Anyone spot one yet?,not me anyhow and I'm on the road a lot.Normally you'd see dozens within a couple of days of the new year.
New car sales were down 60% in 2008 on 07 figures in Ireland.
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Anyone spot one yet?,not me anyhow and I'm on the road a lot.Normally you'd see dozens within a couple of days of the new year.
New car sales were down 60% in 2008 on 07 figures in Ireland.
spoted my first one yesterday around blancharstown centre. I think it was in the 600's, Dublin reg.
Seen 09 C 291 & also a pic of 500+ D reg.
No sympathy for car dealers as means they have to slash their used car prices to more realistic prices.
I didn't think the number on the plate was linked to when the car was registered anymore?
Course it does.
Realistic prices are what people will pay. Car dealers are getting raped on used cars since the VRT changes, and will do for some time yet, unless they go out of business first, as many are doing. But trust socialist Pete to have "no sympathy" for local businesses without doing any sort of back-up thinking.
I have just picked up my new car this morning,
09 D 968
I suspect dealers are in trouble due to the exchange rates & overall economic situation in the country as people don't buy cars when losing their jobs. If they drop the prices of used cars they will sell them. I am looking myself at the moment as probably never a better time.
No, they're in trouble because the VRT changes meant their stock of, say, E2m is now only worth E1.4m and they have to take huge hits on cars to get rid of them. This has been happening for almost a year now.
I don't see how exchange rates could possibly have anything to do with it.
I've only seen one 09 so far, other years I've always seen 3 or 4 by 2nd/3rd Jan.
Here's an example my brother was on about a few days ago;
Nissan Quashquoiwhatever, around €25000 here, about £15000 in UK - at the moment thats about €15000. VRT is approx €4600 on this car, so buy in the UK and import, you save around €5000.
The longer strerling remains weak, the more and more people will cop on to this and buy their cars across the water.
But that's all well and good in theory; in practice, people aren't doing that (except maybe near the border), so it's not causing the decrease in used car prices.
Everyone has taken a hit on that as trade ins or now also worth less.
With sterling almost at parity with the Euro it makes it a lot more attractive to import new & used cars.
Ultimately dealers need to shift their used stock & the only way that will happen is with lower prices even if they have to make a lose.
It's happening and Northern dealers are actively seeking business from the south.
Here's an example of the Qashqai with a €5k saving
They can offer alright, but my point about people being lazy still stands.
I work in the motor trade; people going to the north or to England isn't the cause of our problems at present.
know a lad whose auld boy bought an avensis over here for £6699, bringing it straight home and VRT is only 2700 euro.
Stu, my point is, I am aware of that deal because someone I know travelled norht last week and bought one, delivery is tomorrow, registered, Vat and VRT paid to his Dublin address.
Word of mouth will soon spread the deals and anyohne who has any sense, even if lazy will seek out the best deal for their pocket.
Last year I changed and the dealer whom I previously purchased two new cars just didn't want to deal, I travelled 50 miles away and saved almost €3k.
I then told others of how I was treated by both and do you know what? the country dealer has since sold a few new cars to friends and rang me one day to thank me for recommending and offered a free full service on my car which he followed up in writing.
That's service
It really won't. There'll always be the few smart ones, but most people won't. The same was said when the euro came in - now that we have perfect price transparency, we can see the best deals and buy at the cheapest prices across Europe. Nothing much changed though. (As an aside, too, Irish garages are importing as well, which negates the effect somewhat).
The thread was originally about the lack of '09 cars; that's true and down primarily to the recession. Other facts mentioned include the decrease in new car sales last year (true; down to the VRT changes which caused people to postpone January orders to July to save a few grand, and then to postpone again to January to get an '09 car) and the reduction in used car prices (true; down to the VRT changes also; basically, most cars dropped in value in July, which led to a situation where a new car was worth almost what a one-year-old model was. This by necessity resulted in a similar price shift in the used car market, which is what has everyone in trouble; essentially, any stock held around July was an instant loss maker).
Currency fluctuations between euro/Irish pound and sterling have happened before and will happen again; they're not, as Pete suggested, the main, or even a significant, cause of the problems facing the Irish car market today.
One '09 so far in Castlebar driving home. Thats all I've seen. The prices are still a joke €15,600 a bog standard Peugeot the motor industry aint copping on. If they inproved the spec of the cars then maybe people could be presuaded to part with a few bob.
Thats country :DQuote:
the country dealer has since sold a few new cars to friends and rang me one day to thank me for recommending and offered a free full service on my car which he followed up in writing.
IF the pocket hits Stu, people will start going further a field, but i take your point on laziness of ppl. I just dont understand it either. I'd call it the "can't be arsed" gene.
Thats mainly a tax issue.
That said in my limited experience with main dealers especially for servicing the service (pardon the pun) has been terrible. Charging E50 per hour to let some kid tinker if not value for money especially when they actually break things in attempt to fix.
I think you could have stopped there, to be honest.
I had a customer a while back who gave out that our mechanics came from countries where they don't even have BMWs. (We had two non-nationals in a staff of about ten, both from countries with BMWs). Unfortunately, it's those kind of ignorant views which predominate in our moan-centric culture.
pineapple_stu, while I agree with you that Irish people are quite lazy (plus of course there's the whole recession business going on), suggesting that they won't travel a few hundred miles to save €5k isn't realistic. If you're going to buy a car anyway, you're going to travel to get that kind of bargain.
Whether it'll stimulate fresh sales in another matter entirely, of course.
adam
I wish I was in a position to go over to England and bring back 200 cars. (I know you can only bring back three per year) Sell them for €600/700 cheaper than the dealers.
We shouldn't even have to pay the VRT is not European law.
Just to show how mean some of them are.
We get all this rubbish over-heads this and over-heads that.
Fact is some of the garages will gladly sell you a used a car "as is" not a bother to them. €6000 no gaurantee not even 6 months.
Adding €800 in some cases €1000 to a car to line their pockets.
The motor industry is one of the most corrupt industries in the country.
The recession wont be long softening their cough making it a buyers market.
For curiosity sake if nothing else & even at Euro = 90p sterling a new car is at least 20% cheaper importing. The more you are spending the more to save even paying full Irish VAT & VRT. UK VAT plays a part but there is also a 20% difference in pre tax prices. Must be either Irish dealers or distributors who are talking the extra profit but maybe they still think Irish people won't look to save thousands.
Its about the only industry in Ireland thats been found guilty of price fixing, cartels and collusion on a nationwide basis. On multiple occasions.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1028/cartel.html
My father and I both worked in a garage and seen exactly what was happening. Seen a person trade in a car for €1000 less than it's market value two days later it was on the forecourt for €1200 more than it was traded for. Now them there be profits.
Take off the blinkers mate. Evidence is all around you.
I don't think its fair to tar an entire industry with the same brush except obviously Citroen dealers ;)
I love this quote from link
How did he keep a straight face saying that. :D :eek:Quote:
For the defence, senior council Michael O'Higgins, said profit margins were very tight in the industry. His client was trading for his survival and the deal was not done out of greed or maximising profit.
Now them there be profits? Well duh. As I said, imagine a business making profits. E1000 is a perfectly normal margin for a car. Would you rather it was sold on at cost? In the two days, it was presumably checked over for faults and what have you, adding extra hidden costs to the car. Absolutely nothing wrong with what you just described; just standard Irish hysterics on your part.
Technically, that just means people working in the motor industry are stupider than normal. ;)
:o
Do they need to rob the general Irish public in the process of making a profit?
That's why the motor industry is in a heap.
I had imagined the €200 was the expense of cleaning and servicing the car?
Yes there is something wrong with it. These people made a mint in the last 20 years by ripping off the general public and now times are bad they coming out crying in the media about the lack of car sales. If they lessen their profits then they would sell more. It's simple economics.
They're not.
Nothing to do with it, as I've explained earlier in the thread.Quote:
That's why the motor industry is in a heap.
You had imagined? You've been presenting yourself as someone who knows the industry well so far. Which is it?Quote:
I had imagined the €200 was the expense of cleaning and servicing the car?
The cost of preparing a car depends on what's wrong with it obviously. Out of that grand must come (for a normal garage anyway) an inspection, a valet and knocking out of dents, not to mention VAT on the profit and loss of margin through people haggling and getting better deals elsewhere - a cartel of the people, you might almost say. Obviously, overheads, etc have to be paid afterwards. I'll ask again - do you think the car should be sold at cost?
I'm sorry, but you come across as one who's completely ignorant of what they're talking about, but who wants a good whine anyway. Standard Irish stuff really.
On that particular point, I'm with Stu. I don't see a problem with them taking a margin of 1,200 on a used car.
BUT, my dads been trying to buy a new car for 6 months and he can't find a particular German manufacturer's dealer to take his car in part exchange, AT ANY PRICE! They won't even negotiate.
If thats not a sign of an industry that is completely doomed in its current structure then I don't know what is.
Large motor dealers are looking to cut stock significantly to improve cash flow while they make large losses on the stock they held around July. They usually have a few smaller traders who they deal with though, and would sell straight on to them. Where are you based?
(I agree it's a bad sign obviously; I disagree exchange rates have caused it).
I think you're just pulling that out of the air stu, so I think you should drop it. I will too. Please try to stick to facts from this point forward, as is the policy of the forum.
The fine in that case is an absolute joke. Yerman must have been laughing his ass off at it.