Buy a 131 reg in May or wait for a 132 in July

H2G2

Folks, the thread title says it all.
I have been offered a good deal by a dealer to change now in May for a 131 reg. But I am wondering if its worth holding off 1 more month to get a 132 reg. The dealer is pushing hard for May reg as manufacturer (Nissan) are doing a special.
I wonder if a 132 would make a resale difference

Any opinions?

MuppetCheck

I don't think the reg difference will make a massive difference to peoples perception of the car - It's still obviously a 2013 car to anyone that is interested in it.

If you plan on keepting the car for a long time it will matter even less when you come to sell it. If you can get an additional saving on the purchase price for going with the 131 reg and then why not.

biko

To me 131 and 132 are equally stupid.
Hope that helps

Anan1

132 will make a difference come resale, the trick is in quantifying it and deciding whether it's worth more to you than the available discount for going 131 instead of 132 now.

Spipov

this kind of thread used to be once a year, towards october, now its going to happen twice a year. sigh.

CiniO

Before 131 and 132 plates were introduced, it also wasn't a secret what month the car was...
Any potential buyer could take a look at VRC or even NCT disc to check if car is from May or August.
Did it ever made any difference in resale value?

If not - I can't understand why should it make difference now...

creedp

CiniO wrote: »

Before 131 and 132 plates were introduced, it also wasn't a secret what month the car was...
Any potential buyer could take a look at VRC or even NCT disc to check if car is from May or August.
Did it ever made any difference in resale value?

If not - I can't understand why should it make difference now...

Because now its on the reg plate and available for all (especially the neighbours) to see .. no need to be looking at the VRC to ascertain that my 132 is newer than your 131 ... we Irish have proven, at least during the 'good times' how very conscious we are of the calender reference on our reg plates.

Anan1

CiniO wrote: »

Before 131 and 132 plates were introduced, it also wasn't a secret what month the car was...
Any potential buyer could take a look at VRC or even NCT disc to check if car is from May or August.
Did it ever made any difference in resale value?

If not - I can't understand why should it make difference now...

Because now the friends/colleagues/neighbours can see it at a glance.

hallo dare

biko wrote: »

To me 131 and 132 are equally stupid.
Hope that helps

completely agree,stupid stuff! if you can't wait till 14 then get a 132, for the sake of a few more weeks why would you want a 131 and find it harder to sell than 132.

good auld government making a balls of things once again and dividing people all over the shop

ironclaw

I don't personally see 6 months making an ounce of difference if you sell the car in 3 years. Depreciation will level the field pretty quick. I wouldn't entertain a seller at that stage who maintained a 132 was worth more than a 131.

ShadowHearth

How much of saving we talking about in 131 vs 132? And how long are planing on keeping the car?

If I getting a saving of at least 1k would go for 131. No way value of 132 plate after few years going to be more then 1k eu over 131.

djimi

ironclaw wrote: »

I don't personally see 6 months making an ounce of difference if you sell the car in 3 years. Depreciation will level the field pretty quick. I wouldn't entertain a seller at that stage who maintained a 132 was worth more than a 131.

This is Ireland we are talking about. Nobody is going to want to buy an ancient xx1 reg when they could have a much newer more desirable xx2 reg... :rolleyes:

Cushie Butterfield

I finally grasp the true meaning of the saying 'where will it all end' :eek:

Outkast_IRE

Cushie Butterfield wrote: »

I finally grasp the true meaning of the saying 'where will it all end' :eek:

Its obvious to all that this new system is a joke.

I think we should look towards a new monthly reg

131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
1310
1311
1312

That way everyone will sell more cars :P Its the future

Anan1

ironclaw wrote: »

I don't personally see 6 months making an ounce of difference if you sell the car in 3 years.

It's not the six months, it's the readily identifiable plate.

ironclaw wrote: »

Depreciation will level the field pretty quick. I wouldn't entertain a seller at that stage who maintained a 132 was worth more than a 131.

All other things being equal every buyer will choose 132 over 131, making the newer car worth more.

biko

Tbh, in 10 years it'll just be the novelty of it all.
"Remember when they brought in 131/132 because Ireland in 2013 were still superstitious?"
Frankly it's embarrassing.

ironclaw

Anan1 wrote: »

It's not the six months, it's the readily identifiable plate.

What difference does that make? So a car is from one end of the year or the other, whats the big deal? If we could tell at a glance exactly what month a car was from, would people want to know the day? If someone is as simple as that 6 months makes a major difference to them then its no wonder this country is full of gombeens.

As was rightly pointed out its purely the financial difference now that makes the call not the plate. If you were saving €1k now to get a 131 then your actually saving yourself a mint in 3 years (or whatever) when the same 132 car will be worth the exact same. You getting €1000 worth of 'free depreciation' Then again we arn't renowned in this country for any basic arithmetic when it comes to money so I don't hold out much hope.

Anan1

ironclaw wrote: »

What difference does that make? So a car is from one end of the year or the other, whats the big deal?

People compare their possessions to those of others, and cars are a prime example of this.

ironclaw wrote: »

If we could tell at a glance exactly what month a car was from, would people want to know the day?

They'd want the newer car.

ironclaw wrote: »

If someone is as simple as that 6 months makes a major difference to them then its no wonder this country is full of gombeens.

'Major' is your word, but yes people will pay for a newer plate and yes people can be stupid.

ironclaw wrote: »

As was rightly pointed out its purely the financial difference now that makes the call not the plate. If you were saving €1k now to get a 131 then your actually saving yourself a mint in 3 years (or whatever) when the same 132 car will be worth the exact same. You getting €1000 worth of 'free depreciation' Then again we arn't renowned in this country for any basic arithmetic when it comes to money so I don't hold out much hope.

As i've already explained, this is nonsense. The 132 car will be worth more, and any rational actor will take account of this when buying. It's the same story with the county plates - I couldn't care less what's on my car, but I'd be a fool not to pay less for KY than for D.

HandsomeDan

131 has so been done.

132 is so hot right now.

ironclaw

Anan1 wrote: »

The 132 car will be worth more, and any rational actor will take account of this when buying. It's the same story with the county plates - I couldn't care less what's on my car, but I'd be a fool not to pay less for KY than for D.

If you take the average mileage of say 15k a year, at worst a 131 has on average 7.5k miles more on it. And that gets smaller the closer the car is to July. If depreciation is 20% when you take delivery, and 15% every year for the next two years. Taking a car worth €10k.

January 131:€10,000-> Plates Applied: €8000 -> Year 2: €6800 ->Year 3: €5780

So when is it worth more? How is it worth more? Maybe in the next two years you have some sales leverage. But after 3 and certainly after 5 the difference won't be worth the steel the plates are pressed with. Its 6 months we're talking about. Its infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things and someone would be a lemon to not take a car for even €500 cheaper now than wait for a 132 plate. Your keeping the cash you'd lose on depreciation in your own pocket.

djimi

ironclaw wrote: »

If you take the average mileage of say 15k a year, at worst a 131 has on average 7.5k miles more on it. And that gets smaller the closer the car is to July. If depreciation is 20% when you take delivery, and 15% every year for the next two years. Taking a car worth €10k.

January 131:€10,000-> Plates Applied: €8000 -> Year 2: €6800 ->Year 3: €5780

So when is it worth more? How is it worth more? Maybe in the next two years you have some sales leverage. But after 3 and certainly after 5 the difference won't be worth the steel the plates are pressed with. Its 6 months we're talking about. Its infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things and someone would be a lemon to not take a car for even €500 cheaper now than wait for a 132 plate. Your keeping the cash you'd lose on depreciation in your own pocket.

Youre trying to rational it out. Its not rational. Some people are stupid and will see a xx2 car as being newer and therefore more valuable than a xx1 car. You and I know that this is nonsense, but do not be at all surprised if in a few years time it turns out to the case that xx2 cars are more desirable.

JoeA3

I have a similar "dilemma"... I ordered a new car about 4 weeks ago and I wasn't expecting to see it till late June at the earliest, but it looks like it could be here by end of this month. I'm tempted to just take it then.

First world problems, eh?

Dravokivich

biko wrote: »

Tbh, in 10 years it'll just be the novelty of it all.
"Remember when they brought in 131/132 because Ireland in 2013 were still superstitious?"
Frankly it's embarrassing.

I thought it was continuing into 2014 too?

biko

It may well be, I'm not sure and Ive heard conflicting info on whether it'll be here in '14 too.
But it was this year it changed, and partly for the reason I stated.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/2013-number-plates-to-be-changed-to-avoid-unlucky-13-26890349.html

The decision is based partly on fears that superstition about a '13' reg would affect sales and partly in response to the motor industry's plea to spread sales more evenly across the year.

http://www.thejournal.ie/no-13-car-licence-plates-ireland-2013-570733-Aug2012/

The idea was first put forward by TD Michael Healy-Rae on TheJournal.ie back in February. The Kerry TD said that a significant number of people will delay buying a new car by a year which will badly affect the motor industry.

jimgoose

Dravokivich wrote: »

I thought it was continuing into 2014 too?

You see, it's like this. In Ireland, the Laffer Curve applies selectively due to a local space-time anomaly. So if you shove a tax onto lemonade, people will drink less lemonade. But if you shove a tax onto work, people will do the same amount of work. Likewise, if you crucify the new-car-buying public with increases to an already-illegal double tax, the same amount of cars, or more, will continue to be sold, but the revenue take will increase linearly. Understand? Good. Now, what seemingly happened recently was that new car sales were inexplicable down, and this baffled even the like of Michael Noonan and that what's-his-name fella from Waterford, whatever he does. This was absolutely Not Supposed To Happen. S'physics, innit? So what they decided to do was ingeniously capitalise on the tendency of the Irish Public to begrudge each other every bite and sup by introducing the concept of front-end and back-end of year registration. So everyone will know whether you're a Front-End or Back-End of year kind of person at-a-glance, and thus whether it is appropriate to lend you billions of dollars to buy derelict sections of bog in Longford, or to repossess your house, brand "Unbeliever!" on your forehead and banish you, hungry and shivering, to a ghost estate in Leitrim.

lomb

Will make no difference to resale privately. Dealers might use it to ask for more but I doubt they will pay any more for a trade in. Might as well get the 131( I personally would wait until January and just pick up something else for a few months though) .

biko

biko wrote: »

Tbh, in 10 years it'll just be the novelty of it all.
"Remember when they brought in 131/132 because Ireland in 2013 were still superstitious?"
Frankly it's embarrassing.

I think it's been said, but the new plate system is a permanent introduction to help with the new sale of cars in Ireland and spread them out throughout the year.

I don't think it matters though. Until all the pre bi-annual cars plates start to become rare, I don't think people will place much importance on the third digit.

For the next few years pre-13 plates will still be the vast majority, so I think that, in the meantime, the year is all people will refer to. However, in 10 years when the double digit plates are much rarer and triple digit plates are the norm, I think that's when people will start to make more of an issue out of the third digit (as people's mindset will have naturally progressed onto the third digit being of importance, and I'm sure the motor industry will push this, too).


If I were getting a car for €20 less because it was a 131 instead of a 132 I'd take it. Unless you're selling the car in less than a year I don't see it having any impact on value whatsoever.

Obviously some people will care more than others, but I don't think the majority will, if I'm honest. Not for a while, anyway.