According to vehicle history experts Cartell.ie at least ten vehicles, which have previously been written off, have been granted a refund of vehicle registration tax when they were exported.
In August, Cartell.ie announced that 3,284 vehicles had been exported out of the State and of those 556 or 17 per cent had VRT refunded by the Government. Refund of VRT for exported vehicles is based on the "VRT Export Repayment Scheme" which allows for the repayment of "residual" VRT on passenger vehicles permanently exported from the State. The scheme commenced in 2013. Among the cars afforded a VRT refund this year were vehicles from manufacturers Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche. The scheme was originally introduced to allow car dealer to export vehicles to the UK at a competitive price.
Cartell.ie though has revealed the results of a separate study, which examined the number of written off vehicles exported out of Ireland in 2015 up until 17 August. The results show 10 vehicles are suspected of being written-off in Ireland prior to export and refund of residual VRT.
John Byrne, Cartell.ie, says: "VRT refund is calculated on the basis of the open market selling price of the vehicle at the time of exportation, and, obviously, if the vehicle was written-off in Ireland, that value is significantly impacted. The question that arises is whether the Government is aware the vehicle was written off prior to export. Cartell.ie has been lobbying for introduction of legislation, which will obligate Irish insurers to send all their write-off files to the Government. One consequence of that move would be to ensure the Government is not overpaying on VRT refunds for vehicle's exported out of the State."