Expert answer

Hi Hayley,

If the car was properly imported into the North by the current owner to be used in Northern Ireland (as opposed to being brought in for resale by a car dealer), and you can prove that, then no customs duty or VAT will be payable. If not, then VAT will indeed be 23 per cent, while customs duty is 10 per cent. Those will definitely be due if you bring the car from England, Scotland or Wales.

Either way you shouldn't have any VRT to worry about as there's up to €5,000 relief for cars worth less than €40,000 in Ireland.

Expert answer

Hi Chris,

Assuming the vehicles are registered in your name and you qualify for Transfer of Residence (ToR) relief, the following steps must be completed:

1 - Apply for ToR relief by following the steps on Revenue's Moving to live in Ireland from outside the EU page. After completing this, you'll receive a reference number or ToR approval letter, ensuring no customs duty or VAT are due. 

2 - Book an appointment at NCTS.ie to have the cars inspected. Even if eligible for ToR with no VRT due, you still need this step. You'll then get Irish registration numbers to get plates made. 

3 - Tax the cars on Motor Tax Online and the Irish registration certificates will come in the post. 

For the latter steps you'll need the following:

- Original V5C 'logbook' for the cars

- Proof of Irish address

- Photo ID

You should start the ToR process immediately as you are supposed to book an appointment with the NCTS within seven days of arrival in Ireland and then complete the process within 30 days.

One word of caution though, and perhaps it's worth a call to Revenue in Ireland on this, but the above guidelines are correct when bringing one car into Ireland that you own. There is no specific guidance in the public realm for bringing more than one vehicle with you. In theory it should make no difference how many cars you bring in, but it's worth checking that before you commit to the process to avoid unnecessary costs.

Do let us know how you get on.

Expert answer

Hi Caoimhe,

You've not told us your budget, as that will be the limiting factor given how few cars there are that can hold three baby seats in one row. The previous-generation Peugeot 5008 could manage it, for example, while the Audi Q7 and Volvo XC90 can as well and so can people carriers such as the SEAT Alhambra or Volkswagen Touran. Unfortunately, all of those are cars that usually happen to have three rows of seating as well so they may not appeal to you at all.

If you can get by without ISOFIX in the middle seat then you may find some wider cars can accept your three child seats, but it'll be a case of going to try them out for size with your seats in tow, as there's such variety between baby seats and the space between the buckles in the middle of the back seat of a car.

Ones that come to mind include the Skoda Superb and Volkswagen Tiguan, along with the new Cupra Terramar, for example.

If you want to come back to us with your budget and whether you're going new or used, we can try to come up with a few other potential candidates.

Expert answer

Hi Alex,

I'm afraid VRT rates are the same regardless of where the car comes from. They apply to the first time a car is registered in Ireland

Expert answer

Hi there,

If the V5 shows the WLTP CO₂ emissions, or the WLTP rate is available for the car in question, then that is what the VRT band will be based on. If the WLTP rate is not shown or not available then Revenue will apply an 'uplifting' formula to the CO₂ emissions figure in a bid to bring it up to a WLTP-equivalent value.

We go into more detail on the actual uplift formula etc. in our Guide to Importing Cars from the UK feature if you're interested, but don't hesitate to come back to us for more help if you need it.

Expert answer

Hi Norman,

In most cases, UK insurance companies do not classify a car brought over from Northern Ireland to Great Britain (England, Scotland, or Wales) as an import. This is because Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and cars registered there already meet UK standards.

Some insurers may ask if the car was first registered outside 'Great Britain' (which would mean those brought from Northern Ireland as well) and might require additional information. 

If the car was originally imported into Northern Ireland (e.g. from the Republic of Ireland or elsewhere), insurers might classify it as an import, but we wouldn't worry massively about that one.

Expert answer

Hi Alexander,

We've looked those cars up. Both are BMW M140i with slightly different specification, but both powered by the same 3.0-litre petrol engine. 

Using Revenue's website to check the tax rates by reg does indeed show the discrepancy you've found and it suggests that the 171 car's emissions are in the 101-110g/km range, which is just impossible with that engine. We're not sure how that could have happened.

Someone somewhere put the wrong details in the system for that car. 

Expert answer

Hi Kevin,

Looking at the facts first of all, the Grandland Electric and Scenic E-Tech electric start at roughly the same asking price, below €40,000 once all incentives are taken into consideration. However, for that price, the Grandland gets a 73kWh battery pack and an official range of up to 523 kilometres, while the Scenic's 60kWh battery means a range of 430km. The Grandland is more powerful as well, featuring a 213hp motor while a 170hp motor comes with the Scenic's smaller battery.

Nonetheless, that Scenic is a massive 300kg lighter than the Opel so it's actually faster accelerating, better to drive and a little more efficient.

The Scenic can be had with an 87kWh battery to extend the range to an official 625km, though that's more expensive again. On a three-year finance package that may not be an issue of course.

The Scenic is a bit smaller overall, with a length 200mm shy of the Grandland's, but it seems to be better packaged, as the interior is just as spacious and the boot, at 535 litres, is only 15 litres down on the Opel's. The better packaging is likely to do with the fact the Grandland underpinnings were developed to accept engines as well an electric powertrain, while the Scenic is only offered as an EV.

Both feel of good quality inside, though we much rather the infotainment and dashboard layout of the Renault. On the road, we also prefer how the Scenic drives.

Hopefully all that is of help, but don't hesitate to come back to us if you need more.

The best advice we can give you is to go and test drive the cars before you make any decision.

Expert answer

Hi Lorraine,

There really is a lot of choice out there, but we will try to help you narrow things down.

With your car as a trade-in, and the €16,000 budget on top, we'll look for cars up to about €27,000.

First up, narrowing the search to automatic SUVs post-2021 really limits your options to the Nissan Qashqai, which isn't very powerful, the Peugeot 3008 (which is quite rare) or the Skoda Karoq and Volkswagen Tiguan. The latter two are potentially worth a look as they're built on much the same underpinnings as your Ateca and their 2.0 TDI engines have plenty of go. There aren't many of them about with automatic gearboxes though.

Removing the constraint on that opens up the options considerably and one car that stands out for us right away is the Mazda CX-5. It's perhaps not as common as some others, but it's great to drive in particular and it should tick all your other boxes. Try to get hold of one to test drive for yourself.

A newer Ateca is of course an option, and we're big fans of the SEAT, but all the newer ones we found haven't a very powerful engine.

The Peugeot 3008 is another car we like and would encourage you to try it out for size. There are plenty of them about with a manual gearbox.

All of these should have the niceties you're looking for as well.

Come back to us if you need help narrowing your search further, or if you want our opinions on any other alternative to the above.

Expert answer

Hi Neil,

For cars, the motor tax band is determined by the CO₂, as you said, but for vans it works differently. When a van is used purely for commercial reasons it's a flat rate of €333, but if the van is actually to be used for any private reasons, it has to be taxed as a private vehicle.

And for some bizarre reason, the rate it is then taxed at is determined not by its CO₂ rating, but by its engine size. Hence the weird situation you've described above where the Peugeot van's engine (1,501-1,600cc in size) means it costs €514 a year to tax for private use, while the CO₂ emissions of the Rifter (141-150g/km) mean it only costs €270 a year. 

Hopefully that explains what's happening anyway, weird as it seems.