THINKING about buying a car in Britain, France or Germany and bringing it back to Ireland? Before you do, pick up the latest Action Pack from Consumer Choice magazine, published by the Irish Consumer Association.
The Action Pack - How to import a car into Ireland is a step by step guide to choosing the right car, sourcing it in another EU state, calculating the pre- and post-tax cost in order to compare its price to others of the same model, how to order the car (including features appropriate to Irish driving for example, the right hand drive) how to collect the car, import and register it.
What is particularly useful are the tables which compare the price of 12 standard model small, medium, upper medium and executive cars in all 13 EU countries. The tables convert the prices into Irish pounds and include the pre-tax price, details of main optional extras, the standard model price and the price of a car plus extras.
Ironically, Denmark, - which has one of the highest personal tax regimes in the EU, offers the cheapest pre-tax car prices for medium and executive type cars. Portugal and Greece have the cheapest pre-tax prices for small cars. (Ireland is consistently among the most expensive for cars, even pre-tax.) Unfortunately, despite lower prices in other EU countries, once Irish VAT and Vehicle Registration Tax is added the gains you may make buying your new car in Denmark or Portugal are virtually wiped out once it is brought home.
However, the Action Pack also examines the cost advantages of buying a second-hand car in the EU, and specifically from Northern Ireland and other parts of Britain. The guide provides a case study of a purchaser who, after all the costs were taken into account, saved £600 by buying a Renault Clio in Newry rather than in Dublin.
The Action Pack is published, by International Consumer Research and Testing Ltd, with support from the European Commission. The company is owned by a consortium of consumer organisations, of which, the Irish Consumer Association is one. The pack is available by contacting Consumer Choice, 45 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2, telephone (01) 668 6836.
