Euro hits 92p Sterling today!!

Darsad

ClioV6 wrote: »

There's a HUGE difference between the Irish and UK car markets, biggest one being Ireland is a feckin rip off when it comes to buying.

Your right thats because up to 66 % of the retail price of a high end car is made up in tax of one sort or another . When you strip away all the taxes Ireland actually has the second lowest base price for cars in the EU.

Darsad

MYOB wrote: »

95.36 now!

Ah nuts i think i will buy one too !

Brian

Heh, this is just like the Election Night thread.. we'll all have a big in-thread party when it hits parity.

pipsqueak

Country is in a hape!!

blah

Spare a thought for us poor boardsuks on the other side, with these rates we'll barely be able to afford a pint when we come home for Christmas, let alone cars!

paddydriver

The sterling will likely continue to slide because Gordon Brown is effectively trying to devalue it in an attempt to make them more competitive - i.e. they still produce based on STG but goods are far cheaper to buy outside of the UK.

The reason the interest rates did not go to zero in the UK is because the IT systems used by the banks cannot deal with a "0" interest rate - call it a Y28 problem:D. Once that's sorted then rates will go to zero and sterling will continue its downward spiral.

Bear in mind that the "Celtic Tiger" was kicked off in Ireland all those years ago when the Punt was devalued and thus all of a sudden it was good to buy Irish... and the rest is history... most definitely history now:(

Brown's poll ratings are reflecting that too as he is now been seen as a "leader" as opposed to our government who are just trying to think of ways to screw us more and pay their own wages rather than consider the problem as a whole. Hence take a look at Brian Cowan's ratings... and FF too. In the toilet at present.

paddydriver

romperstomper wrote: »

are you serious?? '08 520d in joe duffy for 56K

http://www.joeduffybmw.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1183187

SAME car:


http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+5+SERIES/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-39-51-59-112-141-157-179-240-4294967178-4294967202/advert.action?R=200842321198121&distance=203&postcode=BT34+2NQ&channel=CARS&make=BMW&model=5+SERIES&min_pr=20000&max_pr=25000&max_mileage=20000&vehicleYearOfManufacture=2008&vehicleRegLetter=08

including VRT & road tax for €31K

thats nearly half price!

Not so sure on €31k...more likely north of €40k as the VRT on an 08 SE spec if over 16k so the M spec is likely be towards €18k or more.

Still cheaper than €56k though.

romperstomper

paddydriver wrote: »

Not so sure on €31k...more likely north of €40k as the VRT on an 08 SE spec if over 16k so the M spec is likely be towards €18k or more.

Still cheaper than €56k though.

paddy, i am buying that EXACT car. put these options into VRT:

520d
2008
diesel
manual
5K miles

its €6505.i rang the VRT office and confirmed this. Furthermore, if I wait til Jan 2 to VRT it will be €6050 - ie 500 less.

total cost for me is:

£22,500/€25,000
+ 6050 VRT (waiting til 2nd Jan to VRT it)
+ 150 Tax
Total is €31,155

SE and M spec are THE EXACT PRICE as the VRT is based on emissions
feel free to tell me where I have miscalculated, but as far as I can see it will be in my driveway (including flights etc) for €31,500 and its in JoeDuffy's for €56K !

paddydriver

Oops... must be my lack of knowledge on the VRT calculator. I was just so tempted when I saw those prices that I had to check. Personally I would love to get an M5 but not feasible at present - more likely a sensible Ford S-Max for the kids. Basic calculating gives me an early 08 model that approx €40k here for approx all in €30k from the UK. Crazy savings!

Just gotta get number 3 cooking first though:D Daddy's will know what I am talking about:eek:

copacetic

romperstomper wrote: »

paddy, i am buying that EXACT car. put these options into VRT:

520d
2008
diesel
manual
5K miles

its €6505.i rang the VRT office and confirmed this. Furthermore, if I wait til Jan 2 to VRT it will be €6505 - ie 500 less.

total cost for me is:

£22,500/€25,000
+ 6005 VRT (waiting til 2nd Jan to VRT it)
+ 150 Tax
Total is €31,155

SE and M spec are THE EXACT PRICE as the VRT is based on emissions
feel free to tell me where I have miscalculated, but as far as I can see it will be in my driveway (including flights etc) for €31,500 and its in JoeDuffy's for €56K !

romper, did they comfirm the 500 fall on jan 2. is this a misprint above? you quoted same price twice.
You are bang on on the price, I've been checking these a lot lately also..

robbie99

Darsad wrote: »

Your right thats because up to 66 % of the retail price of a high end car is made up in tax of one sort or another . When you strip away all the taxes Ireland actually has the second lowest base price for cars in the EU.

That's interseting! So who has the lowest pre tax prices?

smash

£1 = €.96 at the moment... crazy!

paddydriver

romperstomper wrote: »

paddy, i am buying that EXACT car. put these options into VRT:

520d
2008
diesel
manual
5K miles

its €6505.i rang the VRT office and confirmed this. Furthermore, if I wait til Jan 2 to VRT it will be €6505 - ie 500 less.

total cost for me is:

£22,500/€25,000
+ 6005 VRT (waiting til 2nd Jan to VRT it)
+ 150 Tax
Total is €31,155

SE and M spec are THE EXACT PRICE as the VRT is based on emissions
feel free to tell me where I have miscalculated, but as far as I can see it will be in my driveway (including flights etc) for €31,500 and its in JoeDuffy's for €56K !

Yep, got it now. I had put in Auto and likely Petrol - got more options when manual/diesel was in and I saw the lower CO2 version too.

That is a massive difference in price! and I am now very tempted by a touring version.

Cookie_Monster

steve06 wrote: »

£1 = €.96 at the moment... crazy!

And oil just went below $40 as well. $39.96 despite news of cuts from OPEC
Lowest since ealy 03 i think?

romperstomper

romperstomper wrote: »

paddy, i am buying that EXACT car. put these options into VRT:

520d
2008
diesel
manual
5K miles

its €6505.i rang the VRT office and confirmed this. Furthermore, if I wait til Jan 2 to VRT it will be €6050 - ie 500 less.

total cost for me is:

£22,500/€25,000
+ 6050 VRT (waiting til 2nd Jan to VRT it)
+ 150 Tax
Total is €31,155

SE and M spec are THE EXACT PRICE as the VRT is based on emissions
feel free to tell me where I have miscalculated, but as far as I can see it will be in my driveway (including flights etc) for €31,500 and its in JoeDuffy's for €56K !

copacetic wrote: »

romper, did they comfirm the 500 fall on jan 2. is this a misprint above? you quoted same price twice.
You are bang on on the price, I've been checking these a lot lately also..

sorry, edited now. It DEFO drops to 6050 in Jan 2 for manual, diesel 520d

Cionád

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

And oil just went below $40 as well. $39.96 despite news of cuts from OPEC
Lowest since ealy 03 i think?

And the dollar has also weakened so fuel prices here should keep going down. 1 Euro = 1.46 compared to 1.23 or so that it was at a couple of weeks ago.

romperstomper

BTW, what sites are you guys quoting? XE doesn't have anything close to 0.96!

E92

Some very funny logic is being used to show that this country is a "rip off" here.

Firstly, we have a manual 520d with no leather and in the more basic SE spec versus an automatic 520d with leather and the M Sport bodykit.

Leather is about €2k, and yes a used 5 series with leather will get back the added cost of choosing this option when new.

Similarly the automatic gearbox isn't just a few quid here and there, it's over €5,000 ffs. And that M Sport package is *only* €5,600.

So it turns out that the "overpriced" Irish car has at least €12,000 more worth of extras in it.

and if we were doing things fairly we would find out that actually the VRT on a 520d from the UK comparable to the spec of the one listed by Joe Duffy it acutally turns out that VRT is €10,196, not the €6k mentioned previously.

When making comparisons it is nice if they are done fairly, not manipulating data to deliberately misrepresent the situation, and say that we are being made pay €24k extra for the exact same car even though that clearly is not the case because at least €12k of that is for this wonderful thing called options.


*Amazingly*:rolleyes::rolleyes: when I went on to carzone looking for 08 520ds comparable in spec to the one in the UK linked earlier, I found that they are not €24k dearer or anything like it, I actually found a main BMW dealer was selling one with a much higher spec and lower mileage to boot than the "€31k" 520d going for €40k. Which I'm sure you could get down to €37k or €38k with a bit of effort.

And that main dealer's car had expensive and very desirable options like full leather, Bluetooth preperation, a still a 2 year warranty.

Fancy that! A main dealer charging more for a car with less mileage and a higher spec. What is the world coming to:rolleyes:? I'd say call amnesty international!

Look, I'm all for people for shopping around, and not being ripped off by main dealers, some of which are still charging ridiculous prices for used cars, and ini general there are better cars to be had over in the UK because they maintain their cars to a much higher standard than we do and buy cars with more equipment and with bigger and more powerful engines, but when there are perfectly good cars for sale here that are not a complete rip off, why go to the hassle of importing?

Cionád

romperstomper wrote: »

BTW, what sites are you guys quoting? XE doesn't have anything close to 0.96!

www.xe.com is coming as 1.00 EUR = 0.948468 GBP

I usually google 1 eur to gbp, that gives: 1 Euro = 0.950852754 British pounds

RTE Aertel http://www.aertel.ie/aertel/153-01.html @2pm, 1 Euro = 0.9478

Of course you wont get that from the bank/bureau de change with commision etc so can knock a few pence off.

romperstomper

E92, take your fan-boy nonsense elsewhere. I pointed out a massive difference between 2 cars. If you want to be picky then here is a full spec 520d with EVERYTHING:

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+5+SERIES/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-39-51-59-112-141-157-180-240-4294967178-4294967202/advert.action?R=200846323201843&distance=285&postcode=BT34+2NQ&channel=CARS&make=BMW&model=5+SERIES&min_pr=20000&max_pr=27500&max_mileage=20000&vehicleYearOfManufacture=2008&vehicleRegLetter=08

on the road for €35K. irish dealers haggle? well so do UK dealers, and when the markets is 15 times bigger you have more people to haggle with and more stock to consider.

I rang JD to confirm if the car was in stock and asked for their best price and was told €52,500 as the 'bottom dollar'. Told him I would happily supply the same car to him @ €50K and how many did he want.............

enjoy your 'Oirish price car', i'm sure it was great value. Best of luck telling the person you sell your car to that it has €X amount of factory extras, therefore they should be happy to pay €X amount more than the market price of that model when you come to sell it on

pipsqueak

E92 wrote: »

Some very funny logic is being used to show that this country is a "rip off" here.

Firstly, we have a manual 520d with no leather and in the more basic SE spec versus an automatic 520d with leather and the M Sport bodykit.

Leather is about €2k, and yes a used 5 series with leather will get back the added cost of choosing this option when new.

Similarly the automatic gearbox isn't just a few quid here and there, it's over €5,000 ffs. And that M Sport package is *only* €5,600.

So it turns out that the "overpriced" Irish car has at least €12,000 more worth of extras in it.

and if we were doing things fairly we would find out that actually the VRT on a 520d from the UK comparable to the spec of the one listed by Joe Duffy it acutally turns out that VRT is €10,196, not the €6k mentioned previously.

When making comparisons it is nice if they are done fairly, not manipulating data to deliberately misrepresent the situation, and say that we are being made pay €24k extra for the exact same car even though that clearly is not the case because at least €12k of that is for this wonderful thing called options.


*Amazingly*:rolleyes::rolleyes: when I went on to carzone looking for 08 520ds comparable in spec to the one in the UK linked earlier, I found that they are not €24k dearer or anything like it, I actually found a main BMW dealer was selling one with a much higher spec and lower mileage to boot than the "€31k" 520d going for €40k. Which I'm sure you could get down to €37k or €38k with a bit of effort.

And that main dealer's car had expensive and very desirable options like full leather, Bluetooth preperation, a still a 2 year warranty.

Fancy that! A main dealer charging more for a car with less mileage and a higher spec. What is the world coming to:rolleyes:? I'd say call amnesty international!

Look, I'm all for people for shopping around, and not being ripped off by main dealers, some of which are still charging ridiculous prices for used cars, and ini general there are better cars to be had over in the UK because they maintain their cars to a much higher standard than we do and buy cars with more equipment and with bigger and more powerful engines, but when there are perfectly good cars for sale here that are not a complete rip off, why go to the hassle of importing?

I think the automatic works out less than 1700 euro not your 5grand!
BMW 5-Series 520d M Sport - £30,585

BMW 5-Series 520d M Sport Price

£30,585 - on the road



Engine Cubic Capacity
1995 cc
Transmission
6 Speed - Manual

6 Speed - Automatic
Automatic Transmission
- £1,475
Body Style
- Saloon

robbie99

romperstomper wrote: »

If you want to be picky then here is a full spec 520d with EVERYTHING:

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+5+SERIES/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-39-51-59-112-141-157-180-240-4294967178-4294967202/advert.action?R=200846323201843&distance=285&postcode=BT34+2NQ&channel=CARS&make=BMW&model=5+SERIES&min_pr=20000&max_pr=27500&max_mileage=20000&vehicleYearOfManufacture=2008&vehicleRegLetter=08

on the road for €35K.

pipsqueak wrote: »

I think the automatic works out less than 1700 euro not your 5grand!

Lads, don't mean to be picky either but the auto attracts 20% VRT. E92 is correct - you are exaggerating the price difference.

E92

pipsqueak wrote: »

I think the automatic works out less than 1700 euro not your 5grand!
BMW 5-Series 520d M Sport - £30,585

BMW 5-Series 520d M Sport Price

£30,585 - on the road

One of the joys of the new VRT system is that if things like automatic gearboxes push the emissions up and force the car into a higher VRT band, then the VRT band goes up on the whole car. So a 520d manual has 16% VRT applied to the whole car, but when you add an automatic gearbox they don't put the 20% VRT just on the gearbox, they put it on to everything. So that means that extras like the M Sport pack are dearer for automatic buyers than for manual buyers even though the extras are exactly the same.

That's why an automatic gearbox increases the price of a 520d by over €5,000, but if you want an automatic gearbox on a 523i you'll only pay about €3,000 more for it because the automatic doesn't put the car in a higher VRT band for the petrol model.

Brewster

There are savings to be had no doubt, no quite as big as some people believe though! People have to take into account the sell on value of car. Many Irish dealers have said they wont take trade ins of UK cars as a matter of principle and I can understand this so shifting car in time is going to be difficult.

Ill think you'll find there is less room for haggling with UK dealers. In the UK they price cars to sell, rock bottom prices. In Ireland, the dealers price cars higher then to drop prices. Irish mentality etc re getting a good discount.

Brewster

I can also confirm what Robbie and E92 are saying is correct.

pipsqueak

E92 wrote: »

One of the joys of the new VRT system is that if things like automatic gearboxes push the emissions up and force the car into a higher VRT band, then the VRT band goes up on the whole car. So a 520d manual has 16% VRT applied to the whole car, but when you add an automatic gearbox they don't put the 20% VRT just on the gearbox, they put it on to everything. So that means that extras like the M Sport pack are dearer for automatic buyers than for manual buyers even though the extras are exactly the same.

That's why an automatic gearbox increases the price of a 520d by over €5,000, but if you want an automatic gearbox on a 523i you'll only pay about €3,000 more for it because the automatic doesn't put the car in a higher VRT band for the petrol model.[/quote

but isnt there only a slight difference in co2 emissions in man vs auto?

Brewster

pipsqueak wrote: »

E92 wrote: »

One of the joys of the new VRT system is that if things like automatic gearboxes push the emissions up and force the car into a higher VRT band, then the VRT band goes up on the whole car. So a 520d manual has 16% VRT applied to the whole car, but when you add an automatic gearbox they don't put the 20% VRT just on the gearbox, they put it on to everything. So that means that extras like the M Sport pack are dearer for automatic buyers than for manual buyers even though the extras are exactly the same.

That's why an automatic gearbox increases the price of a 520d by over €5,000, but if you want an automatic gearbox on a 523i you'll only pay about €3,000 more for it because the automatic doesn't put the car in a higher VRT band for the petrol model.[/quote

but isnt there only a slight difference in co2 emissions in man vs auto?

It doesnt matter how small the difference is, once its pushed from VRT band B (manual) to VRT band C(auto) you pay 20% on the full value of car and extras. Thems the rules Im afraid!

pipsqueak

Brewster wrote: »

pipsqueak wrote: »

It doesnt matter how small the difference is, once its pushed from VRT band B (manual) to VRT band C(auto) you pay 20% on the full value of car and extras. Thems the rules Im afraid!

oh i hates them!!!!!

romperstomper

TBH, maybe comparing manual with auto might be a tad unfair, but the fact is getting a car with the lowest VRT is my only concern as I don't want to fund any more peticures for harney and co.

Drummerboy08

E92 and Robbie are right.

I've just done some digging -

09 520d M Sport Manual with leather, bluetooth, Metallic Paint - Thats €3495 worth of extras - €56395

09 520d M Sport Auto with the same extras - Auto box is a €2700 option, total options come to €6356 - Total of €61642

If you take the cost of the auto box from the extras it comes to €3656, almost €200 more expensive than the extras on the manual.

Now compare the cost of the actual cars - 61642 - 56395 = 5247
5247 - 2700 (cost of auto box) = €2547

So the Auto version is €2500 more than the manual.

Im also all for people shopping around - i am in the trade and i ENCOURAGE my customers to do it. This lets them know i do look after them, my prices are not mad, and for some reason they come back to me. BUT - just bear in mind that the UK roads authorities still use salt on the roads - this does cause corrosion to a car no matter how small an amount. Also bear in mind - UK dealers are not stupid or ignorant - they see a market at the minute where irish customers are desperate to buy cars - they are unloading their sh*te on us too.
I spoke to a friend on a Lexus dealer yesterday, last week they had to 07 IS 250's in - UK imports from seperate people -that had had work to them in the uk - that the drivers did not know about. It happens over here too iknow, but for some reason people think that buying a car in the UK completely removes the risk of these problems.