Expert answer

Hi Ryan,

As a commercial vehicle, the VRT on the L200 pickup should be 13.3 per cent of the Open Market Selling Price (OMSP), which is the price Revenue in Ireland believes the vehicle to be worth on the Irish market.

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Hi Diarmuid,

If you've owned the car and used it in Australia for at least six months before moving home, then you should have no taxation to pay on importing it into Ireland. Obviously, you'll have shipping costs and a small fee for re-registration, but no VRT, VAT or import duty should apply so long as you are eligible according to the official Transfer of Residence (ToR) rules. Check out Revenue's Transfer of Residence website for full details.

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Hi Michael,

Assuming it has been registered and used in the North “for a reasonable period of time” (Revenue’s words, generally accepted to mean more than three months), then no VAT or import duty should be payable, and as the car is over 30 years old the VRT is a flat €200.

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Hi Anita,

Whether you won it or not, you will still be liable for all costs to import the vehicle and register it in the South. From the information you've given, we believe you'd only have VRT to pay. 

However, you will need to book an appointment to have the vehicle inspected at an NCT centre within seven days of it arriving in Ireland and you have 30 days to complete the procedure. I.e. you'll have to pay VRT on it as a passenger car if that's what it was on arriving in Ireland.

You can of course do the conversion afterwards. 

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Hi Anita,

I'm not sure we have all the information here, but if I understand it correctly, it's a UK or Northern Ireland registered car that you've won and you're living in Ireland.

If it is registered as a passenger car then you'll have to import it as that and pay VRT and the NOx levy at least. If it was used in the North by someone other than a car dealer then that should be it, but if it has come from England, Scotland or Wales then you'll also have to pay VAT and import duty. 

With such an old diesel, the NOx levy could be up to €4,850, and I'm not sure how you calculated €400 for VRT. It's likely to be in the top band at 41 per cent of the Open Market Selling Price (i.e. the value Revenue places on the car in Ireland). Even if it's deemed to be worth only €5,000 (which is unlikely), the VRT would be €2,050.

If you decide to pay all these costs and register the Shogun here, then you can go about converting it to a commercial SUV, but that won't be cheap either I'm afraid as the work has to be certified afterwards.

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Hi Philip,

The Prius is due to land in Ireland in June so I'd expect cars available to test in dealers by early July. Have you seen our first drive review of the car?

And yes, you're right about the Mitsubishi - the brand is no longer being sold here.

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Hi Gary,

If our data is correct, that should be in Band B2 for tax because of its 139g/km emissions. That means €280 per annum.

Things might change in tomorrow's Budget of course...

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Hi Jack,

Motor tax for a 2008 Mitsubishi L200 is going to be chunky, because it is powered by a 2.5-litre engine and, when taxing a commercial as a private car, you have to revert to the old by-engine-capacity tax system, so it’s €1,080 a year.

As for getting it changed over, all you have to do is ring up your local motor tax office and tell them what you want to do, and they’ll guide you through the process.

As for insurance, as ever in Ireland it’s think of a number and double it, but there are some specialist van insurers out there (InsureMyVan for example) who might be able to work out a better quote. Shop around is our advice.

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Hi Sue,

It's unlikely that your car will pass the NCT in that state. It's very possible that the rubber boots over the CV joints have been damaged and the car could be declared to have a dangerous defect, which means you would not be allowed to drive it away from the NCT centre. This is a safety issue, not just a noise problem, so you really shouldn't drive the car until you get it fixed.

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Hi Alan,

The problem here is that you’re trying to do some of it through the company and some of it yourself, which to be honest doesn’t really work. First off, if you want to use the company (or individual’s) VAT number then the car is going to have to be registered to them, not to you. In theory you can tax a vehicle commercially without a VAT number, but in practice it’s tricky, and if you get caught using it for any social, domestic, or pleasure use then there are big fines ahoy.