Should I buy a car before moving to England or wait until I am over there?

Db96

I am moving to England from the Republic of Ireland in September and I was wondering if I was to buy a car from Northern Ireland in august would I have to go through the VRT process or can I leave it on the English plates for the 2 or 3 weeks? Also if I insure the car here will my insurance cover me in the UK?

Would I be better off waiting until I get over there to buy?

Also does anyone know if I was to take out insurance over there would I be able to take my no claims bonus if it is only named driver no claims bonus?

Thanks in advance for your help

biko

You're better off buying there once you are installed.
It will make things like registering it, insuring etc easier.
Can you use public transportation before you get the car?

punisher5112

Much better choice over there to be honest.

Better pricing too.

Motor tax(road tax obviously not a thing) is much cheaper too so you could have a nice car.
Fuel prices are high though.

If you were to buy here you would be paying more and most likely have to buy something older then what you could buy for similar money over there and end up with a better car and newer.

Oh and be aware of the new Nox charge if you were to import here 1st.

If you're stuck for a car look up renting or gocar to get you by if stuck for short periods.

NickNickleby

Son brought his car over a couple of years ago. The hoops he had to jump through to get it registered were unbelievable. Apparently there's some sort of certification that cars get at the make/model level when first introduced into the UK. However, seemingly a 1.6 Focus Ghia made for the Irish market isn;t the same as one destined for the UK market, so HE had to get this accreditation or whatever its called. Took weeks.

Perhaps he got unlucky or made some sort of mistake filling out a form which caused the chaos, I don't really know, but there's his experience anyway.

bazz26

Most used cars are cheaper in the UK than here, it's why we import so many of them. I cannot see any reason why to buy a car here only to move over there with it straight away.

Regarding insurance, an Irish policy will only cover you up to 90 days aboard, not a permanent move over there. If your moving to the UK then you need a UK policy. Again UK insurance tends to be cheaper than here so I don't see any advantage to getting cover here.

U_Fig

Unless you are getting an absolute bargain here wait and get a car there.

0lddog

A possible exception to the above is if you are considering a pre co2 tax regime car ( changed sometime in 2008 ) with a large cc engine. It may be worth buying that class of car here.