Importing a track-only or drift car: it still has to be registered

The rule

Section 131(4) of the Finance Act 1992 says a person shall not have in their possession or charge an unregistered vehicle unless they are an authorised person or the vehicle is the subject of a temporary exemption under section 135. Section 139(3) makes possession of an unregistered vehicle an offence and section 139(5) makes the vehicle liable to forfeiture. Revenue’s manual adds the practical deadline: a vehicle brought into the State must be registered within 30 days of arrival.

None of that turns on where the car is driven. The trigger is possession of a vehicle in the State, not use on a public road. A drift car on a trailer in a shed in Cork is a vehicle in the State, and if it is not registered its owner is committing an offence every day it sits there.

What the competition exemption actually covers

Revenue does operate a temporary exemption for competition vehicles, and it is the source of the confusion. Part 2 of the VRT Manual, at paragraph 2.6.5, allows a person involved in competitions or rallying to bring a qualifying vehicle into the State provided permission is granted by the National VRT Service in advance of the event, the vehicle is used solely for the event and moved between events on a transporter, and the vehicle is removed from the State once the event has concluded, with a week’s grace either side.

A footnote allows a vehicle owned by a State resident to qualify, which is the line people half-remember. It does not remove the last condition. The exemption is for a car that comes in for the Drift Games weekend and leaves again, not for a car that lives here. There is no exemption, temporary or permanent, for a resident’s competition car that stays in the State.

What unregistered actually costs you

Beyond the offence and the risk of forfeiture, an unregistered car cannot be insured on the road, cannot be taxed or tested, cannot be sold with paperwork and cannot be legitimised later without paying the VRT that was due at the start, plus whatever penalty Revenue applies. Every one of those problems arrives at the worst possible moment: a checkpoint on the way to an event, a sale, an insurance claim after a paddock fire.

It also poisons the car’s value. A registered JZX100 with an Irish logbook is worth thousands more than the same car with a Japanese export certificate and no Irish paper trail, because the next buyer inherits the problem.

The lawful ways to use the 30-year rule

The saving everyone is chasing is real: €200 of VRT and no NOx levy at 30 years, against 41% of the valuation plus €600 a month earlier. The lawful way to capture it is to keep the car outside the State until its birthday. In practice that means storage in Japan, at the exporter’s yard or a specialist’s, and shipping timed so that the car arrives and is registered on or after the date. We are pricing that storage with exporters now (V25) and will publish it.

The other lawful holder of an unregistered vehicle is an authorised person, meaning a motor trader registered with Revenue for VRT purposes. Whether a dealer can hold a customer’s car as stock until its birthday, and on what terms, is part of the same question we have put to Revenue (V9 and V21). Until it is answered, do not rely on it.

1. Buy the car and leave it in Japan until 30 years from its first registration month, then ship it (storage cost to be published).
2. Or register it now at 41% and use it, which for a cheap chassis such as an Altezza or a 350Z is often the right answer.
3. Or buy a car that is already past 30: S13, 180SX to 1996, R32, A31, C33, JZX90, FC, AE86, NA Roadster.
4. Do not import a car under 30 intending to leave it unregistered.

Modifying a registered car

Registration is not the end of the paperwork on a build. Section 131(3) requires the prescribed particulars of a conversion to be declared, and Revenue defines a modified vehicle as one whose registered or type-approval particulars are altered. Whether a welded cage, removed rear seats or an engine swap on a passenger car triggers a declaration, and whether any additional VRT can arise, is not clear from the public guidance; we have asked (V22). Register the car as it arrives and keep the modifications documented in the meantime.

The NCT is the other consideration for a car that will be road-used. A cage needs padding where a head can reach it, seat belts must be present and working in every seat that remains, and a car with the rear seats removed is a two-seater on the day of the test. Insurers ask the same questions.

What we will and will not do

We will source, verify and land a drift or track car and price it honestly on both dates. We will hold a car in Japan until its birthday once the storage terms are published. We will not advise a customer to keep an imported car unregistered, and we will not build the calculator around a “competition only” option that pretends VRT does not apply, because it does.