Thursday, 08 October 2015

Write-offs granted VRT refunds

Vehicle history expert CARTELL.IE has announced the number of written-off vehicles exported out of Ireland and issued a vehicle registration tax (VRT) refund.

In August Cartell.ie announced that 3,284 vehicles had beenexported out of the State and of those 556 or 17% had VRT refunded by theGovernment.

Refund of VRT for exported vehicles is based on the ‘VRTExport Repayment Scheme’ which allows for the repayment of ‘residual’ VRT onpassenger vehicles permanently exported from the State. The scheme commenced in2013. Among the cars afforded a VRT refund this year were vehicles frommanufacturers Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.

Cartell.ie revealed the results of a separate study whichexamined the number of written-off vehicles exported out of Ireland in 2015 upuntil 17 August. The results show 10 vehicles are suspected ofbeing written-off in Ireland prior to export and refund of residual VRT.

John Byrne, Cartell.ie, said, ‘VRT refund is calculated onthe basis of the open market selling price of the vehicle at the time ofexportation, and, obviously, if the vehicle was written-off in Ireland, thatvalue is significantly impacted. The question that arises is whether theGovernment is aware the vehicle was written-off prior to export. Cartell.ie hasbeen lobbying for introduction of legislation which will obligate Irishinsurers to send all their write-off files to the Government. One consequenceof that move would be to ensure the Government is not overpaying on VRT refundsfor vehicle’s exported out of the State.’