Now is the best time to buy in the UK

DonJose

Exchange rate as of this minute is,

€1 = £0.85003

£1 = €1.17643

Happy days

Anan1

Except that

a.) used car prices here have never been keener

and

b.) VRT on the good stuff has never been higher

When you put the two together, there's never been a better time to buy here.

homer90

Anan1 wrote: »

Except that

a.) used car prices here have never been keener

and

b.) VRT on the good stuff has never been higher

When you put the two together, there's never been a better time to buy here.

Yep have to agree... from what iv seen

Tipsy Mac

Yes it's a great time if you can get your current car offloaded at a decent price.

joeperry

I've often wondered if UK dealers would take an Southern reg car as a trade in?

.Longshanks.

joeperry wrote: »

I've often wondered if UK dealers would take an Southern reg car as a trade in?

Somebody else might correct me but I can't see why not. Theres minimal registration fee i believe to change a IRE car to a UK far AFAIK

joeperry

Yeah thats what i've always thought that it would be possible if you found an accomodating dealer. Pity i taxed my car for the year last month.

seanybiker

me father goes to loads of matches in england so when he seen the prices he went onto his credit union online and changed a load of euro lol

Anan1

joeperry wrote: »

I've often wondered if UK dealers would take an Southern reg car as a trade in?

Even if they did you'd be looking at getting the value of the car on UK plates, which is almost always a lot less than the value registered here.

Skyuser

I bought a UK car 3 weeks ago. If I waited til today i'd save.....€1500!!

joeperry

Skyuser wrote: »

I bought a UK car 3 weeks ago. If I waited til today i'd save.....€1500!!

I've just checked its now at 1 EUR = 86.4900 GBP

Don't ya just hate when **** like that happens.

Do you feel pain?

dp639

Anan1 wrote: »

Except that

a.) used car prices here have never been keener

and

b.) VRT on the good stuff has never been higher

When you put the two together, there's never been a better time to buy here.

I agree too, but I'd still prefer to buy in the UK or in the north, savings may be ALOT less than the good old days, but a saving is a saving.

To increase savings buy in the north, save a bit of money on the car, but when you are at it, fill the vehicle with goods also and save a lot.

DonJose

Anan1 wrote: »

Except that

a.) used car prices here have never been keener

and

b.) VRT on the good stuff has never been higher

When you put the two together, there's never been a better time to buy here.

I'd have to disagree, anything I've been looking at is cheaper in the UK than here, in some cases the prices have decreased due to lower VRT bands. I'm looking into a 2005 Saab 9.5 with under 40k miles and they cost roughly €11k including VRT, here in Ireland the lowest similar low mileage Saab 9.5 is €15.5k, alos most UK cars come with higher spec.

Voodoomelon

It's also necessary to go to the UK is you want a certain car of a certain year with a specific spec.

sk8board

Voodoomelon wrote: »

It's also necessary to go to the UK is you want a certain car of a certain year with a specific spec.

I would agree, especially in that case, where you are looking to find that exact spec car you were after, and more choice from a much bigger market.

LightningBolt

joeperry wrote: »

I've just checked its now at 1 EUR = 86.4900 GBP

Don't ya just hate when **** like that happens.

Do you feel pain?

That's not what you'll get at the bank, I'm presuming you got the rate from Xe.com? Knock 4-5c off and you'll get the actual bank rate.

Anan1

LightningBolt wrote: »

That's not what you'll get at the bank, I'm presuming you got the rate from Xe.com? Knock 4-5c off and you'll get the actual bank rate.

Have a look at this: http://fxglobaltransfer.oanda.com/

LightningBolt

Excuse my ignorance but would a potential seller in England accept a wire payment for a car? I know you could wire it in advance of recieving the car but surely that places risk on the buyer.

Again I've never bought from the England so don't know if this is the norm, I'd have presumed upfront cash or bank dfart was the norm.

Voodoomelon

Not even cash, most garages will only take a sterling bank draft for security. In my case, the garage wanted me to photocopy the draft and send it to him before I even went over. There is concern on their behalf about dodgey notes.

A garage *might* take a bank transfer, but I certainly wouldn't expect a private seller to accept one. Imagine you were selling a car here and you get a random email from someone in England asking for your bank details. Not a hope...

Beta Ray Bill

Cars in the UK are also taking a selling slump, no one can sell anything.

the difference is that if your buying from the UK you usually get a much higher spec car than you would for your money here including all VRT charges

there's still alot of hassle getting over there etc.

Can be annoying.

Eric Cartman

thats it, buyin my car monday so , £7200 for an 04 Kia Sorento XS (fully loaded) :P

positron

Local honda dealer has a 80k miles 05 Honda Accord Exec and his best straight deal offer was €20k. Compare that to UK prices (£7k + VRT = 12k approx). Cars in republic might be getting cheaper, but cars are still considerably cheaper in the UK, from my experience.

Tony Broke

The whole having to nct a pre 05, straight away puts me off.

Would be a killer if you got a lovely Audi or something and it needed 1k to pass the nct.

Can you do a pre nct test thing in the Uk before you buy?

bazz26

Tony Broke wrote: »

The whole having to nct a pre 05, straight away puts me off.

Would be a killer if you got a lovely Audi or something and it needed 1k to pass the nct.

Can you do a pre nct test thing in the Uk before you buy?

If you get the proper checks done on the car in the UK before buying then you should not be getting nasty expensive surprise from the NCT here.

And the NCT is an Irish requirement, the UK has the MOT, neither are connected, both have different criteria and having a valid MOT doesn't automatically mean you will pass the NCT here.

Biro

bazz26 wrote: »

If you get the proper checks done on the car in the UK before buying then you should not be getting nasty expensive surprise from the NCT here.

And the NCT is an Irish requirement, the UK has the MOT, neither are connected, both have different criteria and having a valid MOT doesn't automatically mean you will pass the NCT here.

Exactly. And prepare for two trips for the car. This Irish mentallity of doing it all on the cheap sucks. Parting with cash before seeing the car, or even going over with cash in the pocket to view one car, fooling yourself into thinking "sure I'll go for a look". With that attitude you're possibly going to get a dog of a thing.
Go over, have 3 or 4 picked out and HPI checks done already, and the phone calls made, fly over, find them, view them then make the offer. After that arrange payments and insurance. Collect on the 2nd trip.

galwaytt

Tony Broke wrote: »

The whole having to nct a pre 05, straight away puts me off.

Would be a killer if you got a lovely Audi or something and it needed 1k to pass the nct.

Can you do a pre nct test thing in the Uk before you buy?

I don't get that comment - if it was a UK car, it'd have to be MOT'd anyway...

And, if the car you bought didn't pass an NCT, it merely confirms the trip wasn't worth the bother. At least here, you'd have some redress........

rabbitinlights

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Not even cash, most garages will only take a sterling bank draft for security.

I picked up a car last month and I paid by same day transfer using currency.ie once i got over there, they gave a great rate and It saved a lot of hassle, although the current exhange makes me cry a little when I compare it to what I paid last month..... still though, i saved 1000's of euros and the car is rock solid.

S.

Voodoomelon

Glad you got a good deal. It would make sense for garages to accept a transfer however I wouldn't expect private sellers to accept them. I saved around €8000 on my car bringing it through, bargain of the century.