14 May 2026
By Roger Kennedy
roger@TheCork.ie
Brexit changed the car market
Before Brexit, buying a used car across the Irish Sea was fairly routine. A private buyer in Cork or Dublin could browse UK listings, find a solid deal, and have the car shipped over with relatively little friction. The numbers often worked in their favour, especially when sterling was weak against the euro.
That’s changed significantly. New customs rules, shifting VRT calculations, and the practical headache of cross-border paperwork have reshaped how Irish buyers approach the second-hand market. For UK sellers, the Irish buyer pool shrank almost overnight. So what does the market actually look like now?
Why Younger Buyers Are Approaching the Car Market Differently
One of the clearest trends post-Brexit is that younger buyers, particularly first-time buyers, are increasingly sticking to the domestic market instead of attempting an import. The paperwork alone can be off-putting, and the risk of miscalculating the total cost is real. A car that looks like a bargain in a UK listing can turn into an expensive lesson once VRT, duty, and transport are factored in.
For this group, the preference has shifted towards buying locally and sorting finance in advance. In the UK, services that let you buy your first car on finance with a pre-approved budget have become popular precisely because they take the uncertainty out of what you can actually spend. Irish buyers are moving the same way, wanting to know their numbers before they start shopping.
What Brexit Actually Did to Cross-Border Car Sales
The biggest shift was customs duty. Post-Brexit, vehicles imported from Great Britain into Ireland are subject to a 10% customs duty on top of VAT and Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT). That’s a cost that simply didn’t exist before January 2021. On a car valued at €15,000, you’re looking at around €1,500 in duty alone before VRT enters the equation.
VRT itself has also been recalibrated. The Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) used to calculate VRT is set by Revenue, and values applied to UK imports have risen in recent years. Many deals that would have looked attractive pre-Brexit no longer add up once all the costs are laid out.
What the Domestic Irish Market Looks Like Now
With fewer UK imports entering the market, domestic used car prices in Ireland held firm and in some segments pushed higher. Dealers have adapted by sourcing more stock from European markets like Germany and the Netherlands, where the lack of customs duty makes the numbers work better than UK imports do now.
UK Imports Haven’t Disappeared Entirely
Despite the extra costs, the UK-to-Ireland pipeline hasn’t closed. There are still scenarios where a UK import makes financial sense, particularly for older vehicles where the purchase price is low enough to absorb the additional charges, or where a specific model isn’t available in sufficient numbers domestically.
There is also a steady trade in Northern Ireland-sourced cars. Vehicles registered there are generally not subject to the same customs duty as those from Great Britain, provided they have been in private use in the North for a reasonable period.
This has kept the route active for buyers in the Republic, though the onus is now on the buyer to prove the car did not just move from GB to NI specifically for re-export to avoid the taxes.
The Outlook for Cross-Border Buying
There’s no sign that the regulatory picture will simplify any time soon. The customs duty and VRT situation reflects the post-Brexit trading relationship, and the fundamentals are unlikely to shift in the short term.
For buyers weighing up a UK import, the questions worth asking before committing are:
- What is the Revenue OMSP for this specific model and year?
- Does the vehicle come from Great Britain or Northern Ireland?
- Have you built in customs duty, VRT, transport, and any NCT preparation costs?
- Is the same car available domestically at a comparable total price?
Running those numbers honestly will quickly show whether the import route genuinely saves money or just looks like it does on paper.
All in All
Brexit didn’t kill the UK used car trade into Ireland, but it made it considerably more complicated and less automatically profitable for buyers. For most people, particularly younger ones entering the market for the first time, the domestic route is now the more straightforward and financially predictable option.