Euro hits 92p Sterling today!!

Where is it going to stop! The way thing are going they could hit 1:1 which was unbelievable a while back. Its really going to show up VRT now when the VRT on more and more cars being of equal value or more than the purchase price of the car. To think the exchange rate was only around 70p to the euro when I bought my car. Im afraid to work out how much less I would have paid for the car on exchange rate alone.

Berty

VRT and Stamp Duty are dirty cash cows. The government would give a rats about making changes to it.

Owen

The falling price of Sterling is great, not just for cars either, I bought a phone for herself from the UK this morning, and the price conversion was just astonishing.

Berty

Berty wrote: »

VRT and Stamp Duty are dirty cash cows. The government would give a rats about making changes to it.

I dont think anybody expects any major changes but a review of osmp's would have to be considered at some point as stuff is crazy over valued atm and is stopping us taking full advantage of the fantastic deals to be had due to the strong euro.

Your right ned78 its a great time to buy anything thats being sold in sterling.

Heroditas

How much is petrol up North nowadays? I was going to fill up here before I head up there on business tomorrow but I may just wait and fill up there. :pac:

Stevie Dakota

The temptation is to spend now, but hold off, sterling is still on the slide....

L-M

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

The temptation is to spend now, but hold off, sterling is still on the slide....

Aye i'll give it another few weeks. I'll be on the boat then:D

rainbowtrout

Heroditas wrote: »

How much is petrol up North nowadays? I was going to fill up here before I head up there on business tomorrow but I may just wait and fill up there. :pac:

Petrol is one of the few things that is more expensive up North. I think it was 99p when I was in Enniskillen last week. Lots of Northern cars filling up in Blacklion where they have their prices in euro/sterling. it was 99c/89p there

Westwood

If it hits even ill remortgage the gaff and go on a spending frenzy

L-M

Westwood wrote: »

If it hits even ill remortgage the gaff and go on a spending frenzy

Haha best of luck with that!:rolleyes:

Irishpimpdude

It was 93p a few mins ago

Limerick-man

Limerick-man wrote: »

Aye i'll give it another few weeks. I'll be on the boat then:D

Definitely as I said its heading for 1:1. having lived in the UK I can see the massive savings ahead. Just for a example a jumper that costs 60 euro would be 40 sterling the way things are going 40 euro will = 40 sterling.

Only thing is the massive savings for us on UK cars wont last forever, With the pound getting weaker it will be more expensive for the UK dealers to import cars so that will eventually push up the price of cars in the UK

Wacko

I was going to buy my first car here, but the north is the place to go, now the way the exchange rates are, any tips for buying, I was looking at a skoda dealership 2nd hand cars and they are really cheap even after VRT, I presume insurance companies are well used to sorting insurance for British cars until you change them over ?

kluivert

See rates return to around 84p to the €1 after Christmas.

romperstomper

kluivert, what are you basing that on (if anything)

i'm in the market for a '08 520d and need to get a bankdraft for it. but the rates from Oirish banks are brutal compared to XE etc and they're trade system takes a good few days for everything to clear (thus robbing me of acting quick)

ANY ideas where I can get a draft at a reasonable exchange rate?

(thanks)

JackieChan

kluivert wrote: »

See rates return to around 84p to the €1 after Christmas.

Parity (and some more) is more likely to happen before this happens.
Think they call it benign neglect!
The UK have already said that they will go to zero interest rates if needed where as the ECB say rates may drop below 2%.

This is primarily positive for UK economy, dearer imports mean UK produced good are more competitive. Also they have the obvious export advantage in to the EU.

Padraig Mor

romperstomper wrote: »

kluivert, what are you basing that on (if anything)

i'm in the market for a '08 520d and need to get a bankdraft for it. but the rates from Oirish banks are brutal compared to XE etc and they're trade system takes a good few days for everything to clear (thus robbing me of acting quick)

ANY ideas where I can get a draft at a reasonable exchange rate?

(thanks)

Can you not just pay a deposit in cash / draft and then wait for XE trade to go through?

Bluetonic

kluivert wrote: »

See rates return to around 84p to the €1 after Christmas.

Eoin Macollamh

94.25p at this minute.

Femelade

I want to buy a car in the UK in the next few weeks but i have NO idea where to start..
Can someone give me some guidlines?
Do i have to go over and get it myself or will they send it over?
I heard you can get the AA over there to go and check the car out for you so you dont have to go over yourself..is that true?

romperstomper

I'm just about to book flights to collect my car and i'd be happy to share my experiences. I got a lot of good info off the boards guide:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=176389

important thing is to buy the sterling at the best rate you can. i was able to haggle with BOI quoting a few different rates from different banks to get them to go from ~.91 -> .925

xabi

Femmy wrote: »

I want to buy a car in the UK in the next few weeks but i have NO idea where to start..
Can someone give me some guidlines?
Do i have to go over and get it myself or will they send it over?
I heard you can get the AA over there to go and check the car out for you so you dont have to go over yourself..is that true?

They sometimes post them over in a parcel!

Darsad

Femmy wrote: »

I want to buy a car in the UK in the next few weeks but i have NO idea where to start..
Can someone give me some guidlines?
Do i have to go over and get it myself or will they send it over?
I heard you can get the AA over there to go and check the car out for you so you dont have to go over yourself..is that true?

Why do you want to buy it in the UK have you even compared the price
with a comparable car here

romperstomper

Darsad wrote: »

Why do you want to buy it in the UK have you even compared the price
with a comparable car here

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!

£0.947 now, can see it hitting £1 before Xmas, more shopping for me up north

Femelade

romperstomper wrote: »

I'm just about to book flights to collect my car and i'd be happy to share my experiences. I got a lot of good info off the boards guide:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=176389

important thing is to buy the sterling at the best rate you can. i was able to haggle with BOI quoting a few different rates from different banks to get them to go from ~.91 -> .925

Thank you, i'll check out that.

xabi wrote: »

They sometimes post them over in a parcel!

Oh my god! so funny..but not helpful!

Darsad wrote: »

Why do you want to buy it in the UK have you even compared the price
with a comparable car here

eh..duh! yeah I have..Thanks for being concerned though.

Darsad

Thats a bit of an extreme example !
There are plenty of cars passing through auction houses at present
for ridiculous prices and many cheaper than UK imports.Many dealers would be only too happy to sell at a loss at present to to clear down stocks especially if there is no trade in .

There are still plenty of people who can afford to pay Joe duffys high prices and just couldnt be arsed with the hassle of buying an import so I suppose he will always charge a premium.But for the rest there is plenty of value here if you look ask and haggle.

lafors

Getting my draft on Friday, then over to pick her up on Monday.
Can't believe how lucky I am that I hadn't gone for this car a month ago

Romperstomper, how did you get them to give a better rate?
Who did you have to speak to/haggle with?

SV

Darsad wrote: »

Thats a bit of an extreme example !
There are plenty of cars passing through auction houses at present
for ridiculous prices and many cheaper than UK imports.Many dealers would be only too happy to sell at a loss at present to to clear down stocks especially if there is no trade in .

There are still plenty of people who can afford to pay Joe duffys high prices and just couldnt be arsed with the hassle of buying an import so I suppose he will always charge a premium.But for the rest there is plenty of value here if you look ask and haggle.

You're not taking into account that the prices being asked in england are exactly that, Asking prices.
They can be haggled too ya know.



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.

Darsad

Femmy wrote: »

Thank you, i'll check out that.



eh..duh! yeah I have..Thanks for being concerned though.

Your welcome !

L1011

Eoin Macollamh wrote: »

94.25p at this minute.

95.36 now!

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