Government hates drivers

M94

I have been to many countries in Europe(not all) and did research online and only Ireland and UK seem to have the most outrageous motor tax and insurance prices. Why is it so high compared to other countries? Like for many other countries the motor tax is like €100 per year and insurance is like 250-500 for a car like BMW M5. It would be justified if the motor tax was spent on keeping the roads in good condition but the roads with the exception of motorways are third world level, I have had to change my tyre multiple times throughout the year due to hidden pot holes. If you go to all these poor countries they have wide roads with no pot holes. It's so depressing to pay 2000 for insurance and tax then go to some other country in continental Europe and find that they have much better infrastructure and don't pay such an insanely high motor tax and insurance. It seems like the government does everything in it's power to stop you from driving. I love cars but not a chance I could own a car above 2l engine unless I am over 25 and have an excellent job which I am working towards. In most other countries you don't need to be rich to own a 2000 bmw 330.

Rant over.

Stoolbend

Can we create a motor tax and insurance forum so these threads stop appearing in the motors forum.

mickdw

M94 wrote: »

I have been to many countries in Europe(not all) and did research online and only Ireland and UK seem to have the most outrageous motor tax and insurance prices. Why is it so high compared to other countries? Like for many other countries the motor tax is like €100 per year and insurance is like 250-500 for a car like BMW M5. It would be justified if the motor tax was spent on keeping the roads in good condition but the roads with the exception of motorways are third world level, I have had to change my tyre multiple times throughout the year due to hidden pot holes. If you go to all these poor countries they have wide roads with no pot holes. It's so depressing to pay 2000 for insurance and tax then go to some other country in continental Europe and find that they have much better infrastructure and don't pay such an insanely high motor tax and insurance. It seems like the government does everything in it's power to stop you from driving. I love cars but not a chance I could own a car above 2l engine unless I am over 25 and have an excellent job which I am working towards. In most other countries you don't need to be rich to own a 2000 bmw 330.

Rant over.

Yes it's a joke but the flip side is that high tax cars can be bought for peanuts here. Large exec such as S Class mercedes that mighty only sell for 1500 here could go for 5 or 6k in low tax areas.

Atlantic Dawn

What I don't understand is there appears to be no bungs to political parties from the insurance companies, why are the politicians allowing it?

BorneTobyWilde

Under EU law you can obtain insurance in any EU country.
No one does though.

mickdw

If companies from other eu countries won't sell policies to irish residents, it's hard to obtain it.
To be honest, an insurer from another country would be mad to offer cheap insurance here given the claims nonsense that's going on here.

ironclaw

Whilst I agree with you M94, you need to remember all other European countries have economics of scale on their side. For example, we have about the same car ownership per 1000 capita as the UK, but they have 53 million in population versus our 4.595 million. Our landmass is about 70,273 square kilometers, the UK is 243,610 square kilometers.

So if you are talking in really rough terms, the UK have 11 times more people to pay motor tax for only 3.5 times more infrastructure. Obviously that assumes every square inch of landmass is a road, but you get my point, there's just a lot more money there for not considerably more infrastructure.

I can't speak for the UK, but you also have to remember Motor Tax is not ring fences for roads here. It goes into the common pot and is hence diluted further. Sprinkle in an unholy amount of inefficiency and its amazing Ireland even functions.

Leonard Hofstadter

It's worth pointing out that while the levels of motor tax in Ireland are indeed crazy, and the CO2 system is a disaster in that it makes a decent powered petrol too expensive to buy new, and then impossible to sell second-hand, we pay nothing for water (several hundred a year in other countries), fuel is very cheap compared to the UK, you don't have to pay €10k worth of tuition fees like you do in the UK, and so on.

I guess my point is that if we as a society want to pay less for motor tax, we're going to have to pay for that somewhere else, other countries charge more than we do for some services, and similarly we charge more than other countries for some services.

The other part of the problem is our over generous welfare entitlements plus the culture of getting one-up on the tax man, this all means for people who can't avoid paying tax, we have to pay more to make up the shortfall.

Sam Kade

captainspeed wrote: »

It's worth pointing out that while the levels of motor tax in Ireland are indeed crazy, and the CO2 system is a disaster in that it makes a decent powered petrol too expensive to buy new, and then impossible to sell second-hand, we pay nothing for water (several hundred a year in other countries), fuel is very cheap compared to the UK, you don't have to pay €10k worth of tuition fees like you do in the UK, and so on.

I guess my point is that if we as a society want to pay less for motor tax, we're going to have to pay for that somewhere else, other countries charge more than we do for some services, and similarly we charge more than other countries for some services.

The other part of the problem is our over generous welfare entitlements plus the culture of getting one-up on the tax man, this all means for people who can't avoid paying tax, we have to pay more to make up the shortfall.

That's exactly it.

Dord

mickdw wrote: »

If companies from other eu countries won't sell policies to irish residents, it's hard to obtain it.
To be honest, an insurer from another country would be mad to offer cheap insurance here given the claims nonsense that's going on here.

Are there many other players than the ones we have here in Ireland? I think we have most of the big names here and I'm sure if they have a company here in Ireland they wouldn't want an Irish customer to do business with another of their companies elsewhere in Europe.

mickdw

I'm sure there are a few companies that don't operate here however I'm pretty damn sure those companies would be wise enough not to offer a cheap quote to an irish resident given that a bumper tip to the rear seems to be an automatic 15k payout here.