Current car import rule Northern Ireland

Thanks for that!

What’s TOR?

unfortunatley not correct as time spent abroad as a student does not qualify for TOR. This was designed to obviate the need for students bringing vehicles abroad to register them Locally but also works in reverse. The poster’s child would be liable to VRT in these circumstances.

Just stumbled across this 2 Seater Lambo😂

Can you point out where it says it has to be registered for three months in Northern Ireland?

Up until recently it was accepted as 3 months ownership, but further proof was also needed such as tax, MOT, or insurance. I personally imported a car a a NI MOT was required by VRT staff.

Now it has been changed to just 3 months ownership, but the logbook itself also needs to be 3 months old, like you said.

You won’t find any of this information through official sources tho unfortunately

Guys -here's one , im currently looking at a 2024 reg car that is registered in Northern Ireland but there is a bit of a problem (I think) , The taxation Class (Line X on the V5 ) is down as 'Disabled' and also Exhaust Emissions and The NOx lines on the V5 are blank !!! ( Lines V.1 and V.3). Now are these blank because the previous owner was Disabled and didn't have to pay Road tax so therefore emissions wern't an issue ??? Reason being the Revenue or the NCT gang require these to pay VRT and would they not accept the V5 ????

Mmmmmm interesting 🙄

TLDR: Looking at a car in the North. 2020 reg, originally registered in Scotland. Two keepers — with the last change in 2021 from the records I’ve looked at. Dealer confirmed private ownership in the North, but is not sure when it came in from GB. Is MOT record on its own sufficient proof of time in the North?

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I haven’t said to the dealer yet that I’m exporting for the reasons below and not pushing them yet on the length in the North since I have to verify that regardless of what they say.

Seems reasonable to assume the car came over from Scotland when ownership last changed in March 2021, or at least by the time of the MOT in February 2024, since the DVLA has it recorded as being tested on that date in the North. At the moment the high-level MOT record is the only thing I have that gives me confidence it’s been well over 3 months.

I will be getting in touch with Revenue and the local VRT office.

Hopefully this is nothing burger and I can carry on….but now the details…as a case study might help other people.

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Sales person confirmed that they took it on p/x, but doesn’t know when it was brought in to NI. I get that since people move and change address (and that in itself would trigger a new v5) so you cant be sure when it first arrived in! Someone could have bought it in Scotland in 2021, but only moved to NI last week.

This makes me wonder how Revenue squares the 3-month thing in a case like that… as I’m writing, I’m realising they likely go off the last V5 issue date, not the keeper change date…which adds another complication.

My reg check showed the V5 was last issued on April 11th. I asked the dealer about that — they said the customer who traded it in had lost the original. The dealership doesn’t have the new one to hand yet, they're waiting for the customer to drop it in. But then said that they can’t share a copy due to GDPR. I assume they mean 'til the sale goes through, since I’ll need it to import.

Either way, gonna push back on that today and for now will at least get a partially redacted version that shows everything apart from the name of the person and the first line of their address.

But Im now thinking with the Apr 11th issue date that might throw a spanner in the works as it will look like the car has only been in NI a few weeks.

While I get that the dealer couldn’t confirm when it came into NI, surely the service record from 2021 onwards is another layer of evidence — at the moment I just have the service details.

Re reason for not shouting about the fact Im an ROI buyer— once I do they'll realise their opportunity to sell me finance is gone, and I’d like to see whether the approved used warranty terms will cover ROI before I finalise any offer/deal.

Cheers, had read through quite a few posts and was hoping you'd see my query :D

From what I gather the V5 is simply a re-issue rather than a change of details, but I've no idea if that is noted on them. Thinking if not, I might need to get the DVLA to confirm that it was simply a re-issue. Wary of relying on the single MOT test record alone, but will see what Revenue say if I can get hold of them. Don't like the idea of going off what frontline VRT staff say.

Bigger issue right now is the lack of V5 at all…

Dealer has said just come back on email saying they'd tax the car for me for 12 months via V62 form and have the DVLA send out the V5 to me direct. The tax would be worth ~200 if I was in the UK.

Them saying this makes me think they either dont think they will have the V5 to hand if I head for a test drive tomorrow or that they think it could be a while. Gonna have to just call them to tell them straight that I'd be bringing it into NI and need V5 for deal to happen. Given I reserved the car for 500 less due to an Easter promotion, if I got a further 200 in lieu the road tax I'd be happy.

But there's no way Im travelling over 4 hours to test drive a car without knowing I can get the V5. Id be screwed without it I think.

Fair point, I'd a couple of history related things I wanted to clear up with an email paper trail before talking to them direct on it.

At this point, I've no reason to not let them know Im an ROI buyer.

They've sent me the approved used warranty details — I've confirmed with the provider that it doesn't operate for exported cars. Suspected this — happier knowing in advance of hopefully finalising deal, between that and know they were willing to pay the UK road tax is helpful.

They'd also suggested the most recent service would need to by them to be able to offer that warranty. The car was only serviced in Jan and has done less than 500 miles since so not clear why they brought that up. While that warranty isn't relevant now, curious to see if they will do the service and check a few common issues with these cars.

If they've an alternative warranty for ROI buyers great, if not maybe they will sweaten the deal. Though I suspect the approved used warranties cost them very little, so it would probably be something that wont eat into their margin.

Anyway thank you for your input. Very much appreciated.

Yes

The V5 needs to be issued 3+ months ago. Issue date is at the very bottom

No

still waiting on it, should have it next week

After importing a car?