Will Ireland push the EU to scrap VAT on car imports from the UK

Any change to VAT rules on UK imports will be tied to any general trade agreements between the EU and UK, you're kidding yourself if you think there will be some kind of sweetheart deal for second hand cars.

Oh and just FYI, there are two other EU countries that drive on the left, typically in RHD cars

No. The state has no reason to care about the second hand market

Also, the UKs self inflicted recession will cut off supply of nearly new cars from there anyway

The states interest is entirely in reducing the total number of cars. Nothing else.

There is zero reason to even consider rule changes, so don't imagine it might happen

On an EU scale, we're tiny too and certainly not special

Thats nothing to do with what was outlined in the post tho. Cars have always been overpriced here due to VRT.

The 90k Golf is due to manufacturer price increases and VRT, not EU VAT rules

Not a snowballs chance in hell.

We are lucky that the car market is transitioning to EV as at least the Govt is currently subsidising the purchase of new EVs which should help a little to increase the used car supply down the road.

The car market is going through a periodical reset, thats all.

We've got 5.2 million people, we can easily sustain 250,000 new and used sales, if the value is there for people.

Good dealers are working to secure the stock and that good value, that's what they do. The bad ones are disappearing and thats no harm either.

The best thing the government can do, is GTF out of the way.

There was another thread about a week ago discussing the possibility of a VRT reduction on EVs and hybrids.

Could be a way to get an EV second hand market going.

As you say VRT can be adjusted.

VRT is an Irish Government competency and can be changed without upsetting the EU.

So if the policy is to encourage the use of EVs why not reduce VRT on them to make it cheaper to bring them in from UK ?

I don't know the state of the EV market in UK though.

The government don't want you driving a Golf R or a Honda Type R, so these prices are achieving their aim. On friday, I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted a newish Civic Type R. Of course it had UK plates.

The government can change VAT rates as they wish. They like to hid behind the pretence that the EU ties their hands but that's demonstrably not true. Just recently we see VAT taken off Covid test kits, then VAT restored, then rescinded again. Newspapers rated at 0%, down from 9% in last budget and so on.

There’s a vat refund scheme on the cards.

Of course I read it. What are you talking about?

Used prices in NI are higher for many cars than ROI so even with no import taxes it won't be a simple fix to the problem. In the past we took in diesels the UK public did not want.

I expect some sort of a deal to be Ironed out between EU and UK. The UK manufactures a relatively high amount of cars along with EU so there is vested interest on both sides.

Prices may have peaked as supply is being restored, except in the EV area where the demand is higher than supply and manufacturers are only making higher end models due to battery and car electronics shortages as they are limited in the number of cars they can make, so they are making the more expensive models.

Agree it's not going to happen as Brexit has been a godsend for Irish dealers especially as we can't import from any other EU market.

As a matter of interest though where would all these used cars come from?

Was talking to a dealer during the week and he said they are still bringing in UK cars, half his used car stock are UK imports. He's happy enough as Brexit has meant private importing has all but dried up so much more demand for his UK cars

Some dealers have lost the plot with pricing, Those who haven't will be fine