Are the boy-racer brigade going to be hit especially hard by the 'recession'?

pburns

Just talking to a friend of mine last night who claims a local garage specialising in used boy-racer mobiles (Imprezas, evos, Glanzas etc) is being hit especially hard these last couple of months because a lot of the young lads who buy and insure these cars are working in the building trade, either directly or indirectly. Builders holidays are coming up and a lot won't be brought back. Reckons the arse will fall out of s/h values similar to the situation with their bosses' 4x4s. Added to the mix are inklings of rising insurance costs.

Personally I think he's making a fair few assumptions but is there anyone in the know who might have an insight on this?

The press are beating the doom-and-gloom thing to death, I'd like to think it's at least a bit exagerated...

Green Hornet

We were talking about the same thing in work. As you say a lot of them work in the building trade. One positive of the recession I suppose. Less idiotic looking bean can Glanza's and the like.

JHMEG

Do most not live at home and finance the car from the job in Supervalu or similar?

Wishbone Ash

pburns wrote: »

a local garage specialising in used boy-racer mobiles (Imprezas, evos, Glanzas etc) is being hit especially hard these last couple of months

I wouldn't really think you could put the Glanzas in the same category as the Impreza or Evo. Glanzas tend to be favoured by younger males whereas the others are usually the reserve of those a bit older and wiser.

Jimbo

Hope so. I'm deperately trying to find a bright side to the recession

mawk

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I wouldn't really think you could put the Glanzas in the same category as the Impreza or Evo. Glanzas tend to be favoured by younger males whereas the others are usually the reserve of those a bit older and wiser.

really? ya think so?

mike65

Well maybe we'll see the return of honest kids running about in Micras and 1.3 turbo Starlets with Wavin appendages

Mike.

maidhc

mawk wrote: »

really? ya think so?

Why not? Some ppl like cars!

As regards "boy-racers" being hit by the recession? Well who knows. I wouldn't think it costs much to throw a set of Wolfrace alloys and a bit of Ripspeed bling on a clapped out Civic though.

peasant

I predict the death of the breakfast roll, the multi-variety coffee and the general disappearance of deli counters rather than "modified" cars.

dsane1

I see a new Halfords opening in cavan retail park soon so its not all doom and gloom !

DenMan

peasant wrote: »

I predict the death of the breakfast roll, the multi-variety coffee and the general disappearance of deli counters rather than "modified" cars.

The breakfast roll so far as I am concerned can die a slow and painful death but coffee...no coffee (in all it's varieties) will thrive for years to come. You can never have enough coffee!!!

ntlbell

what were they driving in the 80's?

capri's etc? I wouldn't think it would have any real impact...

cyclopath2001

dsane1 wrote: »

I see a new Halfords opening in cavan retail park soon so its not all doom and gloom !

Ah yes, but they'll mostly be selling cheap bicycles.

Jimbo

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

Ah yes, but they'll mostly be selling cheap bicycles.

Cheap as in poor quality - not inexpensive

Hotwheels

ntlbell wrote: »

what were they driving in the 80's?

capri's etc? I wouldn't think it would have any real impact...

The 957cc XR2 was popular, and so was the 1.1 Escort XR3i, not to mention the 1.6 XR4i

the_syco

I'd say the additions will just become tackier

Gumbo

i know dealers that sell toyota avensis's, fords, bmw, mercs that are felling the pinch from the recession, so its not just contained to boy racers as you most politely put it.

what about all the people that currently have a glanza, they will still have them next year etc etc

i know of one fella that drives a starlet GT, works in AIB offices and earns a great salary, well considerably more than me anyhow, yet he hasnt changed his car in a good few years, and maintains that he wont for another few more.

he is 28 too, so no boy racer, maybe a man racer if that exists

point is, everybody will be affected, not just boy racers, but also the rep racers, girl racers, old man racers, stuck up racer in his company car, white van racer etc etc etc

Beta Ray Bill

kceire wrote: »

i know dealers that sell toyota avensis's, fords, bmw, mercs that are felling the pinch from the recession, so its not just contained to boy racers as you most politely put it.

what about all the people that currently have a glanza, they will still have them next year etc etc

i know of one fella that drives a starlet GT, works in AIB offices and earns a great salary, well considerably more than me anyhow, yet he hasnt changed his car in a good few years, and maintains that he wont for another few more.

he is 28 too, so no boy racer, maybe a man racer if that exists

point is, everybody will be affected, not just boy racers, but also the rep racers, girl racers, old man racers, stuck up racer in his company car, white van racer etc etc etc

Kieth is 100% Correct

Everyone is gong to feel the squeeze, but if love your car well then you wont let a little thing like a recession stop you You just find a cheaper easier way Like buying second hand for instance

(sure, im looking for second hand coilovers. should save a good bit )

or you could just make some cuts.... Like Food (who needs that anyway)

But seriously It ain't that bad..... yet.

pburns

grahambo wrote: »

Everyone is gong to feel the squeeze, but if love your car well then you wont let a little thing like a recession stop you You just find a cheaper easier way Like buying second hand for instance

(sure, im looking for second hand coilovers. should save a good bit )

or you could just make some cuts.... Like Food (who needs that anyway)

But seriously It ain't that bad..... yet.

Everyone will be effected to some degree or other but inevitably some will be hit harder than others and building has been hit first and hit hardest. A few of my friends are IT contractors and although some of their colleagues have been let go it seems to be a small minority so far. Construction has imploded and a lot of the young lads concerned mightn't have many skills or qualifications to fall back on.

klaus23

pburns wrote: »

Everyone will be effected to some degree or other but inevitably some will be hit harder than others and building has been hit first and hit hardest. A few of my friends are IT contractors and although some of their colleagues have been let go it seems to be a small minority so far. Construction has imploded and a lot of the young lads concerned mightn't have many skills or qualifications to fall back on.

A nicely made point, but ultimately illustrating that your rather stereotypical thread belongs in some kind of socio-economic forum. You might as well ask "What is going to happen to my local Thai restaurant?" as disposable income decreases and consumer confidence falls.

Boy Racer this, Boy Racer that. You're like the mutant offspring of Gay Byrne and Noel Brett.

anthony4335

I think much of this is due to the Greens handling of the changes to the motor tax more than anything else. God why did they let those fools have power? The motor trade has stalled, due to the confusion over the new taxes, in the start of the year people held off with the hope of cheaper cars in july, come july, people are thinking why would I buy a new car for 6 months , so I will hold out until jan of next year its only six months. So it is hard to see how much has been added by the talks of recession ,by the doom and gloom merchants .

earlyevening

They'll just go back to their ponies like they did in the eighties.

pburns

klaus23 wrote: »

A nicely made point, but ultimately illustrating that your rather stereotypical thread belongs in some kind of socio-economic forum. You might as well ask "What is going to happen to my local Thai restaurant?" as disposable income decreases and consumer confidence falls.

Boy Racer this, Boy Racer that. You're like the mutant offspring of Gay Byrne and Noel Brett.

Thanks for the politically-correct scolding.

I am suitably chastened:rolleyes:

WHITE_P

While everyone, except the filthy rich and politicians, will feel the pinch to some degree, I would say alot of teens to mid twenty year olds probably will be hard hit, given that most of them have really only ever known the good times with plenty of money to spend on the latest must have goodies and flashy cars.

You might see alot of those flashy cars running into lamp posts late at night as the owners fail to come to terms with not being able to afford them anymore - only joking !!!

Eoin

I don't think it's going to make a huge difference for the main reason that insurance has dropped considerably in the last 10 years for young male drivers. There are now teenagers driving M3s on their own policy whining about paying 2K premiums, when not so long ago you'd be lucky to get insured on a 1 litre in your early twenties for less than 3K.

In most cases their car is going to be the biggest regular outlay for a young male, and it's just going to be a difference of what % of their income they spend on keeping their car on the road. Nothing new there at all.

klaus23 wrote: »

A nicely made point, but ultimately illustrating that your rather stereotypical thread belongs in some kind of socio-economic forum. You might as well ask "What is going to happen to my local Thai restaurant?" as disposable income decreases and consumer confidence falls.

Boy Racer this, Boy Racer that. You're like the mutant offspring of Gay Byrne and Noel Brett.

Klaus, given the constant bitching about this forum on octane.ie, I shouldn't have thought you'd be surprised to find posts you disagree with.

Vertakill

I think we should ban people who mention the words 'boy' and 'racer' in the same sentence followed by a really vague, stereotyped or generalised statement. It's just getting silly now.

Since when are most boy racers labourers?
The thing that irks me is that a lot of you are getting a kick out of the thought of someone, who probably works very hard at their job (however young/old they may be), earning less money lately and may struggle to fund their hobby/transport.

Just because a young male who has an interest in his car and has made modifications doesn't mean they're a boy racer and they shouldn't be discriminated against.
I was paying €3.9k for my own insurance policy on a 1.3ltr Colt when I was 19. That's just ridiculous money and I've still got no points and until only recently, through no fault of my own (rear-ended), had no crashes to my name.
Whereas my sister was a few years older than me driving a bigger engine car, for half the insurance as me and this was AFTER she'd crashed into an off duty guard.
Where is the sense in that?

I haven't seen the 'non national drivers' bandwagon around lately so some people are very quick to jump on this boy racer bandwagon when they should really be learning to drive properly themselves.

eoin_s wrote: »

In most cases their car to be the biggest regular outlay for a young male, and it's just going to be a difference of what % of their income they spend on keeping their car on the road. Nothing new there at all.

The most sensible and realistic post on this thread.

orbital83

Whatever about sales of souped up cards, I have noticed a lot less "cruising" going on in the evenings in town... a combination of the economic downturn and the price of fuel, I'd imagine.

Graham_B18C

kceire wrote: »

i know dealers that sell toyota avensis's, fords, bmw, mercs that are felling the pinch from the recession, so its not just contained to boy racers as you most politely put it.

what about all the people that currently have a glanza, they will still have them next year etc etc

i know of one fella that drives a starlet GT, works in AIB offices and earns a great salary, well considerably more than me anyhow, yet he hasnt changed his car in a good few years, and maintains that he wont for another few more.

he is 28 too, so no boy racer, maybe a man racer if that exists

point is, everybody will be affected, not just boy racers, but also the rep racers, girl racers, old man racers, stuck up racer in his company car, white van racer etc etc etc

Brilliantly said, i get overtaken more often by vans and reps than anyone else on the road, "boy racers" as far as i've always noticed, generally look after their car and have to be extra careful because the guards would come down on them a lot harder than they would other people???

Sponge Bob

The boy racer was around since 2000 in large numbers because it could afford the insurance .

That was because

1. The boy could start off on €600 a week on the bildins
2. The boy was insuring the crapheap with the exhaust wider than his dick was long for €500 not €5000

The reason for cheap insurance was

a) Insurance companies could afford the boy as they had so much money 'invested' making money for them.
b) Deaths and serious injuries relative to # of overall cars on road has waned a lot since the 1990s

Then along comes the credit crunch .

a) The boy is now serving in McDonalds, cannot afford the car and the extra wide exhaust .
b) Insurance rates are rising again .

In the early 1980s the cost of insurance for 'boys' trebled in about 3 years. The exact same will happen again as insurance companies scramble for cash . Cars will age more and become less safe even though fewer of them will be on the road and the road surfaces will deteriorate as well making driving riskier.

A perfect storm. Back to the festys lads

peasant

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The boy racer ... because it

1. The boy
2. The boy
a) The boy

Ohh, look how the big man just put all the boys in their place.

Infraction for breach of peace and being a magnanimous soandso.

Tipsy Mac

Sponge Bob wrote: »

In the early 1980s the cost of insurance for 'boys' trebled in about 3 years. The exact same will happen again as insurance companies scramble for cash . Cars will age more and become less safe even though fewer of them will be on the road and the road surfaces will deteriorate as well making driving riskier.

A perfect storm. Back to the festys lads

I'd say the main reason for the rise in the 80's was crap car security and no immobilizers which led to a blitz in joyriding and car thefts.