Selling an Irish car abroad

zebastein

Hello,

I have an Opel astra from 2006, right hand drive, Irish plates, nothing special.

I am moving to France and will take the ferry with the car. Once in France, I will buy a new left hand drive.

I was wondering if there were Irish companies or individuals that would be keen to buy my car and bring it back to Ireland for sale.

I was thinking of putting the car to the scrapyard in France, but given the price of second hand cars right now maybe someone would be interested paying the ferry to bring it back.

Do you know if such companies exist?

hoodie6029

See if there are any left hand drives for sale here. Bring that with you and register it in France. Sell the Astra here.

Best of luck on the move to France. I’d love to try life out there some day.

Heres one, taxed and NCT. Plenty of room for your stuff.

https://www.donedeal.ie/view/32582685

bazz26

I honestly cannot see many having the interest in bringing a 16 year old Astra back to Ireland from abroad.

selectamatic

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/dacia-sandero-2009-left-hand-drive/31819974

James May style...

goochy

No offence but a 16 year old astra isn't in demand even in these times

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119848284#Comment_119848284

I think even if it was a 2016 Astra you’d struggle to find someone willing to fly to France, drive it back and pay for the ferry, petrol, accommodation, cost of missing a few days of work etc. It just wouldn’t be worth it.

mikeecho

There are advantages to having an Irish car in mainland Europe.

Think... No Parking/speeding fines etc

I know people that moved to Netherlands and Germany with their Irish car, and drove them into the ground.

They saved a fortune on onstreet parking

goochy

Insurance ??

CiniO

I'd say OP best you can do, once you don't need your Irish car anymore in France, just put it up for sale there (on French ad's site). Someone will take it - not neccesserily with intention of bringing it back to Ireland (as this might be too costly) - maybe for parts, maybe for some other purpose.

CiniO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119854766#Comment_119854766

Every insurance policy issued in Ireland, is valid for the whole period of the policy in the whole EU (this applies to third party cover only).

Irish insurers generally try to discourage people from driving abroad for too long by saying that you must be resident in Ireland for the policy to be valid. Sometimes they come up with some funny rules that after 30 or 90 days you become non-resident, but I would love to see how can they prove to someone who just moved abroad recently that person in permanent non-resident in Ireland.

goochy

if you were living in another country , you cant claim you are living in ireland - also nct for insurance ?

Most policies allow for up to 30 days driving abroad. I'm sure if you had an accident on the continent they would be looking for travel details to prove when you arrived with the car.

CiniO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119856200#Comment_119856200

Obviously true, but how can it be established where someone lives, in the first few months after the move?

CiniO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119856263#Comment_119856263

I've seen this period vary a lot (30, 60, 90 days) between insurers, but that only applies to extra (non legally required) cover - so i.e. fire, theft, own car damage, breakdown assistance, windscreen, etc.

Obligatory third party cover is valid all over EU for the whole period of the policy, as per EU directive requiring every single car insurance policy issued in the EU to offer such cover.

mikeecho

Or.. just get a local insurance policy.

Henry Ford III

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119856664#Comment_119856664

You are obliged to tell the truth.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119855584#Comment_119855584

Once they are there for a year they won't be insured. Whatever about the policy in place when you emigrate, you will be uninsured if you renew because you aren't resident in Ireland.

CiniO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119868542#Comment_119868542

Of course you are.

But that doesn't change a fact, that establishing residency during moving abroad is definitely not that simple as OP saying "I'm moving to France" that would automatically make his permanently resident in France and non-resident in Ireland the day he drives onto the ferry in Rosslare.

Tax residency in EU country only applies once you spend there more than half a year.

I'm by no means saying that tax residency is the same as residency for purposes of Irish car insurance, and yes - I know sometimes to establish residency it's enough if you have intention to stay in a country for longer period, but intentions can change, and if OP suddenly decides after 2 months to come back to Ireland, then I don't believe that his Irish residency can be affected in any way.

pcardin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119867731#Comment_119867731

might not be possible for unregistered RHD car. I don't know if FR allows to register RHDs, probably they do, as my origin country was forced into that.

pcardin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119856263#Comment_119856263

That's a scam Irish insurers like to play here. It is as Cinio tells, your insurance covers you everywhere in EU for 3rd party. And not just for 30 or whatever days. They keep scamming folk here to just milk more money.

pcardin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119855176#Comment_119855176

This is the best advice from my own experience. Rest is just not worth it. Running to the ground might not be legally possible as most EU countries clamp down on unregistered cars driving around for lengthy periods. Its a lost tax to government.

I have a hobby, I like driving a lot. So every summer when we go home to visit my folk, we drive. That way we can see something nice on the way, visit interesting places, and have a car over there for a holiday period. But we never drive back, always fly. For this I am purchasing usually some kind of bangernomics, service it and off we go to trip. During all years I have purchased over 10 cars and sold them in the destination country. Just advertised in local DoneDeal equivalent with description and photos. They all sold pretty fast (as they would generally be cheaper than LHD). Mostly a scraper buys, or someone with similar car buys for parts, a few old luxobarges were bought for rebuilding. Last one was a 2004 Grand Espace that I bought in Port Laois for 400e sold there within an hour, as according to scrapper, some parts on that car are actually very expensive. So, just put an advert in the local web and sell it.

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119854656#Comment_119854656

I assume after you'd clocked up enough fines you'd start appearing on the Gendarmes radar and find yourself pulled over and arrested.

pcardin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119890178#Comment_119890178

absolutely. And gendarmes will not believe your name is Driving License. Government institutions all around EU are more and more now starting to share their data bases.