Reg plate system - should it change?

-Chris-

P.C. wrote: »

It only has 08 on the reg plate.
Nothing you say will make it a 2008 car - I don't care what system you use.
It was manufactured in 2007 - that is a fact that you can not change - that is what it says on the documents.

There are two cars, both identical, one manufactured and imported in 2007 and the other in 2008.
Both were registered on the same day in January 2008, both are now for sale with the same mileage and in the same condition.

Will the car manufactured in 2007 be worth less than the 2008 car? Is the warranty diminished in any way?
Does an Irish VLC even say when a car was manufactured?

P.C.

-Chris- wrote: »

There are two cars, both identical, one manufactured and imported in 2007 and the other in 2008.
Both were registered on the same day in January 2008, both are now for sale with the same mileage and in the same condition.

Will the car manufactured in 2007 be worth less than the 2008 car?

Yes - manufacturers are always making small changes to the manufacturing process or materials used. This means that the 2008 car will be the better car to buy.

-Chris- wrote: »

Is the warranty diminished in any way??

No.

-Chris- wrote: »

Does an Irish VLC even say when a car was manufactured?

Yes - B2 - year of maunfacture.

dudara

The simple fact is that unless you have a system which is not tied to geography & year, you will always have plate snobbery. It's human nature.

Personally, I like the Irish system. We occasionally come up with very clear systems here in Ireland (surprisingly and somewhat against our national ethos), and the number plate system is one of them. Year - County - Number. Couldn't be simpler or more straightforward.

If people want to be hung up on visible displays of year and/or location - then let them.

-Chris-

P.C. wrote: »

Yes - manufacturers are always making small changes to the manufacturing process or materials used. This means that the 2008 car will be the better car to buy.

It might be the better car to buy, but it won't be worth any more money...

P.C. wrote: »

Yes - B2 - year of maunfacture.

Cool - I'm surprised that never caused more issues...

Del2005

P.C. wrote: »

Yes - manufacturers are always making small changes to the manufacturing process or materials used. This means that the 2008 car will be the better car to buy.

Not all changes lead to improvements, sometimes things don't go to plan.

Eric Cartman

BrianD3 wrote: »

Is reg plate snobbery a big deal in ireland? I haven't encountered much of it over the years - the odd "I've got a 10 reg" brag, but very rarely have I come across this.

I think Corolla drivers who trade in every year or two do so because of a fear that their car will explode once it hits a certain age and mileage. Not because they think the neighbours are looking down on their "old reg".

massive reg plate snobbery, normally among people who know nothing about cars, my mates ex actually thought her 04 punto was a better car than his 01 5 series purely on the basis of year

county snobbery is huge too, but with a fair reason id say , have to hold my hands up and say i would never ever buy a car from connaught, donegal or most of munster

galwaytt

Eric Cartman wrote: »

massive reg plate snobbery, normally among people who know nothing about cars, my mates ex actually thought her 04 punto was a better car than his 01 5 series purely on the basis of year

county snobbery is huge too, but with a fair reason id say , have to hold my hands up and say i would never ever buy a car from connaught, donegal or most of munster

...looks like you're describing yourself, there.

I'd comment more, but based on your lack of knowledge, I'd only be wasting the electrons on the keyboard.....

Brabus

BrianD3 wrote: »

Is reg plate snobbery a big deal in ireland? I haven't encountered much of it over the years - the odd "I've got a 10 reg" brag, but very rarely have I come across this.

I think Corolla drivers who trade in every year or two do so because of a fear that their car will explode once it hits a certain age and mileage. Not because they think the neighbours are looking down on their "old reg".

Yes, it is a big deal to some people.
My aul fella won't buy anything that doesn't have his county name on the reg, which IMHO is a load of bull****. All they ever buy where I come from are bloody base models with nothing in them, sometimes not even having alloys.:rolleyes:

I quite enjoy having my car even if it originally came from a different county to where I live.

I've had regs' from most of the counties of Leinster including a few "D"s as well.It never worries me about what it says on that small piece covering your front bumper.

Del2005

Brabus wrote: »

It never worries me about what it says on that small piece covering your front bumper.

What about the back or don't you bother with that?:D;)

Boskowski

I have to agree that the system may be easy, but there is a definite downside to having the year being so obvious. People become "year-whores".
You don't drive a 5 series, you're driving a 02 5 series. Which devalues cars in a way.
Because you may drive a top spec immaculate 02 5 series, but it will always look inferior to a 06 5 series minimum spec badge-whore sh1t car (Bad example I know since these two would be entirely different models, but you get the idea).

And whats the story about the system being easy anyway? Once you bother because you're actually interested in buying a particular car you can always find out when and where it was first registered anyway. I mean it's in the registration cert. But year and location being so obvious leads to stupid and unnecessary competition and "year-whoring".

And before you tell this is all in my head...no it's not, I drive a 98 car myself and couldn't care less. But it is there I don't care what anyone says.

I'd rather have a more cryptic system like for instance in Germany. Location yes, but that's the current location and not where it was first registered and cars are 'stuck' with that forever. And no way of telling easily how old the car is. Much better.

Theta

Boskowski wrote: »

I'd rather have a more cryptic system like for instance in Germany. Location yes, but that's the current location and not where it was first registered and cars are 'stuck' with that forever. And no way of telling easily how old the car is. Much better.

Except for the paperwork, time and expense if you move to another city or county?

Boskowski

Theta wrote: »

Except for the paperwork, time and expense if you move to another city or county?

Ok, that's not really necessary I guess, but sounds far more complicated than it actually is. I mean when you buy a car you have to register it anyway. The only time it actually adds administration efforts is when you have to get new reg plates when you move to another county but keep your car.
I mean even in that case you'd have to register your new address with the registration/motor tax office/car insurer re: fines, renewal notices etc. It's really only the new plates that are added hassle.

And it wouldn't be my main point anyway.

My "biggy" is the year on the reg plate. I think it leads to unhealthy and unnecessary 'keeping up with the Jones' stuff and actually devalues a well kept high spec car. Like other people said it also distorts buyer patterns towards the beginning of a calendar year, too.

Del2005

Boskowski wrote: »

Ok, that's not really necessary I guess, but sounds far more complicated than it actually is. I mean when you buy a car you have to register it anyway. The only time it actually adds administration efforts is when you have to get new reg plates when you move to another county but keep your car.
I mean even in that case you'd have to register your new address with the registration/motor tax office/car insurer re: fines, renewal notices etc. It's really only the new plates that are added hassle.

And it wouldn't be my main point anyway.

You'd need new plates every time you move. Renters would be killed by this.

My "biggy" is the year on the reg plate. I think it leads to unhealthy and unnecessary 'keeping up with the Jones' stuff and actually devalues a well kept high spec car. Like other people said it also distorts buyer patterns towards the beginning of a calendar year, too.

If we get rid of the year people will still find a way of "keeping up with the Jones". The people with that mentality will never be happy unless they have something better then the neighbours.

Cars will always devalue with age. Regardless of what's on the plate a well kept 02 will make more then a knackered 04, if someone is willing to pay more for a bad newer car then they are just stupid.

Eric Cartman

galwaytt wrote: »

...looks like you're describing yourself, there.

I'd comment more, but based on your lack of knowledge, I'd only be wasting the electrons on the keyboard.....

not really. I know theres nothing wrong with the likes of galway, limerick etc.. reg cars (donegal are the only cars i honestly wouldnt touch with a barge pole for condition reasons) but i live in kildare, work and shop in dublin and thats where id be selling on the car when its time for a change, and while i know there is nothing physically wrong with a galway or sligo reg car as opposed to a kildare reg, the market im selling it on to believe there is , and that lowers the resale value on a perfectly good car

Boskowski

Del2005 wrote: »

You'd need new plates every time you move. Renters would be killed by this.

Only if they moved counties.
Plus how often do renters move? I mean even renters hardly want to be moving their entire household every couple of months.

Plus not hung up on this. It's the year on the plate that I don't like.

The only issue I have with the current system is the "telephone number" sized plates in D and one or two other counties, can easily be solved by having a combination of numbers & letters, eg 10-D-AAA0 where only tha last two characters are numbers 1 - 9 and the letter (excluding I O Q) incriments up each time the numbers pass 10 this format would support 120K plates.

Del2005

Deleted User wrote: »

The only issue I have with the current system is the "telephone number" sized plates in D and one or two other counties,

I don't think we'll be seeing any more of these for a long time. The scrap age scheme will be ending soon and car sales will drop.

Del2005

Del2005 wrote: »

I don't think we'll be seeing any more of these for a long time. The scrap age scheme will be ending soon and car sales will drop.

Most D plates are 8 characters long (10-D-12345), still longer than a UK plate.

I agree that it's very unlikely to exceed 100K per year for a while.