Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency
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You must complete certain steps when bringing a vehicle permanently into either:
- Great Britain, from anywhere
- Northern Ireland, from outside the EU
You can be prosecuted if you use your vehicle on a public road before you complete these steps, unless youre driving it to a pre-booked MOT or vehicle approval test.
The order you complete these steps in depends on whether youre:
-
having the vehicle shipped to the UK for you by an import company
-
bringing the vehicle in yourself, either through the Channel Tunnel or by ferry
Commercial importers of new vehicles that use a secure registration scheme do not have to follow these steps.
If youre having the vehicle shipped
Make an import declaration. You must pay a shipping company or customs agent to do this for you. They can either do this before bringing the vehicle in or at the UK border.
Pay VAT and customs duty at the UK border - your shipping company or customs agent will usually arrange to do this for you.
Tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) within 14 days that the vehicle has arrived in the UK.
Get vehicle approval to show your vehicle meets safety and environmental standards.
Register and tax the vehicle with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) - theyll give you a registration number so you can get number plates made up.
Insure your vehicle before you drive it on UK roads.
If your vehicle is damaged, rebuilt or modified, check if you can register it in the UK before you import it.
If youre bringing the vehicle in yourself either through the Channel Tunnel or by ferry
Tell HMRC within 14 days that the vehicle has arrived.
Make an import declaration if HMRC tells you that you need to pay VAT and customs duty. Youll need to pay a shipping company or customs agent to make the import declaration for you.
Make a Notification of Vehicle Arrivals (NOVA) declaration - see Tell HMRC to find out how to do this.
Get vehicle approval to show your vehicle meets safety and environmental standards.
Register and tax the vehicle with DVLA - theyll give you a registration number so you can get number plates made up.
Insure your vehicle before you drive it on UK roads.
If your vehicle is damaged, rebuilt or modified, check if you can register it in the UK before you import it.
Bringing your vehicle in or out of Northern Ireland
If you are a UK resident you can move your vehicle freely between Great Britain and Northern Ireland if all of the following apply:
- its registered in either country
- youre not moving it to sell it, or for any other commercial purpose (for example, using the car as a taxi or hiring it to someone)
- the car is for your own or your households personal use
Find out what to do if someone else is bringing your vehicle to Northern Ireland.
Tell DVLA about the change of address.
Visiting the UK with a vehicle
Follow the rules for temporary imports instead if both of the following apply:
- you do not usually live in the UK
- youre bringing a vehicle to the UK for less than 6 months
Bringing a vehicle back to the UK
You must complete certain steps if you are bringing a vehicle back to the UK which:
- has been registered in the UK previously
- is being reimported to the UK