New Registrations down 40% in first two days

NobodyImportant

Lets hope its not a trend, but in the first two days of registrations, I'm told the figures industry wide are down 40% on last year.

Ouch. Thats going to cost many, many jobs if that continues.

WhatNowForUs?

I haven't a clue but could some of this be because of the new reg. system. 50% of people holding of for the second 6months.

ba_barabus

WhatNowForUs? wrote: »

I haven't a clue but could some of this be because of the new reg. system. 50% of people holding of for the second 6months.

Surely the same people would just wait a few more months to get 141?

vektarman

ba_barabus wrote: »

Surely the same people would just wait a few more months to get 141?

Afaik it's 132 for the second half of the year.

ba_barabus

vektarman wrote: »

Afaik it's 132 for the second half of the year.

I think you need to re-read what I was replying too and what I said

juan.kerr

Im holding off to get a 133 reg.

Blazer

vektarman wrote: »

Afaik it's 132 for the second half of the year.

I think he meant those people who would consider a 132 plate might wait for the sake of a few months and get a 141 plate.
It's a ridiculous system anyway and I'll wait and hear what excuses the Motor industry come out with next to blame for the lack of sales.
Interesting how a new year and plate system has just started and the RSA has just come out on servicing old cars etc

ba_barabus

Well I know my mother has a 131 reg on SPECIAL order for mid-February

blastman

Blazer wrote: »

It's a ridiculous system anyway and I'll wait and here what excuses the Motor industry come out with next to blame for the lack of sales.

You can be sure it's someone else's fault anyway....

Stallingrad

It would be ironic if the SIMI's attempt to balance sales over the year has backfired, and that all they have done is removed one of the few remaining reasons why a lot of people may want a new car in the first place.

_Kaiser_

Not surprised.

- Stupid new reg system is stupid (for reasons discussed at length in other threads)

- People don't have the money / credit to be splashing out on new cars what with the raft of ever increasing costs to run an existing one, higher levies/charges and other inventive ways to strip more from your pay packet, and upcoming property/water taxes etc

The only regret I have here is that more people will lose their jobs over it, but it was inevitable to be honest

Drummerboy08

The 131 system was actually first put on the table in 2009 by the SIMI.

At the time, the SIMI thought that 2013 sales would be back to 2007 levels and they wanted to avoid any potential repeat of the horror of 08 with 13 registration plate.

The idea was outdated before it was even implemented, and wasnt based on reality.

But, it wasnt devised to boost sales, more so to keep sales at an even keel for the year.

road_high

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

- People don't have the money / credit to be splashing out on new cars what with the raft of ever increasing costs to run an existing one, higher levies/charges and other inventive ways to strip more from your pay packet, and upcoming property/water taxes etc

The only regret I have here is that more people will lose their jobs over it, but it was inevitable to be honest

Nail on the head here.Much more so than any tinkering with reg plates.

Henry Ford III

2 days is a little short to be used as a comparison to 2012. A month might give a clearer view.

Drummerboy08

mfitzy wrote: »

Nail on the head here.Much more so than any tinkering with reg plates.

You'd be surprised, the demand for 55k Discovery's is increasing as an example.

There is plenty of money out there, it's just harder for people to part with it.

WhatNowForUs?

ba_barabus wrote: »

Surely the same people would just wait a few more months to get 141?

True but then they would be waiting 12 months rather then six. Could 50% of those who were going to buy this year have decided to wait unit the next six months?

Drummerboy08

WhatNowForUs? wrote: »

True but then they would be waiting 12 months rather then six. Could 50% of those who were going to buy this year have decided to wait unit the next six months?

Doubt it.

Anan1

NobodyImportant wrote: »

Ouch. Thats going to cost many, many jobs if that continues.

If they spend the money within the country rather than on imports (ie cars) then it'll save jobs.

Reekwind

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

But, it wasnt devised to boost sales, more so to keep sales at an even keel for the year.

Isn't that the key point? I'm no fan of the new reg system but the whole purpose of it was to reduce sales in early Jan in favour of a more level sales profile throughout the year

Assuming of course that this isn't just a collapse in sales. Out of curiosity, does anyone have sales numbers for the past few years on hand?

vektarman

ba_barabus wrote: »

I think you need to re-read what I was replying too and what I said

Oops, my bad.

galwaytt

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

There is plenty of money out there, it's just harder for people to part with it.

Meh.

Me, I find money hard to come by, but very very easy to part with

galwaytt

Reekwind wrote: »

. Out of curiosity, does anyone have sales numbers for the past few years on hand?

Knock yourself out, here: http://www.simi.ie/Statistics/National+Vehicle+Statistics.html

exador

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

You'd be surprised, the demand for 55k Discovery's is increasing as an example.

There is plenty of money out there, it's just harder for people to part with it.

Would you think that the major savings due to the VRT reduction in the price for 5 SEATER is more the reason...grant it, you still have to splash out 55K !

Drummerboy08

Reekwind wrote: »

Isn't that the key point? I'm no fan of the new reg system but the whole purpose of it was to reduce sales in early Jan in favour of a more level sales profile throughout the year

Assuming of course that this isn't just a collapse in sales. Out of curiosity, does anyone have sales numbers for the past few years on hand?

No no, the original thought was that the 13-d plate would scare people from buying, and because the belief was this year would be back to normal they wanted to prevent another collapse.

Then it was used as a tool to even out sales throughout the year but it won't work.

Cienciano

Stallingrad wrote: »

It would be ironic if the SIMI's attempt to balance sales over the year has backfired, and that all they have done is removed one of the few remaining reasons why a lot of people may want a new car in the first place.

I reckon that could be right. Maybe the entire year reg was better. People will think they can stretch their car out for another 6 months, and when the 132 reg comes along they think they might as well hold out for the 14.
Obviously not everyone thinks like that, but there is a lot of people obsessed with the first few digits on a reg plate, and there's a lot of idiots out there buying new cars too.

Stallingrad

galwaytt wrote: »

Knock yourself out, here: http://www.simi.ie/Statistics/National+Vehicle+Statistics.html

Wow, 2 Peugeots sold throughout the whole dealer network in December, how depressing must that be, what do salespeople do all month?

fergiesfolly

I honestly think that people buying cars will look at the first two digits on the plate and be influenced by that rather than whether its -1 or -2. Old system is too ingrained in us to change our mindset.

renofan

As has been said a few days into the new year is too soon to be making predictions.

Also my take on the divided reg system is to get rid of a Jan to Dec year and do it like England, their system goes from 1st September to 28th Feb and 1st March to 31st August so at least with one reg, (the 5* one), it straddles two years and gets rid of plate snobs.

Marcusm

Stallingrad wrote: »

Wow, 2 Peugeots sold throughout the whole dealer network in December, how depressing must that be, what do salespeople do all month?

Sell cars for Jan-MArch deliveries at best!

smellslikeshoes

I don't want to be the one to defend the silly new system but surely early sales being down is their intended goal and expected. Obviously the important part will be how well the numbers compare over the whole year.

ba_barabus

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

I don't want to be the one to defend the silly new system but surely early sales being down is their intended goal and expected. Obviously the important part will be how well the numbers compare over the whole year.

Pre-orders are down 20% though.

It's not going to be a great year

R.O.R

I speak to a lot of dealers around the country, and there is only 1 who's up on last year for orders so far. Everyone else is WAY down.

There isn't the consumer confidence now that there was last year, and even then no-one was really that confident, more hopeful really.

It's going to be a tough, tough year in my opinion and I fear we'll see a good few dealers closing their doors if things carry on this badly.

I'll be doing my bit to boost sales........

touts

The government has taken all our money to pay back the gambling debts of German investors. It doesn't matter if the plate says 13, 131, or "Sexy Beast". If you don't have the money to buy a car changing the number plate won't change that.

ba_barabus

R.O.R wrote: »

It's going to be a tough, tough year in my opinion and I fear we'll see a good few dealers closing their doors if things carry on this badly.

I can hear the liquidators revving their engines already

Matt Simis

R.O.R wrote: »

I speak to a lot of dealers around the country, and there is only 1 who's up on last year for orders so far. Everyone else is WAY down.

There isn't the consumer confidence now that there was last year, and even then no-one was really that confident, more hopeful really.

It's going to be a tough, tough year in my opinion and I fear we'll see a good few dealers closing their doors if things carry on this badly.

I'll be doing my bit to boost sales........

Does anyone ever cross reference sales vs emigration? There are 200 people leaving a day and while its easy to visualise those as people with "no money" and therefore dont really affect sales and spending in Ireland, surely at this point a good chunk of them are people who had jobs/capitol and are just sick of the cost of living here and now are taking their jobs and funds abroad.

Given how small the car sales are here, even if 20% of the emigrants would have been car buyers had they stayed, thats a huge turnaround for the car industry. I suspect that for certain industries we might be reaching a point where the market simply is now too small to sustain.

Nickindublin

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I honestly think that people buying cars will look at the first two digits on the plate and be influenced by that rather than whether its -1 or -2. Old system is too ingrained in us to change our mindset.

I can guarantee one thing.. When you go to trade in your 132 reg the dealers will say its still a 13 reg. But when your buying a 132 reg they will say its only 6 months old.....

gurramok

galwaytt wrote: »

Knock yourself out, here: http://www.simi.ie/Statistics/National+Vehicle+Statistics.html

Private Import at only 0.51% of sales for 2012, thought that would have been much higher?

Stallingrad

gurramok wrote: »

Private Import at only 0.51% of sales for 2012, thought that would have been much higher?

Wonder what dealer imports were, huge I would say.

Drummerboy08

Stallingrad wrote: »

Wonder what dealer imports were, huge I would say.

It'll be even bigger this year.

R.O.R

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

It'll be even bigger this year.

3yr &4yr old stuff will be very, very short on the ground this year.

Good news for us though eh? Especially since RV's were on the floor in 09.

Drummerboy08

It's already short on the ground, every retail guy I talk to is crying for stock.

Good news for us I suppose...

mikeecho

car registrations are down 40% !

isn't that exactly what simi wanted.
half now, half later




simi., be careful what you wish for.

galwaytt

Matt Simis wrote: »

Does anyone ever cross reference sales vs emigration? There are 200 people leaving a day and while its easy to visualise those as people with "no money" and therefore dont really affect sales and spending in Ireland, surely at this point a good chunk of them are people who had jobs/capitol and are just sick of the cost of living here and now are taking their jobs and funds abroad.

Given how small the car sales are here, even if 20% of the emigrants would have been car buyers had they stayed, thats a huge turnaround for the car industry. I suspect that for certain industries we might be reaching a point where the market simply is now too small to sustain.

Good point.

If you look at DD, you can see lots of ads where people mention leaving/emigrating, so the 'pool' of car customers is shrinking. They're not changing up - they're moving out !

CiniO

NobodyImportant wrote: »

Lets hope its not a trend, but in the first two days of registrations, I'm told the figures industry wide are down 40% on last year.

Ouch. Thats going to cost many, many jobs if that continues.

I can't see how decrease in new car sales can lead to loss of jobs.
How many people are working on selling new cars?

If everyone instead of purchasing brand new motor will keep driving older car, there will be bigger demand for good garages to maintain older vehicles, and therefore it will create more jobs.

I believe people should be allowed to have custom plates. And every time it's sold the new owner should be allowed another custom plate.

Why on earth would people buy a new car with the price of petrol and vrt, then maintenance ?

Take a basic enough new golf 1.6 TDI comfortline, 26,450 on VW Site, -14% vrt =22398 -23% VAT =17,246 that's just over 9,000 in sheer tax.

Take a Nissan Leaf 27,500 no VRT -23% VAT 21,175

Difference is the Leaf costs around 1 Eur 80 cent for 75-90 miles. Or 14.40 Euro's to cover 600 miles or a normal car that gets 48 mpg about 88 Euro's to do the same 600 miles.

Severe taxes makes people not spend, like in pubs higher price of pint forces more people to buy in off license, which causes publicans to keep it high or rise it further, even though the publican has higher costs, if the price was lower more people would go and so they wouldn't have less but a lot more people would go out and so the publican wouldn't have to let people go, or close.

a lot less tax means people will spend more, and prices don't have to be so high, more people are kept in jobs, less people on dole. Government still gets the same or more tax revenue because while the tax itself would be lower a lot more people will buy because it's not so expensive.

The Governments answer is more tax more tax and more tax, My USC takes 35 euro's a week from my wages on top of the normal tax. The usc alone means 140 more a month to spend in a restaurant, pub, new car, TV etc, going to keep people in jobs. so the Government get it back by not having to pay dole.

The biggest difference being I get to choose what my money is spent on that is otherwise forcibly taken from me which serves no purpose as it's not going into the economy to create jobs, it's going to pay dole and banks.

While I do agree with water charges and property tax, most countries have had them for years, the other taxes are just way too high, and the cost of fuel is atrocious and so is road tax, the cost of driving to work alone is outrageous.

NobodyImportant

CiniO wrote: »

I can't see how decrease in new car sales can lead to loss of jobs.
How many people are working on selling new cars?

If everyone instead of purchasing brand new motor will keep driving older car, there will be bigger demand for good garages to maintain older vehicles, and therefore it will create more jobs.

Because garages are more than just new cars, they are a package of selling new and used cars, servicing and supplying parts. If you dont sell new cars, you will loose money and need to shut down, or the manufacturer could pull your ability to be a VW garage or whatever. Garage shuts with the loss of all jobs.

As new cars are sold, people tend to service them in that garage for the first 2-5 years. With so little of these cars around now, people are using independants more and big dealerships are shutting down due to a loss on both the sales and servicing end.

Smaller places will do a bit better, but at what cost? Independents dont always know how to work on more complicated modern cars. Do we want to see groups of big showrooms lying empty like ghost estates?

I'm not the most kind of people to Main Dealers, they rode the public for years, but you dont want to see this kind of stuff either. 2012 figures were dire. Half the figures of say even 2001 levels.

The Idyl Race

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

No no, the original thought was that the 13-d plate would scare people from buying, and because the belief was this year would be back to normal they wanted to prevent another collapse.

Then it was used as a tool to even out sales throughout the year but it won't work.

Anyone who would be stupid enough not to want to buy a 13 reg car for superstitious reasons isn't intelligent enough to drive.

Drummerboy08

The Idyl Race wrote: »

Anyone who would be stupid enough not to want to buy a 13 reg car for superstitious reasons isn't intelligent enough to drive.

Welcome to Ireland pal!

For Forks Sake

The Idyl Race wrote: »

Anyone who would be stupid enough not to want to buy a 13 reg car for superstitious reasons isn't intelligent enough to drive.

QED
http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/02/08/we-need-a-bigger-facepalm/

Taylor365

If this country had realistic car prices they might sell better! :mad:

Conmaicne Mara

Is this reg system going to continue on into the future? I thought it was just for '13? It's a fupping stupid idea either way. I've drive a 13 reg car under a ladder while breaking a mirror and running down a black cat.