For the third time I tried to get the registration sorted on the old 325i I bought back recently. Its a car I imported back in 2008 and sold back to the UK in 2012/13 without reclaiming VRT for the export (predated that process).

I'm fairly familiar with car importation and VRT processes but they're driving me mad with this one.

First attempt:
I searched Revenue, Department of Transport and a few other government sites for information about the correct steps for these specific circumstances but there is nothing that I could find. So, I booked an appointment with the NCTS for a VRT declaration as this seemed to be the only obvious process. Because there was no VRT to collect they didn't want to know about it and suggested I contact a Motor Tax Office.

To double check this advice I rang the Registration Office in Shannon and eventually spoke to some (after an inordinate amount of "for X, press 1" messages). She confirmed this and only mentioned the UK registration document as required documentation.

Second attempt:
So I chanced my arm at the MTO near work, even though I live in a adjacent county. Well, I didn't even get as far as that being a problem. She didn't like the proof of ferry crossing that I had and wouldn't even talk to me about anything else.

Third attempt:
This morning I headed to my own MTO with all of the ferry booking information and didn't even get as far as needing to produce that. The people I was speaking with (naturally, it took more than one to figure it out) wouldn't even talk to me about it until I get a certificate from a main dealer that confirms the make, model, VIN number, engine number and CC of the car. The fact that all of this information is on the registration document and the car was parked outside the office where everything except the engine number could be checked without having to crawl under the car was of no consequence.

So at this point I've covered about 120 miles specifically for the purpose of trying to get the registration sorted and the prospect of a trip to the dealer (which I'm sure won't be free) and another trip to the MTO at an absolute minimum to get this done, assuming they don't invent any other needs they haven't told me about yet. This is more stringent than declaring a car for importation in the first instance!

Thanks for reading, I needed to get that off my chest