Costs of importing an EV

dixiefly

Hi,
I am a bit of a newbie in my knowledge and interest of electric vehicles.

I am looking at importing a car from the UK. I had been thinking of a 3 yr old Mondeo / Passat/ Exeo / Superb but am starting to think of the benefits of an EV over diesel.

Can someone summarise the costs (tax etc) that I would have to pay if importing a 2nd hand (say 2014 / 2015) Prius, Leaf or I3 or equivalent? I read somewhere that there is no VAT, is that correct? How much VRT would I have to pay?

Just trying to compare overall cost versus the diesel options.

Thanks

Evd-Burner

There is a 5000e exemption for VRT. Vat is charged if the car is under a certain mileage or age. But a 2014 or 2015 would be ok.

goz83

Unless you're bringing in a tesla, there will be no VRT payable. So you could buy any "normal" EV and there will be no VRT.

If the car is older than 6 months and has over 4k miles (6k klms), there will be no VAT due either.

The bargains are getting thin and presumably you are looking at a Nissan Leaf as the number one EV option? There are still some deals to be had.

This is why buying UK has been very attractive. If you are going to buy, now is a good time, because the pound to euro is the best it's been in over 2 months.

The next question is your budget.

unkel

+1

Best value second hand EV at the moment must be a 2016 Leaf 30kWh that you can bring in for about €16k. If the budget is less, then another- older - 24kWh Leaf would probably fit the bill. Unless you don't need a car as big, then there are other options.

KCross

dixiefly wrote: »

Hi,
I am a bit of a newbie in my knowledge and interest of electric vehicles.

I am looking at importing a car from the UK. I had been thinking of a 3 yr old Mondeo / Passat/ Exeo / Superb but am starting to think of the benefits of an EV over diesel.

Can someone summarise the costs (tax etc) that I would have to pay if importing a 2nd hand (say 2014 / 2015) Prius, Leaf or I3 or equivalent? I read somewhere that there is no VAT, is that correct? How much VRT would I have to pay?

Just trying to compare overall cost versus the diesel options.

Thanks

VAT and VRT questions are already answered above (zero in both cases since you are looking at 2015 Leaf/i3) but if you are looking at importing a Leaf take a read of my post...
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99372631

NOTE: The Prius Hybrid is considered, I believe, a normal petrol car so you will have to pay VRT on that unless its a Prius Plugin Hybrid. Its only the EV's/PHEV's have the grants/exemptions.

The only thing to add to that is that there is charging for charging now in the UK so you need to get yourself setup for a charging network to be able to drive the car home or else get it shipped to you. A few on here have gone that route.

On overall cost comparison take a look at this spreadsheet and adjust accordingly for your use case:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=102413296&postcount=21

zilog_jones

As KCross noted, you mentioned the Prius but it's not an EV. There's the normal petrol hybrid, and the Plug-in version (was sold in the UK 2012-2015 but not here), and neither will be VRT-free.

I bought a 2012 Prius Plug-in about a year ago and VRT was around €1400 (CO2 emissions are rated at 49 g/km), and a normal Prius was looking more around €1900 for similar age/price at the time.

The VRT calculator was pretty much spot-on for me: https://www.ros.ie/evrt-enquiry/vrtenquiry.html

dixiefly

Thanks everyone, some information to think about here.

As an aside I may be able to purchase vat / vrt exempt because of driving my disabled mum and dad. Would I have any potential to save more on, say, the BMW I3 if I purchased it instead. Or if I purchased a Prius?

Regarding the Tesla, are they worth the additional cost?

I really do need to read up on this. Up to now I had been planning on sticking with diesel for my next car.

stesaurus

I wouldn't go with an i3 if using it for anyone disabled. Most people find mine a little tough to enter due to the height of the floor because of the battery pack. Having no pillar helps so maybe that would offset somewhat but maybe test climbing in and out of the back of one before looking any further.
You'd save more from a running cost point of view with any full EV as opposed to a hybrid but you need to factor in the purchase cost and the drawbacks of range etc.

goz83

dixiefly wrote: »

Thanks everyone, some information to think about here.

As an aside I may be able to purchase vat / vrt exempt because of driving my disabled mum and dad. Would I have any potential to save more on, say, the BMW I3 if I purchased it instead. Or if I purchased a Prius?

The BMW i3 will be VRT free anyway. I can't speak for the prius with regards to the disabled exemption.

dixiefly wrote: »

Regarding the Tesla, are they worth the additional cost?

I really do need to read up on this. Up to now I had been planning on sticking with diesel for my next car.

Are you ok with spending 100k on a Tesla?

Very happy you are ditching Diesel. Fair play.

stesaurus

goz83 wrote: »

The BMW i3 will be VRT free anyway. I can't speak for the prius with regards to the disabled exemption.

Not a guarantee, i3's can get expensive with a few extras and exceed the 5k VRT exemption as a result.

goz83

stesaurus wrote: »

Not a guarantee, i3's can get expensive with a few extras and exceed the 5k VRT exemption as a result.

3 year old ones? That's what the OP is looking at

zilog_jones

dixiefly is also talking about VAT/VRT relief for disabled passengers, which is up to €16,000:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/transport_and_disability/tax_relief_for_disabled_drivers_and_disabled_passengers.html

(sorry didn't read the whole thing so not sure on eligibility)

BorneTobyWilde

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tesla-Model-S85-Autopilot-Dec-2014-27-800-miles-/232333035723?hash=item361820c8cb:g:miUAAOSw3gJZFdxe

Is vrt free on this.

dixiefly

goz83 wrote: »

The BMW i3 will be VRT free anyway. I can't speak for the prius with regards to the disabled exemption.



Are you ok with spending 100k on a Tesla?

Very happy you are ditching Diesel. Fair play.

eh no. Thanks for that;)

dixiefly

stesaurus wrote: »

I wouldn't go with an i3 if using it for anyone disabled. Most people find mine a little tough to enter due to the height of the floor because of the battery pack. Having no pillar helps so maybe that would offset somewhat but maybe test climbing in and out of the back of one before looking any further.
You'd save more from a running cost point of view with any full EV as opposed to a hybrid but you need to factor in the purchase cost and the drawbacks of range etc.

Good point, thanks

Mr_Man

Been looking at importing an A3 e-tron which is a plugin hybrid but the VRT calculator is showing that VRT is payable on the car even though it is more than a year old and has 5000 mile on the clock.

Does anyone have a link showing that plugins are VRT free?

ELM327

Mr_Man wrote: »

Been looking at importing an A3 e-tron which is a plugin hybrid but the VRT calculator is showing that VRT is payable on the car even though it is more than a year old and has 5000 mile on the clock.

Does anyone have a link showing that plugins are VRT free?

Plugins are NOT VRT free.

Only BEV are VRT free, and even that is incorrect as there is only a €5,000 rebate as opposed to free.

zilog_jones

In my experience, they are not (see my first post in this thread). VRT is substantially lower than an equivalent ICE car though.