The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

what's the deal with driving a uk reg car in the Republic? i thought you couldnt even get insured in one but got quote and questioned some small print to which the answer was "yes we will insure you to drive uk reg car in Republic "!

Whether the insurance companies will take your money, and whether its legal to drive on UK plates over a period of time are two completely different things unfortunately.

The question of driving on the roads on UK plates is legal I think, you need to register to get Irish plates after having the car in the country for a certain number of days IIRC. Get 'a friend' to ask the VRO for you maybe, they should be able to answer you handy enough.

Actually, if you don't have an address in the UK you have to register it immediately I think

From http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI318Y1992.html
8. (1) A person not being an authorised person who manufactures or brings into the State a vehicle which is not exempt from registration under section 135 of the Act, shall bring the vehicle to a registration office and make a declaration under section 131 of the Act in relation to the vehicle not later than the next working day after its manufacture or arrival in the State or, in the case of a vehicle which requires the making of a customs entry on arrival in the State, not later than the next working day after its release from customs control.

I asked hibernian about this as I'm considering importing a car from the UK and wanted some insurance quotes - hibernian said they'd insure the car alright, including to drive home from the UK but I would only have a mx of 30 days to get it reregistered and get the new reg in to them....

Just don't take what an insurance company will insure as meaning legal.

I wouldn't be too surprised if they took your cash, but then if you had to make a claim say "but it wasn't legal for you to do that, and thus you weren't covered".

soc wrote:I asked hibernian about this as I'm considering importing a car from the UK and wanted some insurance quotes - hibernian said they'd insure the car alright, including to drive home from the UK but I would only have a mx of 30 days to get it reregistered and get the new reg in to them....

Well this would actualy suggest that they can insure you and its just up to them as to how long a period that cover will be ! I spend 3/4 days a week in northern ireland and the other in Dublin , i drive there and back,(or is that to here and back) what criteria decides which car you can have ? I know there probably no clear answer to this one, but the authorities in the uk don't stop me an threaten to conviscate my southern reg. vehicle, and my southern insurance doesnt become invalid at the border. How is it different the other way around ?

ronbyrne wrote:

soc wrote:I asked hibernian about this as I'm considering importing a car from the UK and wanted some insurance quotes - hibernian said they'd insure the car alright, including to drive home from the UK but I would only have a mx of 30 days to get it reregistered and get the new reg in to them....

Well this would actualy suggest that they can insure you and its just up to them as to how long a period that cover will be ! I spend 3/4 days a week in northern ireland and the other in Dublin , i drive there and back,(or is that to here and back) what criteria decides which car you can have ? I know there probably no clear answer to this one, but the authorities in the uk don't stop me an threaten to conviscate my southern reg. vehicle, and my southern insurance doesnt become invalid at the border. How is it different the other way around ?

AFAIK it all relates to where you are domicile, i.e. what country you are resident in and as a result what country your car should be registered in...

So if you have an address in the UK you could register the car there but obviously you would have to have all correspondance relating to the car sent to the UK address.... a problem would probably arise if you ever had to claim as I've no doubt the insurance company would want to know why the accident happened in ireland while the car was registered in the UK....

a problem would probably arise if you ever had to claim as I've no doubt the insurance company would want to know why the accident happened in ireland while the car was registered in the UK....

but that would suggest that any uk reg car that crosses the border into the republic is not covered by insurance and thats not the case, i would say hundreds and most probably thousands of vehicles commute across the border in both directions every day, I would beleive that they are ALL covered by their insurance policies, i think i'l just plow into the next uk vehicle i see in dublin and see what happens !

ronbyrne wrote:

a problem would probably arise if you ever had to claim as I've no doubt the insurance company would want to know why the accident happened in ireland while the car was registered in the UK....

but that would suggest that any uk reg car that crosses the border into the republic is not covered by insurance and thats not the case, i would say hundreds and most probably thousands of vehicles commute across the border in both directions every day, I would beleive that they are ALL covered by their insurance policies, i think i'l just plow into the next uk vehicle i see in dublin and see what happens !

Um, reading back I think I might have been talking about a different senario, i.e. you register and insure a car in the UK but live in ireland - but you're talking about insuring a UK reg car in ireland, i.e. not registering it and paying VRT, right? In this case I've no doubt you could get away with it for a while and maybe the insurance company would cover you but I suspect you'd have a big issue at any garda check points when they see english reg plates with an irish insurance disk

Anyway I really doubt any irish insurance company will insure a uk registered car except on a temporary basis as it would be illegal in ireland and they would thus be helping you break the law.

From experience I know Insurance companies are slippery bar-stewards. I would advise you to 'get it in writing' from the Insurers, whatever you decide upon. If they refuse to do so you know you're on a sticky wicket.
Cover your R's

There's a rumor going that it's possible to have a car on UK plates - tied to an adress in the UK..But "commute" to the republic for 6months..
once the 6months are up..and you have proof of employement in the ROI you may transfer the car free of VRT...Personally I find it difficult to believe...just thought, maybe...maybe somebody here might know something about it...

MAC 1 wrote:From experience I know Insurance companies are slippery bar-stewards. I would advise you to 'get it in writing' from the Insurers, whatever you decide upon. If they refuse to do so you know you're on a sticky wicket.
Cover your R's

i have it in writing from them (email) Hi



Thank you for your enquiry, we can insure you on a UK Reg.



Regards


????? ]

thats xs direct

There's a rumor going that it's possible to have a car on UK plates - tied to an adress in the UK..But "commute" to the republic for 6months..
once the 6months are up..and you have proof of employement in the ROI you may transfer the car free of VRT...Personally I find it difficult to believe...just thought, maybe...maybe somebody here might know something about it...

I looked into this a while back as my brother is living in the UK & I was looking to see if I could register it at his address for 6 months & then get Irish plates without having to pay the VRT. There's a good thread on http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=176389&highlight=importing+cars (there's a few other threads on boards.ie on similar subjects) from guys who have brought cars from the UK to Ireland without paying VRT. That said, they were actually living in the UK & were moving over here permenantly. It looks like the Irish VRO looks for a huge amount of proof that you were living in the UK for the previous 6 months. According to these guys they were required to supply proof of active bank accounts & reciepts of service payments to the local council etc. All in all It looked like too much hassle for something that might not pay off.

Sorry, I know this is off the subject of Insurance.