Importing a Motorhome from Belgium – A Process Checklist

Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to read that as part of our decision-making process to import a motorhome, I did a large amount of internet research and created a few spreadsheets. One of the things I put together was a checklist of what I understood we needed to do to get an EU-sourced motorhome registered in the UK. I will write a more detailed narrative account of what was involved, but for starters here is a version of the original checklist, which I have updated after the fact, including a number of ‘post experience notes’, and to which I have added the actual dates upon which we completed each stage.

 

Stage No	Detail	Date completed
1	Order Import Pack from the Department for Transport	7/1
2	Choose motorhome, find a suitable dealer and do deal, including agreeing with dealer that they will provide original Certificates of Conformity and will either a) arrange export plates; or b) deliver	9/1
3	Sort out insurance for value of van whilst in transit (Post experience note: I wasn’t able to do this (although the need went away with Campirama offered to deliver). The one underwriter who used to offer this insurance no longer does and not even brokers who specialise in bespoke requirements could help)	N/A
4	Insure van with UK insurer based on VIN (Post experience note: Not all insurers offer this. We were already insured with Safeguard, who do. They require registration within 30 days, but did indicate that they would extend that period if DVLA caused delays.)	10/1
5	Transfer money to dealer via foreign exchange broker (Post experience note: We used UK Forex. This page on the MSE website provides helpful information on this subject.)	16/1
6	Take delivery of van. Get dealer to assist with filling in V55/4 (info is required from C of C, which, in our case, was in German)	27/1
7	Within 14 days of arrival, complete HMRC Notification of Vehicle Arrival (NOVA) form online, which will trigger the VAT bill. HMRC will apply a fixed exchange rate which is set month-by-month (see here for 2017 rates). (NB VAT is payable on base cost + extras) (Post experience note: Following NOVA submission we received an auto-response saying more information was required and were requested to phone a stated number. It was the weekend, so we couldn’t do that until 30/1. As expected, the information required was proof of purchase price. We emailed a copy of the dealer’s invoice.)	27/1
8	Receive VAT bill (within a couple of days) and pay it	2/2
9	Obtain new speedo facia from Lockwood International in Leeds and fit (Post experience note: Campirama did this for us, however, they erred by not removing the old facia first and thus the new facia didn’t light up correctly, so we ended up having to take the instrument panel apart to rectify)	N/A
10	Take vehicle to a garage which is: a) a MOT station; and/or b) VAT registered; and/or c) a registered company. Obtain a letter on letter head, stating MOT station number and registered address, stating that vehicle’s headlights, fog lights and speedo meet UK requirements. (Post experience note: It’s important to use the wording on Page 4 of the ‘Application for Mutual Recognition – Motorhomes’ form. Our original statement from the garage didn’t make clear whether the speedo facia was retrofitted or factory fitted, so we had to obtain a further clarifying statement from the garage. This incurred a 3-day delay to the certification process).	28/1
11	Send the following to Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) via Special Delivery: 1) Original European Certificate(s) of Conformity for the vehicle 2) Garage evidence (per Point 10 above) that the vehicle meets the UK requirements in respect of headlights, speedometer and rear fog-light(s) 3) Completed ‘Application for Mutual Recognition – Motorhomes’ 4) Completed VCA Payment Form, authorising credit/debit card payment of £100	31/1
12	When the VCA has processed the application, they will send an Individual Vehicle Approval certificate. This is required for completion of the V267 (see Step 13 below).	8/2
13	Within 14 days of arrival of the vehicle in the UK, send the following to DVLA: 1) Completed Form V267 (declaration that a vehicle is new); 2) Completed Form V55/4 (application for first vehicle tax and registration of a new motor vehicle); 3) Original Individual Vehicle Approval Certificate from VCA (see Steps 11 and 12 above) 4) Invoice from dealer, stating date of delivery 5) Proof of identity of the person making application (e.g. photocopy of driving licence) 6) A cheque for £55 for the first registration fee and one for the cost of the first year’s road tax (Form V149 states the applicable rates of vehicle tax).	8/2
14	Receive V5 log book	16/2
15	Have number plates made up by a Government authorised number plate maker, and fit them to vehicle	16/2
16	Advise insurance company of registration number	16/2

 

Note that if you don’t already have a Government Gateway account with HMRC, then obtaining one should be point 1 or 2 on the checklist. I didn’t put this step on the list because both Mick and I already have accounts (it’s the same log-in as is used for Self Assessment Tax Returns).

Disclaimer: the import process is not immune from change and my research suggested there has been change over the last few years. Whilst this process worked well for us in January/February 2017, any part of it may change at any time and I won’t be keeping it up to date.