Charles Hurst on dondeal.ie....

terrydel

can someone explain this lot to me?
They are advertising a huge number of cars on an irish website, price in sterling, and when I call them and ask them for an on the road price in the ROI, it seems to take them completely by surprise.
The lad on the phone ends up converting the sterling value online!
And they don't handle the vrt side of things, you've to do that yourself.
Surely if they are advertising on an irish site and to a majority ROI audience, theyd expect to be selling the cars here, and have a sterling AND Euro price without doing online ****ing conversions.
Youd also think theyd provide a one stop shop for an ROI customer to hand over the cash and have his or her car vrt'ed and ready to go on the road.
Am I missing something here or am I right in finding this completely absurd?
Why advertise to ROI customers if you aren't properly equipped to sell to them?

bazz26

It worked to some extent in that you were interested enough to ring them, others might go further. Cheap prices no matter whether in sterling or euros draws interest as the Irish just love a bargain. It costs them small money to advertise on donedeal and pays for itself if someone is willing to buy a car from them and sort out the VRT themselves, same as any other car seller in the North. I don't think there is any rule preventing them from advertising, buyer just needs to be fully versed on what it entails.

Also are the cars for sale by them in the Republic or are they in the North? The prices in sterling would suggest straight away that the cars are being sold in the North so then they have no need to be concerned with VRT down here. If they are selling you the car outside the State then VRT is between you and Revenue when you go to register it in the State. Its the same as buying a car in mainland UK, they don't care about VRT as it's not a UK tax.

ironclaw

There is a large population of car buyers in Ireland who look at NI and UK for a purchase. Its actually a good move on their part. Its just advertising. Whats the issue? Should a TV channel that's available in Ireland only show Irish Ads?

terrydel

bazz26 wrote: »

It worked to some extent in that you were interested enough to ring them, others might go further. Cheap prices no matter whether in sterling or euros draws interest as the Irish just love a bargain. It costs them small money to advertise on donedeal and pays for itself if someone is willing to buy a car from them and sort out the VRT themselves, same as any other car seller in the North. I don't think there is any rule preventing them from advertising, buyer just needs to be fully versed on what it entails.

Also are the cars for sale by them in the Republic or are they in the North? The prices in sterling would suggest straight away that the cars are being sold in the North so then they have no need to be concerned with VRT down here. If they are selling you the car outside the State then VRT is between you and Revenue when you go to register it in the State. Its the same as buying a car in mainland UK, they don't care about VRT as it's not a UK tax.

Well actually it didn't work with me, I just wished them good luck as soon as they started faffing around trying to work out a price.
I am fully aware of the fact theres no rule preventing them advertising to people in the ROI thru a .ie site, with a vast majority ROI customer base.
My point is that if I went to a dealer here and he got me a uk import, he;d handle the processing of vrt and registering the car for me, why cant they?

terrydel

ironclaw wrote: »

There is a large population of car buyers in Ireland who look at NI and UK for a purchase. Its actually a good move on their part. Its just advertising. Whats the issue? Should a TV channel that's available in Ireland only show Irish Ads?

The issue is that they are advertising to an irish audience and yet when one of those calls up (me) they seem confused and unable to tell me how much the car will actually cost me, which is generally peoples chief concern.

swarlb

Charles Hurst have a place on the Naas Road in Dublin... why not just call in and see what they have for sale ?



http://www.charleshurstgroup.co.uk/usedirect/contact/usedirect-dublin/

bazz26

terrydel wrote: »

Well actually it didn't work with me, I just wished them good luck as soon as they started faffing around trying to work out a price.
I am fully aware of the fact theres no rule preventing them advertising to people in the ROI thru a .ie site, with a vast majority ROI customer base.
My point is that if I went to a dealer here and he got me a uk import, he;d handle the processing of vrt and registering the car for me, why cant they?

But are they actually selling the cars down here (ROI) or are they selling them from NI or the UK? If the latter then VRT is not their concern, if they are selling the cars from down here in the Republic then they are legally obliged to VRT them for customers. My guess is that you were put through to one of their NI or UK dealers where the car in question is located.

ironclaw

terrydel wrote: »

The issue is that they are advertising to an irish audience and yet when one of those calls up (me) they seem confused and unable to tell me how much the car will actually cost me, which is generally peoples chief concern.

As said, the total cost of the car is not their issue if you are non-resident in the UK / NI. I would presume if a sterling price is being advertised then in all likelihood I'm buying from a UK based seller and duties apply. If a person is not comfortable or knowledgeable enough to know the import process, they shouldn't even be calling them as at the end of the day its the buyers issue not theirs. On the flip side, the sales team should have some notion of the price if they want to make a sale out of state but merely as a sales aid, not gospel.

DoneDeal is an Irish website but their target audience isn't exclusively the South. There are plenty of private sellers in NI on DoneDeal as well.

colm_mcm

I don't see the issue tbh. I'm sure NI customers use donedeal too.
If it's a car that's in kingswood then they should be advertising with VRT, but if it's just a car that's physically in a dealership up north then it's extra work to check VRT on every car, especially if they aren't necessarily aiming the car at ROI customers.

CJhaughey

Donedeal is an all ireland site, even though there is a donedeal.co.uk version they don't deal with GB, the localisation software they use seems to geoblock GB or anywhere else from accessing the site.
They are advertising to a NI market and coming on and complaining about the fact that they are not up to speed on VRT from the North is a bit silly.
Plenty of dealers in NI are very sharp on VRT and if you don't like CH then take your money enquiry elsewhere.

terrydel

ironclaw wrote: »

As said, the total cost of the car is not their issue if you are non-resident in the UK / NI. I would presume if a sterling price is being advertised then in all likelihood I'm buying from a UK based seller and duties apply. If a person is not comfortable or knowledgeable enough to know the import process, they shouldn't even be calling them as at the end of the day its the buyers issue not theirs. On the flip side, the sales team should have some notion of the price if they want to make a sale out of state but merely as a sales aid, not gospel.

DoneDeal is an Irish website but their target audience isn't exclusively the South. There are plenty of private sellers in NI on DoneDeal as well.

But the fact remains that the vast majority of the internet traffic on donedeal.ie is from ROI customers, so that's the market that will see these cars, so if they want to buy these cars, the first thing they are going to ask is how much? And I find it absurd that a business cant actually tell a customer that amount.
How is that too much to ask?

swarlb

terrydel wrote: »

But the fact remains that the vast majority of the internet traffic on donedeal.ie is from ROI customers, so that's the market that will see these cars, so if they want to buy these cars, the first thing they are going to ask is how much? And I find it absurd that a business cant actually tell a customer that amount.
How is that too much to ask?

Simply because they don't really care !! They will sell cars regardless, in the north, south or across the water. All this is, is an extra 'medium' for them to advertise.
As an example there is a major distribution outlet for spare parts of a particular brand here in 'the south'. It is owned by a company based in 'the north'. If you ring the northern section you will get a price in sterling, if you ring the southern section you will get a price in euros. Sometimes these prices do not concur, and you could find that the part is cheaper in the north, even accounting for currency and delivery charges. Or, it could be the other way around. I once queried this with the southern section, and was promptly told ...' that's ok, we'll match that price' If I had not asked, they would have done nothing. The reason, they don't care... they will still sell the part, north or south, regardless.
Same with Hurst.

mgn

I'ts not a big job to check the vrt calculator

terrydel

swarlb wrote: »

Simply because they don't really care !! They will sell cars regardless, in the north, south or across the water. All this is, is an extra 'medium' for them to advertise.
As an example there is a major distribution outlet for spare parts of a particular brand here in 'the south'. It is owned by a company based in 'the north'. If you ring the northern section you will get a price in sterling, if you ring the southern section you will get a price in euros. Sometimes these prices do not concur, and you could find that the part is cheaper in the north, even accounting for currency and delivery charges. Or, it could be the other way around. I once queried this with the southern section, and was promptly told ...' that's ok, we'll match that price' If I had not asked, they would have done nothing. The reason, they don't care... they will still sell the part, north or south, regardless.
Same with Hurst.

Theyd be a more efficient if they did care, and hence a more successful business.
The idea that a business cannot tell a huge majority of its prospective customers the actual cost of what theyre selling is absurd to me, but I seem to be unique in that regard.

terrydel

mgn wrote: »

I'ts not a big job to check the vrt calculator

Maybe tell Charles Hurst that.
But that's not the point tho is it.
If I want to buy something, the very least I expect from a seller, regardless of what I'm buying, is that they can tell me what it will cost me.
Without that I'm not even going to consider buying it.

xabi

terrydel wrote: »

Theyd be a more efficient if they did care, and hence a more successful business.
The idea that a business cannot tell a huge majority of its prospective customers the actual cost of what theyre selling is absurd to me, but I seem to be unique in that regard.

I don't get the outrage, why cant you agree a price with them in Sterling and then do the conversion yourself? If you want to buy from someone on Amazon in the UK, do you call them up and ask for a Euro price?

terrydel

xabi wrote: »

I don't get the outrage, why cant you agree a price with them in Sterling and then do the conversion yourself? If you want to buy from someone on Amazon in the UK, do you call them up and ask for a Euro price?

Amazon gives me a euro price at the point of sale, so I know before committing.
This lot don't. They want the customer to work it out themselves.

xabi

terrydel wrote: »

Amazon gives me a euro price at the point of sale, so I know before committing.
This lot don't. They want the customer to work it out themselves.

I hear you, but if i'm buying from the UK I prefer to deal in sterling first, and then shop around for the best conversion rate I can get, rather that taking the sellers conversion rate.

flazio

Everyone realises that done deal run a .co.uk site specifically aimed at Northern Irish users right? I want you to try something, go to any donedeal ad go up to the address bar and replace .ie with .co.uk and see what happens.

swarlb

terrydel wrote: »

Theyd be a more efficient if they did care, and hence a more successful business.
The idea that a business cannot tell a huge majority of its prospective customers the actual cost of what theyre selling is absurd to me, but I seem to be unique in that regard.

They are successful, they sell Aston Martins, Ferraris, Porsches etc . Very few if any car dealers in the south, would have anything close to the type of stock they have and sell, and have been selling, in the north, for years and years. The biggest outlet for them is most likely in the north, an area with a population less than half the size as ours.
Of course they care... but not in the way you'd like them to care. They clearly make a profit, they care about that, they clearly have a happy customer base in the north, they care about that. Do you really think they worry too much about what WE think of them.... I doubt it.
That's the problem with us down here... we care too much about what we think others think about us... the reality is... they don't really.

xabi

flazio wrote: »

Everyone realises that done deal run a .co.uk site specifically aimed at Northern Irish users right? I want you to try something, go to any donedeal ad go up to the address bar and replace .ie with .co.uk and see what happens.

Its the same as the .ie site

Ash.J.Williams

ironclaw wrote: »

There is a large population of car buyers in Ireland who look at NI and UK for a purchase. Its actually a good move on their part. Its just advertising. Whats the issue? Should a TV channel that's available in Ireland only show Irish Ads?

The point he made was if you advertise in Ireland you should at least be aware of the Euro

terrydel

swarlb wrote: »

They are successful, they sell Aston Martins, Ferraris, Porsches etc . Very few if any car dealers in the south, would have anything close to the type of stock they have and sell, and have been selling, in the north, for years and years. The biggest outlet for them is most likely in the north, an area with a population less than half the size as ours.
Of course they care... but not in the way you'd like them to care. They clearly make a profit, they care about that, they clearly have a happy customer base in the north, they care about that. Do you really think they worry too much about what WE think of them.... I doubt it.
That's the problem with us down here... we care too much about what we think others think about us... the reality is... they don't really.

Theyd be more successful if they properly catered for their prospective clients on the .ie site, even after that massive generalisation above, you cannot deny that.

flazio

xabi wrote: »

Its the same as the .ie site

Except that the ads are all priced in Sterling and any southern adverts get converted to Sterling at a rate set by donedeal not by the advertiser. Fact of the matter is anyone from the north, be they private or dealer advertising on donedeal.co.uk is aiming their adverts to other .co.uk users.

terrydel

flazio wrote: »

Except that the ads are all priced in Sterling and any southern adverts get converted to Sterling at a rate set by donedeal not by the advertiser. Fact of the matter is anyone from the north, be they private or dealer advertising on donedeal.co.uk is aiming their adverts to other .co.uk users.

So by extension, the ads on .ie are aimed at ROI citizens as I've stated?
And yet when I enquire about the car, they cant actually give me a price.
Don't care how successful they are, and nor do I dispute that fact, but a business that cant offer a price to the people they are advertising to, that's amateur hour. Simple as that.

xabi

flazio wrote: »

Except that the ads are all priced in Sterling and any southern adverts get converted to Sterling at a rate set by donedeal not by the advertiser. Fact of the matter is anyone from the north, be they private or dealer advertising on donedeal.co.uk is aiming their adverts to other .co.uk users.

Not for me they dont

flazio

terrydel wrote: »

So by extension, the ads on .ie are aimed at ROI citizens as I've stated?

Yes, yes they are. It's not Hurst's fault that donedeal mirror the .co.uk site on .ie nor is it their or any Northern advertisers responsibility to accommodate that. If anything, perhaps we should be getting onto donedeal asking them for an option not to advertise on the other domain,
Let's put the shoe on the other foot for a moment, say you posted an advert for your car on donedeal.ie and someone from the north saw it on donedeal.co.uk and was interested, would you be ready with the conversion price and the equivalent to VRT price for that person? I know I wouldn't, nor would probably most southern advertisers.

terrydel

flazio wrote: »

Yes, yes they are. It's not Hurst's fault that donedeal mirror the .co.uk site on .ie nor is it their or any Northern advertisers responsibility to accommodate that. If anything, perhaps we should be getting onto donedeal asking them for an option not to advertise on the other domain,
Let's put the shoe on the other foot for a moment, say you posted an advert for your car on donedeal.ie and someone from the north saw it on donedeal.co.uk and was interested, would you be ready with the conversion price and the equivalent to VRT price for that person? I know I wouldn't, nor would probably most southern advertisers.

I get what you are saying but its hardly fair or accurate to compare a private seller with a company in the business of selling cars.
I guess the issue here is whether Charles hurst have specifically posted these ads to .ie, or whether they are simply appearing there as a symptom of the mirroring you mentioned.
I will admit I don't know the answer to that and I simply assumed they are explicitly posting their ads to .ie and thus aiming them at this market, hence my surprise when I rang and they couldn't tell me what a car would cost.

millington

DoneDeal is a site used by the whole of Ireland, not just the south. Do you think southern dealers have on the road prices ready to go in sterling for possible northern customers? If you're willing to buy a car from the north, you must understand what it entails. 5 minutes and you could have checked the sterling rate & VRT price

colm_mcm

I don't think people realise that donedeal.co.uk and donedeal.ie show exactly the same ads.

Red Kev

The other thing is that if I was spending £10-20,000 + on a car in NI, I'd prefer to shop around myself for the best exchange rate, or cheapest way to send the money.

I'd have no issues with the price being in sterling, in fact I'd prefer it.

The exchange rate and fees are another cost along with VRT, travel, transport and potentially time off work to pick up or register the cat.

terrydel

millington wrote: »

DoneDeal is a site used by the whole of Ireland, not just the south. Do you think southern dealers have on the road prices ready to go in sterling for possible northern customers? If you're willing to buy a car from the north, you must understand what it entails. 5 minutes and you could have checked the sterling rate & VRT price

I've bought a motorbike from Germany, from a private seller, so I've no problem understanding the process.
You say it would take 5 mins, well that surely applies to someone in the business, making their living from it too, in this case Charles Hurst, no?
I would put my house on the fact that at least 75% of dd.ie traffic is from the ROI, as given the population breakdown, ours being roughly 3 times that of the North, logic would dictate that.
Given those facts, they should at the very least be well aware they will be getting interest from ROI citizens.
Therefore, surely being able to tell them the price is not too much to ask? If you think a business that cant give a price to 75% approx. of its potential customers thru one sales medium is ok, then I'm glad you aren't my boss.

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don't think people realise that donedeal.co.uk and donedeal.ie show exactly the same ads.

I think anyone who has used the site for any length of time is more than aware of that.

terrydel

Red Kev wrote: »

The other thing is that if I was spending £10-20,000 + on a car in NI, I'd prefer to shop around myself for the best exchange rate, or cheapest way to send the money.

I'd have no issues with the price being in sterling, in fact I'd prefer it.

The exchange rate and fees are another cost along with VRT, travel, transport and potentially time off work to pick up or register the cat.

Meow :P

Yamanoto

House of Cars on BBC 2 @ 10pm

First of a three part series, not sure if it's a repeat but may be worth a watch.

Following the staff at Belfast's Charles Hurst dealership, the largest car lot in Europe, as they attempt to hit their sales targets

goochy

Have that show taped but please end this thread cant believe such a dull topic went on so long !

bmstuff

So which Ferrari did you buy OP?
Anyway, when a car or else is advertised in GBP on Donedeal, there is always the conversion in Euro right below.