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.
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:
- 50 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:
- Browse and choose your car
- Reserve it online
- Contact us to sort out payment
- Collect your car at the handover centre
- Arrange registration and taxation
It requires a little bit of paperwork, a bit of taxation, and a bit of travel, but dont 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:
- 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.)
- You will get a document with your Irish registration number on it
- Get the plates done
- Change your insurance to the new plate
- 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 centers. 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. Please carefully read the following information on payment options for Irish customers:
If you want to pay from Ireland:
Bank transfer
This takes between one and four working days to be processed and the full payment must be cleared before the car can be released. We therefore advise you to reserve the car online first and contact us to arrange the full payment.
Debit/credit card (over the telephone)
A 2.9% fee applies to credit card payments, but not on debit cards. Your bank may also charge you additional conversion fees if your account is in any currency other than GBP. Irish Laser cards are not accepted.
If you want to pay on collection:
Debit/credit card
The above comments regarding debit/credit card payments also apply for an on-site card payments.
Cash
Only GBP are accepted and up to a maximum of £9,000.
Draft
Payments by drafts are possible on-site but will incur a 2.9% processing fee from the third party we use to verify the legality and clearance of all bankers drafts.
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
Travel
Note that we have two handover centres: one in Birmingham, and one in Bradford, so you will need to know which one the car is located in before arranging your travel. We indicate the location of all our cars right below their summary.
If you travel without a car, you can either take the plane or a train and ferry.
- Ryanair offers flight to Birmingham from Shannon, Dublin and Derry and flight to Leeds from Dublin
- Aerlingus offers flight to Birmingham from Cork and Dublin
- BMI offers flight to Birmingham from Knock and Cork, and flight to Leeds from Dublin.
Expect to pay between 75 and 150 for a single plane ticket.
For train and ferry information, please visit Seat61.com. The price typically is under 70 return.
To travel back with your car, you can take the following ferries:
- Holyhead to Dublin Operated by Stena or Irish ferries (cost ~ £200 )
Holyhead is a 3h drive from Birmingham, and 3h from Bradford
- Liverpool to Dublin Operated by Stena or Irish ferries
Liverpool is a 2h drive from Birmingham, and 1h30 from Bradford
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