Buying a car from Northern Ireland - bad idea?

NI is part of the UK!

Buy it and get the ferry back from Belfast to Birkenhead?

A long time ago but I've moved cars to and from NI with no issues several times, both buying in NI then re-registering in GB and vice versa. You can, (or certainly used to be able to) get a GB registration just by writing to DVLA (or an NI reg from the Coleraine licensing office).  I even did that once and was then able to sell my NI plate for a couple of hundred quid. It was nothing special, but because NI plates don't age a vehicle, some people in GB like to have them.  All this info is pretty dated and may have changed, but I can't see it being a big deal.

Lots of motors come the other way too, loads of GB plated cars here.

Thanks all - didn't think it would be an issue but better to ask!

Used to be the case that you couldn't look up the MOT history and therefore check mileage is genuine on the gov.uk site. I'm pretty sure the Irish S-Max I bought had a few more miles on it than claimed.

Oh and they are all basically seaside cars so check for rusty bits

Less salt used on Irish roads.

I brought a ni car to the UK with no bother.

No problem at all. Slightly weird reg plates though so it'll look like a private plate to some and make you look a bit of tit but otherwise go for it. No weird spec issues or different versions sold here or there.

Currently driving a van from NI and wife has car from there - most of our last few came from there too. No issues at all in the many years we've done it (we're Irish living in newcastle).

Once had convince a police officer we were telling him real registration as wouldn't believe the plate we told him when came to take a statement - he even went out to look at it.  Don't think such an issue anymore as more common.

I've had Donegal plates for 6 years now.

I have a car from NI with NI plates. No problem on that front - although I didn’t do the import, so can’t offer any comment on that front.

Resale value will likely be lower one day, and it'll take longer to shift, if those are considerations.

Personally, I wouldn't. For those reasons, and I don't like the plates and how they stand out.

Few British cities and regions I'd also generally also avoid when making a major purchase. Or even a £2.69 packet of bolts from eBay tbh, as long as the price is about the same.

NI car? Yeah, I would. If only because then you can legally have those cool Eurostile Bold type numberplates than shitey New Charles Wright ones.

Stay for a couple of days and have a weekender break out it too. Plus having it and you over there to drive about for those days means if anything is wrong, returning it to the dealership is considerably easier.

Some nonsense being spoken on here.

NI cars are UK spec cars and the registration documents come from Swansea.  They are MOTd and taxed in exactly the same way apart from the fact that MOT stations are government run.

loads of 'uk' reg cars over here as well. The single difference is the NI reg. think of it as a crap private plate for free.

All this talk of imports and resale values will have the DUP walking out for another couple of years.

RoI cars will have KPH speedometers and require importing but that it totally different.

ETA: resale values of some models can be higher in NI due to the smaller market and cost of travelling to other parts of the UK. What the OP is contemplating often happens in reverse.

I’ve had Donegal plates for 6 years now.

Living in GB? that's a different matter

Make sure you've checked the ferry prices when you do your maths - they're a lot more expensive than the South coast ones.

Just don't leave it as the last car on the street the day before the monarch is coming and you've changed the radio and stuffed the old one under the driver's seat.
Causes quite a lot of interest from gents in black boilersuits

It’s weird that this is worth doing. When I was in the rebublic last year I was told that used car market relied heavily on bringing in cars from the uk. So it seems odd that the car is worth less in NI than here.

But I wouldn’t buy one from NI or the North of Scotland. Simply because if it goes wrong it’ll never be easier to sort than a car bought more locally

If you drive from stanraer shout I'll buy you a brew!

@duncancallum - that's sneaky, promising a drink they'll never get - no boats from Stranraer,  all Cairnryan now 😄

Generally the roads are not salted as much, but the howling damp gale that blows in off the Atlantic is laden with the stuff to make up for it.  Wouldn’t buy a car from anywhere directly on the north coast as a result.

@northshorenaill

Aye but most folk still say stanraer. makes no odds as you sale past newton stewart on the 75!

Plus if it breaks down on the boat i can come n pick you up

@ampthill

That's the difference between NI and RoI.

All cars imported to RoI have an additional tax placed on them subject to popularity/emissions etc. so to reduce this RoI cars have a reduced spec when sold from new (focus doesn't come with air con and central locking as standard in RoI).

Couple that with a small market and cars in RoI are very expensive, you can get a similar mileage Mondeo with a higher spec in the UK and import cheaper than buying the lower spec RoI focus.

The only way around this import tax is if you own the car in the UK and bring it with you when you relocate to RoI (that I know of).

I've always imported cars from UK/NI to RoI.

@saccades I have imported 4 cars to the ROI now and agree with what you say but I found with the VRT changes lately it has narrowed the gap on the saving of importing a car (once you factor in the ferry/plane etc). The last one I did was 3 years ago, not sure I would again looking at the figures. One of the reasons I did it in the past, besides the savings, was the state of the cars on sale in the ROI. Thankfully this seems to of improved over the years too.

Is it still the case that a lot of the hatchbacks in the Republic start life as vans and gain features like back seats and windows as time goes on?

No, I don’t know anyone who does that.

Interesting story.... I had a Nova GTE with a NI plate in 1999. The end.

I dunno much about this, but I'd be wary of potential ballache if you had issues with the car or even wanted to reject it.