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Hi John,

Yup, you'll have to pay the VAT I'm afraid. The rule says that if a car is less than six months old or has less than 6,000km on the clock, it's liable for Irish VAT upon entry into the state. You'll be charged it along with your Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) at the time of inspection.

Read our guide to importing a car from the UK here

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Hi Karen,

You'll need to check the fine print of the deal you signed, basically. It'll come down to the terms and conditions. You would certainly be able to trade it in against a new car, but you may not be able to sell it privately depending on the deal (which is essentially a lease). Also, even if you are allowed to sell privately you may struggle to make enough money to cover all the final payment costs. 

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Hi Riccardo,

We checked with Volkswagen Ireland and the official response was this: "CarPlay and Android Auto will not be available in Ireland until late 2015 or early 2016 at the earliest in combination with third party apps (e.g. Spotify, Facebook, etc.). This is currently being tested in combination with third party apps for the UK and other larger European markets but there is no set release date for Ireland yet."

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Hi Keith,

Both are excellent cars and the 175hp X-Trail's extra grunt could be very useful when hauling trees and trailers. That said, the Honda is still plenty grunty and a bit more plush inside than the Nissan. Actually this is a hard one to choose - I know from personal experience that the Honda is close to indestructible, but I also happen to think that the X-Trail is a really underrated car.

Coin toss so - go for the Honda.

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Hi Mark,

Yeah, Chevrolet wouldn't be a good one to be trying to sell at the moment. Now that the brand has pulled out of Europe, the impression (not entirely correct it should be said) will be that parts and servicing will be difficult to come by. Beyond that, the brands that are difficult to sell on are the ones that no-one's heard of. If you've got some oddball private import you'll struggle, but anything that's on sale in the Irish market will prove no more difficult than anything else - it's down to the specific model at that point.

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Hi Mark,

I'd say you're looking at in and around €45,000 for it.

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Hi Michael,

I'd say, as a trade-in, you'll make somewhere in the high-thirties, probably €36 to €37k.

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Hi Christian,

I'd say you should get in and around the €27,000 mark for it.

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Hi John,

You need to be very careful buying a car without an NCT. For all its flaw the test does go some way to ensure that cars on the road are at least basically roadworthy and a car without an NCT can be hiding all sorts of problems. 

You also need an NCT to be able to tax (and in most cases insure) your car so you need to get it booked in as soon as possible. If you're buying it from a dealer or garage, they really should have the car NCT'd before selling it. If you bought it privately then the previous owner has missed at least one NCT test and either needs to produce an Off The Road certificate or you're into a legally murky area.

Anyway, the short answer for you is to get the car tested and sorted ASAP.

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Hi Rakesh,

That kind of budget should get you into a Mazda3 1.6 D circa 2005, 2006. Buying from a dealer potentially gives you more peace of mind but if you do your homework and get a history check then buying private can be fine too.