Car Buying Questions

Lilee

Hi guys,

I've a few questions. I'm looking at buying my first car in Ireland [I had a car over in England but left it there when I moved over here a 1yr ago] but from what the guys in the office are telling me - it's not as simple as it is in England.

I'm looking at getting an extremely cheap 2nd hand runaround car. I don't want to spend much on it as it'll be only used a couple of times a week.

The cars i've looked at so far on carzone.ie and autotrader.ie all say they have an NCT date of August/November/June 2007. What does this mean? As far as I can understand - over here you have to renew the NCT every 2 years. So does that mean if I were to buy one of these cars that I wouldn't have to worry about NCT until Aug/Nov/June 2009?

One of the cars I want to look at is being sold by a private dealer. The guys here are telling me I should get a mechanic out to look over the car. Where do I find one? And do I bring them along when I go to view the car or would they go seperately once i've had a look myself?

Tax and insurance, I understand, are the same as in the UK...All to be set up and organised as soon as the car is bought. Are you able to do the tax online or would I have to go somewhere for that?

And other than that lot - is there anything i've completely neglected to think about?!

ninty9er

I don't have a clue what the guys in your office mean. NCT Jun-07 means it's 12 months out of date and you would have to get it done ASAP to Jun-09....to be used as a bargaining tool.

Golgenpages.ie for a mechanic really or recommendations from friends.

The market is really slow, but you probably won't get a small car less than 10 years old for less than €1,500 in reasonable condition. Such is the burden of supply and demand economics. These cars are still selling in the slower market.

You can't tax online unless you are the registered owner at the next renewal, if the tax is out of date you'll have to go to the City/County Council offices and queue. If it is out of date, you'll have to get your local Garda Station to sign a declaration that the car has been off the road (read: you just bought it and it has no tax). Subsequent taxation can be done online.

ModeSkeletor

Hi mate, I am from england too. The NCT is similar to our Class 4 MOT except the test itself is carried out in a large "test centre" as opposed to garages and instead of being annual, it's every 2 years. Also some might disagree but the gardai here in Ireland aren't as strict about enforcing the NCT as they would be in england. Also, unlike the MOT - you don't -need- the NCT to tax your car. Any more questions just fire away!

Lilee

ninty9er wrote: »

I don't have a clue what the guys in your office mean. NCT Jun-07 means it's 12 months out of date and you would have to get it done ASAP to Jun-09....to be used as a bargaining tool.

Golgenpages.ie for a mechanic really or recommendations from friends.

The market is really slow, but you probably won't get a small car less than 10 years old for less than €1,500 in reasonable condition. Such is the burden of supply and demand economics. These cars are still selling in the slower market.

You can't tax online unless you are the registered owner at the next renewal, if the tax is out of date you'll have to go to the City/County Council offices and queue. If it is out of date, you'll have to get your local Garda Station to sign a declaration that the car has been off the road (read: you just bought it and it has no tax). Subsequent taxation can be done online.

Thanks for that!

Okay - so what would be the deal with changing ownership of tax? There's another one i've been looking at which is taxed until October and has NCT until August. If I were to get that one - what would I have to do about both of those things? Would I have to change the ownerships for the tax and NCT over to me or would that be done automatically, or would I just have to do it when it needs to be replaced?

Lilee

ModeSkeletor wrote: »

Hi mate, I am from england too. The NCT is similar to our Class 4 MOT except the test itself is carried out in a large "test centre" as opposed to garages and instead of being annual, it's every 2 years. Also some might disagree but the gardai here in Ireland aren't as strict about enforcing the NCT as they would be in england. Also, unlike the MOT - you don't -need- the NCT to tax your car. Any more questions just fire away!

Ah that's perfect! So NCT is just an MOT...that's good to know. Is it expensive to put a car through NCT? I know MOT used to cost about £50 and then extra if there needed to be repairs [but being a garage - they would generally do the repairs there and then if they could so it was all done at once]. Would it be around the same here? I'm guessing if it's not a garage that does the NCT though that i'd need to then take the car to a garage to get it repaired following suggestions from NCT.

So just do DOUBLE-DOUBLE recap! It would be perfectly fine and legal if I were to buy the car, drive it away from the dealership to home. Then get the NCT, Tax and Insurance sorted then [if it doesnt come with the car that is]?

rebel.ranter

You need insurance sorted before you drive the car at all.

The person selling the car should really get the NCT for you. That's just my opinion not a law or anything.

With both of the above in place you could take the car home with minimal fuss, you run the risk of getting fined for no tax but most Garda would be sympathetic to the fact that you are literally just taking it from the garage to the house. I would not advise driving around for extended periods witout road tax.

woop

yes driving without insurance is a serious offence but if you go down to the gaurds they might give you a letter for the tax at least

Eoin

ninty9er wrote: »

You can't tax online unless you are the registered owner at the next renewal, if the tax is out of date you'll have to go to the City/County Council offices and queue. If it is out of date, you'll have to get your local Garda Station to sign a declaration that the car has been off the road (read: you just bought it and it has no tax). Subsequent taxation can be done online.

I think I was able to do it by ringing the motor tax office, and asking them what I needed to fill in on this form, and I was able to post it off then to my local tax office. I know I didn't have to get it stamped, or queue in the tax office either.

Lilee wrote: »

Ah that's perfect! So NCT is just an MOT...that's good to know. Is it expensive to put a car through NCT? I know MOT used to cost about £50 and then extra if there needed to be repairs [but being a garage - they would generally do the repairs there and then if they could so it was all done at once]. Would it be around the same here? I'm guessing if it's not a garage that does the NCT though that i'd need to then take the car to a garage to get it repaired following suggestions from NCT.

Garages don't carry out the NCT here, it's run independently so you have to book it in with them, and then go back with any repairs should they be required. Here's their website. It costs €49.00, so a little cheaper than the UK.

MollyZ

I've just gone through the taxing a second hand car process and in addition to the form I had to send an insurance cert, an NCT cert and the car's registration cert. Because it was a change of ownewship I didn't have to get the form stamped at the garda station to say it was off the road - I just taxed it from the date I bought it. All was done by post, though you can hand it into the local authority office if you want to.

ninty9er

Lilee wrote: »

Thanks for that!

Okay - so what would be the deal with changing ownership of tax? There's another one i've been looking at which is taxed until October and has NCT until August. If I were to get that one - what would I have to do about both of those things? Would I have to change the ownerships for the tax and NCT over to me or would that be done automatically, or would I just have to do it when it needs to be replaced?

They would transfer. You wouldn't need to renew the tax until October. and I'd advise booking a NCT ASAP. Can be done up to 3 months in avance.