UK Car Shipping to Ireland

Why Ship Your Car from the UK to Ireland with UK Vehicle Exporters

Buying and exporting a car to Ireland doesn't need to be stressful. UK Vehicle Exporters specialises in sourcing and exporting VAT-qualifying vehicles from the UK, with trusted shipping partners covering the Irish Sea route and support at every stage, from vehicle selection through to Irish registration.

Cost of Shipping a Car from the UK to Ireland (Dublin, Rosslare)

The total cost of shipping depends on the vehicle make, model and most importantly size. We work directly with all shipping lines in the UK to arrange regular and reliable vehicle exports from the UK to Ireland (Dublin, Rosslare).

Crossings are typically £340-£945 depending on vehicle size and the route used. Because the Irish Sea crossing is short and sails frequently, we quote it per booking rather than from a fixed rate card.

What is included in our price?

• Loading and lashing vehicle into ship
• UK customs export and clearance
• UK port handling charges
• DVLA documentation and export certification
• Export documentation (e.g. Bill of Lading)
• Posting of the Export Documents from UK by UPS/DHL
• Shipping of the vehicle from the UK to Destination Port

Our price excludes

• Pre-Export Inspection (if required)
• Marine Insurance (container only)
• Collection and/or delivery of the vehicle
• All destination country's import fees

Apart from import duty, taxes, port storage and demurrage at the destination, which the importer always pays, we can add any of these to your quotation, priced separately, along with customs clearance, registration and delivery to your door through a local agent.

Documentation Required for Booking

• Car Registration Document (V5 or Logbook) and Vehicle Invoice (or value).
• ID (one government-issued photo ID and one utility bill showing address).

Payment Terms / Modes

• A £1,000 deposit secures a vehicle we source or buy for you. It is part of the price, not an extra fee. If you cancel, our terms and conditions say what is refunded.
• The balance is due in full, in cleared funds, before the vehicle is loaded, unless your quotation sets out different terms.
• Bank transfer preferred. Card payments up to £5,000, with no fee on personal debit or credit cards.
• Letters of credit, cheques, money orders and cash are not accepted.

Our Other Services

Car Sourcing and Buying on your behalf

There are three ways to buy a car through us for export to Ireland, whether or not you have already found the vehicle you want.

Shipping Across the Irish Sea

We work with trusted shipping partners to arrange regular, reliable vehicle deliveries from the UK to Ireland.

Delivery ports: Dublin and Rosslare by the Irish Sea crossing, and Cork on request, by RoRo from Portbury. We handle every detail with our shipping partners — just choose your vehicle and leave the rest to us.

Import Duty: 0% or 10%

Since Brexit, Great Britain sits outside the EU customs union, so a car moving from Britain to Ireland needs a customs declaration. The duty is either nothing or 10% of the customs value, and which one you pay comes down to a single question: where the car was built, not where you bought it.

The catch is documentary. The 0% rate is not automatic: it has to be claimed at declaration, supported by a statement on origin made out by the exporter, or by importer's knowledge. A UK logbook is not proof of origin. Private sellers and many used-car dealers cannot issue a valid statement, which is why a good number of second-hand imports end up paying the 10% even when the car was built in Britain. We establish this before you commit, because it is a tenth of the car's value.

Returned Goods Relief — rarely available now

Returned Goods Relief is a separate route to 0% duty, and it is widely misunderstood. It has nothing to do with where the car was manufactured. It applies to a vehicle that was previously exported from the EU and is now coming back, unaltered, within three years of the date it left. The relief must be claimed on the declaration and evidenced. Import VAT is normally still payable: Revenue relieves it only in very specific circumstances, where the person re-importing is the same person who exported the car.

Why it seldom helps in 2026: the three-year clock runs from the date the car left the EU. Cars that moved to Britain before Brexit stopped qualifying at the end of 2023, so the relief now only reaches a car exported from the EU to Britain within roughly the last three years. It is worth checking on the right car, but it is no longer a general route around the 10% on ordinary UK used-car stock, whatever you may read elsewhere.

Tax-Free Vehicle Supply and UK VAT

UK Preferential Origin (Reduced Import Duty)

Some UK-built vehicles may qualify for reduced or zero import duty. That depends on the UK having a trade agreement with the destination country and on the car meeting that agreement's rules of origin. During your quote, we'll confirm whether the vehicle you're interested in qualifies.

VAT-free Supply of VAT-Qualifying (VATQ) Cars

A VAT-registered dealer can sell a new car, or a used car that carries VAT on its full price, free of UK VAT when it is exported and HMRC's conditions are met. Used cars of that kind are known in the trade as VAT-qualifying: typically ex-rental or ex-lease cars, where the hire or leasing company reclaimed the VAT when it bought them. On a VAT-inclusive price, the VAT is one-sixth. A used car sold under the second-hand margin scheme is different: VAT is due only on the dealer's margin, and HMRC does not let a dealer zero-rate it as an ordinary export. We are not VAT registered, so the saving comes off the dealer's price, not as a refund from us. We arrange the export to Ireland and give the dealer the proof of export it needs.

HMRC's Personal Export Scheme (PES)

The Personal Export Scheme lets overseas visitors and UK residents who are leaving the UK, and will stay outside it with the car for at least six months, buy a car free of VAT and use it here before it is exported. Only VAT-registered businesses can operate the scheme, so you buy from a dealer that runs it. The car must leave within 12 months of delivery for an overseas visitor, or 6 months for a UK resident, or the VAT becomes payable. It can suit anyone relocating to Ireland: we find a dealer that runs the scheme and ship the car when you are ready. How the scheme works.

Understanding Irish VAT

Irish VAT is charged at 23%, payable on the customs value of the vehicle, which includes:

• The car's purchase price
• Shipping and transport costs
• Import duty (if applicable)

Note: VAT is calculated after any applicable import duty is added, so it compounds with the total cost.

Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT)

VRT is usually the biggest single charge, and for an ordinary car it is two things added together, both based on Revenue's own valuation of the car in Ireland, the open market selling price. Your purchase price in Britain does not set it.

• A CO2 charge — a percentage of that valuation set by the car's emissions band, running from 7% at the cleanest end to 41% for the highest emitters, with a minimum charge in each band.
• A NOx levy on top — charged per mg/km on a rising scale. If you cannot evidence the car's NOx figure, Revenue applies the maximum, which is far more expensive on a diesel than on a petrol car. Bring the documentation.

Two cases are charged quite differently and are worth knowing about. A vehicle over 30 years old at registration is a flat, modest amount rather than a percentage of value, which is why classics are so much cheaper to bring in than people expect. Vans and commercials are charged on their own lower scale.

Electric cars get VRT relief of up to €5,000, but read that carefully. It is a reduction in VRT, not a payment, and it cannot exceed the VRT actually due — since electric cars sit in the lowest CO2 band, the relief in practice is usually a few thousand euro rather than the full five. Full relief applies up to a €40,000 valuation, tapers between €40,000 and €50,000, and disappears above that. Hybrids and plug-in hybrids do not qualify.

Deadline worth planning around: the electric vehicle relief is currently legislated only for cars registered before 31 December 2026, and it is the registration date that counts, not when you buy or ship. Bands, levies and reliefs are set at Budget time, so we confirm the current figures and estimate your VRT before the car leaves the UK rather than quoting last year's numbers.

NCTS Inspection & Registration

Every imported vehicle has to be registered in Ireland, and that happens at an NCTS centre, which handles registration on Revenue's behalf. There are two separate deadlines, and both run from the day the car arrives:

1. 1Clear customs first — for a car from Great Britain the import declaration must be lodged and any duty and VAT paid before the appointment. You need the customs declaration reference with you.
2. 2Book within 7 days of the car arriving in the State
3. 3Bring the documents — the UK logbook, proof of purchase, the customs paperwork, evidence of the CO2 and NOx figures, and photo ID
4. 4Inspection — the centre confirms the car matches its documentation and sends the details to Revenue, which calculates the VRT
5. 5Pay and register — VRT is collected and your registration number issued, to be fitted in the prescribed format within three days

If you register the car yourself, booking the appointment is up to you. We can also arrange registration through a local agent, quoted separately. Either way, our team is on hand to answer any questions at this stage, and driving the car before it is registered risks it being detained, so it is worth getting the timing right.

Arrival in Ireland: What Happens Next

Once your vehicle arrives in Ireland, in this order:

• The customs import declaration is lodged, and duty and VAT are settled
• The NCTS appointment is booked, within 7 days of arrival
• The inspection is completed and VRT paid, within 30 days of arrival
• Irish plates, motor tax and insurance are arranged

At every stage, we're on hand to guide you — even after the car has left the UK.

Our step-by-step guide to importing a car into Ireland covers each of these stages in more detail, with the documents to bring.