The questions we are actually asked

We don’t publish a timescale, because it isn’t ours to promise. Once an application is with the DVLA the pace is theirs, and it varies with the vehicle, the country it came from and how complete the paperwork is. What we will do is prepare and submit the application and keep you posted until the registration is issued. If timing matters for insurance or a sale, say so when you enquire.

Our fee is £399, flat, whatever the vehicle — and it is separate from what the DVLA and HMRC charge. That covers the registration work: preparing the application, assembling the documents and dealing with the DVLA until your registration is issued. On top you will owe the DVLA first registration fee, road tax, and a Certificate of Conformity if your vehicle needs one, which we obtain and bill on at cost.

It depends on the vehicle and the country it is currently registered in, so we would rather not hand you a generic checklist that turns out to be wrong for your import. Once we have confirmed your vehicle is eligible, we tell you exactly what we need from you and what we prepare ourselves. You do not need to gather anything to enquire: the form asks only about the vehicle, where it is coming from, and how to reach you.

Yes. Our fee is £399 whatever the age, plus the DVLA and HMRC charges, so a newer vehicle costs no more to register with us. What changes is the paperwork: a vehicle ten years or older is exempt from IVA and type approval, while a newer one needs a Certificate of Conformity. We obtain that for you and bill it on at cost. Age changes the documents, not our fee.

We are not the DVLA. Register Your Car is a My Car Import service, and you are free to apply to the DVLA yourself if you would rather. The fee buys you not doing it: the application prepared properly the first time, the supporting documents assembled, and someone else handling the correspondence with the DVLA on your behalf while your vehicle stays where it is.

Only when you choose to go ahead. The form gives you a quote on screen, and when you are happy with it you pay securely online, there and then. Card details go into our payment provider Stripe’s page, never this website. We start work once our fee is paid, and if we cannot register your vehicle, our fee is refunded in full.

Yes, where your import still needs them. Not every vehicle does — one already customs-cleared into the UK, or moved before the rules changed, may have nothing outstanding. Where it is needed we handle customs clearance and the NOVA notification to HMRC in-house rather than passing you to somebody else, alongside the DVLA registration. Those are separate from our £399 registration fee, which covers the registration work; we tell you exactly what your import needs and what each part costs before you pay for it.

You can enquire either way, and plenty of people do so before the vehicle has shipped. Where the vehicle has got to changes what is needed and when, so tell us in your enquiry or on the phone. We will confirm what your situation needs, and what can be started before it arrives, without anything being payable in the meantime.

Yes. Registration is how the vehicle is recorded with the DVLA, given a UK registration mark and issued with a V5C registration certificate in the registered keeper’s name. Which mark it receives is the DVLA’s decision, not ours and not yours. If you are planning to put a private plate on the vehicle afterwards, mention it when you enquire so we can factor it into what we tell you.

The service covers vehicles imported from the EU at any age, and the form asks for a make and model rather than assuming a car. If yours is a motorcycle, van or something less usual, send it through and we will confirm whether we can register it. Nothing is payable until we have told you one way or the other.