Getting rid of year on reg

Idbatterim

If we got rid of the year on the car reg, would it result in hundreds of millions being circulating in our economy rather than a fortune going out of it and older cars being better looked after / repaired by local businesses (again keeping more money circulating here)?

At the moment by far the biggest benefactors are the German, french and Japanese etc, we dont have a motoring industry...

Atlantic Dawn

I think if there was a new tax regime for large engined cars once they hit say 8-10 years old, could be limited to a max of €500 a year regardless of engine size, this would keep thousands of barges on the road.

CharlieCroker

The government have no incentive to do this though.

They probably make as much or more from the vrt/vat/etc on a new Golf/Focus/Corolla as they would make from keeping older cars on the road

JohnBoy26

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I think if there was a new tax regime for large engined cars once they hit say 8-10 years old, could be limited to a max of €500 a year regardless of engine size, this would keep thousands of barges on the road.

The barges would have to be taxed for 8-10 years first. Nobody will buy them new in the first place if the tax is going to be sky high

all your theory will do is make the vast majority of cars more expensive to tax when they get older and push more people into more tax friendly newer cars.

hoodie6029

We don't have a motor manufacturing industry but we do have a huge motor industry that employs 1000s directly and indirectly. SIMI and the various Govt. Depts do their damnedest to protect those jobs. Though it is rarely in motor the enthusiasts' favour.
I would love personal plates like the UK. Then I could hide the year of my car instead of it being looked down on for being an 06

CiniO

hoodie6029 wrote: »

I would love personal plates like the UK. Then I could hide the year of my car instead of it being looked down on for being an 06

They are hardly "personal plates" in the UK, as you can't really choose exactly what you want to have written on your plate.
F.e. you couldn't really have hoodie6029 on your plate in UK, could you?

CiniO

Idbatterim wrote: »

If we got rid of the year on the car reg, would it result in hundreds of millions being circulating in our economy rather than a fortune going out of it and older cars being better looked after / repaired by local businesses (again keeping more money circulating here)?

At the moment by far the biggest benefactors are the German, french and Japanese etc, we dont have a motoring industry...

I strongly doubt that would make much difference?
Do you really think people only buy new cars to have higher number on their number plate?
Afaik Ireland and UK are the only countries in the EU which display date of first registration on a number plate.
But as you can see, people buy new cars in other countries too as well.

jca

What was it like pre 1987? There was no year on the number plate up to then.

BMJD

jca wrote: »

What was it like pre 1987? There was no year on the number plate up to then.

Some people would have known what was the newest letters. For Dublin I think ZS and ZG were the last letters before the new system came in.

GarIT

CiniO wrote: »

Do you really think people only buy new cars to have higher number on their number plate?

My dad always did, bought a new car every year from the mid 2000s until 2012. He said he couldn't be seen to not have a new car. Out of spite and because of the nonsensical format of the year now he says he will never buy a new car again.

It might sound like a stereotype but there are loads of women in middle class areas that will judge other women based on what year car they drive to the school.

spuddy

jca wrote: »

What was it like pre 1987? There was no year on the number plate up to then.

Similar to how it still is in NI today.

Getting rid of the year would mean we'd adopt a similar system to the Swiss. That has some downsides, with additional requirements (eg whenever you moved county, you'd need to get a new reg). On the upside, it would probably cut down on the number of "D" regs in circulation outside the capital

CiniO

spuddy wrote: »

Similar to how it still is in NI today.

Getting rid of the year would mean we'd adopt a similar system to the Swiss. That has some downsides, with additional requirements (eg whenever you moved county, you'd need to get a new reg). On the upside, it would probably cut down on the number of "D" regs in circulation outside the capital

I can't really see any link between getting rid of your on number plate, to having a requirement to change plates when changing county.

Cee-Jay-Cee

If I had my way I would introduce a system where when a person applies for a driving licence they are issued with a reg plate number and they own that number for their life. They take it from car to car, it cannot be transferred to a new owner or sold.

Chris_Heilong

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

If I had my way I would introduce a system where when a person applies for a driving licence they are issued with a reg plate number and they own that number for their life. They take it from car to car, it cannot be transferred to a new owner or sold.

Then what happens when you own 3 cars?

I would be all for getting rid of the years, there are a lot of snobs out there that know nothing about cars except the year on the number plate and will judge based on that alone.

braddun

I think they should get rid of the year on cars

_Kaiser_

I still don't see why people have such an issue with the year on a plate UNLESS its from a vanity perspective. If this ISN'T something that bothers you then who cares what year is on your plate??

It's an easy way to tell how old a car is at a glance (like say if you're buying it), an easy way to identify it (eg: in an accident) and a lot more logical than a random sequence of letters/numbers.

What I'd like is the ability to re-register a car to your current home county when buying it if desired because while the year doesn't bother me at all, the non-D does

traco

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

If I had my way I would introduce a system where when a person applies for a driving licence they are issued with a reg plate number and they own that number for their life. They take it from car to car, it cannot be transferred to a new owner or sold.

as far as I know thats what happens in teh states, buy a new reg for $400 initial purchase fee and pay an annual renwal fee of $100 or something for the tags that stick on it. Must have insurance inplace before youget issued teh plate or renewed tags and pay a small admin fee to transfer the plate from one vehicle to another. Esstentially teh plat identfies the owner primarily and the vehicle second.

This wouldnot work with our tax system and it would totally mess teh VRT on imprts as you'd have the plate already. Guess thats wht its such a nice system and we will never see it

unkel

My car is 11 years old but still looks well and up to date. If the year wasn't in the reg, I would have had to pay €8k for it, not the €4k that I actually paid

So let it stay, the year in the reg!

H3llR4iser

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I still don't see why people have such an issue with the year on a plate UNLESS its from a vanity perspective. If this ISN'T something that bothers you then who cares what year is on your plate??

It's an easy way to tell how old a car is at a glance (like say if you're buying it), an easy way to identify it (eg: in an accident) and a lot more logical than a random sequence of letters/numbers.

What I'd like is the ability to re-register a car to your current home county when buying it if desired because while the year doesn't bother me at all, the non-D does

Psychological factor, like the stores pricing something 99 Euro instead of 100. The difference won't even buy you a cup of coffee, but people fall for it left, right and centre: "oh, it's only 99! It's less than 100!".

The problem is how it is used in Ireland, because people are always trying to get "one up" on the others. For many, it becomes a way to demean the person based on the fact they drive an older car; Often, when you hear comments like "oh the fecker's loaded, he has a 142" the person making the statement won't know what brand and model the car in question is.

When you hear ads in the radio shouting "get your 151 car from us!", no mention of models or makes, it really tells you that the vast majority of the public simply cares about the registration - unless all the marketing gurus went bananas at the same time and created ads targeted to nobody

Chris_Heilong

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Then what happens when you own 3 cars?

Just attach plates to the car you'll be driving. Simples. I think that's what Germans/Austrians/Belgians do.

Idbatterim

The problem is how it is used in Ireland, because people are always trying to get "one up" on the others. For many, it becomes a way to demean the person based on the fact they drive an older car; Often, when you hear comments like "oh the fecker's loaded, he has a 142" the person making the statement won't know what brand and model the car in question is.

When you hear ads in the radio shouting "get your 151 car from us!", no mention of models or makes, it really tells you that the vast majority of the public simply cares about the registration - unless all the marketing gurus went bananas at the same time and created ads targeted to nobody

this is true, the thing is, I dont get how you can be a reg snob, if you are not a brand snob... I get comments the odd time about oh are you still driving that bm, things must be going well :rolleyes: from people driving new toyotas, it wouldnt take much to work out that your "cheap" new or newish toyota crapbox, is costing far more to run than my 2.5L car when you factor in depreciation and loan interest, I am driving a far superior car that was over twice the cost of the toyota new minimum and I am the mad one?!

Interslice

It would be better for the environment too. There is a huge amount of emissions involved in building a car and getting it to the forecourt(as high as 25% of the cars lifetime emmisions), on top of that cars are scrapped earlier because the drop in value, due to the reg system, makes it uneconomical to fix even basic problems like a clutch, head gasket or just a combination of consumables. People would invest more in keeping their cars looking and driving to a higher standard as it would no longer be the reg plate that dictates it's value. Some models of car are made exactly the same for ten years FFS. It's a case of the men in suits protecting their jobs at the expense of men in overalls.