2008 UK Approved BMW

Patrickof

Hi,

Had my car (06 BMW 520d) crashed last week, truck crashed into me, no injuries thankfully.

Have been looking at a UK Approved BMW, but I'mnot sure what the market is like over there. I know Irish dealers are giving maybe 2,000 - 2,500 off the listed price of the cars on the forecourt (2007/2008 models).

Anyone any expeience of what you can be expected to get off the UK list prices? No trade in obviously.

(The reduced VRT and road tax when going for a 2008 model makes a 2007 unreasonable by the looks of things)

Gumbo

you would be doing very well to get 1000 off the sticker price in the UK. the car market over there is bouncing back at present, heck it might have already bounced back by now!

Irish dealers will haggle when talking cash! My dad bought an 09 E60 last year and get 7k off the sticker price (BMW Demo Model).

new shape 5 series is just around the corner so irish dealers would like to get rid of existing E60 models before it arrives, so i would recommend you go to the dealers over here first and see what you can get.

STForSale

I haven't seen any Irish dealers selling 520D's even close to what you can import one for. Anything with the efficent dynamics package introduced in '07 will qualify for the 16% VRT. Sterling rate no to bad either.

Find out what you can import one for and then start looking for a deal here for similar money but I would be suprised if you find one.

Mate took in a '09 last month, 5K cheaper than the best deal he could get here.

STForSale

Oh, and the '08 has to be the way to go for the emissions based road tax.
Running cost and resale, it's a no brainer.

Leonard Hofstadter

I'm all for people making savings but I don't think there is a whole lot to be gained by going to the UK anymore unless it is for something more special like a 525d or bigger. There are loads of 520ds around here and the new model will be on sale next month so the current one should be starting to get cheaper by this stage.

Oh and while I think of it OP buy the Auto, the savings in road tax on the manual will be spent on replacing the DMF in a few years time, which is something like €2000 to replace on a BMW(all diesels with a manual gearbox suffer from DMF failure roughly every 60-100,000 miles these days, it's not unique to BMW).

Gumbo

STForSale wrote: »

Mate took in a '09 last month, 5K cheaper than the best deal he could get here.

all in, how much did the car cost him? and what spec was it if you dont mind me asking?

STForSale

The car was brand new so the comparison was easy to do.
It was a 520D M Sport auto.
Some crowd in the UK (can remember name) buy and registers them, keeps for 6 months (so no VAT) and then sell into the irish market.

Patrickof

Found an October 2008 model, 20K miles, bluetooth phone prep, manual, low emission model engine, for sale in a BMW UK garage for 18,500 STG. I've paid a deposit and am now just trying to find the best way to pay them the balance. Watching stuff like 24 you'd think modern banking can be instant, but no, AIB will only do an "instant" transfer (for "instant" read 24 hours) for €32, and thats not even guaranteed, it may take 3 days!!!!

All in, I should have it taxed here, outside the door with VRT paid for about €26,000.

There's no comparable 08 in ireland listed for less than €33K, maybe 30K with a bit of discount for a no-trade-in sale.

The car even has the BMW Service plan till 2013 or 100,000 KMs, but I'm not certain if that'll be honoured by BMW here. Still I'm treating that as a bonus as I'd decided to buy the car before I found out about the service plan anyway.

I need to act on it quickly as i have to hand back the hire car probably today as the cheque is due from the insurance company this morning. Might get to hold it till Monday but thats probably as long as I'll get.

The UK garage will also tax and insure the car for the journey back to Ireland (6 months UK tax) and then I believe I can reclaim 5 months of that from the DVLA/UK tax office.

Patrickof

Any other suggestions for the money transfer?

I'll checked transfermate.ie but they need a notarised passport copy and proof of address sent by post (fax won't do) which will delay things by a day (for money laundering purposes).

STForSale

Personally, I've always paid cash.
All I can suggest is you pay in advance of traveling so that by the time you get there the money is cleared.

Patrickof

They won't accept cash - money laundering rules seemingly, and my proof of addres would be irish and possible easily forged I'd say from their point of view.

Yeah, I'll make sure they have the money before I travel.

Moanin

Patrickof wrote: »

They won't accept cash - money laundering rules seemingly, and my proof of addres would be irish and possible easily forged I'd say from their point of view.

Yeah, I'll make sure they have the money before I travel.

I have purchased 2 cars in the UK from Main Dealers and both have requested that they have the funds in there accounts before they release the car.I did this and on both times the cars were 100%.Best of luck with it.It sounds like a nice motor and good value also

veetwin

Hi OP I've recently bought off a UK dealer also for a similar car. I went with transfermate but I live close to the city centre so it was easy for me to drop the required documents into the office on College Green. That said I gave them the funds at approx 11.30am with the promise it would be a same day transfer-it wasn't. The funds didn't appear in the BMW Garage account till the afternoon of the day after. The salesman said he has come accross this before and suspects that its a ploy by these transfer companies to hold onto the money for as long as possible so that they earn interest on the money.

The price you paid sound good but I would worry about the resale value of a 5 series manual. Best of luck with it.

copacetic

Patrickof wrote: »

Any other suggestions for the money transfer?

I'll checked transfermate.ie but they need a notarised passport copy and proof of address sent by post (fax won't do) which will delay things by a day (for money laundering purposes).

agree with above, you can also drop in to transfermate with your passport, they have an office on dame street. I think they have an office in Limerick too.

They are the best to use, they transferred a similar amount to the uk for me in a couple of hours. Anyone I know who has used them had similar speed. Issue was more like at the BMW garage in above example imho. Although 11.30am is quite late for a same day transfer if relying on it. They also gave a much better rate than AIB or BOI, probably save you a few hundred using them.

Mark WH

Hi Patrick,

Just wondering where you purchased the 520d? You are right about 08 all around the €33k mark, so very interested in the deal you got in the uk. Trying to sell my 01 520i before I can go shopping

Patrickof

Did a search on the bmw.co.uk site, which includes all the 2nd hand models across all the BMW UK garages.

Swampy

I'm an African prince. If you want to transfer the moneys to my account I will release 12 millions for you to buys a solid gold car.

skippy2

Hi
Am looking at buying from UK BMW main dealer but they are insisting all paperwork must be through a UK address is this a problem when coming back into Ireland as i am eligible to reclaim the VRT on this
Any advice appreciated is this normal?

Thanks

veetwin

skippy2 wrote: »

Hi
Am looking at buying from UK BMW main dealer but they are insisting all paperwork must be through a UK address is this a problem when coming back into Ireland as i am eligible to reclaim the VRT on this
Any advice appreciated is this normal?

Thanks

Don't really understand why a dealer in the UK would insist on this. Most BMW dealers regularly sell cars to Irish customers without a problem. I know because I have just bought one. Don't see why it would create a problem for them. If anything you should be a more attractive customer as you won't have a part exchange and he will probabaly never see you again.

As for the VRT you would probably need to talk to someone in your local VRT Office if you can get them to answer the phone!

skippy2

Is it necessary if buying from BMW Main Dealer to get an RAC check, HP check , Finance check etc
I presume not as car still has 2.5 years full warranty and full BMW Approved UK car etc

veetwin

skippy2 wrote: »

Is it necessary if buying from BMW Main Dealer to get an RAC check, HP check , Finance check etc
I presume not as car still has 2.5 years full warranty and full BMW Approved UK car etc

I was in a similar position and didn't for the same reasons you outlined. I mean if you were buying a 6 month old car from a main BMW Dealer here you (rightly) shouldn't be too worried about it. The car should be 100%. The dealer after all has a reputation to protect. It was most likely a demo model or driven by a BMW employee for the previous six months. TBH it was an unnecessary expense.

Moanin

skippy2 wrote: »

Is it necessary if buying from BMW Main Dealer to get an RAC check, HP check , Finance check etc
I presume not as car still has 2.5 years full warranty and full BMW Approved UK car etc

I would do an RAC check on line for peace of mind.I think it only costs £12.They should have one done anway as part of the paperwork with the hand over of the car I would think.From experience Main Dealers will have this done for the customer.