Importing from the UK – the pros and cons?

There has been a massive increase in the number of cars being brought in from the UK in the past 12 months, mostly thanks to the slide in the value of Sterling, thanks to the Brexit vote. The closing parity of the Euro has made it much cheaper to bring cars here from across the Irish Sea, and there are certainly some good reasons for doing so. Mind you, there are a few pitfalls too, so read below before you start booking ferries and plane tickets…

Remember that, whatever happens, the seller with whom you will be dealing, dealer or private individual, will be very far away and that makes getting to see the car, test driving it and dealing with any after-sales issues that arise are all going to be much more difficult. There are few places in Ireland that cannot be reached within a four-hour drive, but getting to the UK (Northern Ireland excepted) is going to mean at least a plane flight or a ferry voyage, so make sure you do your homework before you leave and before you decide. Make sure that the person or organisation from whom you are buying is utterly reputable before doing anything.

An easy way to do that is to get a full history check done on the car you’re considering buying through Cartell.ie. That will show up any inconsistencies in the background, will warn you if there are any outstanding finance payments left owed on the car in question, and — very significantly — will tell you if the car has been written off at any point. It’s not that a UK car is more or less likely than an Irish one to be written off on an individual basis, but that the size of the market makes the chances of finding a write-off much more likely.

On the upside, almost any car you buy from the UK will be better specified than its Irish equivalent. The dead hand of Vehicle Registration Tax continues to keep basic Irish car specifications generally lower than their UK versions, while Irish buyers tend to be more reluctant to lay out cash in the first place. While that is changing, and there has been some convergence in UK and Irish standard specs in recent years, the fact is that a UK car will generally come with more toys.

Not only that, there will also be much, much more choice. As a rule of thumb, the UK car market is around 10 times bigger than the Irish one, and sometimes bigger than that depending on the differing economic fortunes of the two nations, so whatever car you’re looking for, there are going to be many, many more from which to choose in the UK. So much so that it can be a bit bewildering, but there is help on hand from vehicle sourcing agents — rather like a personal shopper for cars — who, for a fee, will find the car you want, deliver it to a specific place for collection (some will actually deliver to Ireland) and take care of all the history, service record and other background checks. It’s not cheap, but given the money you will be saving, there’s potentially room in the budget.

How much will you save? It depends very much on the car you’re looking for, of course, but as a rule of thumb, with a Euro being worth around 85p Sterling at the time of writing, you will save an average of €4-5,000 on a premium-brand car (such as a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes-Benz), and around €2,000 to €2,500 on a mainstream brand such as Ford, Peugeot, or Opel (Vauxhall).

Needless to say, that doesn’t hold true across the board. For some particular makes and models, the gap in price isn’t big enough to justify shopping in the UK. For instance, a Toyota Auris is a hugely popular model in the Irish market, with strong residual values, and is well worth shopping for in the UK, where both the brand and the model are less well regarded and values are softer. As another example, for a Volvo C30, the two graphs are reversed, and there’s almost no point in looking at the UK market — it’ll be cheaper to find an original Irish car.

Then there is the spectre of VRT. Vehicle Registration Tax, VRT, no matter what you may think of it, has to be paid when a car is imported. If the car is more than six months old, or has more than 6,000km on the clock, then you won’t have to pay VAT at least, but VRT can add thousands to the price you’ve paid, and none of it based on the price you’ve paid, but on what the Revenue Commissioners estimate the Irish value of the car to be. Thankfully, things have become a little easier in recent years. Previously, you didn’t have a clue how much you might be charged until you got the bill, but now Revenue has a VRT estimator on its website, which at least gives you a ballpark in which to work, and the inspection process has become more sensible. It’s still a big charge, though, so make sure you’re working it into all your calculations, and remember that you have seven days from your car’s arrival in the state to inform Revenue, and 30 days to complete the process and pay the bill.

Basically, shopping for a car in Britain and Northern Ireland is eminently sensible, and there are potentially huge savings to be made. But, as with any such endeavour, you really need to do your homework, make sure the maths work out and make certain that the background and history checks all line up.