day or the week as to what they will accept and what they won’t.

Kotek Besar

As others have said, a second hand car sells for more in Ireland than it does in the UK.

No point in paying for GB plates and MOT just to sell it for less money than you'd get in Ireland.

Sell it in Ireland, buy another in the UK.

Jimmy Iovine

gucci wrote: »

Regarding your actual UK insurance when you come to sorting it out (for a UK car)

Your Irish NCB will be considered by some insurers, but not all. It may be worth checking with a few old fashioned high st brokers as opposed (or as well as) to going on a comparison website.
Like everything else there are multiple factors considered, down to your postcode, occupation and if you have access to a company car.

I got reamed on my first insurance here on a 1l car, because I had no UK no claims bonus, and my Irish NCB was deemed expired because it was over 4 years old. I cannot remember what insurance companies were the ones who considered it, but I am sure like everything else it varies on the day or the week as to what they will accept and what they won’t.

I went onto a price comparison and I was quoted £3,000 to insure a 1997 1.2l Peugeot. I had no UK no claims and was 25.

The Peugeot was going to cost me £600. I could maybe have gotten a better deal with more work but that put me off. That was with the real **** insurance companies. The likes of whom probably advertise a phone number but never answer.