Importing a new car from Northern Ireland

S

soulman

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Given the current strength of the euro against sterling I am thinking about importing a new vehicle from Northern ireland into the south, given the higher spec on UK vehicles. I know I need to pay 21% vat and vrt on the new vehicle once I import it but my question relates to registration of the vehicle in the north. Some dealers up north have told me that the vehicle must be registered first in the north before it can be imported in the republic. Is it possible to import without registering the vehicle in the north? I know that for the reverse situation where someone from uk is buying a new car in the ROI, that temp registrations are available to allow the vehicle to be imported into the UK.
 
I have investigated the process for buying a new unregistered vehicle from Northern Ireland and importing it to the ROI.

At purchase the NI car dealer contacts the DVLNI local office in NI and request the issue of an export mark, this will be supplied and the car dealer will be responsible for the licensing and registration of the new vehicle.

If the new vehicle is to be used in NI until export, there is a 2 month period from registration, to allow for the export to be completed.

The purchaser of the new vehicle should be registered as the first keeper when full registration takes place in the ROI. The new vehicle would have a mark with the designation ZIA, Which denotes a personal export vehicle.

The purchaser of the vehicle will receive a registration document V5c showing the registration number as ZIA ****. This document is handed in to the Revenue Commissioner at the time of registration in the ROI.

The purchaser pays vat and VRT on the new vehicle in their friendly VRO office in the ROI and will receive a ROI registration number. The new registration documents should be received shortly thereafter from Shannon, Co. Clare.
 
Economically this idea simply doesn't work. VAT/VRT and possible cost of a new speedo in km/h makes it unattractive.
 
Disagree with you completely. I brought in a new Hyundai Santa Fe with a much higher spec than that available in the ROI for the same cost as the higest spec vehicle here. The spedo is in KMH and MPH. The vehicles up north have also a much better safety equipment kit out. A lot of those feature are stripped out here to keep the vehicle cost down.
 
Soulman is correct,friend of mine is bringing in a Nissan Qashqui brand
new just as outlined above cleared €4'500 cheaper than the main dealer down here.Dealers in the north are willing to do this.

Spread the word................................
 
One of the main reasons for the attractivness right now is the exchange rate. £20000 cost me €25400. I could have possibly done better if I had gone to XE.com.

Also, I got a 5 year, no milage limit warranty with the vehicle which is a european warranty i.e. it applies here in the ROI as well. The dealers here are giving only a 3 year, 100,000km warranty.
 
Hi Soulman

Well done on your purchase, sounds like an option worth looking into. On what basis was the VAT and VRT charged, was it on a standard price by VRO or based on the invoice price in the UK?
 
This does not make sense. Can you tell us what the VRT & VAT payments were?
 
Hi,

Are you sure you have to pay VAT as well as VRT? Wouldn't you be paying 17.5% british VAT?

Mahons
 
You have to pay VAT at 21% in ROI irrespective of whether you paid VAT elsewhere (if the vehicle is less than 6 months old). However the way that it worked for me was that I signed a VAT exemption form at the dealer in NI so I did not have to pay the 17.5% NI/UK VAT. In the ROI you then pay your 21% vat on the dealers invoice price (converted to euros). For my purchase, the vehicle cost £20,000. This converted to €25400. 21% VAT on this brought the price to €30734. I had to pay €13807 in VRT which left the car at €44541. The top spec version of the same vehicle here is list at €48750 and the best cash price quote I got was €45000. As I mentioned below, the top spec version here has considerably less equipment than the UK version and that was my main reason for purchasing up north.
 
Thanks for the detailed explanation Soulman and well done again. The extra 2 years Warranty is certainly useful also. Was the 20k sterling the List pre VAT price or was this the actual amount the dealer invoiced you for? Essentially I'm wondering if you pay VAT on the book price or the actual invoiced price?
 
Useful tip. Keep the currency exchange slip showing what you paid for the vehicle in euros. The currency exchange slip, the NI dealers invoice plus the v5c NI registration document is what you will need when clearing the vehicle in the ROI.
 
You pay VAT on the invoice price converted to Euros. The NI dealers invoice showed the pre-vat price which is what I paid i.e. £20,000. This is why it is important to keep your currency exchange slip as it showed what you paid for the vehicle in euros. If you are thinking of buying up north get a price from Hursts. They are dealers for several makes.
 
When paying your VRT, had you used the VRT Calculator on the Revenue website. If so, how close was the figure you got on the website compared with the actual figure payed.
 
soulman said:
You have to pay VAT at 21% in ROI irrespective of whether you paid VAT elsewhere (if the vehicle is less than 6 months old). However the way that it worked for me was that I signed a VAT exemption form at the dealer in NI so I did not have to pay the 17.5% NI/UK VAT. In the ROI you then pay your 21% vat on the dealers invoice price (converted to euros). For my purchase, the vehicle cost £20,000. This converted to €25400. 21% VAT on this brought the price to €30734. I had to pay €13807 in VRT which left the car at €44541. The top spec version of the same vehicle here is list at €48750 and the best cash price quote I got was €45000. As I mentioned below, the top spec version here has considerably less equipment than the UK version and that was my main reason for purchasing up north.
Click to expand...

How would this work if you were registered for Vat and if the vehicle was a commercial ie: €50.00 to bring it in to ROI?
 
I rang two VRO offices to get a VRT quote and I also used the VRT calculator and they were the same. Online VRT calc is good but its still best to double check.

I am no VAT expert so I cannot comment on Megan's query.
 
soulman
This sounds to good to be ture! I would be very interested in doing this myself as i am getting ready to buy an 08 car. I always taught you had to pay VAT up north and again down south with all new cars under 6mths or 6000 miles. Has this always been the case that we can avail of the vat exception up north & then pay the 21% vat here? do all dealers allow you to avail of the tax exemption form or just certian dealers.

Also did you have to pay extra VAT on the higher spec from up north? what maybe standard up north would be considered extra's here

Would really appricate any advise here.
thanks
 
Is there any vat payable for importing a 1 year old car or is it just the VRT payable? I think importing cars from UK will become a real issue if the rate remains the same.
 
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