Is it worth it to buy a car in England instead of in Ireland?

Question

-I’m moving to England from Rep. of Ireland for a year. I already have a ’98 VW Passat and I want to upgrade to a newer 2nd hand car.

1. Should I buy it in Ireland or England?

2. What about trade-ins? Should I sell my Passat here, or try and trade it in in England? Would they be interested in an Irish car?

3. What about the service/warranty if I buy in England? Would this only cover me while I’m in England?

4. What about bringing the car back into Ireland? Would I have to pay anything on it? Would I have to register it and get an Irish licence plate and how much would that cost?

Cheers

Answer 1

1. england is WAY cheaper by far

2. Uk

3. get extended and it covers you in both

4. NO, you can still use your licence in ireland aswell as uk which ever you choses to have

5. no prob

Answer 2

Buy one of those Smart Cars. You can put it in your hand luggage on the plane and drive away to your heart's content when you get to the UK.

Answer 3

I recently bought a car in England. Taking into consideration my flight over, hotel room and ferry back to Ireland and the VRT  , I saved myself 6200 Euro.

Answer 4

It is not worth it.My parents tried that once, but then were taxed heavily by the goverment.However, if you live in the UK 6 months or more, you won't be taxed.

Answer 5

Yes it is better value to buy in the UK, because of the VRT here pushes the price up by up to 20%, The spec in the UK is a lot higher because of the greater volume of sales .Sell your old car here , there is little market for Irish Reg cars . If you do bring a car into Ireland you will have to pay VRT on it as well as reregistration fees , and if it is a  car under 1 year old you may have to have to pay for an emissions test to determine its tax bracket  

Answer 6

1. Better to buy your new car in the UK, VRT is lower and you can get higher spec cars for the same price of a standard car here.

2. Sell the Passat here, there's a better market for older cars here than in the UK, and it might be hard to attract buyers if they have to go through the hassle of changing the reg over.

3. Most service/warranty deals cover both the UK and Ireland. Check this with the dealer.

4. As long as you have owned the car in the UK for 6 months or more and can prove that you had a permanent address in that time (car insurance documents/bank statements are the usual proofs needed) then you won't have to pay anything when you bring it to Ireland, other than the fee to re-register it with Irish plates. To calculate how much you will pay (it varies from car to car) go to www.ros.ie and www.vrt.ie.

It can work out massively cheaper, depending on the car you get. My brother in law saved about three grand on an Audi A4 diesel that he brought over, and that's after paying the tax on it.