Will I break even on this import?

dubstub

Hi,
I'm currently living in the UK and plan to move back next year. The plan is to buy a new car now and bring it back to Ireland with me, re-reg it, keep it for a year and then sell it - hopefully for the same price as I bought it for.
This was always very possible with the difference in prices but with the new VRT bands I don't know if it'll work.
I've specced a new BMW 320d M Sport Coupe with:

Metallic paint
Full leather
Elec fr seats
Front seat heating
Adaptive headlights
Rain sensor + Auto lights
Navigation system Professional
BMW ConnectedDrive
Voice control
Bluetooth phone prep
USB audio interface

I can get that for £33,000 new. At today's exchange rate that's about €45,000. I'd have no problems selling a two year old 320d M Sport for that price now but with the drop in VRT rates, that's the price of a brand new one! :eek:
Surely this is going to kill the second hand car market in Ireland and a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money on the resale of their cars?
Do you think there's any chance of me seeing €45,000 back on this car in two years?
Cheers.

Earth Worm Jim

AFAIK - once you are residing in the UK for a certain amount of time (around 2yr)and own the car for a certain amount of time (12 months) you can bring the car in and change her over for nowt! there are a few conditions for doing this but it can be done. Some one on here might know more??

JHMEG

dubstub wrote: »

Do you think there's any chance of me seeing €45,000 back on this car in two years?

Why would someone pay €45k for a 2 year old car when they can get it for €44.5 new?

Lots of options help sell a 2nd hand car, but at most only add a tenth of their original value.

JHMEG

Earth Worm Jim wrote: »

AFAIK - once you are residing in the UK for a certain amount of time (around 2yr)and own the car for a certain amount of time (12 months) you can bring the car in and change her over for nowt!

He's aware of that, and has not added VRT.

dubstub

JHMEG wrote: »

Why would someone pay €45k for a 2 year old car when they can get it for €44.5 new?

Lots of options help sell a 2nd hand car, but at most only add a tenth of their original value.

Yeah, that's what I was worried about. It seems that the VRT changes are gonna kill my plan, unless I get a car that has high emissions and will still be expensive in Ireland - but that may be hard to shift as people won't want the high road tax.
This must be an absolute kick in the teeth for anyone who bought a low emissions car in the last year or two. There must be a lot of angry 320d owners whose cars just dropped in value by 8 grand :eek:!
Does anyone know how the VRT will work on extras? Will the cost of extras on a 320d be much cheaper than the same extras on a 335i because the VRT is applied based on the emissions of the car?

The price on the BMW website for a base 320d M Sport is €60,765 - my calculations work that out at €54,221 after July.
The car I'm buying with all the options is €71,520 today. Assuming that the VRT is applied to all the options and the whole reduction will be passed on to the consumer for all options the same car will cost €63,817 after July.
Now I know that I won't be able to get the money back on all the options I've picked but would I get close to €45,000 in two years time with, say, 20,000 miles on the clock?

pontovic

Just be careful. I don't mean to piss on your parade but I am in the same situation as you and I was thinking of bringing a nice BMW diesel over to Ireland with me, but I decided against it.
One thing I heard about from people back home when I was telling them about my plan was that there was a bit of a recession in Ireland at the moment and as such the second hand car market is very slow. Another thing is the fact that people might not want to spend so much money buying a car like this from a private seller. They might prefer the peace of mind in going to buy the car from a dealer instead. It's not like you are trying to sell a nissan micra for €1000 to a first time driver.
My advice is, if you are buying the car to keep for yourself, then by all mean go for it, but if you want to buy solely for selling in Ireland to make a profit or break even, then maybe get a few more second opinions. My brother, who has dealt alot more in cars that I have says people are very skeptical of UK imports, because they could have been involved in floods or crashes and then sent over here having been given a quick lick of paint.
Your car is going to be new so maybe that can work in your favour. I hope this helped and good luck with it.

Me, I have decided to save some cash and buy a diesel ford mondeo from cargiant. At least that way I have peace of mind that the car isnt a complete lemon, and I don't have to take out a loan to buy it. It's the best diesel used buy you can make over here now.

dubstub

pontovic wrote: »

Just be careful. I don't mean to piss on your parade but I am in the same situation as you and I was thinking of bringing a nice BMW diesel over to Ireland with me, but I decided against it.
One thing I heard about from people back home when I was telling them about my plan was that there was a bit of a recession in Ireland at the moment and as such the second hand car market is very slow. Another thing is the fact that people might not want to spend so much money buying a car like this from a private seller. They might prefer the peace of mind in going to buy the car from a dealer instead. It's not like you are trying to sell a nissan micra for €1000 to a first time driver.
My advice is, if you are buying the car to keep for yourself, then by all mean go for it, but if you want to buy solely for selling in Ireland to make a profit or break even, then maybe get a few more second opinions. My brother, who has dealt alot more in cars that I have says people are very skeptical of UK imports, because they could have been involved in floods or crashes and then sent over here having been given a quick lick of paint.
Your car is going to be new so maybe that can work in your favour. I hope this helped and good luck with it.

Me, I have decided to save some cash and buy a diesel ford mondeo from cargiant. At least that way I have peace of mind that the car isnt a complete lemon, and I don't have to take out a loan to buy it. It's the best diesel used buy you can make over here now.

Thanks for that. To be honest I'm buying the car I love (except my head won out on one decision and I came down from a 330i to the 320d) but I really don't want to get hit too badly by depreciation. It makes the decision a whole lot sweeter if I can structure it so I get to drive around in a lovely car for two years and it doesn't actually cost me anything, other than running costs.
I get what your saying about the recession but I think there's a few more years in it yet. Also, with only one owner and a new car, I don't think people will worry about buying from a private individual. I just sold my last car to a guy in Dublin for €36,000 cash and he didn't seem to mind handing over that much to a private seller for a car with no warranty.

pontovic

Then by all means go for it if you are confident of other opinions. I wish I could get a car like that but I'm no earning nearly enough to pay off the potential loan before I come home. BMW's should hold their value quite well

dubstub

pontovic wrote: »

Then by all means go for it if you are confident of other opinions. I wish I could get a car like that but I'm no earning nearly enough to pay off the potential loan before I come home. BMW's should hold their value quite well

Cheers mate. I'm hoping it will work out but the change in the VRT threw me. There must be so many people getting stung badly by the change.

Hopefully I'll still get close enough to the price I paid for it in 2 years time. I can afford the car just not the depreciation!

Henry Ford III

1/. Buy slightly used.

2/. Minimise extras.

budweiserfrogie

Dubstub. 1 thing to consider is that your british model car would be registering mph. & mileage recorded in miles. All irish cars are kph and mileage recorded in kilometres.
While not a problem for some irish buyers it would be for others as your car would not be the same as an irish car. As you are buying this car new, my proposal is, would it help your resale to specify in your options a european spec kph speedo?

dubstub

Henry Ford III wrote: »

1/. Buy slightly used.

2/. Minimise extras.

The plan was to buy slightly used but none of the cars on the slightly used market have the efficient dynamics engine and I need a car so can't wait for them to become available. You're right though, the difference in price between new and slightly used can be marked.
The extras I picked are the ones I'd want myself. It probably is risky and won't keep their value but I'm reckoning that they will at least make this car stand out from the other 20,000 second-hand BMW's for sale at that moment.
The question is will the drop in value of the car & extras and the drop in price of BMW's in Ireland mean that the car still ends up costing me 1,000's in depreciation?

JHMEG

I reckon you'll get rode on depreciation. By how much is hard to tell.

Cyrus

if you want to minimise depreciation on a car in ireland brought over from the uk get something like a 911, your 320d plan doesnt make sense, it would make more sense to buy a 330d as the vrt doesnt decrease as much (if at all?) on these

unkel

Some good advice up there, especially:

Cyrus wrote: »

if you want to minimise depreciation on a car in ireland brought over from the uk get something like a 911, your 320d plan doesnt make sense, it would make more sense to buy a 330d as the vrt doesnt decrease as much (if at all?) on these

Indeed. Get a car that would have a very high VRT amount in Ireland. Because you'll avoid paying any VRT at all, your car would have the competitive advantage

A combination of high VRT and low depreciation would be ideal, so Cyrus' suggestion of a Porsche is a very good one. Perhaps a new (or nearly new) Boxster?

dubstub

JHMEG wrote: »

I reckon you'll get rode on depreciation. By how much is hard to tell.

*Sigh* - I'm starting to realise that. I still want the car but it seems that it won't be quite as "free" as I'd hoped. Typical that the first bit of good news for Irish motorists comes along and it bites me in the ass.
I suppose €5,000 - €8,000 lost on the value of the car over two years is acceptable. It's just a shame to miss the opportunity of importing without the VRT liability. I am buying the car for myself though so it's important that I get something I want - doing it in a cost effective way is a bonus.

Cyrus wrote: »

if you want to minimise depreciation on a car in ireland brought over from the uk get something like a 911, your 320d plan doesnt make sense, it would make more sense to buy a 330d as the vrt doesnt decrease as much (if at all?) on these

Not a bad idea but an old 911 doesn't appeal to me on a practical or personal level. It's bad enough the tag that BMW owners get, buying a Porsche would have me in a gang that I'm not willing to join till I get my mid-life crisis! I would consider the 330d - but it would have to be one of the new Efficient Dynamics models and that pushes up the price tag quite a bit.

budweiserfrogie wrote: »

Dubstub. 1 thing to consider is that your british model car would be registering mph. & mileage recorded in miles. All irish cars are kph and mileage recorded in kilometres.
While not a problem for some irish buyers it would be for others as your car would not be the same as an irish car. As you are buying this car new, my proposal is, would it help your resale to specify in your options a european spec kph speedo?

Is it possible to specify a European spec speedo? That's a great idea. I had thought about that problem and was just either going to leave it or I was going to see about getting them switched later.

unkel

dubstub wrote: »

I would consider the 330d - but it would have to be one of the new Efficient Dynamics models

Why does it have to be an ED model?

I'm not too sure what you want to achieve here. Do you just want to buy a car that you are happy to run in the UK for a bit and would be very happy if you could flog it in Ireland at minimal loss or are you planning to take maximum advantage of your position to bring in a VRT free car?

Call me an opportunist, but I'd be in the latter category

Ferris

I think you'll suffer less from depretiation than someone who buys the same car here. At the end of the day you're buying a diesel 3-series which retains its value better than practically any car in ireland. I think you're minimising your loss on the cars value and exposure to high road tax in ireland and all the while driving an excellent car.

I take it that you are resident (working) in the uk for at least 6 months (and will have owned the car for 6mts) and are planning to import it VRT free. I did this and while its a good way to go you will not be able to sell the car for 12mts after you import it into ireland.

dubstub

unkel wrote: »

Why does it have to be an ED model?

I'm not too sure what you want to achieve here. Do you just want to buy a car that you are happy to run in the UK for a bit and would be very happy if you could flog it in Ireland at minimal loss or are you planning to take maximum advantage of your position to bring in a VRT free car?

Call me an opportunist, but I'd be in the latter category

I appreciate that I'm probably coming across confused and that's because I'm trying to decide exactly what camp I'm in. I am probably in the first option - I want a car that I'm happy to drive around in for two years and that I love owning, flogging it in Ireland will help minimise my loss. Taking maximum advantage of my position was something that I hoped would also be possible but I suppose it is secondary to driving the car I want.

dubstub

Thanks for all your replies lads - I decided to go for it anyway! Now, I get to love the car I'm driving for two years!
I reckon I'll still get close to €45,000 when it comes to bringing it back to sell in Ireland.
Here are some pics:

cashmni1

Thats a lovely color too, well done and best of luck. You might not make back all of what you spent (+/- exchange rates and current financial climate in Ireland) but you won't be too far off and you will have a lovely car for 2 years.
Well Wear!

Gandalf23

Beautiful car. You made the right decision

Best of luck with her ... safe driving and good luck with the sale in 2 yrs.

dubstub

Cheers! I'm seriously loving it, I must admit !

You have to go with heart over head on some things!