Returning to Ireland with UK car

Leonard Hofstadter

Just wondering how does insurance work in this scenario?

I've been living in the UK for the past few years but I am returning to Ireland at Christmas permanently, and I'm going to bring my car back with me, might as well save on VRT and all that.

I've seen lots about what to do if you're going over to the UK to buy a car but I'm not sure what the procedure is when I live there.

Am I supposed to wait until the car is registered in Ireland before getting insurance at home, or do I need to get it insured before I even take it to NCTS and get it VRT'd, or should I get it insured before I leave the UK even though it's on UK plates?

It's insured by a UK insurer at the moment and I am insured to drive it outside the UK for up to 90 days.

Thanks in advance

Marcusm

I did this last year. Make sure you have documents showing the end if your residence in the UK (sale if house, end of rental, job termination etc) and the start of residence in Ireland (new home arrangements, new job if any). You have to apply to Revenue for a VRT Transfer of Residence exemption before going to NCTSfir VRT inspection. You’ll also need a utility bill and official statement of PPS number. Don’t cancel U.K. insurance until you’ve sorted Irish insurance which you can get quotes for before NCTS inspection.

Leonard Hofstadter

Just to add to this (in case anyone ever comes back from living in the UK with their car).

I've now been back in Ireland for just over a week.

The VRT inspection is in just over 1 weeks' time. This needs to be arranged within seven days of the car arriving back into the country (I believe you only have seven days if you're living here and bringing a car in as well).

I haven't applied for the exemption yet so I will have to pay VRT (it's €680 last time I checked) but revenue will get a refund once they get my form.

The reason I haven't applied for the exemption yet is because I'm in Cork at the moment (that's my home) but I'm starting a new job in Dublin and it's the kind of car that will be more desirable second hand with a D reg (it also won't stand out as much up there if it's locally registered) so I've deliberately held back on applying for the exemption for that reason. I was going to put a Cork reg on it originally but the more I thought about it the more I decided it wasn't such a good idea.

I now have the car on Irish insurance - a lot of insurance companies won't insure it unless it's got Irish plates (but then I read something on the VRT website about it needing to be insured by Irish insurers before it goes for an inspection so they have that one neatly tied up in a bow) but KennCo have insured the car despite it being on UK plates.

I also don't understand how this would work if you were to go and bring in a car from the UK if you were looking to upgrade your car if they don't insure cars on UK plates.

Most insurance companies will accept No Claims Bonus from the UK, but they may not accept named driver no claims from Ireland (for example, Axa say it is only valid if you're actually living in Ireland), so be careful on that.

As a general point, insurance is an absolute joke price wise, I'm paying €2,295 whereas I was paying £1,388 (€1,563) in the UK for the exact same car. I possibly could have gotten it cheaper but I was refused cover from some insurers while it was on UK plates - and I was told by my insurance brokers that I would have gotten it for closer to €2,000 if it was on Irish plates.

Marcusm

captainspeed wrote: »

Just to add to this (in case anyone ever comes back from living in the UK with their car).

I've now been back in Ireland for just over a week.

The VRT inspection is in just over 1 weeks' time. This needs to be arranged within seven days of the car arriving back into the country (I believe you only have seven days if you're living here and bringing a car in as well).

I haven't applied for the exemption yet so I will have to pay VRT (it's €680 last time I checked) but revenue will get a refund once they get my form.

The reason I haven't applied for the exemption yet is because I'm in Cork at the moment (that's my home) but I'm starting a new job in Dublin and it's the kind of car that will be more desirable second hand with a D reg (it also won't stand out as much up there if it's locally registered) so I've deliberately held back on applying for the exemption for that reason. I was going to put a Cork reg on it originally but the more I thought about it the more I decided it wasn't such a good idea.

I now have the car on Irish insurance - a lot of insurance companies won't insure it unless it's got Irish plates (but then I read something on the VRT website about it needing to be insured by Irish insurers before it goes for an inspection so they have that one neatly tied up in a bow) but KennCo have insured the car despite it being on UK plates.

I also don't understand how this would work if you were to go and bring in a car from the UK if you were looking to upgrade your car if they don't insure cars on UK plates.

Most insurance companies will accept No Claims Bonus from the UK, but they may not accept named driver no claims from Ireland (for example, Axa say it is only valid if you're actually living in Ireland), so be careful on that.

As a general point, insurance is an absolute joke price wise, I'm paying €2,295 whereas I was paying £1,388 (€1,563) in the UK for the exact same car. I possibly could have gotten it cheaper but I was refused cover from some insurers while it was on UK plates - and I was told by my insurance brokers that I would have gotten it for closer to €2,000 if it was on Irish plates.

You need to be very careful here; the VRT relief must be applied for within the same 7 days in which you are supposed to book the NCTS inspection. Ultimately, a late application for relief will not be refused on those grounds alone. However, there are simply no procedures in place for you to reclaim the VRT if you subsequently decide to apply for the TOR relief. If you voluntarily pay the VRT in order to obtain a D plate and then, when you have appropriate Dublin based dics, apply for TORcreouef, they can simply refuse you as the car has already been registered at that stage and you have nothing to appeal if you have done it voluntarily. To get a refund would god be to rely on Revenue exercising “care and management” as you would simply have no technical basis to get a refund if you have paid it voluntarily.

CiniO

OP, I think you missed the fact that 30 days limit (not 7 day) for registering car in the country after arriving, applies to people who are resident in Ireland (which you might not be at this stage).

Leonard Hofstadter

Marcusm wrote: »

You need to be very careful here; the VRT relief must be applied for within the same 7 days in which you are supposed to book the NCTS inspection. Ultimately, a late application for relief will not be refused on those grounds alone. However, there are simply no procedures in place for you to reclaim the VRT if you subsequently decide to apply for the TOR relief. If you voluntarily pay the VRT in order to obtain a D plate and then, when you have appropriate Dublin based dics, apply for TORcreouef, they can simply refuse you as the car has already been registered at that stage and you have nothing to appeal if you have done it voluntarily. To get a refund would god be to rely on Revenue exercising “care and management” as you would simply have no technical basis to get a refund if you have paid it voluntarily.

Thanks, well I rang the Revenue Commissioners about it the day after I came back into the country and asked them what I should I do - and what I posted is exactly what they told me!

They told me I can pay and they will refund me because they said the car should be registered where I will be living, which will be Dublin.

I can rise to paying the €680 but obviously I'd rather not, the Government will be getting enough of my money as it stands with my car's €1,080 annual tax bill!