My first car

StephenWalsh

I am about to buy my first car, I have my loan approved, I am still waiting to take the driving test but I was wondering do car dealers must sell cars with NCT & tax, & if they do not, is it okay to drive them home? You need insurance to drive but before you can get it online they ask for car reg number? So what do you do? Do you get insurance when you buy on phone? Please help.

cantdecide

when you buy a car, you can't tax it until the licensing cert. (ownership cert.) comes back in your name. You might be lucky and get tax for a month or two. You will get a reminder in the post when it expires and you can get it easily online. If you buy a car with no tax, you have a certain amount of time to get tax and but at this time of year, the licensing cert. should be issued within 2sih weeks so you can get it then.

If the guards stop you just tell them you've just bought the car but don't take the p*ss- get it sorted asap.

If you're spending a few grand or more on a car you will almost certainly get NCT on it. If it doesn't- you can do a deal subject to them getting it NCT'd. if it's an old cheap car- you May not be able to get insurance without nct.

If you're starting off on a provisional- I'd suggest ring up for insurance to confirm the quote just in case. There will be a lag between choosing a car, getting quotes and picking it up so this is the opportunity to get reg. numbers and exact details (XL/ GS/ GLX etc. etc) for insurance purpouses.

feel free to ask away if there's anything else you're concerned about.

StephenWalsh

What do you mean by deal subject to them getting it NCT? I can pay car in full, how much should I try to knock off a €6k car? I can buy the car after test dive, what do I need to do to drive home?

cantdecide

If you're spending 6k on a car that has no NCT- you can probably tell them to NCT it and you'll buy it. This is assuming it's not a bargain car normally worth 10k and you're buying 'as is'.

In other words- if it's a normal used car dealer selling a normal used car worth 6k for 6k, they should NCT it before the sale. If they won't- they're probably taking advantage of the fact you're a little wet behind the ears and being lazy. If this is the case, tell them 'NCT it and I'll buy it'. They'll probably say 'OK'. If they won't and the car isn't a bargain- walk away.

If it's a bargain and you have to take it without an NCT, some insurance companies won't insure you until it's NCT'd so be careful and ring them to check. But you might be okay because I don't think it's a legal requirement, but it maybe an internal company rule to not insure cars with no NCT.

It's very hard to arrive at a car dealer having never driven before and drive home fully insured. I'd imagine you will have to chose the car- go away for a few days- let them NCT the car- you arrange insurance- call back to collect the car after a few days with all the arrangements made.

In a nutshell- assuming you can physically drive properly and have a full licensed driver with you, you need a license and insurance to start driving. You will then have to arrange tax as soon as your licensing certificate arrives.

ps, remind them you're not trading a car in and they should knock off a few bob. if it's marked as €5,995- you can probably bargain them down to about €5,700 easily enough.

StephenWalsh

Thank you. I have not bought a car before but have driven many times. I guess I am excited, as this is my first car, so want to drive it home as soon as I can. I have not gone to test drive a car, would they have insurance to cover test driving?

~~SKYHIGH~~

Some garages give an NCT pass guarantee, so you buy the car of them with no NCT and if it fails for you they the garage will pay for whatever needs to be done to it.... I'd want that in writing though otherwise I would not do it...

bazz26

Any decent garage would put a car through the NCT as part of the sale. If the car is sound then it should pass without issue. If the garage is not willing to do this then they most likely have no confidence in it passing which suggests there is something wrong with it. Walk away at that stage as there are plently of genuine cars out there for sale.

Eoin

StephenWalsh wrote:

Thank you. I have not bought a car before but have driven many times. I guess I am excited, as this is my first car, so want to drive it home as soon as I can. I have not gone to test drive a car, would they have insurance to cover test driving?

Their policy will cover you for a test drive. What warranty are you getting with the car? Get it in writing that this warranty will include and and all problems that may come up on the NCT.

StephenWalsh

Is it a good idea to get a used car the dealer just got from Japan? What must I watch out for?

colm_mcm

unless it's a performance car that was never sold in Europe, don't bother.

the_syco

StephenWalsh wrote:

What do you mean by deal subject to them getting it NCT? I can pay car in full, how much should I try to knock off a €6k car? I can buy the car after test dive, what do I need to do to drive home?

Another €4k to fix it after the NCT?

StephenWalsh

colm_mcm wrote:

unless it's a performance car that was never sold in Europe, don't bother.

How come?

Steve

If a dealer is selling then legally the car must be roadworthy - there's no reason that it should not have a NCT cert. The cars cannot be sold "as-is" on the forecourt, thats why you get dealers posing as private sellers sometimes to offload cars that are dodgy and cannot be sold on the forecourt.
AFAIK tax is not an issue - doesn't matter if it's 6 months expired - you only pay from the date of sale.

Most insurance companies can arrange immediate cover over the phone. Get quotes well in advance for the type of car, age, rough mileage etc. and explain to them that you are looking to buy.
If / when they quote you, just call them when you buy the car (assuming you have a credit card) and they can activate the policy.

Steve

colm_mcm wrote:

unless it's a performance car that was never sold in Europe, don't bother.

yeah, how come? - are you referring to TegRs / FTOs / GlanSADs?

ta2kev

If it's your first car, and you're excited about it and eager to get it, bring someone with you to buy. You don't want to rush into it and buy the first car you see. As said previously, there's loads of cars for sale. Check out a few garages and cars, make note of the year, spec, mileage etc. Don't commit to buy anything straight away. Check out carzone or cbg and make sure you're not being ripped off. Some of these Jap Car specialists are pure con men. Make sure you get your warranty in writing. If it is an unregistered Japper, the garage can't NCT it until it's registered in the customers name. This could take an extra week or so but it's worth holding out for.

Best of luck with your search.