Advice on buying N.Ireland plated GTS

[Rogt3r]

Hello All
I’m after advice on purchasing a Porsche 991.2GTS that was originally from Belfast.It is now for sale at a Porsche specialist in the Uk.
It has a Northern Ireland style plate
Eg.ZZZ3777 which I personally do not like.
Question is,Will there be any problems for me in the future with this car ? For example are they considered to be worth any less? Are they classed as an import etc..
Thankful for any advice.

Roger

[Paddymcc]

No it's still a UK car.

You can re-register it in England.

[Porsche911R]

Paddymcc said:

No it's still a UK car.

You can re-register it in England.

If it were a Uk car why would it need to be re-registered ?

[pete.g]

Re-register as in 'to register again'. It does not need to be re-registered as it is a UK car; The United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland does not use dates on its plates, GB does. So it's on a UK reg but not a GB one. This is not difficult to follow.

It's registered with the DVLA in Swansea - you can re-register it by putting on any plate you have on a retention certificate or with the GB style plate with the year reference and letters linked to your area.

You can change to a retained plate online - I did this in December and it was easy (and free!)

Edited by pete.g on Sunday 9th February 16:46

Edited by pete.g on Sunday 9th February 16:47

[Koln-RS]

Porsche911R said:

If it were a Uk car why would it need to be re-registered ?

Because N.I. is part of the UK, and Agnews (Porsche Belfast), if that's where it came from, are a Porsche GB Centre.

N.I. just has it's own Licensing dept. You can run cars here on N.I. regional plates or request a DVLA issued plate. IoM, Jersey and Guernsey slightly different, as not part of the UK

[pete.g]

Koln-RS said:

Porsche911R said:

If it were a Uk car why would it need to be re-registered ?

Because N.I. is part of the UK, and Agnews (Porsche Belfast), if that's where it came from, are a Porsche GB Centre.

N.I. just has it's own Licensing dept. You can run cars here on N.I. regional plates or request a DVLA issued plate. IoM, Jersey and Guernsey slightly different, as not part of the UK

NI no longer has its own licensing dept - it's all done through Swansea.

[CanAm]

Porsche911R said:

Paddymcc said:

No it's still a UK car.

You can re-register it in England.

If it were a Uk car why would it need to be re-registered ?

I think he meant sticking a GB rather than NI number on, which the OP specifically said he does not like.

[V8fan]

Porsche911R said:

If it were a Uk car why would it need to be re-registered ?

For many years, people wanted to on the mainland because of the N.I. connection.

I bought a second hand Ford Orion in the late 1990s here in the Midlands with the number plate IIW **** . Got stopped a couple of times for what seemed 'random' checks. I was glad to sell it in the end.

For that reason, DVLA used to issue you with a GB number plate if requested. I'm not sure if they do that now, especially with the letter Z being in common use with the number plate formats since 2001.

[Essential]

Once registered in your name you can then apply for normal 2018/19 plate instead of the zzz Ni plate

Absolutely no issue buying a UK NI C16 car

[Rogt3r]

Thanks for the advice,I was hoping to get the dealership to change the plates for correct year and area ones.

As a side note I’m trading my 997.1 gt3 clubsport in against the GTS !
I think I’m doing the right thing ?

[Wilmslowboy]

Rogt3r said:

Thanks for the advice,I was hoping to get the dealership to change the plates for correct year and area ones.

[b] As a side note I’m trading my 997.1 gt3 clubsport in against the GTS !
I think I’m doing the right thing ? [/b]

I would assume a private sale for £4k to £5k more than their trade-in offer would be easy measy ??

[Nuttcase]

For higher end cars, NI plates or being originally registered in NI should not have any impact on value. Most buyers will have filtered down the model, colour, spec etc to the point where there are a handful of cars and will ask around about the impact of NI plates like you have done. If someone was looking for a 2018 red Ford Fiesta Zetec, then chances are many on the mainland will not be interested in checking the impact of a NI registration as there are so many others to choose from and may walk away.

I sold my NI sold and registered R8 V8 to a private buyer in England for £49k about three years ago; he put a few thousand miles on it and sold it ~18 months later for £46.5k. Both were good private sale prices at the time so the registration had no impact. I sort of half wish I'd kept it but that's for another forum. The Belfast OPC sell a fair number of used cars to customers on the mainland.

As someone posted, in years gone by there was some stigma about using NI plates on the mainland. Similarly many NI residents wouldn't have driven around with English plates either.

Back in the eighties, it was fairly common to import cars from the Republic to the North as they were slightly cheaper which is possibly a reason why some folks might associate NI cars with imports. You could buy a Vauxhall Cavalier up north, or an Opel Ascona down south for a few hundred quid less.