Importing from the UK - definitive guide (Q and A)

"…not sure this will work as I booked the appointment so it is now in the system"

What difference will that make? Surely you made no formal import declaration at the booking stage? For all Revenue knows, you haven't even purchased the car yet, and may never do.

Even if not posting as a mod, surely advocating fraud (the creation of a false instrument with the intention of inducing someone to accept it as genuine) is against many boards.ie rules if not simple common sense?

Just to share my experience of importing earlier this year:

I imported my first ever car back in 2007 from the UK and the process was straightforward. It was a 1977 Land Rover Defender 100 Inch (Defender body on a Range Rover chassis) and bringing it in and registering it was all grand. So flash forward to this year and the bug bit me again and I decided to import another one (I'm a glutton for punishment) to have as my daily driver. The reason for vintage is obvious - 200 on VRT and 56 a year on tax. So I found a 110 station wagon and bought it. Flew over, saw the car, paid the guy and drove it home.

Now at this point, I had not declared to Revenue that I was going to import the car as, being honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to actually buy it until I saw it. So when I landed back into Dublin Port that night, I went straight to Customs and told them the story and they were completely grand with it. The noted it on their system and said I had 30 days to register the car. So I went and booked the VRT appointment locally and that's when the fun began.

As the officer was doing the inspection, she opened the front door and hopped up into the vehicle and looked back into it. The seating configuration was 3 seats in the front, 3 in the middle and then your standard "boot" in the back (it was a station wagon). However, she had a look on her face that suggested some kind of bureaucratic shitstorm was brewing and I'd have done well to heed that warning. Once she opened the boot door, she turned to me a and said "Yeah that is just what I thought; it's a 12 seater mini bus, isn't it?". I was totally perplexed and asked her what she meant. "See here (pointing to the rectangular metal over the wheel arches), well those are seats and you can sit 3 either side so that's 6 people in the back. That makes this a 12 seater so it's a mini bus". To say I was dumbfounded was an understatement. I pointed out that 1) there were no seats there and, more importantly, 2) there were no seatbelts or mountings for seat belts there so there was absolutely no evidence of this being a 12 seater mini bus. "Well, we're trained to a high standard and I've seen these before so I have to document what I see and the day" was what I was told. I knew then that I'd have a battle on my hands.

Once we went inside, I continued to plead my case but to no avail, I knew it was a lost cause. I was told that my vehicle was going into the system as a 12 seater mini bus and that it was up to me to apply for a conversion document once it was registered. I refused to sign the declaration she gave to me. I was told to not return to the VRT office until I had resolved the issue through corresponding with and officer via MyEnquiries online. Response time initially was good - about every 2 to 3 days. This then grew to a reply once every 2 weeks. Bear in mind that I was very conscious of late penalty fees that I was accruing during this time.

Finally, after 3 and a half months of back and forth, engineers reports, cover letters, invoices from the UK and the original factory sheet from Land Rover themselves, I got confirmation that the car could be registered as what it actually was. When I went back to the VRT office, the guy who should have been there originally (was on a long period of sick leave), burst out laughing when he opened my file. He said that usually when a vehicle is registered here, there may be up to 4 pages worth of correspondence on their system between the individual and Revenue - I had amassed 13 pages. He also commented that had he been there on day 1, all of this would have been avoided. And that's the annoying thing about this whole process; it really does depend on the person that you get on the day.

I learned a lot of very valuable lessons as a result of this fiasco. It wouldn't put me off importing from the UK again but it would really make me ensure that I had all my stuff in order down to the tiniest detail.

"Well, we're trained to a high standard and I've seen these before so I have to document what I see and the day" was what I was told. I knew then that I'd have a battle on my hands.

That is some serious Grade-A BS. I feel for you. Normally a check of the compliance plate would show the payload of the car wouldnt support that many passengers, but your car, given its age, may not show that.

These are the typical low-level clock watching civil servants that give their colleagues who actually get things done a bad rep.

For what its worth USER1998 is one of the more helpful and knowledgeable contributors to this forum over the years and I think we should reconsider criticizing people who add to the debate in a positive way…….and no , Ive never met the man and he doesnt drink pints with me either…….

I am considering buying a used car from a dealer in NI.

I have a Revolut account and physical card, which has a UK bank account with sort code and account number.

In am wondering how to pay GBP 15k to a NI dealer.

Is it possible to transfer euros from my euro Revolut wallet into the GBP wallet, and then make a bank transfer from the Revolut UK bank account to the dealer's bank account?

Thanks.

No I got hit by no penalties but you can be assured that I was ready to go to war had they tried that on.

And as for someone getting told off - I think we all know that there is zero accountability.