Buy a car from mainland GB?

allyli

Hi,

I Live in Belfast, N.Ireland and am thinking of buying a car from england.
Prices seem to be so much higher over here.

Is this considered an import?
The car I'm looking at is an ex-demo.

What is the correct procedure to bring the car into N.Ireland.
Does the dealer in England take care of all of this or do I need to take care of everything i.e registration and tax etc?

Thanks,
Al.

flutterbyuk25

Hey

It would officially be classed as an import to N Ireland as they have a separate vehicle licensing office there to the mainland. But it is still a UK vehicle. Tad confusing!

If you are buying it from a UK dealer then you will have to arrange the registration etc in N Ireland yourself. The dealer should give you the front page of the V5C UK Registration Certificate (Sections 1-8) to take with you so that you can register car in NI. They/You need to complete Section 11 from the back page with date of export and this should be returned to DVLA Swansea to notify of the export. Vehicle will need to be UK road taxed, MOT'd (if over 3 yrs old) and insured during the journey to NI. You then need to contact DVLNI to re-register vehicle in NI.

If it was the other way round (NI vehicle imported to mainland UK) then the NI road tax and MOT would be transferable in UK. Not 100% sure if it's the same in NI but should be as systems are more or less the same.

I'd advise you to contact DVLNI for them to send you the relevant application form and info pack.

Hope that doesn't put you off!

x

Biggles

It always used to be cheaper in the Republic, is that no longer the case?

allyli

Hmm thanks for your replies.
I think for a saving of at 3k it's worth it so nope you haven't put me off.

Car I was looking at is a bmw 330i.
Same model and year in Belfast is around 28k.
In england it's listed at 25k before any haggling.

Haven't looked in the Republic but I wanted a so call UK spec car even though I need to import it back to N.Ireland which is in the UK anyway.

John_M_Business

Just be careful you don't lose it on the residuals. I know of the reverse situation where a friend of mine bought a N.I. Subaru (he is a sensible chap, honest!) for a 'saving' of £2k odd, but when he came to sell it he lost a fortune. Call up a used cars dealership and tell them that you've got a used BMW to sell them... get them to price it and then see what their reaction is when you tell them it's from the mainland - then you'll see whether you'll have a problem down the line!

allyli

Actually the couple of bmws I looked at in Belfast had mainland gb plates.
They were 07 plates. I'm pretty sure N.Ireland don't issue them.

But I will try a few used dealers just to see if it actually makes a difference over here.

Thanks,
Al.