How can I import a commercial SUV?

Hi guys,

Really hoping that you can help me with this one. I'm hoping to import an SUV (either Volkswagen Touareg or Mercedes-Benz ML 280) from the UK and register it as a commercial vehicle. The most ideal situation would be to import it, get the crewcab conversion and register it as a five-seater crewcab (I'm one of the few who would very genuinely need both five seats for crew and the ability to drop them and use as a commercial through my job in events), but will settle for two seats and commercial tax.

There do not seem to be any of those SUVs in the UK that are non-passenger versions (I presume due to the UK not having a commercial SUV as such) so I'm just wondering what steps I will need to take to get the lower tax rate and import as commercial.

Please let me know, as your help will be much appreciated.

Brian McCarthy (Dublin)

Oct 2016 Filed under: importing

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Expert answer

Hi Brian,

There is a way of doing this, but it requires some very careful timing. Once you import a vehicle, you have seven days from its arrival on these shores to notify Revenue that it’s in the country and also to book the NCT inspection to get the final bill for Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT).

So that gives you a little wiggle room. Ideally, you would be best advised to find a company in the UK who can carry out the conversion and re-register the vehicle with the DVLA in Swansea, before importing it. If that’s not possible, then what you need to do is to make sure you have an Irish conversion company set up and ready to go who can carry out the conversion when the car arrives here, before it goes for its inspection. It’s ever so slightly legally dubious (letter of the law rather than spirit), but if you can keep the timings sharp, it could work.

Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Advisor
@neilmbriscoe