Cyprus-Forum.com

[Crivens]

Ok, so here is the situation. Basically I moved to Limassol in 2006 and brought my car with me. I went for duty free because the duty was unbelievable (about a third of the total price of the car when I bought it). Anyways a year and a half later and I still go to Nicosia to get the permit extended. No worries because I get fridays off, so all is good and straightforward.

Anyhow, it turns out I have to go back to the UK now. No worries, will ship the car back then. I'm still waiting for approval to register the car here, so surely can just send back on a ship again? Well today I get approval. Heh, I suppose is better than getting it a few months ago when I was going to be here forever possibly

What I want to know is, assuming I get it on the ship before the permit extension runs out (13th June) then is there any problems with shipping it back to the UK? I mean it has never been registered here, and still has UK plates. Only thing I did was send off the tear off bit of the V5 when leaving the UK. So all ok?

Cheers

[roseandchan]

if i were you i would just ship it back as it has uk reg and v5. just explain it to dvla when you get it back to the uk. they may call you in with it to the local dvla office to get it inspected but that is just standard when they want to check things. they should know when it went to cyprus from the slip you sent in. things change with dvla soo fast why don't you email them and ask their advice. remember to have a valid mot and tax disc when you get it to the uk.

[Crivens]

Thanks for that. I have contacted Columbia movers and they say by Cypriot law I have to have a Cypriot road tax (disk I assume) to export it. All very well, but it is still a UK car with UK plates and is only currently in Cyprus as a temporarily imported vehicle (extended at Nicosia every 2-3 months). So does anyone know if this is definitely the case or they have their facts wrong? I mean surely it is currently no different to bringing the car here for a long holiday and then returning it. Do I really have to get road tax for it (and probably register it here as a guess) just to plonk it back on a ship to be exported back to the UK?

Cheers

[JoJo]

If you have been cheating the system, some way or another it will catch up with you.

[Crivens]

How am I cheating the system exactly? You bring a car over here and declare you want duty free (instead of spending £3k to transport your own car from one EU country to another). Until that time you have to use the car here with UK plates on a temporary import agreement that you extend every two or three months. When they finally say you can have the car registered in Cyprus duty free then you can get Cypriot plates and only then can you pay road tax (back dated for how long you have been in the country, which in this case is a year and a half).

Now it turns out I have to return to the UK and it happens to be at the same time they finally got round to allowing the car to be registered. Fair enough pay back road tax, but I don't really want to pay road tax for another 6 months/year, when I am going to be sending it back to the UK immediately). I just want to know if people know what is required for such an unusual situation. If I registered the car fully for example, would I have to pay the duty to transport it back to the UK in the future (I don't move for 2 months or so)?

Cheers

[murf62]

I'm no expert in this, but I know a lot of lads that have imported brand new tax free cars to ship back to UK. The ruling there is that they have to come into Cyprus (for 28 days, but this can be got around) and be registered & taxed before they can be exported again. Maybe this is the case for used cars such as yours too?

[Crivens]

Hmmm, judging by the prices I've seen online for MX5s I may consider selling here instead. Even with duty to be paid when you consider the higher prices here (2003 1.6 (mine is 2004 1. example was going for about £8kCYP, when mine cost me only £10kGBP in 2005) and the amount to export to the UK, then may be better to sell here. How exactly does it work when duty has to be paid on the car?

Cheers