I recently retired from work in England and moved temporarily to Co. Tyrone, where our camper van was registered. We have now moved over the border to Donegal with the Toyota Proace (we bought it as a converted van brand new in England just over a year ago). We had the VRT inspection last Saturday. We had successfully applied for a transfer of residence exemption from VRT for the vehicle - my problem is different.
The man at the VRT office in Letterkenny on Saturday took a number of photos of the inside of the van and said he had to send them in for approval and that I would receive a call to go and complete the registration process. I understood this to mean that someone had to approve its classification as a motor caravan and that I would then be able to avail of the flat rate €102 tax on such vehicles. Anyway, I received the call yesterday and went in to conclude the registration process. The first surprise was when the woman in the VRT office told me that the van, first registered in November 2019, would need a CVRT before it could be taxed. I hadn’t expected this as I thought motor caravans didn’t have to be tested until four years after first registration. I duly went along to one of the test centres she mentioned and they were adamant that the vehicle does not need a CVRT.
My second problem is that I just checked online at motortax.ie the amount of motor tax payable and it is given as €710, based on the emissions class for the engine size (1997cc). This is a rather nasty surprise. How has this happened and how can I have this changed? What I really don’t follow is that motortax.ie describes the van as a ‘motor caravan’ under ‘body type’, yet the tax seems to be calculated on emissions categories instead of the motor caravan flat rate.
My van most definitely fits the definition of a motor caravan.
The man at the VRT office in Letterkenny on Saturday took a number of photos of the inside of the van and said he had to send them in for approval and that I would receive a call to go and complete the registration process. I understood this to mean that someone had to approve its classification as a motor caravan and that I would then be able to avail of the flat rate €102 tax on such vehicles. Anyway, I received the call yesterday and went in to conclude the registration process. The first surprise was when the woman in the VRT office told me that the van, first registered in November 2019, would need a CVRT before it could be taxed. I hadn’t expected this as I thought motor caravans didn’t have to be tested until four years after first registration. I duly went along to one of the test centres she mentioned and they were adamant that the vehicle does not need a CVRT.
My second problem is that I just checked online at motortax.ie the amount of motor tax payable and it is given as €710, based on the emissions class for the engine size (1997cc). This is a rather nasty surprise. How has this happened and how can I have this changed? What I really don’t follow is that motortax.ie describes the van as a ‘motor caravan’ under ‘body type’, yet the tax seems to be calculated on emissions categories instead of the motor caravan flat rate.
My van most definitely fits the definition of a motor caravan.