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Hi Dave,

Sounds to us like you're the perfect candidate for going fully electric, though the biggest question to answer is whether or not you can easily get a home charger installed. Even with low annual mileage, it would be a real pain to have to exclusively use the public charging network, never mind the fact that it's much more expensive than charging up at home.

For the few longer trips you take a year, you'll use public chargers. The network is far from perfect, but it's improving all the time and only when you have to do a very long journey in a hurry does it become annoying.

In summary, so long as you can get a home charger, we'd recommend you go electric. It's a great ownership experience and you'll never go back.

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Hi John,

Yes, you will get a full year of the NCT. Once the previous cert has expired, the next test is the starting point for the new one, regardless of ownership.

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Hi Lee,

That generation of Kuga is generally quite dependable, certainly with the diesel engine. Just make sure that all the warning lights are working when you switch on the ignition and that they go off quickly when the engine is running. You want to make sure that the DPF isn't clogged, as that's relatively low mileage for the year.

For the same reason, make sure you take it for a decent test drive and ensure that there's no hesitation in the acceleration or in how the engine runs. Top tip: try to test drive other examples of the same car from other sellers so you get a feel for what it should drive like.

It isn't quite due a timing belt change yet, but no harm trying to get the seller to do that for you before you make the deal. Our data shows it's due once the car is either over 10 years old or has done 200,000km.

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Hi Donal,

Only via the touchscreen. The driver can do it using the steering wheel buttons as well.

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Hi there,

As the car you're looking at has been in use all its life in the North - and I presume you can prove that - then there should not be any import duty or VAT payable on its importation south of the border. You will have to pay VRT of course. 

Always check your facts directly with Revenue before committing to a purchase.

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Hi Noel, 

We certainly would - we believe it's crucial for using an EV efficiently in winter in Ireland. As you probably know, unfortunately the heat pump is an optional extra across the ID.3 lineup, even on the GTX.

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Hi Ciarán,

Revenue does not make the information as easy to understand as it could. To clarify one thing straight away, you cannot get around paying the VRT – that's required no matter what and is not affected at all by how long the Caddy has been in use in the North.

It's the Irish VAT (and import duty) that are potentially not required if the vehicle has been in use in the North for, as Revenue says, “a reasonable amount of time”. Essentially, so long as you can prove that it was not just imported into the North to be sold on for export to the South, it's fine. You'll need paperwork to show this, such as MOTs from the North. Prove that and you will only pay VRT.

If you cannot prove this, the van will be subject to Irish VAT at 23 per cent and import duty at 10 per cent.

However, it should be possible to get the seller to zero-rate the van for VAT so long as they're not selling it through the VAT Margin Scheme. To do that they will need proof of export, so they may require more details, and possibly even payment of the VAT up front to be refunded once you can prove the van has been taken out of the country. Then you'll pay Irish VAT and import duty based on the ex-VAT UK price.

Talk to the seller to find out more and feel free to come back to us to clarify any of these points.

Expert answer

Hi Brendan,

It certainly sounds like electric power would suit you, though if you decide against, the Skoda Octavia is an excellent car.

I'm assuming the cars listed mean a budget of nearly €40,000. There are better options out there than the ID.4. You could get a nearly new Cupra Tavascan, for example, or the smaller Cupra Born if you want to keep the price down or stay away from SUVs altogether.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an excellent car as well, as is the Ioniq 6, though the latter's styling is not to all tastes. The Kia EV6 is along the same lines and it's more a crossover than an SUV.

You could also afford brand-new examples of the Peugeot E-308 and MG4, both conventional five-door hatchbacks.

Come back to me with your thoughts on all these and we can discuss it further.

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Hi Leif,

Every garage will have a different hourly rate or fixed price for such a job, and the price of the parts will even vary from place to place so we can't hope to definitively say how much that would cost.

We can tell you that the job is a solid three hours of work.

Expert answer

Hi Dee,

Hybrids such as the Juke have very small batteries and can therefore only drive on electric power for very short distances. If you're in stop-start traffic, it might use the battery for most of the time, but if the traffic is free-flowing and the speeds are higher, then it will not.

Unfortunately, the Juke Hybrid does not give a readout showing how much time is spent using the battery alone so you can't monitor it accurately.

If you drive slower, the car will use the battery more in town. Likewise, less use of the heating or air conditioning should mean less need for the engine to start up.

Bear in mind through all this that most of the energy used to charge up that battery comes from the engine itself, so it's not free energy.

Choose the Eco driving mode for maximum efficiency, but really, it will come down to your driving style as much as anything else.