Importing a Car from Northern Ireland

progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 11:41AM #1

I just recently moved to Limerick from Chicago and am in the process of purchasing a 1999 Chrysler Sebring Convertible (us Americans have to have our cars. haha) from a dealer in Northern Ireland. Could someone please provide me with the steps I have to take before and after I purchase this at the end of the month? I figure I need insurance so could anyone recommend a company that will insure someone who is 18 with a US license?

colm_mcm · 15-10-2012 11:47AM

This isn't going to go well.

howardmarks · 15-10-2012 11:53AM

If you haven't already paid for the car I'd advise changing your plans to

1st insurance. at 18 on a 2-2.5 litre engine IF you can find a company to insure you it will be many many thousands in cost. More than the value of the car and some.

Vrt will be payable. Www.ros.ie for a quote or google it.

corktina · 15-10-2012 11:56AM

first thought.... $$$$$$$$

djimi · 15-10-2012 11:57AM

They are what, 2.5l/2.7l or something like that? Id say you are going to have a fine time trying to get someone to insure you on that at 18 years of age! Your best option is to ring every insurer and broker that you can find in the phone book and see what they say (brokers would probably be a better bet), but expect to be quoted a small fortune!

You will also need to reregister it to ROI plates and pay the VRT (around €640 I think for that car, but I could be wrong).

howardmarks · 15-10-2012 11:57AM

Also weather wise you won't have too many top down days in a convertible here. I don't know how long you've been here but we had summer on a Tuesday there a few weeks back. It was nice

progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 12:02PM

I'm glad I didn't import my '85 Corvette then. I prefer American cars. They tend to look a bit nicer and are pretty powerful (I love cars). I knew I was going to have to pay a decent amount of money. When you register it or whatever, do you have to provide proof of insurance? Also, I would be very appreciative if someone could list the required steps I need to take. (ex: 1. Get insurance. 2...)

howardmarks · 15-10-2012 12:06PM

1 arrange insurance with Irish insurer from the day your collecting the car
2 collect car
3 bring to local nct centre
4 pay Vrt
5 go get Irish plates
6 arrange motor tax

Drive

djimi · 15-10-2012 12:11PM

The problem is that in this country pretty, powerful cars + 18 year old driver = alarm bells with insurers! We all want something quick and nice looking at that age; for the most part in this country its not going to happen unless you have a lot of money (you could be talking about thousands to insure, as in €4k/€5k+). I was paying €2500 on a 1.4 Accent when I was 20 with a full license for 2 years...

colm_mcm · 15-10-2012 12:20PM

howardmarks wrote: »

1 arrange insurance with Irish insurer from the day your collecting the car
2 collect car
3 bring to local nct centre
4 pay Vrt
5 go get Irish plates
6 arrange motor tax

Drive

I can't see him getting past step 1 though.

In a country that thinks 1.6 is a big engine.

awec · 15-10-2012 12:22PM

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progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 12:25PM

4,000 euros per year or per month?

awec · 15-10-2012 12:26PM

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progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 12:30PM

That's not bad at all. I was forking out $8,000 a year for my Corvette back in Chicago.

CiniO · 15-10-2012 12:32PM

awec wrote: »

Per year.

That's if they even quote you. Some will probably refuse to cover you at all.

Eventually some insurer will have to quote him.
I think if he get's 3 refusals, he can apply somewhere (i can't remember where) and they have to find you insurer which will quote you.

progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 12:37PM

awec wrote: »

Phone up Irish insurers and try find one willing to insure you on a car like that. Get the lube out and prepare to be shafted good and proper.

Arrange the date for the cover to start. This will be the day you go collect the car.

Buy the car, bring it to Ireland. Your insurer will probably give you 30 days cover while you still have UK plates, but I believe you need to present it within a few days for VRT inspection under Irish law.

When you go for inspection, they'll really just look at the make and model of the car and take the mileage and some other details. They may give you your VRT price there and then or they may have to send off for a further evaluation. Either way, you'll be forking out for VRT and they'll give you a bit of paper.

The bit of paper has your new Irish reg on it. It also has the details you need to tax the car online. Keep this document in the car, as it's proof you paid VRT in case you are stopped at any time by the Guards until you have your new tax disc.

Phone up your insurers again and get the registration of the car changed over. They'll send you a new insurance cert in the post with the new reg.

Go get Irish plates made up. Halfords do them if you have one near you.

Within 24 hours you will be able to tax the car. Go to motortax.ie and put the details from the bit of paper you have in. Tax for either 3, 6 or 12 months. The tax disc will arrive in the post a few days later.

As the car is 1999 you will then need to arrange an NCT. It may take a few days for your car to show up on the NCT booking system (you have to book via your reg number). NCT is the test to ensure the car is roadworthy. It's a 1999 car so you will have to NCT your car on a yearly basis. Get this done as soon as you can as you are going to be driving with no NCT. Guards can use their discretion here, but so long as you can show them a booking confirmation for NCT you'll likely be grand.

Once it passes NCT, you're done. Happy motoring. If it fails NCT, go to a mechanic, get everything they listed fixed and then put it through NCT again. It's up to you whether you want to get the car looked at by a mechanic before going through NCT the first time. I personally didn't, because my car passed MOT (the UK equivalent of NCT) a few months before I imported it and it was a 2008 car.

Thank you so much for going through the steps with such detail.

Blut2 · 15-10-2012 12:45PM

€4000 a year insurance
€1500 a year tax
€1.70 a litre petrol for a car that gets approx 20MPG
A convertible in Limerick
All the problems associated with having a left hand drive car in a RHD country

Without wanting to sound too negative...and all this for a Sebring? Not even a Corvette or Mustang or something else that would stand out in Europe? Why?

djimi · 15-10-2012 12:48PM

CiniO wrote: »

Eventually some insurer will have to quote him.
I think if he get's 3 refusals, he can apply somewhere (i can't remember where) and they have to find you insurer which will quote you.

It probably wouldnt come to that; theyll get a quote from someone like XS Direct who will insure just about anyone on anything. Theres nothing to say the quote they get wont be massive though with a ridiculous excess (I think I tried them for the craic a while back and they quoted me something like €3k with a €4k excess when I eventually got insurance for €700!).

djimi · 15-10-2012 12:50PM

progamer3054 wrote: »

That's not bad at all. I was forking out $8,000 a year for my Corvette back in Chicago.

Fair play if you can afford it! I think if I was going to pay that kind of money to insure a car Id want something a little more exciting than a Sebring (even in terms of US cars there would be several I would prefer) but each to their own and all that

FearDark · 15-10-2012 12:53PM

My good god. That is an absolute abortion of a car.

Bad bad bad bad idea OP.

progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 12:53PM

Blut2 wrote: »

€4000 a year insurance
€1500 a year tax
€1.70 a litre petrol for a car that gets approx 20MPG
A convertible in Limerick
All the problems associated with having a left hand drive car in a RHD country

Without wanting to sound too negative...and all this for a Sebring? Not even a Corvette or Mustang or something else that would stand out in Europe? Why?

-I have driven RHDs in the US as well as LHDs in Scotland. I can adjust easily.
-The money factor isn't bad at all.
- I own a 2000 Chrysler Sebring Convertible back home. Call me sentimental. Besides, it somewhat stands out.
- My corvette will be imported by next year. I definitely won't be driving it much though considering it gets around 16 mpg. I don't see the point of owning 2 Corvettes, do you?
- I would rather jump through a lot of hoops for a car that I actually like rather than settle for all of the *cough*ugly*cough* cars I've seen here.

progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 12:54PM

FearDark wrote: »

My good god. That is an absolute abortion of a car.

Bad bad bad bad idea OP.

I've said that to all of the cars (except the Audis) I've seen here.

progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 12:56PM

djimi wrote: »

Fair play if you can afford it! I think if I was going to pay that kind of money to insure a car Id want something a little more exciting than a Sebring (even in terms of US cars there would be several I would prefer) but each to their own and all that

Like I posted before, I have a Corvette being imported sometime within a year.

FearDark · 15-10-2012 12:57PM

progamer3054 wrote: »

- I would rather jump through a lot of hoops for a car that I actually like rather than settle for all of the *cough*ugly*cough* cars I've seen here.

Looks like a skip on wheels.

progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 01:00PM

FearDark wrote: »

Looks like a skip on wheels.

I actually have that exact convertible back in the states.

death1234567 · 15-10-2012 01:01PM

FearDark wrote: »

Looks like a skip on wheels.

Its clearly a Flip-flop with wheels, and an ugly one at that.

I actually have that exact convertible back in the states.

Leave it there, the picture alone is already causing me an eye injury.

progamer3054 · 15-10-2012 01:10PM

death1234567 wrote: »

Its clearly a Flip-flop with wheels, and an ugly one at that.

Leave it there, the picture alone is already causing me an eye injury.

I am leaving it at home. As I said, I decided to bring this one next year.

corktina · 15-10-2012 01:31PM

howardmarks wrote: »

1 arrange insurance with Irish insurer from the day your collecting the car
2 collect car
3 bring to local nct centre
4 pay Vrt
5 go get Irish plates
6 arrange motor tax

Drive

2.5 book appointment
5.5 book NCT test

awec · 15-10-2012 01:34PM

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djimi · 15-10-2012 01:50PM

progamer3054 wrote: »

I definitely won't be driving it much though considering it gets around 16 mpg. I don't see the point of owning 2 Corvettes, do you?

Have you researched how much the Sebring is going to cost to run? Bear in mind that petrol in this country is infinately more expensive than in the US and something with an 2.5l+ engine is not going to be economical to run.

Im not trying to put you off the Sebring; it would be a long way down my list of US cars to buy but each to their own! You do need to be fully aware of the running costs though. There are reasons why you see very few American cars on the roads over here, and its not just because Europeans seem to have a strong disliking of them! They usually work out very expensive to run.

colm_mcm · 15-10-2012 01:52PM

Do you need a PPS number to vrt a car?

Importing a Car from Northern Ireland

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