The Nissan Cabstar is not the truck a fleet buys new. By the time one reaches an Irish yard it has usually done a decade or two of graft in Britain — a builder's tipper, a scaffolder's dropside, a small haulier's flatbed — and it arrives cheap and honest. That ageing profile shapes the whole VRT question, because for the very oldest examples the tax is decided not by weight or body but by the calendar. And where the truck is a genuine goods vehicle, the bill lands on the flat truck VRT charge of €200 rather than a slice of what it is worth.
An ageing UK parc and the 30-year line
Start with the parc, because it is the unusual thing about the Cabstar. Very few come in as young, high-value trucks; the trade is dominated by older used imports, often fifteen or twenty years on the clock. That age opens a rule most van and car buyers never touch. Any vehicle over 30 years old at the date of registration is placed in Category C at a flat €200, regardless of body type, weight or emissions. It is the vintage provision — and because so many Cabstars are old, the oldest of them pay €200 on age alone.
That matters most for the light chassis. A 3.5-tonne Cabstar would ordinarily be a Category B vehicle taxed on value, but if it is over the 30-year threshold the age rule overrides that and drops it straight to the flat €200. For a buyer eyeing an early-1990s example, the plated weight stops mattering entirely: the truck is Category C because of when it was built, full stop.
Cabstar, NT400 and the badge change
One thing trips up buyers reading listings: the same truck answers to two names. Nissan renamed the Cabstar the NT400 around 2014, when the model became a badge-engineered sibling of the Renault Maxity. Mechanically it carried on much as before — a forward-control light truck with a tilting cab over the front axle — so a used one in an Irish yard may wear either badge depending on its year. For VRT it makes no difference which name is on the grille; Revenue reads the plated weight and the age, not the marketing.
Good to know — Cabstar and NT400 are the same truckIf a British advert says "NT400" and another says "Cabstar", you are looking at the same model either side of the 2014 rename. Treat them identically when you budget — the badge changes nothing about the category, which turns on weight and age.
The alloy dropside that most of them wear
Walk a British commercial yard and the typical Cabstar is not a purpose-built recovery rig — it is a workhorse wearing an alloy dropside or a tipper body. That is the body most Irish imports carry — the same dropsides that shift everything from cars to motorbikes (vrtmotorcycle.ie covers the two-wheel rules) — and it is worth remembering that the body has no bearing on the category. A dropside 45.14 and a recovery-decked 45.14 are the same N2 goods vehicle in Category C; a dropside 35.13 and a caged 35.13 are the same N1 in Category B. The plate decides it, not the aluminium sitting on the chassis. It is the same logic that governs a Ford Transit chassis cab, where the body fitted is irrelevant to which side of the weight line the truck sits.
Buying an older Cabstar in Britain
The Cabstar was assembled in Spain, at Nissan's Ávila plant, which gives a British-bought example a genuine route to 0% customs duty under the UK–EU preferential origin rules — provided the seller supplies a statement on origin. Without that proof, duty is 10% on a vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes and 22% above it, so the paperwork is worth chasing on an already-cheap truck. Here is an older 4.5-tonne dropside brought in with origin proven:
Example — Nissan Cabstar 45.13 alloy dropside, GB import (Category C)
| Purchase price (older, cheaper) | €12,000 |
| Customs duty (UK–EU origin proven) | €0 |
| VAT at 23% on customs value | €2,760 |
| VRT — Category C, flat rate | €200 |
| Tax & duty added at registration | €2,960 |
VAT here is stated on the assumption of a business import; a genuinely old private import may be treated differently, so confirm your own position. Note too that a 3.5-tonne 35.13 at the same €12,000 would be Category B — €12,000 × 13.3% = €1,596 — but the €125 minimum floor is what protects the very cheapest, lowest-value chassis rather than any ceiling.
The €200 VRT is a rounding error against the VAT on any Cabstar you import. That is the pattern across the goods-truck side of the register: the registration tax is trivial and fixed, and the real money is the value-added tax and any duty that rides in with an unproven origin.
Cabstar / NT400 variants and VRT
Where the common Cabstar and NT400 specs land once weight — or age — is applied:
| Variant | GVW | EU class | VRT category & charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabstar 35.13 | 3.5 t | N1 | Category B — 13.3% of OMSP (min €125) |
| Cabstar / NT400 45.13–45.15 | 4.5 t | N2 | Category C — flat €200 |
| Any Cabstar 30+ years old | — | — | Category C — flat €200 (on age) |
The only Cabstar that makes you reach for a valuation is a young 35.13 under thirty years old; everything else is settled at €200, whether by its 4.5-tonne plate or by its birthday. For a directly comparable urban rival, an Isuzu Grafter sits in the same light-truck territory, while a step up to the Fuso Canter at 7.5 tonnes stays in the same Category C band at the same flat rate.
Heads up — read the plated weight and the birth dateTwo figures settle a Cabstar's category: the plated weight from the type-approval plate or V5C, and the date of first registration. A 3.5-tonne chassis under 30 years is Category B on value; the same chassis over 30 years is Category C at €200. Confirm both before you budget — there is no CO₂ or NOx charge on either category, as those apply only to passenger cars.
Nissan Cabstar VRT questions
Is a Nissan Cabstar the same as an NT400?
Yes. Nissan renamed the Cabstar the NT400 around 2014, when the model became a badge-engineered sibling of the Renault Maxity. Mechanically it is the same forward-control light truck; a used example in Ireland may wear either badge depending on its year, and both are treated identically for VRT — the plated weight is what decides the category.
Which Nissan Cabstar is Category C for VRT?
The 4.5-tonne variants — the 45.13, 45.14 and 45.15 — are plated above 3.5 tonnes, which makes them N2 goods vehicles in Category C at a flat €200. The 3.5-tonne 35.13 stays in Category B at 8% or 13.3% of value with a €125 minimum.
Does the 30-year rule make an old Cabstar cheaper to register?
It can. Any vehicle over 30 years old at the date of registration is placed in Category C at a flat €200 regardless of body type or weight. Because so many imported Cabstars are ageing used trucks, the very oldest examples pay €200 on age alone — even a 3.5-tonne chassis that would otherwise be a Category B percentage of value.