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Hi Ray,

If you're buying a new car, then no. There were no changes to the VRT rates announced in the budget so there'll be no difference in rates in January. 

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Hi Brian,

There is a way of doing this, but it requires some very careful timing. Once you import a vehicle, you have seven days from its arrival on these shores to notify Revenue that it’s in the country and also to book the NCT inspection to get the final bill for Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT).

So that gives you a little wiggle room. Ideally, you would be best advised to find a company in the UK who can carry out the conversion and re-register the vehicle with the DVLA in Swansea, before importing it. If that’s not possible, then what you need to do is to make sure you have an Irish conversion company set up and ready to go who can carry out the conversion when the car arrives here, before it goes for its inspection. It’s ever so slightly legally dubious (letter of the law rather than spirit), but if you can keep the timings sharp, it could work.

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Hi Shariq,

Yes, it is worth it, but it is a hassle. There are specialist car-finding agencies (such as Palmdale, for instance) who for a fee will locate and source a car for you, and they’ll even deliver it for another fee on top, and the word from them is that even on everyday models it’s now possible to make a significant saving thanks to the value of Sterling relative to the Euro. If you’re buying a premium model, or spending more than €20,000 on a car then it’s a no-brainder – you can save as much as €4-5,000 even when you’ve paid for VRT, air and ferry tickets.

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Hi Martin,

To be fair to the car companies, they would all like to see the end of VRT – there’s little or no protectionist advantage to them (aside from it causing a small, largely ineffective brake on personal imports) and freeing customers from that yoke would make the Irish car industry much more competitive.

As for lobbying against it, that has largely dried up now. Why? Because of the tacit admission that even if VRT could be dismantled, any Irish Government would simply come up with a replacement for it. Even with the Apple tax decision hanging in the air, no Minister for Finance is going to turn off a €4 billion annual tap of combined motoring revenues, of which VRT makes up a a major component.

As for the application of both VRT and VAT to major safety items, you’re quite right – that is a staggering shame, one that should (but probably doesn’t) weigh heavily on the consciences of all in the Department of Finance, the Road Safety Authority and the Society of the Irish Motor Industry. Whether it’s autonomous emergency or a child safety car seat, adding VRT and/or VAT increases the price and makes it less likely that a customer will spend the extra to buy that system, not least because there is no benefit to your insurance premium for doing so.

Mind you, in some ways, Irish customers have only themselves to blame. Back in the early 2000s, when anti-lock brakes were often an option, and not an especially expensive one at that, most buyers shunned them in favour of a sunroof or a better stereo…

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Hi Gerry,

Well you won’t have to pay VAT as it’s too old for that, but as for VRT it’s very hard for us to say. There are very few Doblo-based campers on the market for us to be able to try and work out a rough value, and none that we can find in Ireland so quite what view Revenue might take of its value is totally up in the air. Our best guess is that its Irish Open Market Selling Price will be around €7,000, which, with a VRT rate of 13.3 per cent, would suggest a VRT charge of around €800 to €1,000.

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Hi John,

Well, it depends of course on what Revenue decides the Open Market Selling Price is (and there's usually no predicting on that score...),  but they seem to be worth around €15,000 on the Irish market, so with 98g/km and 15 per cent VRT, that suggests a payment of around €2,250. 

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Hi George,

It would depend on the year, but as a commercial vehicle it will be 13.3 per cent of what Revenue thinks the Irish market value is. 

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Hi Chris,

It depends on the total spec of the vehicle but assuming it has the 1.6-litre diesel then I'd say around the €3,000 mark. 

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Hi Lorna,

Do you mean motor tax or purchase tax? If purchase tax (VAT basically) then yes – the VAT must be paid before or when it’s imported. If it’s motor tax, then no. It would help if the car has been declared as legally off the road by the previous owner, and obviously you can’t drive it across the UK to a ferry port to bring it here (you’ll have to put it on a trailer), but the Irish authorities won’t be bothered if it comes in with no tax as long as you pay your VRT properly and then tax it here. Unpaid UK road tax is an issue for the UK authorities and the previous owner.

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Hi Debbie,

No, you shouldn't have to pay VAT. VAT is only payable on vehicles younger than six months and/or with less than 6,000km on the clock. Unless it's a very unusual lease that you're paying off, the vehicle's VAT will have been included in the original lease cost.

As far as the legality of the company selling it is concerned, it's up to them if they want to. The leasing company won't care one way or another as long as they they get their money. Just make sure it's a reputable company from which you're buying and make sure you carry out a history check with Cartell.ie on the car to ensure that there are no other outstanding loans or finance agreements. Make sure you get a letter in writing that the firm undertakes to pay off the lease when you buy the car and insist on having proof of that in writing too.