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Hi Patrick,

To qualify as 'vintage' for tax purposes a car must be 30 years old or older. For insurance purposes a car can sometimes be younger than that,  but most insurers will demand that you have a more modern car for everyday driving as well as the classic. 

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Hi Tina,

That's on the old pre-2008 engine-capacity based tax system (unless it's an import) so it'll be €710 a year. 

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Hi David,

Yes, you could just about do 48km each way in an electric car, certainly in the Ioniq and just about in the 30kWh Nissan Leaf, although it would be hugely helpful if there could be some way of charging up at work. A Renault Zoe might do the trick too.

Hyundai asks for a minimum €5,000-odd deposit on a new Ioniq, and the repayments are quite steep so that one might be out of the question, although they come down to around €360 if you can put a €10,000 deposit down. A basic Nissan Leaf, with €6,762 down, will cost you just €264 a month, which might leave enough wriggle room to go for the bigger battery, and Nissan has some tempting free insurance offers on at the moment, while Renault asks just €179 a month for a Zoe, but the battery rental is extra and it comes with some quite tight mileage stipulations.

The other, possibly better, option would be to go half-electric. Toyota can put you into a Prius or an Auris Hybrid for as little as €199 to €263 a month (again, depending on deposits etc.) or you can get the rather impressive new Kia Niro for €353 a month with a €9,000 deposit. All of those should average as much as 60mpg, which would put a big dent in your fuel costs.

Read our relevant reviews here to help you choose:

Kia Niro review

Hyundai Ioniq Electric review

Nissan Leaf review

Renault Zoe review

Toyota Prius review

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Hi Michael,

I think your best bet is to sell the car in Germany first, but possibly not to this other person you’re speaking about. If you’re concerned about what a future owner may do with a car, then the best thing is to find someone else to sell it to. Bringing the car into Ireland to sell will involve a large amount of paperwork and a hefty price tag in Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), so I think you’re going to be better off by far selling the car in Germany.

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Hi Brendan,

No, Volkswagen didn't stop making the 1.4 Tiguan in 2008, but it was dropped from the Irish price list then as we all went diesel-crazy after the tax change. The car was always available to order, and it's possible that the car you're looking at is a UK import. 

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Hi Andreas,

If the car is three years old, and thanks to Cyprus being in the EU, you won't have to pay VAT when you import the car, as that's only payable on cars up to six months old. You will need to pay Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) though, and you'll have just a week from the car's arrival here to inform the Revenue Commissioners of it being here and a month to organise an inspection and pay the charge. If you're trying to reclaim VAT originally paid on the car, then you'll need to get yourself a good accountant as it's a complex process and will depend on whether or not the car is registered as a commercial vehicle. 

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Hi Hugh,

Assuming you mean the Volkswagen diesel software update, no, it shouldn't. Volkswagen has had to clear all the updates with the German federal transport agency to comply with a ruling that any changes won't affect the CO₂ emissions or fuel economy of the cars. 

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Hi Jason,

You need to go through a specific process for importing a car from the UK and Northern Ireland. Within seven days of the car’s arrival here, you need to have informed Revenue and booked an inspection for the purposes of assessing the car’s value for Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) at your nearest NCT centre. Then you have a 30 days to complete the process, pay the VRT and get your new number plates. The Citizens Information website has a lot of useful details on this process so have a look here.

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Hi Seamus,

By any chance is yours the automatic version, with the larger 18-inch wheels? We tested the manual gearbox version that did indeed at the time have a CO₂ emissions rating of 147g/km, whereas the automatic model, with four-wheel drive, was rated at above 180g/km. 

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Hi Mark,

If it’s the 2.2 180hp, then it’s 185g/km of CO₂, which is Band E and €750 a year. If it’s the standard 2.2 diesel then it’s 173g/km, which is, er, exactly the same – €750 a year.