VRT NI car

david

Update for you all. Got a call today from Revenue to advise that they have approved the registration of my car without a liability for VAT and customs duty. I had lobbied a few people as a last resort in this process and I’m sure I wouldn’t have succeeded without.

The person with influence in this case was the chairman of the Revenue Commission chairmansoffice@revenue.ie. His private secretary and the civil servant that contacted me were nothing but communicative, helpful and apologetic.

I had obviously protected the identity of the businesses involved until the matter was resolved but feel I need to give them a shout out for incredible service for anyone else looking to get a used car in NI.

Mods: I sincerely hope this is allowed within the guidelines of this forum; please edit and remove if not.

The Phillips Lisburn and Agnews Belfast VW dealerships up north did everything they could to get a comprehensive documentation of the vehicle ownership together to strengthen my case. When the decision came down to the wire with my 30 days expiring this week, I was offered a full refund by Liam and Will in Phillips with no questions asked or restocking fees. Agnews had nothing to profit from this and they still went above and beyond. I’m not sure I would have the same experience from other dealerships, car supermarkets etc.

Revenue VRT dept in Wexford, Applus Greenhills NCTS, DVLA, HRMC customs - nothing but a brick wall following a script.

I hope this thread serves as a good resource for anyone else in the same position.

Lastly, a massive thanks to all here for the well wishes, PMs and support. As a long time member who hasn’t frequented as much as I’d like recently; this thread has reminded me what the spirit and value of Boards.ie is all about.

mickdw

Excellent. I don't know how you managed to get the ear of someone at high level but it clearly cut right through the bullsh1t.

TraceyP1999

Hi all, just wanted to check in and see what you guys think.

Bought a car originally from GB but moved to NI at 6 months old (Nov 2019), and stayed there since.

The dealer I bought it from is the dealer that imported it from GB. I got an invoice showing where it was purchased and the dealer that bought it being in NI with the car reg and date (2019) all on it. I also got an invoice of when the car was first sold in NI and it shows an NI address (this was August 2020).

I went to VRT yesterday and was basically told I could’ve forged these documents that I got from the dealer, even with a signature of the sales associate on them and me knowing they are perfectly legit.

It also says on the VRT website:

Registering vehicles imported from Great Britain before 1 January 2021

These vehicles can be registered as normal. You must provide documentary proof that the vehicle was imported before 1 January 2021. An example of proof would be a sales invoice or a ferry ticket which identifies the specific vehicle.

Was essentially told in the VRT app to just try harder to get more but just feel that what I had was more than enough and is what is requested by revenue. The person working in VRT didn’t even submit the invoices to revenue because they just said they know they’ll be rejected.

Anyone any advice? Much appreciated.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765335#Comment_121765335

Try another VRT centre and print off the Revenue guidelines and highlight them and staple them to the back of the invoice

david

Submit all of your documentation through your revenue MyAccount and expect it to be rejected. When received, email a follow up with the ticket number and attachments of all invoices etc to chairmansoffice@revenue.ie.

Good luck!

PukkaStukka

OP, your positive experiences of the motor dealers mentioned up north concur with mine. I find they do try to be as helpful as they can. Like you also found and the exact polar opposite, Revenue Commissioners in Wexford are utterly abominable, offering nothing but premeditated obstruction to even the most tame of enquiries. How they in particular have been allowed conduct themselves as they do for so long defies belief. They would do well to take a look at how well their peers elsewhere in Revenue conduct themselves with courteousness and professionalism.

goochy

its good business selling down south for northern dealers , but still good to see how they handle things. They have been running professionally run dealerships up there much longer than down here.

remember travelling up to Boucher road as a teen - was like going to car heaven

damemcd

Agnews told me on Monday that they have been instructed from vw UK head office to cease selling to customers from the South, this was in relation to a Seat Leon but it was Agnews vw Belfast.

goochy

The problem with ni dealers selling down South is they miss out on aftersales business and there is less cars in future for locals to buy .

The ni use car supply is very low

I remember years mercedes uk had their own used car centres and they wouldn't sell to Ireland. Mad when it's used cars

MrRigsby

The staff in the NCT Centre in Kells which I went to for VRT assessment were thick as 2 short planks and pig ignorant. They make the rules up as they go along . Wanted a copy of the previous owners insurance to prove it was an NI car ! Revenue should be handling VRT , at least their staff have to have a decent education

witnessmenow

I'm hopefully picking up a car from NI next week this thread has me a little nervous, despite it being in theory a straight forward case.

Car is a 22 NI reg, one owner, being sold to me by the garage that I believe sold it in the first place (I know for sure they did the two services on it).

Since it's only one owner, and it's on its original NI reg, Will the v5c be enough or should I be looking for something else to help the case?

david

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774003#Comment_121774003

Won't be any issue, the V5C will be fine. The issue I had only arises with pre brexit cars where the last previous keeper purchased the car post brexit.

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774048#Comment_121774048

Thanks David, appreciate it! There is a bit of a delay before I'm going up to get the car next week so all I can do in the mean time is worry about how it will go wrong :D

millington

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773646#Comment_121773646

It's Revenue that state they require tax and insurance details, not the NCT staff. The system is shambolic, complete breach of GDPR to try and get those details even if by some slim chance you chase them back to 4 years ago. They also require both insurance AND tax details from NI, however if you tax a car online in NI you don't get a receipt with an address on it.

It's a disgrace that they are allowed have this "computer says no" attitude to genuine cases. There is also no option to escalate your issue to a higher authority.

TraceyP1999

Just to let everyone know as it may be of help to some.

I went back to the VRT centre with the same documents as the last day, but it was a different person working. I just said I was in last week and was told I had to get proof that the car was in NI before 2021 etc, but didn’t say the girl previous said the docs weren’t good enough.

He took all the docs and was on the phone I guess with whoever in revenue gives the green light and came back and said they accepted it and I just had to pay the VRT.

So overall revenue will accept sales invoices from NI, and who you get in VRT makes a massive difference even though it should be completely objective.

Thanks everyone for your feedback and hopefully that experience helps someone else 😁

ian123

Hi

I'm looking at getting a car from the north as well, but this whole VAT and Customs Duty is quite concerning. I have read that the current VAT/Duty situation is down to some unilateral changes that the UK made some years back that opened up a loophole for tax avoidance, but that this situation may well resolve itself from the 1st May 2024 if this response to an Oireachtas question is to be believed. The supplied answer did include some ridiculous requests concerning insurance details of previous owner (unlikely if purchased via motor dealer). It does appear that this response removes the limits around cars being registered in NI before 2021. The whole VRT process was so much easier when i imported a car back in 2010.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2024-02-28/33/

damemcd

The insurance end of that is ridiculous and probably illegal, chasing down and asking a previous owner for his/her details is surely a non starter.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121936126#Comment_121936126

I doubt you’ll need all forms of proof. I’d imagine the V5 alone will suffice and the other documents are just supplementary.

I personally witnessed someone in the VRT centre last week register a NI reg car with the last owner change being after Brexit. The car was never MOT’d so they have no other proof the car was actually in use in NI. The VRT staff called Revenue and they allowed them to VRT it without VAT or customs which is technically against current guidelines.

kincaid

I think the mot in Ni was 4 years from new and in England Scotland and Wales as 3 years and quick check online if it was NI, there would be no record of it in Mainland UK system.

UK Mainland cars have to be put on the NI Mot system first.