Bit of advice / Opinions req'd

ambro25

Looks like we're staying over in your beautiful country for good, so... what would you do:

I have 2 UK reg'd cars, both likely to get VRT exemption but which I'd like to replace with something more family-friendly & recent ("baby daughter forces sale" - and for once it's actually true ) - and cheaper to insure over here than both cars together: one's a '97 2L Scoob (63k), other's a '98 1.8 MX5 (43k). Both cars are minters, Full Traceable SH, all UK MOTs, HPI-clear, unpranged - in other words, fully clean-legit-desirable.

Do I:

_sell them here privately with choice of UK-reg'd or paid-up VRT'd (price to include straightforward difference, eg UK reg'd 'for sale' price + net VRT)?

_part-ex 'em back in UK & import 'replacement' following legit/guidelines?

_part-ex 'em here (do dealers here part-ex UK reg'd cars? I can haggle with the best of 'em, but...)?

'done the maths and there isn't a ton of difference between the options. Anybody here ever faced this quandary?

unkel

It's not that straightforward. In order to avail of the free (of VRT) registration, you need to have owned the cars in the UK for at least 6 months. You also cannot sell the car in Ireland for the first 12 months after registration unless you are willing to pay the VRT after all

Will you buy just the one car? If you can afford it, it might be an idea to sell one in the UK, register the other one here and sell it in a years time

Otherwise I'd sell both privately (popular cars and minters with full history - should be easy) in the UK and buy here with cash

ambro25

unkel wrote:

It's not that straightforward. In order to avail of the free (of VRT) registration, you need to have owned the cars in the UK for at least 6 months. You also cannot sell the car in Ireland for the first 12 months after registration unless you are willing to pay the VRT after all

Thanks unkel, I'm aware of the above (that's why I stated both cars likely to get VRT exemption, as owned both for more then 6 months prior to transfer of residence).

unkel wrote:

Otherwise I'd sell both privately (popular cars and minters with full history - should be easy) in the UK and buy here with cash

Thanks for that... you don't rate selling both here privately (with VRT-equivalent discount) and letting the buyer VRT them, then?

I'd see this as just like an Irish citizen going to buy in the UK to import, but minus the 'travelling' and 'importing/transporting' bit (well, save for the paperwork, obviously...) + they'd get to see/check/test the car without having to travel over?

impr0v

I think he states that both are eligable for exemption, but I'd still agree that selling them in the UK and bringing the money back here is probably the best course of action.

EDIT: posted at the same time as reply to unkel's post.