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Hi Roisin,

You’ll be exempt from VAT as the car has done more than 4,000km, but not VRT I’m afraid as you’ve owned it for less than six months. 

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Hi Anshul,

Ok, let’s take those one by one. As far as a fair price is concerned, you haven’t given us a year for the car, but I’m going to assume it’s a 2016 model. That would put a fair price, in Ireland, if about €15,000 give or take. There’s no issue buying a UK car that has already been registered in Ireland.

Fuel economy should be fine — you can expect to get around 45-50mpg from a 1.7 Optima. 

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Hi Pat,

Well, generally speaking, it won’t matter, as, if a vehicle is older than six months or has more than 6,000km on the clock, it won’t be chargeable for VAT anyway. The benefit you will get is that you won’t have to pay VRT. Just fill out a form with Revenue to get a Letter of Authorisation with the car’s VIN number and you won’t be charged any VRT at all.

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Hi Catherine,

It’ll depend on the engine size. I’m guessing it uses the Fiat 1.9-litre M-Jet engine? If so, it’ll cost €673 a year to tax privately. 

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Hi Sally,

That’ll vary from lease to lease. Generally speaking, if it’s being leased by a company and they’re giving you use of the car as a company vehicle, they’ll pay the running costs, usually minus fuel. If it’s a case of you being given a car-buying budget as part of a job package, generally you’ll pay for all that stuff, and if you’re buying a car for yourself on a PCP finance deal (which is effectively a personal lease) you cover them too.

There are always differences and details, though, and car makers (Volvo especially) are starting to move towards a mobile-phone style system whereby you pay one monthly fee that covers everything, and change and upgrade your car at regular intervals.

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Hi there,

No on both I’m afraid. The Toyota RAV4 is currently available with a 5.5 per cent APR PCP plan, with repayments of €282 per month (that’s a representative example, of course), and the Kia is available on a 3.9 per cent APR PCP or HP plan, with repayments of €542 per month (assuming a 30 per cent deposit or trade-in).

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Hi Rebecca,

Well, we can’t guarantee that there will be no parts issues, as despite being broadly the same car, there are bound to be a few market-specific differences between the two cars. Also, you’re not going to be able to get parts in your local Opel dealer, so if they’re going to go ahead with it, then I think joining a good owners’ club would be a good idea — always a great source of information, parts and help. As for legality, it should be fine, but you will need to check that the engine used in the South African market will meet 1990-era European emissions standards. 

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Hi Paul,

I think in this case, tax is the more serious issue than insurance. From what you’ve explained, you’re planning to tax your SUV as a commercial vehicle, but still use it for private and domestic tasks, and that I’m afraid is a big no-no. It’s specifically prohibited to use a vehicle taxed as a commercial for private, domestic, or pleasure purposes, and that leaves you open to a pretty hefty fine. As for insurance, you can always shop around to find a policy that suits you better, but as always it’s best to be up front and honest with them to avoid any issues down the line if you need to make a claim. Different insurers will have different policies for commercial and private vehicle insurance, and you might be better off finding a good broker who specialises in such mixed-use policies. 

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Hi Francis,

The cost of the parts and the labour will vary considerably depending on where you get the work done and where the parts are bought from. We can tell you that the work, on the 1.2-litre petrol engine, should take about five hours in total.

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Hi Rob,

Yes, if you have registered the car to your London address, and can show proof of continuous tax and insurance for six months prior to your move, then you’ll be able to avoid VRT when you import it here. On the Discovery Commercial, you’ll be looking at rather more than €200 VRT to import it, I’m afraid. N1 and Cat B commercial vehicles don’t pay a flat rate any more, they pay 13.3 per cent of the Open Market Selling Price, or the Irish market price as defined by Revenue. The same will go for a crew-cab, and 13.3 per cent is the lowest possible rate of VRT.