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Hi John,

Everything we know about it so far is in this news article, including a video we produced showing the updated car: Toyota bZ4X updated for 2025.

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Hi Steven,

We can help you estimate it, but please do note that it is only an estimate and you're kind of at the mercy of Revenue.

First up, we can be certain that car will be in the top band for VRT due to its CO₂ emissions, so that means VRT at 41 per cent.

That's 41 per cent of the so-called Open Market Selling Price (OMSP), which is the value Revenue reckons the car is worth following registration in Ireland.

It's a tricky thing to guess for a rare car such the F-Type, but for the purposes of our calculations let's say it's €45,000. That would mean VRT of €18,450.

The NOx levy is separate to that, but small in comparison.

And if you're bringing the car from England, Scotland or Wales them you'll also be hit with VAT at 23 per cent and import duty at 10 per cent (though these are calculated from the 'customs value' of the car, not the OMSP).

Most cars coming from Northern Ireland shouldn't be liable for VAT or import duty, within certain restrictions.

Make sure you do your homework on all this before committing to bringing the car in.

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Hi Cathal,

We'd be fools to suggest that you can be 100 per cent sure you won't have a problem if you do x, y and z, I'm afraid as there's just no guarantees with DPFs.

Saying that, modern cars such as the Tucson and Octavia you mentioned have way better DPF regen logic than they used to, along with more sophisticated exhaust monitoring than before so that's a good start, as is knowing the type of driving that's needed for diesel cars with DPFs – as you've indicated you understand.

You could ask the dealer selling the car (assuming you're not buying privately) for a diagnostic readout with the DPF information, but they're under no obligation to do that and some may not even know how.

My advice would be to insist on a detailed service history, scrutinise that for anything related to the DPF, then ask the seller if any work on the DPF has ever been done. Finally, take it for a decent test drive and, if possible, get someone else to drive it while you follow to observe the exhaust for any excess and obvious regen activity. You may see nothing with such modern cars, however.

The key thing here is to only buy a DPF-equipped car if you spend a portion of your normal driving at higher speeds, allowing the whole exhaust to get hot and work effectively.

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Hi Joe,

Ask to see the V5C 'logbook' as that should show the details. If the current owner is in Northern Ireland and they've had the car there for “a reasonable amount of time” (Revenue's words) then it shouldn't matter if the car was originally registered in the North or in GB anyway.

The format of the car's registration will usually give away where it was first registered, too. Northern Irish number plates look like ABZ 1234 or JBZ 5678 (two letters followed by a Z and then four numbers), while modern GB plates are AB21 XYZ (two letters and two numbers together, then three letters).

Another useful trick is to check the UK government website for the MOT history of a car. That's the UK's equivalent of the NCT and the Check the MOT history of a vehicle website clearly shows details of where the MOT was carried out. It's useful extra information.

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Hi Aubril,

The Focus estate in general is pretty decent, but the 1.8-litre diesel engine was not Ford's finest hour and unless it has verified low mileage and/or a detailed service history showing regular oil changes, it's best to look for an alternative. The 1.6-litre diesel is a far superior engine from Ford, for example.

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Hi Mark,

If, as it seems from your description, the dealer registered that car new in Northern Ireland, then I can confirm that you will have no VAT or customs duty payable on importation.

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Hi Fiachra,

From the information you provided, you should not have any VAT or customs duty payable on this car when importing it into Ireland.

Just make sure you have proof of that customs declaration document, as that's the key piece of evidence that shows Revenue that the dealer has already completed customs procedures and the car entered the EU customs territory before you bought it and brought it to Ireland.

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Hi Teresa,

There is certainly a move that way, though don't expect all models to change all at once. It would appear that the car makers (not just Volkswagen) have listened to buyers such as you and critics such as us on this, and there will be a gradual reintroduction of some physical switchgear. Organisations such as Euro NCAP and even the EU are closely monitoring this, too, so we have high hopes for a return to less reliance on touchscreens for basic tasks in a car.

Volkswagen's recent show cars that preview forthcoming production models - such as the ID.1 and ID.2 - have buttons as well as a touchscreen.

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Hi Claire,

For some vans the VRT is 13.3 per cent of the Open Market Selling Price, but for larger vans such as the Sprinter it should be the flat €200 rate.

As for the paperwork, ideally, you'd have the customs declaration paperwork for when the van entered Northern Ireland, but if that is not available then the vehicle registration certificate (V5C) showing previous owners and the van's MOT history should be sufficient to prove its use in the North since 2018. Get as much information and paperwork as possible from the seller.

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Hi Angelo,

Without the full details it sounds like this is more a question for the institution you're hoping to get the loan from than us - and it depends on so many factors. A few thoughts:

- It would not be possible to obtain a UK car loan without a UK address.

- If you have a UK address, it may be possible to get a car loan from a bank or similar as they are unlikely to check where the car is actually registered. They're not likely to be bothered about that either as the car is rarely considered to be collateral in such circumstances.

- If, however, you mean car finance - PCP or hire purchase for example - then the car would have to be bought and registered in the same country as that in which the finance is taken out. If you are actually living in Ireland as well as working here, then the car would have to be reregistered here on importation, which is highly likely to be against the terms of the finance agreement.

- Finally, if you are a UK citizen that is working remotely for an Irish company, and you are looking to buy a UK car for use in the UK, then there should be no issues. Every finance institution will have its own rules on lending of course, but so long as you can show you have the means to repay the loan, it shouldn't matter which country the money is coming from.