Bringing car from EU to UK but more than 10 years old?

[livingzuid]

Hello everyone,

I wondered if anyone had experience of bringing their car back from the EU to the UK and registering it here when it was over a certain age? We have just moved from the Netherlands and wanted to switch plates over, but I'm finding it very difficult to understand what the requirements are for cars that are more than 10 years old (ours is 12). Anything under 10 years old seems very straightforward but I nearly fainted when I read it could cost 200 quid for an additional individual inspection, and that it would cost 10p a minute for the privilege of ringing DVLA to enquire further.

But it just isn't clear what would be required from their website nor from others which I have scoured for the last few days! The language is quite ambiguous - some saying it needs an MOT which I thought was standard no matter the age, and some saying it needs this individual inspection. We very much want to keep the car so I am hoping there will be a solution that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Also apologies if this is not the right place to post. Not sure if there is a returning to the UK section somewhere?

Thanks very much :)

As you say it is not straight forward, particularly not on a vehicle this age. You need an EU certificate of conformity and an MOT. (It is actually difficult to get the MOT certificate as some garages do not like to do them for cars which do not have a UK registration plate). If the vehicle is left hand drive, you will also need new headlamps and the speedometer will need to be changed to MPH rather than KPH. (We tried this a few years ago with a vehicle which had previously been registered in UK but gave up in the end as the costs and hassle outweighed the benefits).

We did this and it didn't cost much - the most expensive bit was insuring the car for 5 days or whatever on the chassis number. We changed the lights and speedo, got it MOT'd and then it was quite a simple case of applying for the plates. Please make sure you have an EU certificate of conformity - although we were bringing ours in from the EU, the car was made in Japan and it took forever to get the EU cert out of the manufacturer. There is also some debate about whether you need to change the speed as a speedo in km/h is deemed "EU spec". We've imported our car twice - the first time we weren't asked to change the speedo, the second time we were.

The insurance was the biggest pain in the arse of all - shop around. Some companies wanted around £500 to insure the car for a matter of weeks. It is pretty stressful, as the window in which you have to sort everything out is small and it's not as straightforward as it should be.

The DVLA were less than helpful and we got told different things by several different people. We did not need an extra inspection for our car, and we imported it less than a year ago.

Did you have to pay any VAT on your imported car? We are thinking on bringing our car from the EU to the UK, we've owned it for less than a year and it is less than 10 years old - don't know if that matters. We didn't pay any VAT when we bought it. Will we have to pay it in the UK?

We didn't - and we also didn't pay VAT on it when we bought it. I think beyond a certain age, you don't have to pay it. Although I am not sure they actually asked! I think the assumption was that as it had come from the EU that tax had been paid!

Sorry for the belated thanks for responses on this post - it somehow ended up on my hidden threads.

Our car dilema still rumbles on but we must make a decision before the end of next month which is when it is due for its Dutch MOT. We have found a garage that doesn't mind doing the UK MOT but there is a lot of work that needs doing. I suspect we will just buy a car here which means another loan :( but it is too expensive otherwise and not worth fixing. And I love my car, it has so many memories and still works but oh well. Practicalities must persist over emotions!

doesn't sound worth it if you are coming to the UK soon. You can get a car of a similar age for well under £1000 with a year's MoT.

yours will also cost a bomb to insure.

The insurance is not too bad given we have no no claims. It is more a case of not wanting to borrow any more money or do a pcp which we would have to do otherwise. And there is a chance we need to move back in a year. All very frustrating. And there are too many decisions technically Dr's car so I might let him choose! £200 to have the assessment and then more probably to make it fit to drive in the UK for six months. I had no idea it would be this complicated. Ah well, thank you all for the advice. I'm sure we will find a solution one way or another.