Quote Originally Posted by nige View Post
You're also subject to arbitrary add ons when someone decides your car is a higher spec, so let's add [€1k] to what the VRT calculator spat out. You also can't challenge their assessment until after you've paid the full lump.
The way they value options fitted to a car (and when they stop being interested) are fairly clear in the documentation and they've gotten better at identifying options fitted now - and often use vin decoders or the like to identify specifications when necessary.

It pays to be aware of what was standard and what was an option for a given year, model or trim spec though when going in to them and I'd say its fairly certain that some people have paid more than absolutely right on occasion as a result. That's in contrast to a situation years ago when I was declaring a v. high spec 12month old e46 330Ci Conv for my sister. The guy in the VRT office (before NCTS got involved) sat in the car twirling the know on the (pricey, optional) TV and SAT-NAV while he tried to argue that it should be treated as a new car for VRT (it was carefully chosen to avoid that issue) because of some imagined flaw in the BMW dealer invoice. He would have pulled in more VRT by taxing the options than treating it as new, but he had no idea what was what.

Link, below, to the most relevant VRT process document, it should be required reading for anyone declaring a car.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-profes...section-08.pdf