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

Creamy Goodness · 25-02-2020 7:12am

Quick question;

Heading over on Thursday 8am Liverpool flight to buy in Chester and hoping to be back on the Holyhead 14:00 ferry.

I assume once I have the log book and it states the car is being exported if I get stopped with no tax this should be ok right? Or should I get a letter from dealership stating I just bought?

deezell · 25-02-2020 7:56am

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Quick question;

Heading over on Thursday 8am Liverpool flight to buy in Chester and hoping to be back on the Holyhead 14:00 ferry.

I assume once I have the log book and it states the car is being exported if I get stopped with no tax this should be ok right? Or should I get a letter from dealership stating I just bought?

V5 Log book wont be altered. Dealer may fill in and remove the export slip, but thats not of consequence. Youll have the sales invoice wirh your non UK address, and your ferry booking.
The only reason you might be concerned about being stopped is because the car is not road taxed. Most dealers will advise/insist on this, a full year which you can refund, or a year on monthly standing order, (only works with UK accounts or now with revolut), which you can cancel. It can be a trivial amount, £20 for a year for low emissions like a C class 2.2D.
You can just drive the car to the ferry and chance it, worst that could happen is its impounded, but more likely be waved on.

Creamy Goodness · 25-02-2020 8:06am

Yeah my only concern is tax. The car I’m buying is a ex-demo A5 4.0tsfi sline 2019 with 11k miles on it and I think the tax is out on it/or probably never taxed. If they insist on it is it something they can help me with or do I just ring DVLA?

CPTM · 25-02-2020 8:23am

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Yeah my only concern is tax. The car I’m buying is a ex-demo A5 4.0tsfi sline 2019 with 11k miles on it and I think the tax is out on it/or probably never taxed. If they insist on it is it something they can help me with or do I just ring DVLA?

The dealer helped me with tax on the day. They had all the paperwork ready and we drove down to the post office. I bought 6 months and apparently there's a way to get 5 months back as soon as its marked as exported. The post office bit took about 5 minutes - I'd recommend asking them to have the paper work ready.

deezell · 25-02-2020 8:24am

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Yeah my only concern is tax. The car I’m buying is a ex-demo A5 4.0tsfi sline 2019 with 11k miles on it and I think the tax is out on it/or probably never taxed. If they insist on it is it something they can help me with or do I just ring DVLA?

I think motor tax is not transferable, but the DVLA records of export/ change of owner wont be updated by the time you hit the ferry, if it was a private sale it would be recorded as taxed. Garage will do tax online and you can pay them. A5 4.0 tfsi might be a bit more than £20pa.!

mickdw · 25-02-2020 1:31pm

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Yeah my only concern is tax. The car I’m buying is a ex-demo A5 4.0tsfi sline 2019 with 11k miles on it and I think the tax is out on it/or probably never taxed. If they insist on it is it something they can help me with or do I just ring DVLA?

Do you mean Audi A5 40 tfsi?

Creamy Goodness · 25-02-2020 1:43pm

mickdw wrote: »

Do you mean Audi A5 40 tfsi?

yeah sorry part tiredness and part force of habit, engine is a 2.0 petrol.

deezell · 25-02-2020 2:58pm

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

yeah sorry part tiredness and part force of habit, engine is a 2.0 petrol.

Annual tax is £145, £80 for six months, but if the car was over £40k new, its an extra £320 from year 2 to 6, so if you're into second tax year in 2020, that's £465. Not sure if its all refundable on export, or just the portion of the £145.

crystalbrite · 25-02-2020 11:51pm

Have we lost the main sticky post on the front 1st page?

There's now only 9 pages in total for this thread that I can see.
Did it run over a max number of pages limit?

crystalbrite · 26-02-2020 12:05am

From the revenue link below it says car imported car must be registered within 30 days, otherwise fines will be applied.

"Additional VRT is charged when a vehicle is not registered within 30 days"

https://www.revenue.ie/en/importing-vehicles-duty-free-allowances/guide-to-vrt/calculating-vrt/additional-vrt.aspx

I have also seen from link below that you must have your car booked in for an appointment at the NCTS within 7 days of its arrival in Ireland for a VRT inspection.

Is there a fine if I'm later than the 7 days?
The way things are working out is that I might have the car imported while I'm out of the country. I may not be able to get it done within the 7 days but I will be able to pay VET etc. within the 30 days.

"An appointment to have your vehicle inspected must be made within 7 days of the vehicle entering the State in order to register and pay the VRT (and any other tax liabilities due on the vehicle). You must then complete the registration process within 30 days of arriving in the State."

https://www.ncts.ie/1155

Creamy Goodness · 26-02-2020 7:54am

I read that as you just have to make the appointment within seven days and then complete it within the 30 days. You don’t have to have the car inspected within seven days but within 30. The VRT is due when you have the car inspected at the nct centre.

peneau · 26-02-2020 11:13am

I had my VRT assessment on Friday last in Tallaght. I Imported from UK on February 7th and I booked the VRT appointment online on the 8th February. I choose 21 February as my preferred appointment date brought the car up on Friday morning, car was inspected (that took about 5 minutes), paid the VRT+Nox amount, whole process was completed in less than 30 minutes.

crystalbrite · 26-02-2020 12:25pm

crystalbrite wrote: »

Have we lost the main sticky post on the front 1st page?

There's now only 9 pages in total for this thread that I can see.
Did it run over a max number of pages limit?

Is anyone else seeing this or just me?
Does a new sticky need to be made?

Isambard · 26-02-2020 12:54pm

crystalbrite wrote: »

Is anyone else seeing this or just me?
Does a new sticky need to be made?

Seems to be only 9 pages starting in mid february now.

LillySV · 28-02-2020 8:30am

Lads the exchange rate is .8541p to a euro this morning vs .82 p over a week ago... should any potential buyers be changing their currency over now!? I feel greedy and thinking it might get better again! Makes a massive difference....I very nearly bought something last week while in uk for 20k... I reckon it would be 5-600 quid cheaper this week now!

Creamy Goodness · 28-02-2020 8:33am

Exchange when you’re ready to buy and not on weekends (Revolut lowers their rate to cover major fluctuations on weekends).

Whilst the savings might be good you’re better off not thinking about it all too much cause otherwise you’d never buy and you’d hold off for it to get a little bit better again and again.

LillySV · 28-02-2020 8:45am

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Exchange when you’re ready to buy and not on weekends (Revolut lowers their rate to cover major fluctuations on weekends).

Whilst the savings might be good you’re better off not thinking about it all too much cause otherwise you’d never buy and you’d hold off for it to get a little bit better again and again.

Who was the dealer you bought from Chester and you find em good?

crystalbrite · 28-02-2020 9:08am

LillySV wrote: »

Lads the exchange rate is .8541p to a euro this morning vs .82 p over a week ago... should any potential buyers be changing their currency over now!? I feel greedy and thinking it might get better again! Makes a massive difference....I very nearly bought something last week while in uk for 20k... I reckon it would be 5-600 quid cheaper this week now!

I'm planning on purchasing in the next few days too. Not sure whether to exchange now or next Monday

Has anyone signed up for revolut premium, done the transfer and then cancelled after?
I heard there was a cancellation fee but they don't back charge you for any exchanges you made do they?

Creamy Goodness · 28-02-2020 9:44am

LillySV wrote: »

Who was the dealer you bought from Chester and you find em good?

Audi Chesire Oaks. I found them ok tbh not great but not terrible either. They were super stingy, no discount not even a tank of fuel best they could do was 10L of fuel. The final bill came to £xx,x15, and they wouldn't even not that £15 off. The car wasn't valet I thought it would be and there's a small nick in the squidgey material in the back door interior (nothing major).

However I bloody _love_ the car, I picked it up at 10am yesterday and I've had a permanent smile on my face since.

deezell · 28-02-2020 12:23pm

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Audi Chesire Oaks. I found them ok tbh not great but not terrible either. They were super stingy, no discount not even a tank of fuel best they could do was 10L of fuel. The final bill came to £xx,x15, and they wouldn't even not that £15 off. The car wasn't valet I thought it would be and there's a small nick in the squidgey material in the back door interior (nothing major).

However I bloody _love_ the car, I picked it up at 10am yesterday and I've had a permanent smile on my face since.

The tfsi engine is a joy, I had it in my previous A6 coupled to the multitronic (CVT) transmission, which unfortunately went out of production after 2010. The DSG is still a fine replacement. You'll be at high risk of collecting tickets with the addictive acceleration , especially in S mode, assuming it's an auto box. Njoy!

Creamy Goodness · 28-02-2020 12:25pm

deezell wrote: »

The tfsi engine is a joy, I had it in my previous A6 coupled to the multitronic (CVT) transmission, which unfortunately went out of production after 2010. The DSG is still a fine replacement. You'll be at high risk of collecting tickets with the addictive acceleration , especially in S mode, assuming it's an auto box. Njoy!

It's an auto, well semi-auto technically. I'm still taking it easy with it for the time being getting used to a bigger sized car (was a 116i before this). Looking forward to doing some good driving in this thing :pac:

LillySV · 28-02-2020 12:26pm

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Audi Chesire Oaks. I found them ok tbh not great but not terrible either. They were super stingy, no discount not even a tank of fuel best they could do was 10L of fuel. The final bill came to £xx,x15, and they wouldn't even not that £15 off. The car wasn't valet I thought it would be and there's a small nick in the squidgey material in the back door interior (nothing major).

However I bloody _love_ the car, I picked it up at 10am yesterday and I've had a permanent smile on my face since.

Nice machine. Unfortunately they all like that on the money ... alot of em under the same group .... Evan halshaw, Stratton.... etc.... afew sales guys told me they can’t.... prices set by around 80 guys in Nottingham who constantly monitor prices

Creamy Goodness · 28-02-2020 12:35pm

LillySV wrote: »

Nice machine. Unfortunately they all like that on the money ... alot of em under the same group .... Evan halshaw, Stratton.... etc.... afew sales guys told me they can’t.... prices set by around 80 guys in Nottingham who constantly monitor prices

yup I was happy enough paying what I paid, was about €2000 cheaper than similarly specced cars in the UK and about €7000 cheaper than similarly specced cars in N.I. and the kicker, similarly specced car is about €43-45k in Ireland, after everything I'll land this for approximately €37k.

LillySV · 28-02-2020 2:13pm

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

yup I was happy enough paying what I paid, was about €2000 cheaper than similarly specced cars in the UK and about €7000 cheaper than similarly specced cars in N.I. and the kicker, similarly specced car is about €43-45k in Ireland, after everything I'll land this for approximately €37k.

I think there’s great savings on changing over petrol machines to here as nox isn’t an issue and vrt isn’t bad on them

bazz26 · 28-02-2020 2:15pm

LillySV wrote: »

I think there’s great savings on changing over petrol machines to here as nox isn’t an issue and vrt isn’t bad on them

The flip side is that a diesel might be cheaper to buy in the UK as they are not in vogue.

LillySV · 28-02-2020 2:37pm

bazz26 wrote: »

The flip side is that a diesel might be cheaper to buy in the UK as they are not in vogue.

Not cheap enough for me last week when I was there! Haha ... might be cheaper in March perhaps

LillySV · 29-02-2020 1:36am

crystalbrite wrote: »

I'm planning on purchasing in the next few days too. Not sure whether to exchange now or next Monday

Has anyone signed up for revolut premium, done the transfer and then cancelled after?
I heard there was a cancellation fee but they don't back charge you for any exchanges you made do they?

Sorry only seen this now. I signed up last week thinking I would definitely be buying car then ....anyways when signing up I followed instructions where I had to pick a card type to be sent out...
went to cancel card yesterday before 14 days are up and having used none of the premium features... thought they couldn’t charge me... 25 euro card fee they want to cancel!!! And while talking to them in web chat (which took over two days to find out what the charge was for -the card) a guy says I shouldn’t have followed that upgrade guide ... he reckoned there was another way where you don’t have to follow their promps and order a card... in that case you wouldn’t then have to pay for the card.... I upgraded on the app the only way I seen and I had to order the card then!
Anyways I’ll stick with the 12 months subscription as The 25 quid charge equates to 3 and a half months charge and the difference in the other 9 months I’d have to pay would be less than what fee I’m likely to be charged if I did downgrade and then decide to use their transfer services to buy car in a month or two time. I am pissed about the way they did it and their 25 pound fee for a card though!! I remember others here mentioning transferwise before...Look into that option too ... I’m sorry I didn’t

crystalbrite · 29-02-2020 2:05am

LillySV wrote: »

Sorry only seen this now. I signed up last week thinking I would definitely be buying car then ....anyways when signing up I followed instructions where I had to pick a card type to be sent out...
went to cancel card yesterday before 14 days are up and having used none of the premium features... thought they couldn’t charge me... 25 euro card fee they want to cancel!!! And while talking to them in web chat (which took over two days to find out what the charge was for -the card) a guy says I shouldn’t have followed that upgrade guide ... he reckoned there was another way where you don’t have to follow their promps and order a card... in that case you wouldn’t then have to pay for the card.... I upgraded on the app the only way I seen and I had to order the card then!
Anyways I’ll stick with the 12 months subscription as The 25 quid charge equates to 3 and a half months charge and the difference in the other 9 months I’d have to pay would be less than what fee I’m likely to be charged if I did downgrade and then decide to use their transfer services to buy car in a month or two time. I am pissed about the way they did it and their 25 pound fee for a card though!! I remember others here mentioning transferwise before...Look into that option too ... I’m sorry I didn’t

I think I made the same mistake you did, card ordered even though I didn't want another one. I'm going to buy a car anyway on Monday so it'll be worth it for that and I've also some other stuff in a month or two that I'll need it for. Was hoping to cancel it after that for what I thought might be a 14e.

LillySV · 29-02-2020 10:45am

crystalbrite wrote: »

I think I made the same mistake you did, card ordered even though I didn't want another one. I'm going to buy a car anyway on Monday so it'll be worth it for that and I've also some other stuff in a month or two that I'll need it for. Was hoping to cancel it after that for what I thought might be a 14e.

Exactly, if it makes the car purchase process easier, then frig it. U have deposit on a car?

travist · 29-02-2020 7:00pm

Is there any problem to import from UK if the car was previously a Japanese, or say Isle of Man, import to GB?

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

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