State of the (car) nation

Capri

Just looking at this ad - chopped up Merc into 'pick up' http://cars.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/mercedes-pick-up-for-sale/5803726

What is wrong with the idiots running the country that instead of creating employment , and getting a few bob in tax in, they seem hell bent on destroying the nation , exporting cars and people until there's only a few left on the island.

Just imagine someone 'up there':mad: decided to have a sliding tax scale, the older the car the cheaper (but not by much ) the tax would be. Let's say the current (CO2) tax on a Range Rover is €400/yr, then peg the tax on a 10 year old RR at €350, 20 year old at €300 30year old at €250 . So it wouldn't be worthwhile doing 'chassis swops':rolleyes: but it would give employment to mechanics and parts suppliers, and the govt. would be getting tax on the petrol used anyway.

As things stand the govt is getting less tax revenue off the motorists because a lot of them in the cities have thrown in the towel and moved to buses/taxis - saving the running costs of a car in the process Pub culture has changed in the last few years, maybe 'car owning' culture will shift also - I'd love to see what all those civil servants who've worked to abolish the car culture will do without the tax revenue :eek:

The movie was called No Country for Old Men- Ireland is 'no country for car enthuiasts' :mad::mad:

Dades

It would take a lot more "older" cars with reduced tax on the road to make up the VRT on a single new car.

I can only see the tax regime getting worse as most cars on the road start to fall into the cheaper post-2007 bracket. They'll have to replace that dwindling tax revenue with something. Probably something as imaginative as raising the new tax rates until they're akin to what the old ones were (while adding 5% onto the old ones every year too).

Anan1

Capri wrote: »

As things stand the govt is getting less tax revenue off the motorists because a lot of them in the cities have thrown in the towel and moved to buses/taxis - saving the running costs of a car in the process Pub culture has changed in the last few years, maybe 'car owning' culture will shift also - I'd love to see what all those civil servants who've worked to abolish the car culture will do without the tax revenue :eek:

It'll be no accident, that is the aim of current policy.

galwaytt

It's also why this guy has 'our' cars, 'over there' for sale.............. http://westcars.weebly.com/index.html

galwaytt

Capri wrote: »

I'd love to see what all those civil servants who've worked to abolish the car culture

...use for transport.

Never ceases to amaze me: Civil servants who cut school class funding........but must have kids in overcrowded schools themselves...........Civil Servants in HSE admin killing the health service with administration over frontline services...........must surely get sick/have elderly parents at some stage/been to A & E.............and ditto RSA/DTTas employees who..........must have a car. They can't all live beside the LUAS.........

kasper

our government are exporting everything and everyone its the way they want it go

bbsrs

galwaytt wrote: »

...use for transport.

Never ceases to amaze me: Civil servants who cut school class funding........but must have kids in overcrowded schools themselves...........Civil Servants in HSE admin killing the health service with administration over frontline services...........must surely get sick/have elderly parents at some stage/been to A & E.............and ditto RSA/DTTas employees who..........must have a car. They can't all live beside the LUAS.........

But they do know someone in A&E to help them jump the queue and get paid well enough to have private health insurance , send the kids for grinds and buy a newer car that falls into a low tax band. Which makes whatever they inflict on the masses not bother them so much as they're alright Jack.

bbsrs

Heard on the radio car tax is going to be hit hard in the budget as much as 30% on some of the lower emissions bands.

Tzar Chasm

sad thing is tho with a bit of effort and know how you could do a fantastic job of converting that merc to a pickup on commercial tax.

I may be acquiring a few grand over the next few months and i am giving serious consideration to acquiring a 750il for a summer project to chop down.

Grimreaper666

kasper wrote: »

our government are exporting everything and everyone its the way they want it go

And yet thousands are allowed into Ireland each year and become Irish citizens. This country's f**ked now as far as i'm concerned. A few years ago we were laughing at the Swiss with all their airy fairy rules and regulations but we're ten times worse now. I'll bet we'll be as badly off as a poor eastern block country in five to ten years with all the austerity and extra taxes.
As for home made pick-ups, the British are tightening up on conversions big time. Irish built hearses are no longer allowed into the UK unless they've been crash tested and conform with BS standards. Expect that ****e here any day too as the Irish government are suckers for red tape and bull****.
a republic? More like a dictatorship with each passing day.

Capri

Grimreaper666 wrote: »

And yet thousands are allowed into Ireland each year and become Irish citizens. This country's f**ked now as far as i'm concerned. A few years ago we were laughing at the Swiss with all their airy fairy rules and regulations but we're ten times worse now. I'll bet we'll be as badly off as a poor eastern block country in five to ten years with all the austerity and extra taxes.
As for home made pick-ups, the British are tightening up on conversions big time. Irish built hearses are no longer allowed into the UK unless they've been crash tested and conform with BS standards. Expect that ****e here any day too as the Irish government are suckers for red tape and bull****.
a republic? More like a dictatorship with each passing day.

Is this 'Classic cars' or 'Politics.ie' ? :P:P

The German TÜV started the 'testing' trend, but they still manage to pass out weird and wonderful motor creations, the UK MOT does likewise, only here does everybody interpret the rules to the letter ! You are right, Ireland Inc has taken dictatorship to a fine art - every new rule is 'EU required', but scratch deeper and you'll find no such 'EU rule' :mad: What about Priory Hall - why was only that place closed down when there's scores of other developments built to a similar 'standard' ??

In the case of a home-made pickup you've to get a 'certified engineer' to approve it, then you've all the crap from the insurance co etc, not to mention that at the end of it all whatever value is left on your original car will be ZERO as nobody will buy it. ( I DID have dreams of converting my S-class to a pick-up - remove rear window and boot lid, rear seats, cut rear bulkhead ( not sure if petrol tank is in there :eek: ), then fit 2 modified wheelie bins into space created and do a plastic weld to make it watertight, get spare bootlid and cut it to form tailgate ! From the side it'd still have the S-class lines and with a tonneau cover from the roofline to the tail it'd still be aerodynamic :rolleyes: Then I woke up and realised I could buy a Vito and fit the V6, leather seats in it easier, and sell the S with the Vito 'daysel' in it :cool: ).

hi5

Luxobarges could be converted to electric, a bit heavy maybe, but if you could get maybe 30 miles per charge, it would cover a lot of peoples commutes.
Road tax drop to €150, no petrol bills, and maintainance bills would be mostly confined to steering/suspension only.
Get yourself an old dc motor from a forklift a bank of deep cycle batteries a controller and a few other bits and away you go:)

Something like this is just ripe for conversion.
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/1997-mercedes-e230-automatic-est/4971917

Capri

hi5 wrote: »

Luxobarges could be converted to electric, a bit heavy maybe, but if you could get maybe 30 miles per charge, it would cover a lot of peoples commutes.
Road tax drop to €150, no petrol bills, and maintainance bills would be mostly confined to steering/suspension only.
Get yourself an old dc motor from a forklift a bank of deep cycle batteries a controller and a few other bits and away you go:)

Something like this is just ripe for conversion.
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/1997-mercedes-e230-automatic-est/4971917

You might be on to something there

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gobnaitolunacy

In fairness there has to be some sort of regulation on 'home made' vehicles or else you'll get every rolling wreck on the roads made from cereal boxes and held together with chewing gum and sticky tape. I recall seeing a 'conversion' once with half the roof angle ground off and a bit of a hardboard fixed behind the driver's head to stop the rain coming in. Also more recently there was an idiot that cut the springs of his car in order to make it lower and 'cooler' got himself killed driving his death trap.

Capri

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

In fairness there has to be some sort of regulation on 'home made' vehicles or else you'll get every rolling wreck on the roads made from cereal boxes and held together with chewing gum and sticky tape. I recall seeing a 'conversion' once with half the roof angle ground off and a bit of a hardboard fixed behind the driver's head to stop the rain coming in. Also more recently there was an idiot that cut the springs of his car in order to make it lower and 'cooler' got himself killed driving his death trap.

Absolutely agree, but this nation doesn't do 'technical knowledge' - if you do any mods in Germany, ALL the parts etc have to be certified, but the experts are there to help you. Here, as I experienced, I was put from Billy to Jack to Mary , ALL of whom knew SFA about what I needed to do to get a vehicle passed :mad:

alastair

Grimreaper666 wrote: »

And yet thousands are allowed into Ireland each year and become Irish citizens. This country's f**ked now as far as i'm concerned.

Dey tirrrkk errrr Ciiitizeeeensups!!!