Are dealers still bringing in UK imports?

logie101

I’ve been looking at large SUVs 2018/19 (Volvo XC90)from Irish Dealers.

Quiet a few that I’ve been looking at online appear to be recent UK imports.
This has surprised me somewhat as I didn’t think it was still economically viable to bring in UK cars anymore.

Has anybody any experience or thoughts on this?

Truckermal

I can't answer your question but I've seen loads of Car Transporters on the road full of UK reg Cars.

punisher5112

Truckermal wrote: »

I can't answer your question but I've seen loads of Car Transporters on the road full of UK reg Cars.

Yes I was very surprised at this, one reason could be stock that's already been here just been moved from dealer or yards....
Could well be orders coming in and people stupid enough to buy etc too.....

Some may well be from the north too and fall under the new rules and won't have the extra charges

grogi

Yes, it is more viable now than ever, but only for recent cars coming out of fleets.

Dealers are able to source cars VAT free through their trade contacts in UK and pay VAT and VRT here. Privately will be much more difficult to do, and you'll be hit with VAT twice.

I expect the private imports to dry out almost completely, so the dealers will have a bit more margin to play with.

punisher5112

logie101 wrote: »

I’ve been looking at large SUVs 2018/19 (Volvo XC90)from Irish Dealers.

Quiet a few that I’ve been looking at online appear to be recent UK imports.
This has surprised me somewhat as I didn’t think it was still economically viable to bring in UK cars anymore.

Has anybody any experience or thoughts on this?

Only viable way is from the north and once imported in their correctly or has been there from new and so on.

User1998

Dealers are somehow still getting cars directly from the UK and their prices have not increased. I’ve been told by someone in the trade that Revenue are giving dealers different rates than private individuals but this could well be false.

I’m seeing dealers still importing 2010 cars that clearly aren’t VAT qualifying and their prices haven’t increased. Something fishy is definitely happening

bazz26

Were the cars imported before the end of last year to avoid paying extra VRT?

I've seen the price of some used cars going up. For example a BMW has a 440i that was advertised @ 42k at the start of the year, it's now appeared on their forecourt again @ 45k. Even my own car which I bought last September I'm seeing examples asking the same money now as last year.

logie101

bazz26 wrote: »

Were the cars imported before the end of last year to avoid paying extra VRT?

I've seen the price of some used cars going up. For example a BMW has a 440i that was advertised @ 42k at the start of the year, it's now appeared on their forecourt again @ 45k. Even my own car which I bought last September I'm seeing examples asking the same money now as last year.

No I don’t think so as I asked the dealer and he said they bought the vehicles direct from Volvo in the UK. The vehicle I was looking at he only just had in stock.
Not sure how they are doing it.

road_high

Yep, local used dealer to me that always specialised in U.K. imports was looking at his ad a few weeks ago and there was a list of cars proudly fresh in from England. So it’s clearly still viable whatever way they are using.
I don’t buy them but I was relieved to see it all the same as that choice is crucial to the market in my opinion

punisher5112

Prices here are extortionate at best....

Couldn't believe it when was looking for a guy with around 20k to spend, all over 100k miles and UK import, 2014-2016 years... Crazy

2010/11 520d etc fetching 10k somehow.... Yes I know may well not be selling at that but by jaysus they ain't worth near that....

bladerunnerx

There are plenty non main dealer garages with 300 plus used cars which are mostly UK imports. I am sure they will find some way around these new issues of importing otherwise they go out of business.

Buddy Bubs

bazz26 wrote: »

Were the cars imported before the end of last year to avoid paying extra VRT?

I've seen the price of some used cars going up. For example a BMW has a 440i that was advertised @ 42k at the start of the year, it's now appeared on their forecourt again @ 45k. Even my own car which I bought last September I'm seeing examples asking the same money now as last year.

Where do you think a 182 A6 S Line new model should be at now? Cheapest I can see is asking 38k, they were 60k list price and I guess most sold at 56/57k. Although list price is now a bit higher, 62k or so. Most are still asking 40k and above.
I think its a bit high and might even be a bit of a bubble until things settle down.

grogi

punisher5112 wrote: »

Prices here are extortionate at best....

Couldn't believe it when was looking for a guy with around 20k to spend, all over 100k miles and UK import, 2014-2016 years... Crazy

2010/11 520d etc fetching 10k somehow.... Yes I know may well not be selling at that but by jaysus they ain't worth near that....

On one side people stay home now, don't spend money on commuting, pubs, cinemas etc. Many seat of heaps of cash they don't know what to do with...

On the other factories were closed, production of everything is crippled. Supply is short.

That's called inflation. Prices will flyyyyyy up, not only cars.

road_high

punisher5112 wrote: »

Prices here are extortionate at best....

Couldn't believe it when was looking for a guy with around 20k to spend, all over 100k miles and UK import, 2014-2016 years... Crazy

2010/11 520d etc fetching 10k somehow.... Yes I know may well not be selling at that but by jaysus they ain't worth near that....

Unfortunately VRT is loaded onto anything "nice" or desirable. Same in many European countries far as I can see too

neutrino

logie101 wrote: »

I’ve been looking at large SUVs 2018/19 (Volvo XC90)from Irish Dealers.

Quiet a few that I’ve been looking at online appear to be recent UK imports.
This has surprised me somewhat as I didn’t think it was still economically viable to bring in UK cars anymore.

Has anybody any experience or thoughts on this?

Would UK dealers be offloading higher emission models due to imminent increased penalties on higher polluting vehicles such as diesels, in city centres?

punisher5112

neutrino wrote: »

Would UK dealers be offloading higher emission models due to imminent increased penalties on higher polluting vehicles such as diesels, in city centres?

They offload anything that others will buy, with the new taxes I can't see how it's worth while to bring in any.

newmember2

Anything brought into NI after 1st Jan will be VAT liable regardless yes?

Any private Joe can buy a VAT qualifying car in the UK or NI and just pay the Irish VAT.

grogi

newmember? wrote: »

Anything brought into NI after 1st Jan will be VAT liable regardless yes?

Any private Joe can buy a VAT qualifying car in the UK or NI and just pay the Irish VAT.

Theoretically yes.

millington

grogi wrote: »

Yes, it is more viable now than ever, but only for recent cars coming out of fleets.

Dealers are able to source cars VAT free through their trade contacts in UK and pay VAT and VRT here. Privately will be much more difficult to do, and you'll be hit with VAT twice.

I expect the private imports to dry out almost completely, so the dealers will have a bit more margin to play with.

Hardly much more viable than ever with 10% duty, increased VRT and stronger GBP. VAT Q cars can also attract more bidders and be generally more expensive than margin cars.

It's possible, but it's definitely more expensive with less choice than pre-Brexit.

grogi

millington wrote: »

Hardly much more viable than ever with 10% duty, increased VRT and stronger GBP. VAT Q cars can also attract more bidders and be generally more expensive than margin cars.

It's possible, but it's definitely more expensive with less choice than pre-Brexit.

Previously a dealer had to compete with private import. Now private imports will dry out completely, driving Irish prices up. In that sense it is more viable, there is less private competition now.

millington

grogi wrote: »

Previously a dealer had to compete with private import. Now private imports will dry out completely, driving Irish prices up. In that sense it is more viable, there is less private competition now.

There isn't really since private imports never came from trade sources, whereas now all Irish importers are targeting VAT Q cars from trade sources. I would guess that even previous to this, private imports were probably 10% or less of the cars that came across.

You are correct though that prices here are on the way up for now.

newmember2

grogi wrote: »

Theoretically yes.

I did it with a commercial when I wasn't VAT registered about 10 years ago, I actually ended up paying no VAT at all.