Expert answer

Hi Philip,

You need to tread very carefully here. Theoretically a vehicle must be inspected, registered and have its VRT paid within a maximum of 30 days of entry into the state. The Revenue Commissioners can, retrospectively, apply a penalty charge if they believe that the vehicle was late being registered. If your dealer has not had the car inspected and registered, you need to ask why.

And if they are unwilling to pay the VRT, you also need to be asking questions. Anyone can pay VRT and have a vehicle registered; you don't need any special licence from a business point of view. It could well be that the dealer in question knows that the likely cost of VRT will outweigh any potential profit from the car and so is trying to pass the cost on to you. I'd be very suspicious and ask some hard questions before proceeding with this deal.

Let us know how you get on

Expert answer

Hi Olga,

How much it will cost you will depend on the car. To re-register a car in the Republic of Ireland, you have seven days from the point of arrival in the country to book an inspection with your local NCT centre. At that point, it will be inspected by the Revenue Commissioners to determine its Open Market Selling Price (OMSP), which is the price they think you would have paid, had you bought an identical car in Ireland.

That figure, and the car’s CO₂ emissions rating, will determine the amount of Vehicle Registration Tax, or VRT, you will have to pay to complete the process. From the point of entry of the car into the country, you have a maximum 30 days to complete that process.

You can find much more detail here from the Citizens Information Board

Or read our guide, 'How Much VRT is Paid in Ireland'

Expert answer

Hi Greg,

Yes, it’s well worth looking at a UK import as you can potentially save money. Mind you, have a shop around local dealers too — many of them have cut their prices to compete with the UK cars, and you can often get better after-sales care if you buy locally. A figure of 90-110k miles isn’t a big deal in and of itself; it all comes down to the service history. If the car has been cared for and has a fully stamped-up service book, then it should be fine.

Expert answer

Hi Derek,

Revenue's online VRT calculator is very poor and tricky to use at the best of times. There seem to be loads of different 2.2-litre diesel Accords if it's to be believed and some of the calculations are nonsense, putting the car in the top 36% VRT band instead of the 19% band, where it should be. The best way to clarify the situation is to contact Revenue direct.

However, you can do some calculation of your own. Based on asking prices of similar cars on sale in Ireland, the maximum OMSP (Open Market Selling Price) of this car now is say €20,000. That means a maximum VRT bill of €3,800 (19%).

In reality Revenue should value this car much lower, bringing the bill down considerably.

Let us know if we can help any further.

Expert answer

Hi Brendan,

It will depend on mileage and options to get the OMSP (Open Market Selling Price), but our estimates put the VRT at over €4,700.

Hope that helps

Expert answer

Hi Andrew,

We spoke with someone from BMW and the official line is they were testing their system with rates that they've predicted. The figures were not due to stay live. However, you can be full sure they're close to the real thing! If you are truly interested in a price we can put you in touch with someone in BMW to discuss it with.

Following our discussion via email, best of luck with your new purchase. I hope the new VRT rate doesn't shaft you unduly...

Expert answer

Hi Eamon,

Why? Because the government can get away with it, that’s why. The EU has repeatedly told the Irish government that VRT is unfair, but then all the government has to do is wave in the general direction of Denmark, which also charges hefty taxes on cars. Basically speaking, at some point, the patience in Brussels will run out and VRT will have to be scrapped. But don’t get your hopes up — no government can afford to give up a €1 billion annual tax take, so VRT will simply be renamed and repackaged in some other form. It’s never going to go away.

Expert answer

Hi Chaz,

We put this question to vehicle records experts Cartell.ie and here's what they came back with:

"Upon importing a new vehicle into Ireland you must pay destination VAT, which means you pay the VAT in the country that it will be first registered. The vehicle is classed as new if it is less than six months old or has travelled less than 6,000 kilometres. If you buy a new car from the UK, you will pay the 20% VAT there. Then once you import the vehicle pay your 23% Irish VAT; you then reclaim the original VAT paid back from the UK.

Then you must pay the VRT, which varies from 14- to 36% depending on the CO₂ emissions. If the vehicle is being bought through a registered SIMI dealer then they should take care of all this and the customer should just get the car for the price agreed. I would recommend that the customer gets a copy of the VRT and VAT receipts to prove that both have been paid. I would also recommend that the customer checks with SIMI to make sure that the garage is still a registered member.

You would also want to make sure that the warranty is covered throughout Europe. The dealer you bought it from will cover the warranty but another Nissan dealer may not. Also some warranties are extended by a year or two in certain countries. For example BMW has a standard two-year warranty, but BMW UK extends that to three years - but only in the UK. This may or may not be the case but worth looking at."

Hope that helps. Come back to us if you need more assistance.

Expert answer

Hi Patrick,

We put this question to the official vehicle records experts, Cartell.ie. Jeff Ahern, Cartell's Director, responded in detail:

"Until the arrival of Cartell.ie in 2006 and subsequent car history checking companies in 2007/8, it was extremely difficult to get the history of a vehicle both in Ireland and the UK. Moreover, the fact that a car was imported was hidden from the Irish consumer. Now that is not the case. It is easy to trace the history of a vehicle within Ireland and the UK. That said, a study was carried out into the number of UK vehicles hitting Irish roads that were written off and clocked. The figures were quite startling in that up to 1 in 10 vehicles imported from the UK were written off and 11% had a mileage discrepancy. This affected a large number of people who had bought these vehicles before the advent of car history checking and therefore a stigma still persists with UK vehicles." 

"Furthermore the above issue was compounded by the data on the Vehicle Registration Certificate (VRC) in that it only shows the number of Irish owners and not any additional owners from the UK, which allowed some dealers to manipulate or gloss over the additional history."

"However, vehicles are now being advertised for at least the same price as their Irish counterparts. The UK car will often have a higher specification. But let's not forget that most Irish people know that whoever brought a car in from the UK should have paid less for it anyway and therefore they are inclined to want a similar discount when you are selling it on. And as a car ages, the extras become more of a selling tool than an earner as the depreciation had reduced their value." 

"So in summary, a UK car can have a higher specification and should be worth more than a similar Irish model of same year and mileage, but in practice - and due to the above - it will be worth the same or less. Don't forget too that a person could easily check an Irish car with a full service history by contacting the dealer who could be in their local area rather than having to ring the UK, which isn't an issue nowadays with the internet, but perception and ease are everything. "

Hope that all helps

Expert answer

Hi Ciaran,

The Nissan Skyline saloon did not really get caught up in the upsurge of popularity experienced by other rear-wheel drive Japanese four-doors towards the end of the Celtic Tiger era so is still a fairly rare model. This would go some way to explaining why the Revenue Online Service (ROS) value seems so low. The Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) is based on an 'average' for that particular model, but with so few cars having been imported it can be difficult to determine a true average.

Regarding the car you have highlighted, and taking into account current exchange rates and the VRT calculated by ROS that car would cost €5,824, which seems expensive to our eyes.

A thorough search of all the classified adverts we could find revealed a few similar cars, albeit with higher mileage, in the region of €3,500 - €4,000.

The one you're looking at does have some nice additions such as the wheels, suspension and spoiler, but whether they and the low mileage warrant a near €2,000 premium is a question only you can answer.

Let us know how you get on.