I have 12 months mot and 2 months tax left on my car and I am planning to move to Ireland with my car, so can I drive with the UK mot and tax or do I have to buy new tax and mot and Can I buy an insurance from Irish company ? Thanks
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2 Answers
Ireland's laws are very similar to UK laws, so you can also check my answer for the UK part.
Basically this means the moment you become an Ireland resident you cannot drive your UK car in Ireland anymore:
What must I do if the vehicle ceases to meet the conditions for temporary exemption?
You must immediately either
- permanently remove the vehicle from the State; or
- apply to register the vehicle in the State and pay any tax due.
And you have to re-register it in Ireland, meaning you get an IRL licence plate, and you have to pay Ireland's tax and insurance. Also note that no Irish insurer would insure a non Ireland registered car, as that's up to the UK insurance companies.
If you still have valid tax, mot and UK insurance on your car you are probably fine to drive it for the first few weeks in Ireland, more if you still drive between the two countries a lot (like for moving your stuff). You need to check your UK insurance companies contract though whether it allows you to drive in the Ireland and for how much time (usually they allow like 90 consecutive days after which you have to get back to the UK).
After 6 months you are definitely considered an Irish resident, especially if you have a place to live and are spending most of your time in Ireland. At that point you have to re-register your car, and it will become an Irish car from that moment. The law states you "must book an appointment with the NCTS within 7 days of your car's arrival into Ireland and you must complete the registration process within 30 days of your arrival."
If you have an address in Uk and still are a UK resident, possibly here on temp work\contract, then the Customs will let you get away with it. If stopped, they will look up your tax records and see if your paying tax here etc.... I was stopped after over a year here with a UK registered car but no action taken. I had a UK driving license with a UK address (Owned house) and was here on temporary work.
Other people haven't been so lucky. If you're Irish and stopped driving a UK car here, then you will be fined and given 7 days to pay import tax. My garage said one women was stopped and had to pay 4.5k for the import tax. Technically, my UK car is an EU car. I paid my car's tax in the country (UK) of purchase as per EU law. However Ireland rejected these EU rules and wants cars taxed here for the revenue. Of course you can fill out a form and claim your tax back from UK for the car.
It's up to you. But if you're living here permanently, then it is best to register the vehicle here and pay the import tax. As of Jan 2017, 1800 cars are registered on average each week.
