Northern Value!

boardswalker

I was in the motor factors last monday and a guy ahead of me was getting number plates for his imported car. We talked about the import and he said he sold his 07 car a couple of weeks earlier, went north and bought 08 version of same car for less money. I would not have believed him but given what I have been reading here it seems plausible. I got no more info as his plates were ready and he left.

carface

In UK last week seen an 05 jaguar diesel sold at auction for same price in sterling as what exact same car(irish reg) sold for in euro here over a month ago. On the floor price+buyers fee+flight,boat home,taxis,hpi,vrt,nct,plates + time lost etc.. no major savings on those at moment.

DaMonk

carface wrote: »

In UK last week seen an 05 jaguar diesel sold at auction for same price in sterling as what exact same car(irish reg) sold for in euro here over a month ago. On the floor price+buyers fee+flight,boat home,taxis,hpi,vrt,nct,plates + time lost etc.. no major savings on those at moment.

coming from a car dealer of course that would be the answer:p

he asked about up north, not england. There's value down here at the mo but I'd still go north. I'd definitely believe that guys story,was valuing passats at exactly what he's saying he did.

carface

DaMonk wrote: »

coming from a car dealer of course that would be the answer:p answer to what??? simply posted example of value in a southern car useing uk auction price as yardstick.
he asked about up north, not england.....Sorry did the op ask anything or just make a comment There's value down here at the mo ....in certain cars not all cars......but I'd still go north.....even if it cost you more :P I'd definitely believe that guys story,... so do i......was valuing passats at exactly what he's saying he did.........nobrainer the hard part is selling your 07 straight your buyer can also buy the 08 for less than the 07 .

p.s. since when is up north not part of the uk.
all the best

L-M

I've said it before, and I still believe. People just automatically assume cars are cheaper in the UK, and don't even check prices down here. It's become a fad now. Some serious value down here atm I think.

bazz26

Limerick man wrote: »

I've said it before, and I still believe. People just automatically assume cars are cheaper in the UK, and don't even check prices down here. It's become a fad now. Some serious value down here atm I think.

Indeed, I have been keeping a close eye on 2006 320d prices both here and in the UK, before Christmas there was a real saving in the UK but now I saw a few here going for only about €1000 to €1200 more expensive than clearing one from the UK. Take associated travel and time off work and the hassel of trying to sell your old car involved it really wouldn't make it worth my while personally at the moment.

Another example, someone at work bought a 08 Focus Zetec TDCi recently for €14.5k (including VRT) in Belfast. Looking at carzone there is a similar model asking €14,800.

BTW as regulars will know I am not a car dealer or have any association with them.

DaMonk

what happened my post? seems to have been deleted.i agree there's value down here big time and with having to sell privately is a joke at the moment but I'm saying that cash price, up north will work out cheaper alot of the time.

And the thread was value up north carface, not getting the ferry across to england and ALLL the added expenses added to turn people off a few hrs drive up there.

carface

DaMonk wrote: »

And the thread was value up north carface, not getting the ferry across to england and ALLL the added expenses added to turn people off a few hrs drive up there.

Dear mr Damonk,
far from discourage traveling to uk i would personally encourage it. Most secondhand stock in the north is sourced in uk anyway.its only in last 12 months that importing new/nearly new has become value from the north.
Anything 3year old i would prefere to source in uk as opposed to up north.
By the way flight to uk and ferry home is the trick it can save a lot of hrs driving.
all the best
carface

DaMonk

carface wrote: »

Dear mr Damonk,
far from discourage traveling to uk i would personally encourage it. Most secondhand stock in the north is sourced in uk anyway.its only in last 12 months that importing new/nearly new has become value from the north.
Anything 3year old i would prefere to source in uk as opposed to up north.
By the way flight to uk and ferry home is the trick it can save a lot of hrs driving.
all the best
carface

Dear Mr. carface,
In reference to your above query, I would like to point out that it is Mr. 'DaMonk', that's spelled with a capital 'M' for the Monk. Please do your best to adhere to this spelling where possible.
Kind Regards
DaMonk



.............you wouldn't think I'm trying to string a thesis together for tomorrow writing this stuff would you!!!

DanGerMus

There is Value to be found for anyone willing to put a little effort and research into, what ever they're buying both North and South.
It's called shopping around something that many Irish people are only now discovering.

DaMonk

DanGerMus wrote: »

There is Value to be found for anyone willing to put a little effort and research into, what ever they're buying both North and South.
It's called shopping around something that many Irish people are only now discovering.

Exactly. In a nutshell.

McSpud

IMO limited value in the north. UK mainland is the place.

Best value in cars & engines that are not very common in the ROI.

carface

DaMonk wrote: »

Dear Mr. carface,
In reference to your above query, I would like to point out that it is Mr. 'DaMonk', that's spelled with a capital 'M' for the Monk. Please do your best to adhere to this spelling where possible.
Kind Regards
DaMonk

Dear Mr. DaMonk,
Please forgive the oversight on my part,no slur on your good name intented.
must try harder,must try harder ,must try harder, all the best carface

modm3

Just bought a replacement, was fully expecting to go up to the North or over to the UK.

At the lower end of the market, the value is here (depending on type of car of course) I ended up with a choice of cars that were far cheaper here and with full dealer histories. I ended up with a lovely facelift E39 530d Touring, that only cost a grand more than the VRT would've cost me !!

Cars in the North are a little more expensive than the rest of the UK, due to the high demand of buyers from the South. There is a lot of value in bigger engined/petrol cars here, the low purchase price negates a lot of the extra expense in running it, over buying a smaller engined diesel variant.

Couldn't comment on the big volume sellers though, would imagine there's damn all difference either.

PauloMN

I think there's plenty of value up north depending on what you are buying. You do also need to shop around though as the prices vary greatly between garages. I bought a car up north last week and saved over €1500 off the nearest comparable car I could find on Carzone (cash price sale). That car - which was incorrectly marked as located in Dublin - was actually another UK car sitting in the UK somewhere. Pretty much all the other similar cars to mine are priced at between €3k and €4k more than I paid for a mint example. Even knocking €1k or more off those for cash, they still wouldn't come close.

But there were a few examples of the same car as mine in NI that were almost £2k dearer, just because they were in more prestigious garages. Obviously in those cases, there'd be no saving in doing the importing yourself.

Something else worth bearing in mind is that it's not always about the cheapest car. I'm pretty fussy about the cars I buy and would only buy a used car in really excellent condition. The last time I bought a car here a couple of years ago, it was just depressing how poor most of the cars were. The official dealerships had the really nice cars but they were very pricey and it took me a couple of months to find a real peach at a good price. People talk about the time taken to look for cars in NI/UK, but I can honestly say that the experience this time buying up north was far less time consuming and much more enjoyable than buying here. The cars I saw online and in the flesh were definitely of a higher standard up north than down here in general.

And it WAS cheaper to boot!

robtri

PauloMN wrote: »

I think there's plenty of value up north depending on what you are buying. You do also need to shop around though as the prices vary greatly between garages. I bought a car up north last week and saved over €1500 off the nearest comparable car I could find on Carzone (cash price sale). That car - which was incorrectly marked as located in Dublin - was actually another UK car sitting in the UK somewhere. Pretty much all the other similar cars to mine are priced at between €3k and €4k more than I paid for a mint example. Even knocking €1k or more off those for cash, they still wouldn't come close.

But there were a few examples of the same car as mine in NI that were almost £2k dearer, just because they were in more prestigious garages. Obviously in those cases, there'd be no saving in doing the importing yourself.

Something else worth bearing in mind is that it's not always about the cheapest car. I'm pretty fussy about the cars I buy and would only buy a used car in really excellent condition. The last time I bought a car here a couple of years ago, it was just depressing how poor most of the cars were. The official dealerships had the really nice cars but they were very pricey and it took me a couple of months to find a real peach at a good price. People talk about the time taken to look for cars in NI/UK, but I can honestly say that the experience this time buying up north was far less time consuming and much more enjoyable than buying here. The cars I saw online and in the flesh were definitely of a higher standard up north than down here in general.

And it WAS cheaper to boot!

can you give us the details on this, so we can see the savings?
make, model, engine, spec of car, how much you paid for it in the north, have you a link to the car? how much was VRT, travelling costs,

Black_Knight

carface wrote: »

In UK last week seen an 05 jaguar diesel sold at auction for same price in sterling as what exact same car(irish reg) sold for in euro here over a month ago. On the floor price+buyers fee+flight,boat home,taxis,hpi,vrt,nct,plates + time lost etc.. no major savings on those at moment.

carface wrote: »

Dear mr Damonk,
far from discourage traveling to uk i would personally encourage it. Most secondhand stock in the north is sourced in uk anyway.its only in last 12 months that importing new/nearly new has become value from the north.
Anything 3year old i would prefere to source in uk as opposed to up north.
By the way flight to uk and ferry home is the trick it can save a lot of hrs driving.
all the best
carface

Correct me if im getting the wrong end of the stick here but:
you just said that there were no major savings to be had, yet you would source 3 year old cars in the UK mainland. Seems like a contradiction to me

Id just shop around OP, if you find a price your happy, on the car your happy with go for it. You dont want to be thinking, oh I would of liked that on with the xyz extra in it. My 2 cents anyways

L-M

Black_Knight wrote: »

Correct me if im getting the wrong end of the stick here but:
you just said that there were no major savings to be had, yet you would source 3 year old cars in the UK mainland. Seems like a contradiction to me

Yes, because he just said he would go to UK mainland instead of going to the north for the above explained reasons.

carface

if you read closely the first post was a example of a custumer finding value here in a particular car.(its not a statement that all cars are cheaper here)
note your own highlighting.
The tread moved on and became more general and the second post is a personal opinion on importing from the uk as opposed to the north.
hope this clears any confusion for you.
all the best

Black_Knight

Limerick man wrote: »

Yes, because he just said he would go to UK mainland instead of going to the north for the above explained reasons.

Man its too early for thinking :rolleyes:

PauloMN

robtri wrote: »

can you give us the details on this, so we can see the savings?
make, model, engine, spec of car, how much you paid for it in the north, have you a link to the car? how much was VRT, travelling costs,

'06 A4 Avant 2.0 TDi, SE trim (cruise, parking aid, 17" alloys, rear electric windows, 6 x CD etc.), 42k miles. Total including exchange rate, VRT (€4667) and plates came to €17k on the nose. 6 month warranty from the garage, fsh and absolutely top class condition. Travel costs add at most €100, but we of course made the most of the trip and filled the boot up in Asda.

Just couldn't find a similar deal down here. Most Avants here were 1.9, not the 2.0, and none had SE trim. Nearest I could find is this one:
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Audi/A4/TDi-TDV-/200913192263203/advert

That dealer is a UK car supermarket operating here. Not sure how many cars they have here, but that one wasn't in Dublin even though the ad says it is. That's the bottom line cash price, I'm sure I could have got something off it but not much. Other similar cars upwards of that to €20k and beyond for Audi dealers.

robtri

PauloMN wrote: »

'06 A4 Avant 2.0 TDi, SE trim (cruise, parking aid, 17" alloys, rear electric windows, 6 x CD etc.), 42k miles. Total including exchange rate, VRT (€4667) and plates came to €17k on the nose. 6 month warranty from the garage, fsh and absolutely top class condition. Travel costs add at most €100, but we of course made the most of the trip and filled the boot up in Asda.

Just couldn't find a similar deal down here. Most Avants here were 1.9, not the 2.0, and none had SE trim. Nearest I could find is this one:
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Audi/A4/TDi-TDV-/200913192263203/advert

That dealer is a UK car supermarket operating here. Not sure how many cars they have here, but that one wasn't in Dublin even though the ad says it is. That's the bottom line cash price, I'm sure I could have got something off it but not much. Other similar cars upwards of that to €20k and beyond for Audi dealers.

the car you posted from carzone, iseems to be same 06 A4 avant 2.0 SE, fully loaded, asking price 18.5.... I would be surprised if on that ad alone you couldn't knock 1k off the price for cash... very surprised...
so that car in the south without any real looking would be 17.5k which is nearly as good as the north......
mind you, you don't get the bootful of asda goodies
Sweet car that model, fair play in getting one.... I am a bit jealous..

PauloMN

robtri wrote: »

the car you posted from carzone, iseems to be same 06 A4 avant 2.0 SE, fully loaded, asking price 18.5.... I would be surprised if on that ad alone you couldn't knock 1k off the price for cash... very surprised...
so that car in the south without any real looking would be 17.5k which is nearly as good as the north......
mind you, you don't get the bootful of asda goodies
Sweet car that model, fair play in getting one.... I am a bit jealous..

I rang that crowd last week to see what the story is with that car. It's in England somewhere, so I couldn't take a look. I asked him about the price, he said it was the cash price and wasn't open to offers. I'd say you'd be doing well to get €500 off it tbh. I wasn't hugely impressed with the guy I spoke to. There's an S-Line up there - same year - for around €4k more. I asked him why the difference, and he said "because it's the sporty model". There was around £500 to £600 in the difference between an SE and an S-Line from new, I don't get the €4k used difference. Made me wonder about the condition of the cheaper one.

Who knows what the condition of it is like anyway - I couldn't see it, all I know is it can't be any better than the one I found which looks like it rolled out of the factory. But if I want to buy a car, I want to see it in the flesh, and that one is in England which defeats the purpose of buying Irish. Anyway, that's the only one close in terms of price. Look at the rest of the '06 Avants on Carzone and you'll see what I mean.

Jealous? Yeah, me too, it's my wife's car!!!

robtri

PauloMN wrote: »

Jealous? Yeah, me too, it's my wife's car!!!

brilliant...............


that does sound a bit dodgy alright