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Hi Thomas, 

It certainly will.

The NOx levy calculation has been tweaked slightly, as detailed in our How Much VRT is Paid in Ireland? feature, with the €15 per mg rate starting earlier on.

The changes to the VRT bands will also likely have an effect, but the largest change is the 'uplifting' of the CO₂ rating to WLTP-equivalent values.

For a petrol car, the new CO₂ rating = (old NEDC rating x 0.9227) + 34.554g/km

For a diesel car, the new CO₂ rating = (old NEDC rating x 1.1405) + 12.858g/km

This will significantly raise the CO₂ rating, putting the imported cars into a higher VRT band, with likely much higher costs.

We did such a calculation for another reader here if you're interested: Should I register my imported Mercedes now?

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Hi Joe,

I'm afraid Revenue is quite clear on this: "The VRT relieved becomes payable in full if you sell or dispose of the vehicle within 12 months following registration."

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Hi Paul,

First up, we believe that the SEAI grant is not changing for 2021.

The €5,000 VRT rebate should still be in place for the Corsa-e, as the government announced that it would be 'tapered' for EVs with an OMSP (Open Market Selling Price) of over €40,000 - up to zero rebate for EVs with an OMSP of €50,000 or more.

Hence, it won't matter if you buy the Corsa-e now or in the New Year.

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Hi Bill,

No, we don't think it will. That has yet to be confirmed, but it looks like the dropping of the VRT rebate will not be offset by the reduction in VRT rate (from 14.0 to 7.0 per cent), so it could be a few grand more expensive.

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Hi Maeve,

Assuming your car is taxed according to its engine size, then there will be no changes to its taxation from January 2021. If it's taxed according to its CO₂ emissions, it's possible that there will be a small increase, but nothing drastic. We don't have the full details of the new motor tax scheme as yet.

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Hi Kevin,

According to the Revenue website, it does only refer to TOR applications in the singular (one vehicle) sense. It does not explicitly state that you can or cannot do this for multiple vehicles; however, my understanding is that it is a one-off thing. That said, with the age of the bike, the VRT should only amount to €185 to register it here in Ireland. Generally, trikes such as the Goldwing are registered as motorcycles. 

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Hi Arunas,

We're written a guide called Guide to importing cars from the UK to help people like you. You'll need to scroll down through half of it as you already have the car bought, but once you've read that, if you still have questions, feel free to come ask us for more assistance.

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Hi Robert,

Getting insurance will probably be slightly tricky just because there aren’t many Jimnys on the ground here, so it’s not a well-known model for Irish insurers from an actuarial point of view. Then again, it’s no GTI so it shouldn’t be too bad. As for road legality, it’s fine — the Jimny was homologated for Europe, so it’s perfectly legal here.

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Hi Robert,

You should discuss this in more depth with a qualified accountant, but our understanding is that you cannot claim back the cost of buying your private car through the business. If the car is owned by the business and used exclusively for business use, that is a very different scenario, but it doesn't sound to me as if that's the case. If you go ahead with a private purchase of a car and the business is paying back the loan for you then we believe it would be seen as income and taxed accordingly. 

However, as you can claim back all business-related expenses, you should keep a record of all motoring expenses, such as fuel, tax, insurance, repairs, etc. as you may be able to claim back a large portion of the costs if you use the car for business a large portion of the time. 

As I said, it's best you talk this through with your accountant.

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Hi Philip,

The T5 hybrid version of the Volvo XC40 (read our review of it here) is front-wheel drive only, as you said, while the XC60 T8 hybrid (here's our review of that) has an electric motor on the rear axle, giving the car all-wheel drive at times. 

As to your second question, lane-keeping aid/assist technology is quite different to what Volvo calls Pilot Assist. The former can warn a driver if they're wandering out of lane and assist with a small steering correction if needs be, while Pilot Assist is an advanced for of active cruise control that also helps with steering inputs.