The change is on......HB Dennis move...

galwaytt

...to join the UK import brigade.

Setting up a UK company to source and import a UK car, and sell it here for less than importing directly.

Will also mop up the used car market in the UK, so expect UK used car prices to rise, and supply to diminish.......

Watch this space, as they say.......

peasant

galwaytt wrote: »

Will also mop up the used car market in the UK, so expect UK used car prices to rise, and supply to diminish.......

All credit to illussions of grandeur ...

but population of 4 mil vs 55 mil ... even an Irish mop isn't that big.

Stevie Dakota

I've seen prices on Motorpoint's cars go up by £1000 on Mondeos and Focus's in the last 2 months, our beleaguered industry may be their saviour.

niceirishfella

No big news here. Just another day in the office for the car trade going down the tubes with property and others.

galwaytt

peasant wrote: »

All credit to illussions of grandeur ...

but population of 4 mil vs 55 mil ... even an Irish mop isn't that big.

true, they'll be quicker and faster to garner the good 'uns before they reach the market.........much as BMW are doing with ex-fleet and rental stuff.

niceirishfella

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

I've seen prices on Motorpoint's cars go up by £1000 on Mondeos and Focus's in the last 2 months, our beleaguered industry may be their saviour.

Thats is you go to motorpoint!
The real value is buying private in the uk.

R.O.R

See they are back to just LandRover and Volvo now. I knew they were no longer Subaru, but didn't realise Citroen and Hyundai were gone as well!

Got to do something to pay the bills as Volvo sales aren't going to pay for the 2 showrooms.

EPM

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

I've seen prices on Motorpoint's cars go up by £1000 on Mondeos and Focus's in the last 2 months, our beleaguered industry may be their saviour.

Apparently there is a real shortage of nearly new Fords in the UK at the moment. Ford are even buying cars back/swapping with new cars believe it or not. Thread going on this over on HJ. Prices have been steadily increasing since the start of the year

Saab Ed

niceirishfella wrote: »

Thats is you go to motorpoint!
The real value is buying private in the uk.

Apart from 08 and pre reg cars which are by far and away cheaper I cant see any value in the UK. 03, 04 ,05 and 06 stuff can all be bought here now for more or less the same if not lower once travel expence ansd VRT is taken into consideration. Stop following the flock and open your eyes

lifer_sean

Saab Ed wrote: »

Apart from 08 and pre reg cars which are by far and away cheaper I cant see any value in the UK. 03, 04 ,05 and 06 stuff can all be bought here now for more or less the same if not lower once travel expence ansd VRT is taken into consideration. Stop following the flock and open your eyes

+1

I've been trying to point this out on Boards for the last month or so but the flock ain't listening !!!!

I was in England on an shopping mission week before last. Bought nothing. When I came home I bought a 07 car in Dublin for over 1000 euro less than UK price, with lower miles, and higher spec.

There is some value in UK still but getting hard to find. The day that you could go to UK to buy whatever car you wanted and save money is gone. I had a guy brag to me the other day about the 05 P407 that he had imported himself costing 12,000 euro ... but I could have sold him one a year newer for 11,000 !

I would have thought that HB Dennis are now late to the party.

Tipsy Mac

HB Dennis have been importing UK cars for years, their place in Swords always has lots either pre or post Irish reg.

bf

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

HB Dennis have been importing UK cars for years, their place in Swords always has lots either pre or post Irish reg.

+1 At least 50% of their stock in the last 12 months has been (overpriced) UK cars

niceirishfella

Saab Ed wrote: »

Apart from 08 and pre reg cars which are by far and away cheaper I cant see any value in the UK. 03, 04 ,05 and 06 stuff can all be bought here now for more or less the same:p

yeah, on boggo standard ordinary metal like mondeos,407's only etc etc.:P

Grahamb23

Its unbelieveable, the Irish people have been whinging and moaning for the past 18 months about their towns and businesses going down the swannie, ''Prices are too high'' & ''we are being robbed'' Blaa blaa blaa, day after day we see our jobs going, people leaving the country be the thousands and still we seem to get into the car on a saturday or sunday and drive 4-5 hours up to the North (UK) to do a weekley shop.
Time to wise up people.... You can get just as good value down here as you can in the UK. Cars have dropped by thousands in the last 6 months and still nobody can see the value. Its not just your unrealiables ie. Renault, Peugeot, Citroen or Ford models,its all cars. Get out there and look, offer a dealer a price and he will consider it, Trust me........

Cookie_Monster

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Its unbelieveable, the Irish people have been whinging and moaning for the past 18 months about their towns and businesses going down the swannie, ''Prices are too high'' & ''we are being robbed'' Blaa blaa blaa, day after day we see our jobs going, people leaving the country be the thousands and still we seem to get into the car on a saturday or sunday and drive 4-5 hours up to the North (UK) to do a weekley shop.
Time to wise up people.... You can get just as good value down here as you can in the UK. Cars have dropped by thousands in the last 6 months and still nobody can see the value. Its not just your unrealiables ie. Renault, Peugeot, Citroen or Ford models,its all cars. Get out there and look, offer a dealer a price and he will consider it, Trust me........

Welcome to boards:):rolleyes:

Nice first post

green-blood

And exactly what are they planning to do with trade ins from all these potential new customers!!

too late lads....

niceirishfella

green-blood wrote: »

And exactly what are they planning to do with trade ins from all these potential new customers!!

too late lads....

Ship them to INDIA!:D:D:D

Drummerboy08

This thread has kind of annoyed me. Not taking a swipe at the OP BTW.

For months now, people on here have done alot of giving out about the motor trades prices etc etc. Trade in's too low, prices too high.

Now that the trade are trying to do something to reduce the current prices, and to survive this recession, your all giving out about them importing from the UK??! Bear in mind that it was not car dealers giving out about UK imports, it was the SIMI.

I for one am glad to see dealers taking on board the publics feelings, and it seems to me that the majority of dealers are tring to do something about it.

As long as the cars will be priced right, i think it will be win win for the consumer.

green-blood

niceirishfella wrote: »

Ship them to INDIA!:D:D:D

surely it would be cheaper and hence more profitable to ship to India all these fab cars from the UK

Grahamb23

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Welcome to boards:):rolleyes:

Nice first post

Thanks cookie monster, Ya have to start somewhere ah !!

green-blood

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

As long as the cars will be priced right, i think it will be win win for the consumer.

the cars will be priced having been bought in the uk, with a nice margin and pushed on the irish consumer. Who is now well aware that he could go to the UK and get the same car and save the margin....

the cats out of the bag for Irish dealers, until they take trade ins at a decent value, sell them on at a decent price and start providing customer service things are going to get worse not better for the Irish dealer network.

this is NOT a swipe at any hardworking individuals within the industry but at the Industry and its anti-competitive PR machine SIMI

SIMI want a VRT reduction for dealers doing this... SICK

Drummerboy08

green-blood wrote: »

the cars will be priced having been bought in the uk, with a nice margin and pushed on the irish consumer. Who is now well aware that he could go to the UK and get the same car and save the margin....

the cats out of the bag for Irish dealers, until they take trade ins at a decent value, sell them on at a decent price and start providing customer service things are going to get worse not better for the Irish dealer network.

this is NOT a swipe at any hardworking individuals within the industry but at the Industry and its anti-competitive PR machine SIMI

SIMI want a VRT reduction for dealers doing this... SICK

As a matter of interest, what would you consider a "nice margin"? Not trying to provoke an argument btw.

Grahamb23

You cant have it everyway, the trade in prices that were givin in this country for the past 10 years were mental, cars lose on average 20 % per year, this has now moved to 30%-40% per year. your going to get asked high prices from stupid dealers that are taking in trade ins that are outragiously over valued. These dealers have been operating on a rebate systme from the distributors who were putting preasure on the dealers to get new cars sold. its been happening for a long time and in my opinion the distributors are to blame for the majority of this. Dealers have been under preasure from these gready bastards for years and like the Banking systme in Ireland none of the top people are being mentioned here. Can someone please enlighten me to how the SIMI have not done something about this five years ago???????

Anan1

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

Bear in mind that it was not car dealers giving out about UK imports, it was the SIMI.

Easy on there, tiger - who are the SIMI?;)

Drummerboy08

Anan1 wrote: »

Easy on there, tiger - who are the SIMI?;)

I think you'll find the SIMI do not represent the majority of Irish dealers views. As far as im concerned they are made up of men who are out to look after themselves and nothing else.

Owen

green-blood wrote: »

the cars will be priced having been bought in the uk, with a nice margin and pushed on the irish consumer. Who is now well aware that he could go to the UK and get the same car and save the margin....

This is a huge common misconception that's been around boards for months now. 'Sure I can go to the UK and get the same deal myself' ... really, can you?

The Irish Dealer is buying the UK cars at trade prices, the public at retail.
The Irish Dealer will take your trade in, the public are left with their own to sell, and in this climate, that's tough enough.
The Irish Dealer, and your own bank can get you a Motorloan, if you go the UK, it's a personal loan 95% of the time.
The Irish Dealer will give you a local warranty (If you buy something that's not covered by one of the manufacturers warranties), the public are left in some cases with no warranty.

So, honestly, if an Irish garage is maybe 1-3k dearer, you won't have to book flights/hotels/ferries/spend money on petrol, and they'll take your trade in, get you finance, and give you a local warranty, will you still go to the UK for all that extra work? If so, then fair play to you. You're a more patient person than me.

Grahamb23

http://www.simi.ie/ Ha ha, getting a little carried away there :-)
Check out the link.....

Grahamb23

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

I think you'll find the SIMI do not represent the majority of Irish dealers views. As far as im concerned they are made up of men who are out to look after themselves and nothing else.

SIMI represent dealers in this country that will obide by the law.... NON SIMI dealers in Ireland are wheelers and dealers... This is a proven fact, all you have to do is look at the court pages every week SORRY .

Owen

Grahamb23 wrote: »

SIMI represent dealers in this country that will obide by the law.... NON SIMI dealers in Ireland are wheelers and dealers... This is a proven fact, all you have to do is look at the court pages every week SORRY .

No one was saying anything contrary to that fact, what Drummerboy was saying is that the actions the SIMI have taken over the past few years really haven't been the will of the majority of Dealers staff, sales people, etc.

Drummerboy08

While the SIMI sign outside a showroom may give that dealer a small bit of credability from a person who knows little or nothing about cars, it means nothing to those of us who know what they do.

They may represent Irish dealers in theory, but the vast majority of Irish dealers are cringing at the comments being made by SIMI representitives at the minute.

Grahamb23

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

While the SIMI sign outside a showroom may give that dealer a small bit of credability from a person who knows little or nothing about cars, it means nothing to those of us who know what they do.

They may represent Irish dealers in theory, but the vast majority of Irish dealers are cringing at the comments being made by SIMI representitives at the minute.

I totally agree, this has been happening for months, SIMI are beginning get on every dealers wick at the moment, they spent months setting up the web site www.carhistorycheck.ie to combat all the UK imports coming in and pleading with both sales staff and the general public to report any UK registered cars to them so they can make sure they make that persons life very difficult until they re-reg the car. Now they are going the easy way about it by showing people how to do it the cheapest way.....

green-blood

easy solution lads, quit... no dealer is oblidged to be part of SIMI... clique ofg the worst sort...

Grahamb23

green-blood wrote: »

easy solution lads, quit... no dealer is oblidged to be part of SIMI... clique ofg the worst sort...

Quit????? What then ? your not listed on there website for any consumer that is worried about who they buy their car off... NOT EVEN AN OPTION.....

Owen

green-blood wrote: »

easy solution lads, quit... no dealer is oblidged to be part of SIMI... clique ofg the worst sort...

That's a very simplistic view. Unfortunately, while a lot of staff at Dealers don't agree with the tripe the SIMI have done over the past few months and years, it's a catch 22 situation. You still need to be a member to show the Public you're trying to do the right thing. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

McSpud

Grahamb23 wrote: »

SIMI represent dealers in this country that will obide by the law.... NON SIMI dealers in Ireland are wheelers and dealers... This is a proven fact, all you have to do is look at the court pages every week SORRY .

Funny. I presume you mean as long as not Citroen dealers? I see article in the Business Post at the weekend about Gowans turn to be charged with price fixing.

Dealers importing from UK is only good new as offers more choice to the sonsumer. If they import new cars the only one to lose out is the Irish Distributers.

galwaytt

Grahamb23 wrote: »

SIMI represent dealers in this country that will obide by the law.... NON SIMI dealers in Ireland are wheelers and dealers... This is a proven fact, all you have to do is look at the court pages every week SORRY .

complete nonsense.

You'd swear no SIMI member had ever ended up in court........and there's loads of small traders out there who have a good 'indy' rep.

TomMc

The SIMI are like lots of trade organisations. Some might say like a few trade union leaders, self-serving, point scoring etc and where the interest of their members come second. If dealers continue to pay their yearly subs or whatever, SIMI are hardly going to change. If enough of the more professional dealers (the well established ones, with good reputations in their field of business) pulled out and set up another organisation or something collective with a code of ethics, which they believed in and practised, it might serve them much better. They may also be able to make more constructive representations to the government on issues of the day - if they have vision. SIMI are probably as welcome in government circles as taxi federations. If the motor trade had a body that was progressive, their interests would be far better served and catered for.

Why be a member of an organisation like SIMI, if it doesn't represent your views. Anyway, if motor dealerships treat customers professionally, with courtesy and respect, fairness etc word of mouth advertising will always be their best asset, regardless of whether they are in a trade body or not.

green-blood

you cant have it all lads, you cant be SIMI but try and hoodwink teh country that "sure hey, we're not really SIMI"

no wonder the industry is going to the wall.... PEOPLE SEE THROUGH YOU

Saab Ed

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Its unbelieveable, the Irish people have been whinging and moaning for the past 18 months about their towns and businesses going down the swannie, ''Prices are too high'' & ''we are being robbed'' Blaa blaa blaa, day after day we see our jobs going, people leaving the country be the thousands and still we seem to get into the car on a saturday or sunday and drive 4-5 hours up to the North (UK) to do a weekley shop.
Time to wise up people.... You can get just as good value down here as you can in the UK. Cars have dropped by thousands in the last 6 months and still nobody can see the value. Its not just your unrealiables ie. Renault, Peugeot, Citroen or Ford models,its all cars. Get out there and look, offer a dealer a price and he will consider it, Trust me........

+1

Everything used to cost more here because a house used to cost a billion euro, the average guards wage is 60 grand a year and any aul dunce was getting 10 grand a week to shovel muck. Not any more...

BillyGoatGruff

TomMc wrote: »

The SIMI are like lots of trade organisations. Some might say like a few trade union leaders, self-serving, point scoring etc and where the interest of their members come second. If dealers continue to pay their yearly subs or whatever, SIMI are hardly going to change. If enough of the more professional dealers (the well established ones, with good reputations in their field of business) pulled out and set up another organisation or something collective with a code of ethics, which they believed in and practised, it might serve them much better. They may also be able to make more constructive representations to the government on issues of the day - if they have vision. SIMI are probably as welcome in government circles as taxi federations. If the motor trade had a body that was progressive, their interests would be far better served and catered for.

Why be a member of an organisation like SIMI, if it doesn't represent your views. Anyway, if motor dealerships treat customers professionally, with courtesy and respect, fairness etc word of mouth advertising will always be their best asset, regardless of whether they are in a trade body or not.

Totally agree with this comment. Dealers should be rated on their reputation. Maybe a "rate the dealer" website should be set up a la trip advisor, although i can see some problems this would create to.

peasant wrote: »

All credit to Dillussions of grandeur ...

but population of 4 mil vs 55 mil ... even an Irish mop isn't that big.

FYP

Cookie_Monster

ned78 wrote: »

The Irish Dealer, and your own bank can get you a Motorloan, if you go the UK, it's a personal loan 95% of the time.

WHy would you ever want a motor loan over a personal loan though. They tend to have higher rates and fixed periods.

Owen

Motor Loans rates can be negotiated to quite low APR's actually, and in most cases lower rates than personal loans. The banks all quote high APR's, but because the loan is secure on the vehicle itself, banks are happy to negotiate.

nialler

ned78 wrote: »

Motor Loans rates can be negotiated to quite low APR's actually, and in most cases lower rates than personal loans. The banks all quote high APR's, but because the loan is secure on the vehicle itself, banks are happy to negotiate.

10% Interest Rate from PermanentTSB, 9.9% from BOIF, ermm interbank rates are hovering around 1.5%. Also neither would loan me 12k on a car over five years old (it was a 02 S Class Benz 320 CDI) wayyyyy better than an 04 whatever that they would have thrown me the money for. Only way to do it was a personal loan with higher interest rates bloody ridiculous in my opinion.

Owen

nialler wrote: »

10% Interest Rate from PermanentTSB, 9.9% from BOIF, ermm interbank rates are hovering around 1.5%. Also neither would loan me 12k on a car over five years old (it was a 02 S Class Benz 320 CDI) wayyyyy better than an 04 whatever that they would have thrown me the money for. Only way to do it was a personal loan with higher interest rates bloody ridiculous in my opinion.

Again, Interest rates can be easily negotiated.

charlieIRL

Saab Ed wrote: »

Stop following the flock and open your eyes

(Firstly - sorry for not reading all this thread but want to reply to this)
I'm looking to buy a mondeo ST TDCi at the moment. They average €14500 private / trade here. One in the UK, ford dealer, is £6000 which works out at €6600 give or take a few euro, add €2900 VRT and say €300 travel expenses. That gives me a total of €9800 roughly. I'll leave you to do the rest of the maths!!!

I'm all for buying in ireland, but why should I??

Drummerboy08

charlieIRL wrote: »

(Firstly - sorry for not reading all this thread but want to reply to this)
I'm looking to buy a mondeo ST TDCi at the moment. They average €14500 private / trade here. One in the UK, ford dealer, is £6000 which works out at €6600 give or take a few euro, add €2900 VRT and say €300 travel expenses. That gives me a total of €9800 roughly. I'll leave you to do the rest of the maths!!!

I'm all for buying in ireland, but why should I??

The one thing i'll say about this car is they are fairly rare, and individual. On the whole, say a Zetec TDCi Mondeo, a fairly common car both sides of the water, i'd imagine the prices would be fairly close together.

sparklepants

charlieIRL wrote: »

(Firstly - sorry for not reading all this thread but want to reply to this)
I'm looking to buy a mondeo ST TDCi at the moment. They average €14500 private / trade here. One in the UK, ford dealer, is £6000 which works out at €6600 give or take a few euro, add €2900 VRT and say €300 travel expenses. That gives me a total of €9800 roughly. I'll leave you to do the rest of the maths!!!

I'm all for buying in ireland, but why should I??

I agree.
Here's my example

Ireland:
Volvo V50 1.6D SE, 2007, 24k miles
Price: €24,995
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volvo/V50/1.6-D-SE/200904191550502/advert

UK:
Volvo V50 1.6D SE, 2007, 22k miles
Price: GBP 10,999 = €12,500
VRT payable: €3,621
Allow for expenses to import car: €400
Total Price: €16,500
http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/ni/cars_popup.jsp?searchform=&modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&photo=1&state=block&sort=3&hassearched=Y&make=VOLVO&min_pr=75&source=0&model=V50&max_pr=&miles=1500&agerange=5&mileage=4&postcode=bt56+8hq&variant=&bodyid=0&trim=&fuelid=2&colour=&transmissionid=0&keywords=&ukcarsearch_full.x=24&ukcarsearch_full.y=6&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH&start=2&distance=336&adcategory=CARS&channel=CARS&id=200905327912361

That makes Ireland 50% more expensive! The numbers speak for themselves.

Drummerboy08

Its interesting how you picked the most expensive V50 on carzone as your Irish example.

Here's one for 4 grand less. I know it isnt as cheap as the UK example there, but it doesnt look as good value now does it?
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1184988

Owen

sparklepants wrote: »

That makes Ireland 50% more expensive! The numbers speak for themselves.

You're looking at asking prices though, what would happen if you brought your UK price in to the Dealer, and sat down with him? I'm sure he'd come a long way to meet you.

sparklepants

ned78 wrote: »

You're looking at asking prices though, what would happen if you brought your UK price in to the Dealer, and sat down with him? I'm sure he'd come a long way to meet you.

A feeble defense Ned! At least with the UK dealer, the asking price is the actual price, with the Irish dealers you never know.

I took my 02 Citroen C5 to two dealers in the south of the country as a trade-in. One didn't want to know about it, while the other offered me €500 off the asking price for it. I "sat down", as you put it, with these guys but I was wasting my time!

sparklepants

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

Its interesting how you picked the most expensive V50 on carzone as your Irish example.

Here's one for 4 grand less. I know it isnt as cheap as the UK example there, but it doesnt look as good value now does it?
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1184988

I didn't pick the most expensive, to be honest. I picked the one that closest matched the one I found in the UK. The car you've linked to is a lower value petrol car. The car I was interested in is a low emissions diesel.