Spending about €5,000 on car - is it worth going North?

looking4advice

I'll be buying a car soon enough and have about €5,000 - €6,000 budgetted. I'll more than likely get a Ford Focus and am just wondering is it worth going up North to buy when VR etc is factored in? Does anyone know which would be good garages up North to get Ford Focus's?

Thanks.

Mc Love

You might have a better choice in mainland UK

darragh o meara

Mc Love wrote: »

You might have a better choice in mainland UK

+1

I recently went looking for a Mondeo TDCI and found a few up north but were mainly over valued and wrecked. I did however find one in the UK to the exact spec I wanted and saved nearly 2k after the VRT was paid.

The main problem with buying in the North is that every Tom,Dick and Harry from the south is buying up there and as a result the prices are going up plus they're moving on the sh ite cars, Whereas the UK doesnt have that problem to the same extent. The cars in the UK tend to be a lot better and good value for money.

Mc Love

I found that too - they are a tad overpriced up north than what you would get in mainland uk

looking4advice

where would be best to buy in UK considering I live in Dublin (taking into account ferry costs etc). I'm a bit of a novice so any wesbites etc would be handy.

colm_c

I don't think that with a total budget of 5-6k it's worth heading to the UK, ferry, flights and travel expenses will be at least 500 euro, with VRT then you leave very little for the actual car price.

Do a comparision between the likes of www.carzone.ie and www.autotrader.co.uk

Stinicker

looking4advice wrote: »

where would be best to buy in UK considering I live in Dublin (taking into account ferry costs etc). I'm a bit of a novice so any wesbites etc would be handy.

www.cargiant.co.uk (although for newer 5k+ type stuff)
https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/showVRT VRT Calculator
http://www.exchangeandmart.co.uk/ A bit like the Irish car buyers guide
postcode.royalmail.com will get you a postcode for searching regionally on those websites.
http://www.hpicheck.com/ lets you do a background check on the car, for finance, insurance write offs, stolen etc.

For flights:

www.aerlingus.com
www.ryanair.com
www.flybmi.com

For Ferry:

www.irishferries.com
Dublin to Holyhead
Rosslare to Pembroke

www.stenaline.ie
Dublin & Dun Laoighaire to Holyhead
Rosslare to Fishguard

www.poferries.com
Dublin to Liverpool

www.fastnetline.com
Cork to Swansea

lostdesign

I bought a car a few years back in the uk, total cost for car, travel and accomodation was 4k euro. I prob saved bewteen 500 and a 1000 euro which is a lot for a cheap car.

I also got a mint car with low miles and just what I wanted so well worth the effort, just do your research first to make sure all the figures add up and its what it says on the tin!!

johndaman66

colm_c wrote: »

I don't think that with a total budget of 5-6k it's worth heading to the UK, ferry, flights and travel expenses will be at least 500 euro, with VRT then you leave very little for the actual car price.

I'd be inclined to agree with this. The very least you could factor in is 500 for ferry, travel expenses, accommodation and what not if you need to stay overnight. Plus if something goes wrong with the car under warranty you are not in a fantastic position. I would suggest that you do a thorough search in the Republic of Ireland first before looking across the water or up North. I find donedeal.ie or the buy and sell to be pretty alright. Generally cars in carzone.ie or autotrader appear somewhat overpriced to me.

If however, you do go across the water to buy I suggest that you give the underbody of the car a good going over for rust or the signs of rust especially if the car spent all or some of its life in or around London. Roads are salted more in the UK in Winter than in Republic of Ireland which contributes to rust.

Mc Love

looking4advice wrote: »

where would be best to buy in UK considering I live in Dublin (taking into account ferry costs etc). I'm a bit of a novice so any wesbites etc would be handy.

Autotrader is good, but I bought from Oldham Motors which were very good and its in the greater manchester area. Read my post in the importing from uk thread.

rai555

in the current economic climate makes sense to save your money and go to UK, just do your homework, take a flight and train if needed, they are reliable there, believe me, bud don't bother with private sellers there, just have your insurance ( it's a must ) and road taxes there, you can claim them back

veetwin

johndaman66 wrote: »

I'd be inclined to agree with this. The very least you could factor in is 500 for ferry, travel expenses, accommodation and what not if you need to stay overnight.

I don't know if I'd agree with this. I recently bought a car from a dealer about 45 mins south of Manchester. Ryanair early morning flight was €55. Train from Airport to Crewe £8. Ferry Holyhead to Dublin Port €125. Dealer had a half a tank of fuel in the car which easily got me home. Add say €20 for breakfast, coffee and the paper and the whole day costs not much more than €200 and took just over 12 hours door to door.

Obviously if buying in the UK it makes sense to factor in the location of the dealer and proximity of an airport where you can get an early morning flight.

dnme

How do you book the ferry?

You need to give them a reg number in advance so what if you decide not to by or buy a different car?

antomorro-sei

dnme wrote: »

How do you book the ferry?

You need to give them a reg number in advance so what if you decide not to by or buy a different car?

Doubt they'll mind if you just go into the check in place and tell them you've changed car.

veetwin

dnme wrote: »

How do you book the ferry?

You need to give them a reg number in advance so what if you decide not to by or buy a different car?

Yes very easy to change the reg either online or over the phone. You probably won't be booking the ferry until you have done the deal anyway in which case you will know reg no.

fryup

Mc Love wrote: »

I found that too - they are a tad overpriced up north than what you would get in mainland uk

a tad overpriced, but when you've paid for a ferry/flight to the UK the difference is minimal or none

anyway i think its much handier going over the border and there always open to haggling and most are willing to deliver down south

dnme

veetwin wrote: »

Yes very easy to change the reg either online or over the phone. You probably won't be booking the ferry until you have done the deal anyway in which case you will know reg no.

are u not taking a gamble that the ferry will be booked out?

veetwin

dnme wrote: »

are u not taking a gamble that the ferry will be booked out?

Not this time of year anyway. They are operating at less than 50% capacity on most sailings. There is plenty of choices of sailings anyway.