Irish car buyers could be saving an average of €4,669 by importing their car from the UK. That is the result of a new CompleteCar.ie investigation using the five models most imported into the country in 2013. With used car stock low due to a drop in new car sales since 2008 a lot of dealers have resorted to buying cars in the UK to plug the gaps on their forecourts, but buyers could be saving themselves a tidy sum by bypassing the dealer and doing the legwork for themselves.
The savings achievable on popular family cars like the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf was found to be as much as €3,452 for a 2010 car, with a BMW 520d M Sport available for some €8,923 less in the UK. Even on nearly new cars there are savings to be made: the Volkswagen Passat, for example - the only car to appear on both the used and new car imports list from SIMI - is available for €5,149 less across the Irish Sea.
A strict set of criteria was drawn up stating that cars are like-for-like in age, mileage and specification; all cars must be available from a dealer forecourt and a fixed fee of €900 was included in all 'purchases' for vehicle inspections, Cartell.ie car history checks and transportation costs.
According to SIMI the five most popular imports last year were:
1. Ford Focus
2. Volkswagen Golf
3. Volkswagen Passat
4. Audi A4
5. BMW 5 Series
This research was carried out by CompleteCar.ie to launch its new Guide to Importing Cars from the UK, found online at www.completecar.ie/importing.
So how much exactly can be saved by importing one of these cars from the UK? Example calculations are below, based at the time of writing on list prices of average, comparable cars found in Ireland on Carzone.ie and in the UK on Auto Trader.
2010 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi hatchback
Irish price: €13,250
UK price: £6,986 (or €8,328)
VRT on 1.6-litre TDCi Style: €2,221
Fixed fees: €900
Total UK price: €11,449
Potential saving: €1,801
2010 Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI 90
Irish price: €15,950
UK price: £8,190 (or €9,763)
VRT on 1.6-litre TDI: €1,835
Fixed fees: €900
Total UK price: €12,498
Potential saving: €3,452
2014 Volkswagen Passat
Not only is the Volkswagen Passat the third most popular used import, it also features on the new import list so let's see if we can get a new version (or pre-registered with minimal mileage at least) into Ireland for less than dealers are advertising them. A word of caution - any car less than six months old and with less than 6,000 miles on the clock is liable for VAT in addition to VRT so you will need to get the UK dealer to supply the car VAT-free and pay the VAT at the Vehicle Registration Office. This throws up another issue in that no VAT equals no registration. No registration equals no tax and no tax equals a confiscated vehicle if the British Transport Police happen upon you driving the car to the ferry port. With this in mind we've added a €600 trailer fee to our fixed costs.
Irish price: €32,975
UK price: £15,000 (£18,000 minus UK VAT at 20%) - or €17,882
VAT at 23%: €4,113
VRT on 1.6-litre TDI R Line: €4,331*
Fixed fees: €1,500
Total UK price: €27,826
Potential saving: €5,149
2012 Audi A4
Irish price: €25,975
UK price: £14,250 (or €16,988)
VRT on 2.0 TDI SE: €4,068
Fixed fees: €900
Total UK price: €21,956
Potential saving: €4,019
BMW 520d M Sport
Irish price: €46,495
UK price: £24,599 (or €29,325)
VRT on 520d M Sport: €7,347
Fixed fees: €900
Total UK price: €37,572
Potential saving: €8,923
The VRT figures used above were obtained using Revenue's own VRT online calculator, which should be taken as an estimate only. It does not take into consideration optional extras, which will push up the price of the VRT further. Before committing to a purchase a buyer should obtain a detailed specification of the car and discuss the likely VRT bill with Revenue.
* At the time of writing, the model of Passat found for sale in the UK, the R-Line, was not listed within the VRT online calculator. A phone call to Revenue resulted in a VRT estimate of €4,331 based on the Highline model.