What about importing camper vans? What’s the story there? From M Ni-D, Co Clare
The popularity of camper vans exploded – perhaps unsurprisingly – around the time of the Covid restrictions. The idea of being able to take your own personal hotel room with you on a journey carried an obvious appeal at that time, and the appeal hasn’t waned.
There’s a combination of problem and benefit when it comes to buying a camper van. The benefit is that they really hold their value in the longer term. A Volkswagen California – the king of campers – is a searingly expensive car (€73,995 at minimum) but if you sold one after three years, you’d have suffered hardly any depreciation.
That’s a catch-22 situation for the used buyer. You’re buying a financial safe bet, but people tend to hang on to their campers, so good used examples are thin on the ground, hence the need to look for imports.
The switch from UK imports to Japanese imports, driven by Brexit, has opened up some intriguing new possibilities (Mazda Bongo camper, anyone?) but either way, you’re going to have to pay vehicle registration tax (VRT).
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Actually, it’s likely to be VAT and customs duty as well if you’re importing a camper (unless you’re getting one from Northern Ireland, where vehicles that comply with the Windsor Framework can skip the VAT and customs duty, potentially).
Here’s how the extra costs break down for an imported camper:
Camper vans once enjoyed a simple flat-fee VRT charge on import, but those days are gone.
Now, they’re regarded, essentially, as commercial vehicles for tax purposes, so you have to pay the standard 13.3 per cent VRT on entry into the State.
Annoyingly, Revenue’s online VRT ready-reckoner doesn’t include camper variants, so you’ll have to await your first inspection at the NCT centre to find out how much you really owe.
Clearly, this is not for the faint of heart, given Revenue’s approach to slapping oversized VRT valuations on imports. You can, in advance of time, communicate with Revenue and send them detailed descriptions and specifications of the van, including photos, to get a pre-import estimate, but this can always change on the day of inspection.
There is a potentially cheaper VRT route, which is that if your camper van has CO2 emissions below 120g/km then it qualifies for a lower 8 per cent rate, but realistically that will only apply to a few specific models – VW’s PHEV California comes to mind, as does Ford’s PHEV Transit Nugget, and post-factory conversions of the VW ID. Buzz electric van.
What technically qualifies as a camper? Well, obviously the factory-built models – VW California and Grand California, Ford Transit Nugget, Citroen Holidays, Mercedes Marco Polo – all qualify, but if you’re buying a post-factory conversion, here’s the essential criteria:
Seats and a table (the table may be designed to be easily removable); sleeping accommodation (which can be fold-flat seats with a mattress over); cooking facilities; and storage facilities.
If any of that list is missing, Revenue might slap a different VRT rate on the car altogether. If you’ve bought a post-factory conversion, then that will have to have been carried out by a converter who’s working to strict EU regulations and guidelines. If you’ve bought a van and converted it yourself before importing, then you’ll have to fill out a declaration form to have the logbook changed from van to camper van.
Factory-built camper vans automatically qualify for the normal car-based NCT test, but you’ll have to get the logbook changed before a post-factory conversion can get through a regular NCT.
