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Hi Dermot,

It’s a tricky one to estimate, as the Defender doesn’t appear on Revenue’s ready-reckoner, and there aren’t many on the ground here in Ireland to get a solid idea of the current values. I’d take a guess that a 2007 or 2008 Defender will be worth at least €20,000 in the Irish market (values have been steadily rising since the Defender went out of production) and 36 per cent of that (the Defender’s CO₂ emissions are above the 225g/km limit) will be at least €7,200. That’s just a guesstimate though, and the final figure will depend hugely on the condition, history and spec of the specific vehicle.

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Hi Gerard,

It depends on whether you’re registering it as a commercial vehicle or a passenger car. If it’s a commercial vehicle, it’ll qualify for the standard €333 annual van-rate tax, but if it’s a private car then it’ll actually (and oddly) revert to the old engine capacity system, which could be a bit pricey. The Defender (annoyingly) doesn’t feature on Revenue’s VRT ready-reckoner, so an OMSP is tricky to predict, but given the way Defender values have gone of late, it will probably be between €10-18,000.

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Hi there,

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Hi Gearoid,

Unfortunately, we can’t track down archive pricing for the commercial model, as yet, but if it helps, the passenger Discovery range was priced between €56,945 and €79,010 in 2009.

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Hi Paul,

A very tricky one, and as ever with Irish insurers, you’re quickly going to run up against a brick wall of intransigence. My best advice would be to get in touch with a good local insurance broker, as they can often find ways around issues such as this, and can sometimes track down policies that mere mortals cannot find.

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Hi George,

Technically speaking, it should not, as, before a tester does the exhaust smoke test, they should, according to the NCT manual, check 'visually that the emission control system is complete and properly connected.' Saying that, it's unlikely that many testers will notice that the DPF is missing and, so long as the DPF warning light is not illuminated, there's no reason for them to be suspicious.

In short, it shouldn't pass and contravenes the law on emission of pollutants, but it is unlikely to be picked up by an NCT test centre.

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Hi Josephine,

I assume you mean either the Jeep Renegade or brand new Compass model. Neither come with seven seats, I'm afraid. In fact, Jeep doesn't have any seven-seat vehicle on sale in Ireland right now.

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Hi Lee,

Bearing in mind that I’m not an accountant (not even close and, if you have an accountant, I would direct this question to them too...), it seems to me that, as a car is a depreciating asset, it’s daft to be paying interest to fund that depreciation so let’s park the idea of paying a big deposit and going for finance.

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Hi Dan,

Yes, it absolutely will be. Diesel values have fallen in the UK, but much less so here, although there is a little ‘softening’ going on. However, if you’re buying another Toyota, there will be promotional activities around hybrid models (not least since Toyota recently announced that it’s going to stop making diesel-engined passenger cars) so I don’t think you’ll have any issues. 

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Hi Linda,

To be honest, we’re not really the experts when it comes to vehicle access in this respect, but we do know the right people to talk to — Motability Ireland, who can be contacted at www.motabilityireland.com