Importing a car from UK to Ireland

Why import a car from the UK to Ireland?

Because with the same mileage and specifications, a car is considerably cheaper in the UK than in Ireland. The savings differ from car to car, but many of our Irish customers find it well worth traveling to the UK to buy a car. They typically save, after tax and expenses, several thousands Euros on their car.

We offer import packages to help you with this process. For a £545 fee, we provide a complete collection/registration service for importing a car from Autoquake.com to Ireland. More details are available on our Ireland car import page.

Why choose Autoquake.com to import a car?

If you have to travel from Ireland to buy a car, you clearly expect not only to get a good price, but also to know everything you need to know before collecting the car, and the assurance that the car will be available for you to collect. Because it is an online car supermarket, focused on making remote car buying trouble free, Autoquake.com is the obvious destination when buying from Ireland.

Autoquake.com offers you:

  • 40 high quality pictures for every car we sell
  • Scan of the documents (MOT, V5)
  • Photos of any damage
  • All the details about the equipment and specifications
  • The ability to reserve the car you want online and 24/7
  • Rock bottom prices - we are on average 10% cheaper than car supermarkets

What needs to be done to import a car in Ireland?

There are five simple steps:

  1. Browse and choose your car
  2. Reserve it online
  3. Contact us to sort out payment
  4. Arrange for us to deliver/register your car from the handover centre or collect in person
  5. Arrange registration and taxation

It requires a little bit of paperwork, a bit of taxation, and a bit of travel, but don't worry, it is very straightforward and everything you need to know is explained below.

Papers and registration

When you collect the car, you need the full V5 document. We will give it to you and you will need to present it to the Irish vehicle registration office. You also need to present a simple registration form that you can download here and complete during your journey back to Ireland.

Once in Ireland:

  1. Within 24 hours of arriving in Ireland, you need to present the car at the VRO and mention any significant extra (leather, Sat Nav, etc.)
  2. You will get a document with your Irish registration number on it
  3. Get the plates done
  4. Change your insurance to the new plate
  5. Once you have received (by post) the Vehicle Registration Certificate, go to the tax office to tax your vehicle

Irish payment options

If you live in Ireland, you can pay the full amount for your car either from Ireland, or when you collect the car from one of the Autoquake.com handover centres. In either case, a 7-day money back guarantee applies from the date of collection. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer finance solutions to non-UK residents.

You can make your payment to Autoquake.com using the following payment methods. We charge fees for certain payment methods according to the associated costs. There are 3 free payment methods - debit card, Bank transfers (BACS) and Bank transfers (CHAPS). Please see below for rates.

Payment options
Payment Method Charge Reason
Debit card Free The banks charge us a small fee for debit card transactions which we are happy to absorb. Please note that we do not accept Laser cards.
Bank transfer (BACS, CHAPS and Faster payments) Free The banks charge us a small fee for bank transfers which we are happy to absorb. Please note that your bank may charge you a fee. For BACS payments, please allow 3 days for processing before you pick up your car.
Credit card 2.9% We incur costs from the credit card companies and must pass this on to keep our car prices low.

Taxation

Like with any other car registered in Ireland, your Autoquake.com car will need to have Vehicle Road Tax (VRT) paid. Since July 2008, the amount due depends on two things: the value of your car and its CO2 emissions.

We give the CO2 emissions of all our cars in the specification tab. For the value of the car, the Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) that will be taken into account, not the price you paid. To find about what the OMSP of your car is, please visit the official Online VRT Calculator.

VRT rate depending to CO2 emissions:

  • Up to 120g/km 14% of OMSP
  • 120g/km up to 140g/km 16% of OMSP
  • 140g/km up to 155g/km 20% of OMSP
  • 155g/km up to 170g/km 24% of OMSP
  • 170g/km up to 190g/km 28% of OMSP
  • 190g/km up to 225g/km 32% of OMSP
  • More than 225g/km 36% of OMSP

Why Autoquake.com?

Because low prices go hand-in-hand with buying your car on the internet:

What people are saying about us

Alan bought a Renault Laguna

"This is the second car I have bought through Autoquake.com, and being a small businessman, not in stature, surely that speaks for itself! Time spent travelling around ..." ...  read more

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Autoquake.com car supermarket reviewed in the Guardian

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"Prices on the website did appear to match its claims that they were 10% lower than most car supermarkets, and 17% less than main dealers."

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