New car registrations rise 19%

jimogr

Interesting story, from Irish Times breaking news:

The number of new private cars licensed in the first month of 2007 rose more than 19 percent on last year's figures.

According to the Central Statistics Office, some 29,296 new private cars licensed in January 2007 compared with 24,579 a year earlier.

Toyota topped the list of manufacturers, accounting for 4,065 new registrations, followed by Ford with 3,621, Volkswagen Opel, Nissan and Peugeot made up the rest of the top five.

The first licensing of second-hand private cars also experienced a surge, showing a 28.6 percent rise on 2006 figures.

Meanwhile, the total number of all vehicles licensed in January 2007 grew 21.1 per cent, when compared with the same month in 2006. Some 4,768 new goods vehicles were licensed in January 2007, compared with 3,898 in 2006,

Mitch Connor

not surprising at all - SSIAs getting used up.

Bluetonic

Tauren wrote:

not surprising at all - SSIAs getting used up.

There is no evidence of this at all.

peasant

Bluetonic wrote:

There is no evidence of this at all.

Most people probably don't carry the returns of their SSIA straight to a car dealer, no.

But the knowledge that you have a few k in SSIA money coming (or that you have already stashed it away in some other investment scheme) certainly makes the decision to splash out on a new car an easier one, don't you think?

Tony Danza

peasant wrote:

Most people probably don't carry the returns of their SSIA straight to a car dealer, no.

But the knowledge that you have a few k in SSIA money coming (or that you have already stashed it away in some other investment scheme) certainly makes the decision to splash out on a new car an easier one, don't you think?

Was working in a place before Christmas doing surveys for how people are spending they're money, must have done over 100 surveys only one person said they were buying a brand new car (several said they would buy a second hand car, with the majority saying they'd continue to save), so all that talk in the paper of people buying new cars with they're ssia is pretty much bullshít.

I think the people that are getting the max out of the ssia would be inclined to buy a brand new car, regardless of them getting the ssia or not, as they are obviously reasonably well off and this is just getting completely thrown out of proportion.

bazz26

That and the fact credit is relatively cheap these days with financial institutions falling over themeselves to lend you money.

It would be interesting to know how many of the those new cars purchased are actually run of the mill basic models. Irish people's taste in cars has changed, very few are now buying the entry level model anymore making them harder to sell used.

Panda Moanium

Wasn't there earlier reports saying that Ford had topped the sales charts for January?
Must have included commercial vehicles - the Transit by itself would account for a large proportion of those 4,700 sold.

Interesting point Bazz26 about Irish people no longer buying entry level models to the same extent. It always amazed me when looking at used car ads just how many are the most basic and most underpowered models available. Wonder if we will start to see premiums paid for better specced cars when trading in?

unkel

Panda Moanium wrote:

Wasn't there earlier reports saying that Ford had topped the sales charts for January?
Must have included commercial vehicles - the Transit by itself would account for a large proportion of those 4,700 sold

Above figures are for private cars only

Feachan

I had an interesting experience today. I want to buy a new or nearly new car (06) and I went to Colm Burns in Sligo who is dealer for a number of car makes. I called into to open showroom at about 1.20 and chatted to a guy who said sales would talk to me. After a while being ignored I went to an open office where there were three staff chatting. When I asked if someone could help me I was told it was lunchtime and they wern't open.

It staggers me that companies deal with customers so shabbily-where the customer is seen as a nuisance interfering with the smooth running of some enterperise.

In actual fact I dont blame the staff members since they probably know no better and werent trained properly since there is probably a big staff turnover. I blame Colm Burns Ltd since clearly they dont see their customers as being important enough to have plenty staff on call so that other staff can take a break in peace and not be bothered by fools like me.

Any similar experiences?

sk8board

Tauren wrote:

not surprising at all - SSIAs getting used up.

mmmm, its very debatable. A 'guy from a garage' told me a few weeks ago that the figures are higher based on the fact that there is a waiting list for pretty much every single car of about 4-8 weeks, so the numbers of PRE-BOOKED cars in Nov/Dec is what has rose by 19%, with them all being delivered in Jan.
Makes sense to me