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Hi Bill,

No, you are only responsible for the tax from the moment you take ownership of a car. 

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Hi Jess,

It's just the document reference number on your logbook (or V5C), found on the top-right corner of the front page, an 11-digit number.

There is nothing unsafe about providing this number to the seller. They may be able to use it to calculate taxes etc. on importing the car. 

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Hi Ronnie,

On the face of it, that's not difficult. You just buy a van you like the look of and inform your motor tax office that it will be used privately. The motor tax then changes to a rate defined by the van's engine size (regardless of how new it is).

Your bigger challenge could be finding insurance, and I urge you to check that out before committing to buying any vehicle.

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Hi George, 

The rate in this situation is defined by the engine size. For the 1.5-litre Dacia, it will cost €413 per year.

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Hi Daniel,

As it goes by engine size in that scenario, then the annual motor tax bill would be €1,034.

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Hi Kevin,

If the vehicle is used exclusively for work purposes as part of a business, then potentially yes. As an employee of a business, which is what it sounds like you are, you must submit a declaration to Revenue to confirm that the vehicle is 100 per cent used for work. Even commuting is not allowed though so that's probably not practical.

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Hi Donal,

For the benefit of our other readers, ERAD stands for Electric Rear Axle Drive, which is effectively the electric motor used on the rear axle of the plug-in-hybrid XC90 T8 (and other Volvo PHEVs) to give it all-wheel drive and fully electric operation. And yes, they are a known weak point of the car.

There is some evidence that Volvo will help with repair or replacement for cars with a full service history, but it seems to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis as there has been no official recall or statement on it from Volvo. Do not rely on this.

We'd strongly recommend you avoid early cars unless the ERAD unit has been replaced relatively recently, but Volvo did make improvements as early as 2018, and the facelifted cars from 2020 on (badged “Recharge”) are a relatively safe bet.

Look not only for a regular service history, but also for maintenance details relating specifically to the rear axle.

The D5/B5 cars are certainly a better bet in terms of dependability, but obviously come with higher running costs and motor tax.

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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 Albert,

The only way you could benefit from importing the car to Ireland first is to then keep the car here and use if for at least six months before moving to Spain. This would then allow you to bring the car with you as your personal possession without any other taxation. Obviously you would have to pay VRT and the NOx levy on importation to Ireland.

If you don't have that timeframe to work with, it's just as easy to bring a car straight from Northern Ireland to Spain as you'll be going through the rigmarole of reregistering it just once and you can't avoid the tax that the Spanish authorities will place on it regardless.

If the car has been used in Northern Ireland – and you'll need paperwork to prove it – then yes, it should be exempt from VAT on importation to Spain (or Ireland). That is of course assuming we are talking about a car not considered to be new.

One final thing: are you happy to drive a right-hand-drive car on the 'wrong' side of the road in Spain? It will be difficult to sell on in the future there.

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Hi Mary,

Rather bizarrely, there is no published rule on this situation as yet so electric vans are subject to the same annual motor tax as electric cars - i.e. €120 per annum.