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Hi Helen,

OK, first off there’s nothing to be concerned about. People who are temporarily resident in Ireland are allowed to bring their cars with them, and not have to re-register or fully import them for as long as 12 months. There are no forms to fill out, you just have to be able to show proof of address, purchase, tax, and insurance when and if you’re asked. Students who are studying in Ireland can keep cars with them for the duration of their studies, even if that exceeds 12 months, so there are clearly generally lenient rules when it comes to this. Given that your daughter is (a) intending to return to the UK when it is safe to do so and (b) effectively sheltering with you because of the pandemic, I wouldn’t be too concerned about having the car taken away nor anything like it.

Really, the only issue that would arise is if your daughter wanted to sell the car here, but if she’s going to keep it, I would say you’ve not much to worry about. 

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Hi Caroline,

Right, this is a bit of a tricky one. The good news, first off, is that there’s no issue with moving a car between England and Northern Ireland — no duties nor VAT to pay, all you have to do is inform the DVLA of the change of address.

Bringing that car south might then represent a difficulty, but it will depend on how long you wait between your registering the car in the North and bringing it south. Technically, Revenue have told us that there is no specific timeline when it comes to having a car registered in Northern Ireland and not having to pay import duty and VAT when importing that car into the Republic. However, they have also said that they will be carefully monitoring the paper trail of each car to ensure that no-one is trying to game the system. If there’s only going to be a short gap between you registering the car in the North and then importing it into the South, that could get antennae twitching at Revenue, even if you’re technically above board. 

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Hi John,

In my experience (I test a few hundred cars a year and I have three kids myself), your only proper options are people carriers, MPVs and larger SUVs. We ended up buying a Volkswagen Touran, which was absolutely excellent, but there are plenty of other cars with the same kind of space. The Tiguan Allspace, Skoda Kodiaq and SEAT Tarraco all are virtually the same as that inside and ideal for the job. Watch out for smaller SUVs, such as the Qashqai etc, as their rear seats are no wider or more accommodating than an average estate. 

Now, depending on whether you're using ISOFIX and how wide the child seats are, you might find an estate that will accommodate the three, so don't give up just yet. The only way to know for certain is to bring the seats with you to try out in the backs of a few cars at a dealer or wherever. The Skoda Superb Combi and VW Passat Combi would be worth a try for sure.

Please do let us know in the comments below how you get on.

Expert answer

Hi Mohammed,

If you mean changing the tax status on a van to a private car, then really all you have to do is ring up your local motor tax office, and tell them that you want to change the tax status of your vehicle. Insurance is the tricky part — some insurers don’t like covering vans being used as cars, so make sure you shop around carefully before you decide. 

Read Buying a commercial vehicle for private use for more.

Expert answer

Hi Justina,

Start-stop issues are common with a lot of cars and we get many queries about it. If your car is not being used much right now, then the battery may not be in great condition and that's a leading reason for stop-start problems. It could be something else of course. Your car should still be under warranty if you want to talk to your Hyundai dealer about it.

In the meantime, read Why won't my car's stop-start system work? on the subject.

Expert answer

Hi Seamus,

This is obviously a tricky decision, and we wish your wife all the best in coping with this. When it comes to ride quality, the most important factors are the stiffness, overall, of the suspension, the size of the wheels, and the sidewall depth of the tyres. Basically, smaller wheels and normal suspension is the rule of thumb if you’re trying to get a car with a soft ride quality.

SUVs are actually generally quite bad for ride quality. That sounds counter-intuitive, because of course they’re taller and have longer-travel suspension, but the problem is that the springs and dampers have to be stiffened up to prevent the higher centre of gravity from inducing too much body roll. I would therefore suggest that keeping away from SUVs would be a good bet.

That said, the Subaru Forester you’ve mentioned below does indeed have a soft ride quality, again as long as you avoid the larger alloy wheel options. Ditto the smaller Subaru XV, which is helpfully lower to the ground and can get away with slightly softer suspension rates. Citroen, of course, is famed for having pillowy-soft ride quality, and the current C5 Aircross is pretty soft and springy, and has great seats into the bargain. You should definitely look at a Toyota Camry as well (very soft, and again with great seats) and the Skoda Superb.

Avoid anything that has a sporty designation (S line, R-Line, M Sport etc) as that will almost automatically have stiffer springs and bigger wheels.

Hope that helps. Below are links to our reviews of the cars mentioned above:

Subaru Forester reviews

Citroen C5 Aircross reviews

Subaru XV reviews

Toyota Camry reviews

Skoda Superb reviews

Expert answer

Hi Maire,

Unfortunately, you might as well ask us how long a piece of string might be. Irish insurance companies are something of a law unto themselves, and the cost of insurance will depend more on you and your record than on the vehicle itself. On top of which, some of our readers have been telling us that they have been finding it difficult to get some insurers to cover commercial vehicles as private cars at all. Our advice is to get hold of a good broker, who can help you navigate through all this. 

Expert answer

Hi Russell,

If you like your current car then it’s definitely a good idea to bring it with you. Importing a vehicle as part of a change of address means that you won’t have to pay Vehicle Registration Tax, which is a significant saving. All you need is proof of the change of address, and proof of at least six months’ tax and insurance at your previous address.

Read our Guide to Importing Cars from the UK feature for more.

Expert answer

Hi Donal,

They’re not VRT exempt; it’s that Revenue applies a rebate of VRT, up to a maximum of €5,000, on an imported electric car, as long as it’s a regular production model, up to a maximum OMSP of €50,000 (that’s the current Irish market value as defined by Revenue). So, as a rough example, if the car you’re importing has an OMSP of €35,000, you’ll technically pay VRT of seven per cent, at €2,450, but that is obviously covered by the VRT rebate, so you effectively pay nothing. However, the car has an OMSP of €60,000, you’ll pay €4,200 in VRT and won’t get any rebate.

If you’re bringing a car in from the England, Scotland or Wales, even if it’s an EV, you’ll be liable for 21 per cent VAT (charged on the OMSP value) and ten per cent import duty (charged on what you paid for the car plus the costs of getting it here). If you're bringing it in from Northern Ireland, as long as it’s either previously been registered to a person or company resident in the North, or you’ve bought it from a dealer, then you won’t pay the import duty, and you’ll only be charged VAT if the car is younger than six months, or has fewer than 6,000km on the clock.

Expert answer

Hi Leanne,

In theory, no. According to Revenue’s official wording on this, you don’t have to pay either import duty nor VAT on a used car coming from Northern Ireland as long as it was either previously registered to a business or an individual resident in the North, or was sold to you by a car dealer whose business is registered and addressed in the North. In theory, the invoice for the car, issued by the dealership when you bought it, should cover you but just make sure you have as much paperwork as humanly possible to back you up.