How shared ownership of a classic car works in Ireland
You buy part of a real car, you pay your part of the bills, and you get your part of the year. Here is how that works in practice.
Most classic cars spend most of the year under a cover. The owner pays insurance, storage and servicing for twelve months and drives the car for maybe twenty days. Shared ownership splits the car, the bills and the calendar between a small group, usually two to six people.
What you buy
A share is part-ownership of the car plus the right to use it for your share of the year. If a car is split into four shares, each co-owner owns a quarter, pays a quarter of the running costs and gets a quarter of the booking points. You are an owner, not a renter: when the car is sold, you get your share of the sale price.
It is not an investment product. Classic car values go down as well as up, and nobody on Mile Club is allowed to advertise a share on the basis of returns. Buy a share because you want to drive the car.
Who is the registered owner?
The Vehicle Registration Certificate records a registered owner, so in practice one co-owner acts as the lead owner. Their name goes on the logbook and the insurance policy, and the co-ownership agreement records what everyone owns and pays. Where a private owner sells shares in their own car, they usually stay as lead owner. Where a dealer sells every share, the buyers pick a lead owner between them.
How the costs work
Each co-owner pays a monthly amount into a maintenance fund, held in a separate account run by the lead owner. The fund pays for insurance, motor tax, servicing, storage, breakdown cover and a reserve for repairs. Fuel, tolls and anything you break are on you. Our running costs guide has typical figures.
How the days work
Every share gets a number of points a year, and every day costs points depending on when it falls. A winter weekday is cheap, a sunny bank holiday Saturday is not. Bookings are made on a shared calendar with a few fixed rules: three days minimum, a cap on long summer bookings, and a limit on how many peak weekends one person can grab far in advance. The full detail is in the rules.
How you buy a share on Mile Club
- Browse the cars and pick one you like. Browsing is free.
- Contact the seller. You pay a one-off fee to unlock their details, refunded if they don't reply within seven days.
- Meet the seller and the other co-owners, see the car, and get it inspected by a specialist if you're not sure.
- Sign the co-ownership agreement and pay the seller directly. Mile Club never holds money for a share.
- Join the car's shared calendar and book your first drive.
Getting out again
Under the standard agreement you give 30 days' notice. The other co-owners get the first chance to buy your share at an agreed price. If none of them want it, you can list it on Mile Club like any other share. If three-quarters of the group vote to sell the car, it is sold and everyone gets their share of the proceeds after costs.
Read the co-ownership agreement guide before you sign anything, and have a solicitor look over the final version.
Rules and rates change. Check with Revenue, motortax.ie, the RSA, your insurer and a solicitor before you rely on anything here.