Vehicle Registration Tax

L

LondonIrish

Guest
Hi all, I have a 2 year old VW that I bought in Ireland but immediately took to the UK (thereby avoiding Irish VRT). However, I now want to sell the vehicle but have come across quite a serious problem with it. According to the VW dealer in London that valued the car it is not a variant of the car that has ever been sold in the UK, hence no VW dealer will buy it off me as they cannot buy imports. An alternative would be to sell the car privately in the UK, but I would only be able to do so if I did not disclose the true variant of the car (quite possible as probably only a VW dealer would know this) but this would not really be fair on the buyer.

Therefore I was wondering under what (if any) circumstances could the car be sold in Ireland without having to pay VRT? According to the revenue website VRT is charged at 25% of the open market value of the car but if the car is registered in the state for at least 6 months than it can be sold without incurring VRT. Given that I live in the UK could I transfer the car say to my brother's name for 6 months (and leave it in his garage for that period) and then sell it on without having to pay VRT? If I cannot do this does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks, London Irish.
 
I think the dealer was trying to scare you off and knock the value down.

As far as I understand, the main difference between the versions distributed here and the UK relate to trim and extras - these shouldn't really be a concern for replacements. This is supposedly due to the "need" to keep the base cost low in Ireland because of the huge level of VRT, VAT and import duties - they need to sell a stripped down car here to make it affordable(ish) by the time all the taxes are lumped on.

I think the range of engines available in the UK is normally greater, but I didn't think there were engine variants sold here that weren't sold there - just that there were more variants in the UK.

Even so, unless the manufacturer has gone to the trouble of developing an engine specifically for Ireland there will be spare parts all over the place in Europe, so they shouldn't be a problem.

You can import the car here yourself (having owned it outside the country for a period) and avoid VRT, but I don't think there is any exemption for leaving it unused here for a period. If that was the case everyone would be sticking cars in the garage for a few months and saving 10K on their purchase.

You can sell it into Ireland alright, but the buyer will have to register it and so will factor that cost into their purchase price.

z
 
VRT

Hi Zag, thanks for the advice but unfortunately a survey of other dealers has produced a similar results. Many will not touch an import so I will probably just have to sell this privately.

Regards, London Irish
 
..

Lets hope Charlie McCreevy puts some pressure on the Irish Govt to get rid of this ridiculous tax
 
VRT

If you have owned the car in the UK for 2 years why would you have to pay VRT when you bring it back to Ireland?
 
Re: VRT

I think the complication is that he is not moving back. In order to avoid having to pay VRT here you must be importing the car yourself after living abroad. Giving it to someone in Ireland while you continue to live abroad doesn't qualify I think.

z
 
Comment

"Lets hope Charlie McCreevy puts some pressure on the Irish Govt to get rid of this ridiculous tax"

Are you kidding? He has done everything in his power to keep this anti EU and anti competition tax whilst he bankrolled his friends in Punchestown,

Doubles all around!!!
 
VRT

Zag is correct. I am not moving back so to sell it in Ireland I would have to pay the tax...
 
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