Hi Faz,

Your situation isn't entirely clear, so we'll try to give you advice for a few scenarios. 

First up, if you already have a UK-registered car in Ireland and you want to sell it on, you have to re-register it in Ireland beforehand.

If you lived in the UK and owned the car there before coming to Ireland with it (and can prove all of that with paperwork), then the process and costs are minimal.

However, if you want to import a car from the UK and sell it here, the costs can be substantial. 

Before you bring the car to Ireland, you have to fill out a Customs Declaration Form. Once that's done you can bring the car in at any time, but you have seven days from its arrival in Ireland to book a VRT (Vehicle Registration Tax) inspection at an NCT (National Car Test) centre and then 30 days from the date of arrival to complete the process.

During that inspection, the rate of VRT you are liable for will be calculated. That will depend on the CO2 rating of the car in question and varies from 7-37 per cent of the "Open Market Selling Price" (OMSP). That's the value Revenue believes the car is worth on the Irish market including all taxes and doesn't always tally up with the price you paid for the car. On top of the VRT you will have to pay a NOx levy, which varies according to the NOx emissions rating of your car. 

Unfortunately, on top of all that, you're also likely to be liable for import duty and VAT. Import duty at 10 per cent is calculated on the price you paid for the car, plus the costs of bringing it into the country. VAT is 23 per cent.

Finally, you may have to pay the NCT fee to get a valid cert for the car and then motor tax, which depends on the CO2 emissions or, for cars pre-2008, the engine size.