Bringing a car back from The Channel Islands

[JumboBeef]

Hello.

I have searched and Googled this, and have found some answers, but not all.

There is a 1980's car in The Channel Islands I am interested in. It started life in The UK.

If I buy this car, I know it needs to be MOTed and registered with The DVLA for it to stay here, and here is my question....

How soon after landing in The UK, does this have to happen? I cannot drive it to a "pre booked MOT appointment" as I live in Scotland and the trip is going to take two days (minimum) from landing to MOT. Can I buy the car and insure it as a Channel Island's car (on CI numbers plates and no MOT) for a period of time (as I assume a CI resident who visits The UK could do) or does the car need to be registered and MOTed from the minute it lands?

Anything else I should consider bringing this car in?

Thanks.

[londonbabe]

I don't know if there are different rules for the channel islands, but I ran my Vespa around for several weeks on Italian plates while waiting for the UK registration, insured on the chassis number, and with a UK MoT.

Apparently UK citizens driving on foreign plates these days is in itself illegal, but I'm guessing the Channel Islands don't count as 'foreign' so that rule won't apply.

[HootersGsy]

londonbabe said:

I don't know if there are different rules for the channel islands, but I ran my Vespa around for several weeks on Italian plates while waiting for the UK registration, insured on the chassis number, and with a UK MoT.

Apparently UK citizens driving on foreign plates these days is in itself illegal, but I'm guessing the Channel Islands don't count as 'foreign' so that rule won't apply.

Oh yes we do count as foreign!

Outside the EU so the biggest issue is proving the car was originally VAT paid. You'll have to take this up with HMRC.

There is some good guidance on here

[Motorrad]

londonbabe said:

Apparently UK citizens driving on foreign plates these days is in itself illegal.

No it isn't.

Residency is the issue not citizenship.

[singlecoil]

Surely the most important issue here is what car is it? Has to be something interesting to make it worth the trouble.

[aw51 121565]

JumboBeef said:

I cannot drive it to a "pre booked MOT appointment" as I live in Scotland and the trip is going to take two days (minimum) from landing to MOT.

Oh you can (nowhere on the statute books does it say an MoT must be done 'locally' ) - but I wouldn't do it unless I was as sure as I could be that the car was road-legal.

As a left field choice, why not book the car in for an MoT in the town of your landing port in the UK, on the same day as the car sails back to Blighty???? Even if it fails, you're then driving from an MoT to a place of repair (your home).

And if you're going to pull this stunt, insure it on the VIN .

[Roo]

I thought Channel Island cars had to be de-registered and the plates handed back?

[Slidingpillar]

I bought a car from somebody who had imported it back from Jersey. MOT was issued on the Jersey numberplates so it must have run around for a short while on them. I think the certificate was from his local garage in Birmingham so not that near a port.

Was a few years ago though.

[pcvdriver]

Motorrad said:

No it isn't.

Residency is the issue not citizenship.

What if you're borrowing a foreign friend's car while they are over here with it? How would that stack up?

[darreni]

JumboBeef said:

Hello.

I have searched and Googled this, and have found some answers, but not all.

There is a 1980's car in The Channel Islands I am interested in. It started life in The UK.

If I buy this car, I know it needs to be MOTed and registered with The DVLA for it to stay here, and here is my question....

How soon after landing in The UK, does this have to happen? I cannot drive it to a "pre booked MOT appointment" as I live in Scotland and the trip is going to take two days (minimum) from landing to MOT. Can I buy the car and insure it as a Channel Island's car (on CI numbers plates and no MOT) for a period of time (as I assume a CI resident who visits The UK could do) or does the car need to be registered and MOTed from the minute it lands?

Anything else I should consider bringing this car in?

Thanks.

Consider the VAT payable. Even though the car was previously uk regd, if it has been out of the uk for more than 3 years, vat will be due.

[caziques]

Is there not such a thing as "returned goods relief"?

Possibly the DVLA have a record of the vehicle still - as far as I can recall all records were computerised by the late seventies.

[JumboBeef]

Thanks for the replies. The car is a TVR so it is worth it.

Or is it? It may not be worth all the hassle, and if VAT is due that adds another 20% to my costs....

Thanks again.

[Slidingpillar]

Speak to a classic car dealer - somebody must be helpful and know. I thought if a car was UK tax paid once, that was it, so a former UK registration mark would go most of the way towards proving.

If the car is not UK tax paid, then yes VAT is due on import, not on the price paid overseas, but on the customs officers opinion of value in the UK. There was a quite big argument (which was lost) about the fact the VAT on the new F40 was based on a price considerably in excess of what the owners had paid as new owners had paid in advance and the value of the car had sky-rocketed by the time they took delivery. Cuts both ways though, I could imagine a valuation on a TVR being lower than it's true worth.

[rotarymazda]

JumboBeef said:

Hello.
How soon after landing in The UK, does this have to happen? I cannot drive it to a "pre booked MOT appointment" as I live in Scotland and the trip is going to take two days (minimum) from landing to MOT.

When I imported a car, the importer said I had two weeks to get an MOT.

The traffic police that pulled me over said it needed an MOT before I took it on the road. They said I should have trailered it to the MOT station. They let me carry on anyway.

I would just get it booked in for an MOT near your home.

[JumboBeef]

rotarymazda said:

I would just get it booked in for an MOT near your home.

Car would land on the South Coast. I live in Scotland. I cannot do the drive in one day.

[Red Devil]

JumboBeef said:

rotarymazda said:

I would just get it booked in for an MOT near your home.

Car would land on the South Coast. I live in Scotland. I cannot do the drive in one day.

Book one close to where you're planning to stay the night.
Book another for the following day near your destination in Scotland.
Job jobbed.

And avoid the M74 getting there.

[Fastpedeller]

Couple of things:
Last year I saw someone in the local filling station in an interesting car with J plates, got chatting to him, and he said it was so much agro he wished he'd sold the car in CI and just bought a local replacement - This was Norwich DVLA office though, and they too 12 weeks to issue a reg number for my kit car, so may not be typical.

Re the MOT, I asked a friendly plod about getting MOT miles away, and he said whilst technically ok, it was taking the ps, and some officers would be within their rights to nick you if caught going excessive distance for MOT.
If getting a fail at 1st MOT on England's soil, I'd suspect then booking a 2nd MOT closer to home would also be frowned upon (even more than the above, which you could possibly be excused for, but KNOWINGLY using an MOT failure on the road would IMHO be worse)
Good luck.

[User33678888]

pcvdriver said:

Motorrad said:

No it isn't.

Residency is the issue not citizenship.

What if you're borrowing a foreign friend's car while they are over here with it? How would that stack up?

That's an interesting point there. Does anyone have a link to some definitive rules?

[SS2.]

Fastpedeller said:

Re the MOT, I asked a friendly plod about getting MOT miles away, and he said whilst technically ok, it was taking the ps, and some officers would be within their rights to nick you if caught going excessive distance for MOT.

I would have asked him to clarify which law would be transgressed by taking the vehicle to a pre-arranged MOT which, in itself, is not subject to any limitation of distance..

[Roo]

User33678888 said:

pcvdriver said:

Motorrad said:

No it isn't.

Residency is the issue not citizenship.

What if you're borrowing a foreign friend's car while they are over here with it? How would that stack up?

That's an interesting point there. Does anyone have a link to some definitive rules?

A UK resident can't drive a foreign registered car in the UK unless it's a hire car, lease car or company car owned by their employer who is based outside of the UK.

Unless you're a student.