Car insurance problems for Republic of Ireland

[p.baralos@ntlwo]

Anybody got any ideas on getting car insurance for the Republic of Ireland?? I'm getting sent there with work for 18mnths and have just found out that my current insurers won't cover me!

Does anyone know if there is anyone in the UK who will provide cover or am I going to have to get insured in Ireland (apparently expensive and does this require me to re-register car in Ireland aswell)

Any top tips appreciated!

[spiggotpaddy]

pretty much all the irish insurance companies operate through uk companies so i could'nt see it being a problem getting cover.

you don't need to re-register to get insurance but you do to get road tax.

my insurance here is under 400 euros for a 1.6 octavia thats not a lot in old money.

[p.baralos@ntlwo]

Spiggotpaddy,

Do you reccomend getting Irish plates rather than driving round on UK ones?? Am I likely to receive unwanted attention if I leave the car parked anywhere??

[GAFF]

Spiggotpaddy,

Do you reccomend getting Irish plates rather than driving round on UK ones?? Am I likely to receive unwanted attention if I leave the car parked anywhere??

I doubt it, theres so many UK/NI plates knocking around now I doubt people really notice, Dr Octavia has been here for a while on his.

Where about are you working and what do you do....PM me if you don't want info posted

Btw are you allowed have a UK registered car here fom that lenght of time with re-registering it ? Seeing as you'll be here for X amount of days. I hear they are starting to clamp down on it.

[bpm]

Btw are you allowed have a UK registered car here fom that lenght of time with re-registering it ? Seeing as you'll be here for X amount of days. I hear they are starting to clamp down on it.

I think its 3 months that you're supposed to re-register it. Af course VRT will delay that for a while...

[mannyo]

I think its 3 months that you're supposed to re-register it. Af course VRT will delay that for a while...

Perhaps this wont be a problem if you go back home to the UK occasionally.

3 months, is that all. I can bring a car into the UK from euro land and run it in the UK for 2 years before needing to re-register.

[GAFF]

Perhaps this wont be a problem if you go back home to the UK occasionally.

3 months, is that all. I can bring a car into the UK from euro land and run it in the UK for 2 years before needing to re-register.

I think that it can be more sticky than that...if they really want to. If they know your living and working here then they could possibly still nab you. Not to frightenen you but this was a major thing in my old company (IBM), a lot of foreign reg cars were there...customs ended up setting up a checkpoint INSIDE the security gates and catching them all coming to work, they were probably just warned but the next time!!!!

A couple of months ago they set up a major road checkpoint up not far from me, Customs, Plain clothes Gardai, armed gardai, they even had support from the garda Helicopter and a line of tow truck to confiscate cars.

There was a thing on the newspapers here a while back about it, they are copping on they are loosing a fortune by not getting their rip-off VRT & road tax due to the hugh about of Foreign people now working here and bringing cheaper cars in.

[pdhealy]

I think its 3 months that you're supposed to re-register it. Af course VRT will delay that for a while...

He shouldn't get caught for VRT - he can re-register the car on a Transfer of Residence (TOR) application, as long as he has owned the car for a minimum of 6 months, and can prove he has been living in the UK.

If this is granted, they do impose a restriction on him selling the car for one year after the registration document has been issued, but if he was bringing the car back to the UK, I don't think there would be any problem. Look under Item 10 of the list below for exemptions from VRT -

The Irish Revenue Commissioners: Taxation and Duty Information

[Dilbert]

Naturally you should try avoid the punitive VRT at all costs - if you have it less than 6 months, maybe you could be temporarily here for the necessary period of time and then get transferred over more permanently, reregistering it afterwards?

[pdhealy]

Naturally you should try avoid the punitive VRT at all costs - if you have it less than 6 months, maybe you could be temporarily here for the necessary period of time and then get transferred over more permanently, reregistering it afterwards?

VRT is payable on the date of transferring "normal" residence.

I had to show proof of living in the UK for the previous 6 months (UK bank account statements, ferry ticket showing date, etc.) when I moved back to Ireland from living in London. If you can show that you have owned the car and been living outside the ROI for at least 6 months, then there should not be a problem avoiding VRT.

Added benefit that if you are ever back in the UK visiting, you wouldn't need to be too worried about getting nabbed on a speed camera with ROI plates

[Dr. Octavia]

I'm pretty sure you can stay for something like 6 months on a foreign reg car. I got a 6 month contract when I started so didn't see the point in doing it but since then I've had extensions to my contract. However, since then I've changed car and plan to do the re-reg thing after 6months to be exempt from VRT.

I've never been stopped by a garda and I've been through a few checkpoints where I've just been waved through.

You won't get any unwanted attention as long as you park sensibly. Like anywhere really.