One of the side effects of the continued tough times is that more and more recovery vehicles are being offered for sale, as businesses can no longer justify having something which isn’t providing an income.
The surplus stock of good and not so good second hand stock available and the lack of customers in Ireland, has led to a reversing of past trends, with Irish trucks now being sold into the UK as opposed to the other way around. Website, magazines and brokerages are doing their bit, giving people the tools to advertise their vehicles into a larger market, but there are a few things business should be aware of.
The Irish Recovery Network (IRN) was established earlier this year, to try to provide a platform for companies in Ireland who use recovery vehicles, and one part of this service was advertising and selling Recovery Trucks to customers in Ireland and further afield. In the last ten months, they have supported the sale of almost €400,000 worth of trucks, with almost half of these finding new homes in the UK. When asked about the biggest obstacles they came across in doing this, they found prospective purchasers from the UK, were most concerned about the vehicles mechanical soundness to facilitate MOTing in the UK and subsequently how much of a hassle it was to register it in the UK.
Registering a vehicle in the UK, which has previously been registered in Ireland, is not an overly complicated event. According to the DVLA in Swansea, Wales, if you are transferring a vehicle from the ROI into the UK, the UK customer needs to:
1. Have original ROI Registration document, appropriate insurance cover and provide certificates to show that the vehicle has been MOT-ed in the UK. The vehicle will need to be plated as a recovery truck and supplied with manufacturer information for both the chassis and the bed.
2. The purchaser must then go to their local DVLA office with a completed V55/5 register vehicle form (can be sent out or collected beforehand) and money for tax disk and registration, taking 2 types of id including utilities or bank statement for proof of address and 1 photographic. With the above mentioned requirements they can a register their recovery truck.
3. Once the truck is registered, they will be informed that a VOSA inspector might call to inspect the vehicle in the following 3-5 days. A newly registered vehicle must be available for inspection when called.
So if you are thinking of advertising your vehicle into the UK, the above information should help you allay the fear of anyone who might be unsure as to what they might need to do to register it in the UK. If you can explain that it is a simple enough procedure, then hopefully it might just help you mover your vehicle on.
