I Imported a car from Singapore - here's my notes
I purchased the car Jan 28th from BeForward - 2016 VW Golf - 1.4 TSI. -56,000km
Shipped March 1st from Singapore.
Shipment tracking provided with live map of cargo ship.
Bill of landing/invoice/deregistration cert received via DHL Express post March 13th.
(In a branded folder with free BeForward black polo shirt which I thought was a nice touch).
Contacted by Irish shipping company March 19th with instructions to pay agent fee and arrange pick up in Dublin port. Asked them can they also handle customs clearance and vat which they do for an added fee. I posted the original bill of landing to them for customs.
Original arrival date was April 12th but delayed due to conflict in middle east and fuel protests in Ireland.
Arrived April 21st.
Collected it in person from Dublin port April 24th.
Insured with Axa. Explained over the phone that it is an import that I will be vrting within 7 days. Annual insurance was €510 including this period.
Collecting from the Port
First 3 days of port storage are free of charge.
Bring jumper cables as battery will likely be dead. Mine needed a jump start. Also bring a high-viz vest! I forgot mine and was very nearly turned away and told to come back another day. Had to borrow one on the day. Tank was nearly empty. It had 15km range according to the dash so be prepared to head straight to a petrol station. Also, the cars details were painted on the windscreen, so bring some water and rag to clean it off.
VRT
For the vrt you need to bring proof of the emissions of the car, usually a Certificate of Conformity (which I was quoted €257 online). Or you can ask the manufacturer for a letter of compliance i.e. Volkswagen Singapore. I asked BeForward for a technical letter from the Singapore transport authority, this was free of charge.
You need one of these as the vrt website says; "The level of CO2 emissions must be declared at the time of registration. If this value is not supplied the system will assign a CO2 level of 999, resulting in the highest VRT charge of 41%. The level of CO, emissions declared to Revenue must be supported by acceptable documentation."
Once you hand in the paperwork they ask you go wait in your car outside. A worker came out to do the inspection and asked me to turn on the car and pop the bonnet. He took down the VIN, looked inside the car and noted the mileage – took less than 2 minutes.
Went back inside and waited a bit. Was then told that because my car was from Singapore the variant was not on their system and a new statistical code needed to be generated. I would have to wait between 5-10 working days to find out the price.
The VRT calculator I did before buying the car estimated €1480 – valuing the car at €6,650. I was very anxious waiting to hear back with their price as I’ve heard some horror stories. Rang after 8 days of not hearing from them and they gave me the price of €1533.
Paid it that evening in person and they give you your new reg number. Paid the car tax online the next day and ordered new plates. They post out the Certificate of Registration and Licensing about a week later.
Negatives:
The ad for the car showed 2 keys and said it had a reversing camera, it didn’t. Only found one key which was in the ignition when I collected the car from the dock. After a few emails BeForward offered my 300usd credit and didn’t offer a cash refund because I didn’t purchase their extra warranty.
The battery was fully dead after a week so had to get a new one coded in Halfords for €245.
The driver’s door has to be opened by key after being locked remotely. Hopefully that’s an easy enough fix.
In hindsight I would have organised a third party to inspect the car and could have haggled the price down if these issues were found.
Cost:
Car, shipping & marine insurance: €4,400
Shipping agency fee: €170
Customs agent fee: €150 + 2% of the duty and vat paid = €1580
Vrt: €1533
EMC Tyre Charge; €11.20
Road tax: €200
Stop/Start battery: €245
Reg plates & holders: €90
Total Cost: €8,229.20
Looking at donedeal similar models are going for 11.5 - 13k
NCT is booked for next month so hopefully all goes well there. Overall the process was a bit of pain but if you've got the patience and want to want to get a good deal I'd recommend it.
Useful Links
https://www.revenue.ie/en/vrt/vehicle-registration-tax/procedure-at-ncts-centre.aspx
https://www.revenue.ie/en/vrt/documents/vrt/form-vrtvpd2.pdf