Help buying/insuring a car, moved from UK

Ernie84

Hi Folks,

Having a pretty stressful time trying to get on the road here in your beautiful country.

Ill make it short tho.

Im mid 30s just moved from UK, have had a UK licence for just over a year but did not drive a car due to saving up funds to move (my gf lives here) so zero NCB.

I have 1800-2000 euro for a car and around 3000 euro to pay towards a years insurance (i can assume that wouldn't cover the year. (thats my limit)

Not going to waste space moaning about the premiums, I've read about the awards and various other factors that have caused this but Ive no alternative but to suck it up for first year at least.

I know i need to look for a small car engine wise and younger than 10 years but would like a little advice further to that as a lot of the folks I've spoke to over phone with brokers seem to talk in riddles.

1. What cars would be advise for low insurance around 2007-2008 and cheapest to fix if anything goes wrong. Basically best value in this limited situation?

2. My gf has a provisional but is an Irish citizen. Would i be best getting her as main driver and myself as a named driver? Can this be done before she passes test and if so would there be anything id need to take account of with that.

3. I spoke to one insurance company broker (firstireland) who said based on a 2007 1.2 he could only find one company and they would want a 3000 excess!
Is this common cos tbh it sounds effing nuts, to buy a car for 1800 pay 3 to 4k insurance and still have to pay an excess that high??

4.Should i look to buy from a garage as appose to donedeal for example?

5.Based on Qs above, info and other factors has anyone got specific recommendations regarding cars, what companies and anything else i should consider.

Its 2am so hard not to be frustrated but I'm quite rural here with a severe lack of public transport and i just want i get working, driving and living.

thank you for reading and responding if you can.

philderbeast

Something you should look into is adding a named driver to your policy. I have only had my license 2 years (UK license). Never had insurance in my own name. Was quoted 1300 for small 2012 seat which compared to your quote actually seems reasonable. Added my GF to the policy (max no claims) and it went down to 780. Do your GF's parents drive? If so ask to add them to your policy and see if it brings the quote down.

Nuw

As above, it will most likely help. Also, get in touch with every broker car insurance companies you can think of, you'd be surprised by how different quotes can be from one to the next...

As for cars, get something small and japanese (suzuki swift, toyota yaris, nissan micra and the likes), shouldn't cost the world to keep on the road. You could reduce your insurance premium by going for a corsa (I hear they're one of the cheapest to insure apparently) but that's money you'll spend in maintenance (most likely) so not sure it's worth it tbh.

Something like this should be on your radar.

bazz26

With a budget of 2k max on a car there is no value to be got from a dealer, all your getting is someone else's cast off they took in as a trade-in. Dealers of cars in this price range are not going to spend money on fixing those cars to resell them and the warranty they give won't be worth much if anything.

It might be worth considering buying a cheap car in the UK if you know the market better and/or someone who can look it over and just bring it with you and pay the VRT on it here to put it on Irish plates. I'd imagine your 2k might buy you a nicer and cleaner car on the UK market. Just be aware that there is a minimum VRT rate/figure even if you buy the car for peanuts. Also worth noting that VRT is based on the car's emissions and motor tax is based on engine size on any car first registered before 2008 so keep that in mind in what you buy.

Also worth noting for insurance that a lot of insurance companies here are refusing to offer cover on old cars. Anything older than around 12 years tends to be difficult to get a quote on.

Ernie84

A few folks have recommended the buying car in UK idea.

My issue with that and please correct me if I'm uninformed is the insurance is still going to be irish and high cost and as for the car itself by the time I'e bought car in UK paid couple hundred for petrol, got an immediate nct and paid the vat and import tax what will i actually have saved?

seems like importing from uk better idea if you paying buying a car over 5k and can save enough in value to make those extra costs irrelevant?

Ernie84

The only person i can add is my GF who is still taking lessons, not sure if that will help. She is an Irish citizen born and bred though.

bazz26

You don't have to pay VAT on importing a used car here. It is only deemed "new" here by Revenue if it's less than 6 months old or has less than 6000 km on the clock.

As for costing more to import, you will have to do some maths on that and take all things into account comparing between buying here and in the UK. Sterling is weak but that only works in favour if you're exchanging euros.