Is a Dublin registered car really more desirable to some people?

gebbel

I've just imported a car from the UK and intend to reg it at my home address...in Louth. However I work in Dublin and with a bit of hassle changing addresses etc I could reg it with a Dublin plate at my sister's place. Now I personally am not into this nonsense, but is it true (as has been suggested to me) that a Dublin number plate on a vehicle may command a better resale price later? It feels like a ridiculous question and I'm not comfortable posting it....but if it could hit me in the pocket down the line.....then I won't regret asking it now. Thanks.

Rabbo

No, that's ridiculous. Please don't pander to the idiots who put greater value on a car based on its registration county

bazz26

It's only more desirable if you plan to sell it on to someone in Dublin or to a garage there where there is a larger target buyer audience. Selling it outside of Dublin probably won't make one bit of difference or add value unless it's something exotic.

gebbel

That's what I want to hear thanks. But it's obviously something sad that exists. And the two who suggested it are non-Dubs, one my brother in law from Waterford and the other a work colleague from Kildare who drives a car with a Dublin reg!

colm_mcm

Garages in Kildare/Meath/Wicklow would def prefer a D reg to a LH reg, but unless it's a valuable car, they'll judge it on its merits rather than on the reg. it may be worth marginally more as it will appeal to a wider audience.

ShadowHearth

Never ever cared about reg, if what, you would think that D reg would be worse as its mostly city driving with clitch being fudged.

For some reason when I was buying my car dealer asked if I wanted it D reg instead of L due to better resale value. I just told them to give me L plate, thank you very much.

There are some muppets who do prefer D regs, but I am pretty sure its dying breed.

gebbel

OK so it would seem that to answer my question....putting a Dublin reg on it would only help not hinder it's resale value down the road...in some cases. That's a bit pathetic.

colm_mcm

That's the opinions of the masses - the ones you'll want to buy your car down the road

Same as buying a silver car over a green one.

Atlantic Dawn

If you had an identical in every way 141LH car and a 141D car on sale in Dublin and surrounding counties the 141D would sell quicker. In Louth the 141LH would likely sell quicker. If it's a diesel the LH reg wouldn't be a good idea at all.

gebbel

Crazy world, so people would rather buy a D-reg that may have spent years crawling in the city gridlock versus a Louth reg that mainly avoids all that, and in my case generally gets 2 daily clean motorway runs? I know which reg I would choose.

spurious

DL or D? Your call.

Toyotafanboi

Is a Dublin registered car really more desirable to some people?

In fairness yeah, it does. If it's as handy to register it with a D, I would.

gebbel

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

In fairness yeah, it does. If it's as handy to register it with a D, I would.

Well it means I have to get some bill changed to my sisters address as proof of address. And the VRT inspection is Thursday so it wouldn't be done before then.

Zipppy

Yes I only was a D reg vehicle...certainly would never drive C or MH or LH reg....
I think you'll see that Cork people NEVER drive anything that not a C reg....

Toyotafanboi

gebbel wrote: »

Well it means I have to get some bill changed to my sisters address as proof of address. And the VRT inspection is Thursday so it wouldn't be done before then.

If you live in a satellite county it will definitely ad desirability at resale time. Some cars just look smarter with a D plate too.

What car is it?

JennyZ

I'd say you'd be best to not register your car at a false address.

gebbel

It's a 2016 A4 S-line. Looks like a Dublin reg then or I lose money later. That's an unexpected pain.

iamtony

This is/was definitely a thing when I was growing up in Dublin with the mates buying cars. No idea why...

gebbel

JennyZ wrote: »

I'd say you'd be best to not register your car at a false address.

It's my sisters address near where I work and often overnight. Not a false address.

iamtony

You would genuinely get stick of the mates if you showed up in a ex boggers car :-) probably had sheep in the back at some stage!

gebbel

iamtony wrote: »

This is/was definitely a thing when I was growing up in Dublin with the mates buying cars. No idea why...

There is no logical reason I can think of apart from a certain kind of snobbery.

...And Justice

iamtony wrote: »

This is/was definitely a thing when I was growing up in Dublin with the mates buying cars. No idea why...

Flat roads, city driving as opposed to buying a car from a muck savage with a Donegal registration driving like a lunatic from one end of the week to the next. That's the perceived impression.

Henry Ford III

My car (Infact my last few cars) has a D reg.

The only reason for it is that it makes resale a bit easier.

biko

This has been hashed over a few times and my feeling is yes, the Dubs prefer D-reg cars.

Then again I prefer a G-reg car..

...And Justice

biko wrote: »

This has been hashed over a few times and my feeling is yes, the Dubs prefer D-reg cars.

Then again I prefer a G-reg car..

Yah, but you are from the gaeltact? Not spelled right. I'll get me coat.

mgbgt1978

In fairness LH Reg's are usually seen in much the same light as DL's....automatically assumed to be an NI/UK import.
Granted it's true in the OP's situation, but if he can avoid this 'stigma' (I know ,a bit strong) come resale time then he should probably go with the 'D' reg.

Skylinehead

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

In fairness LH Reg's are usually seen in much the same light as DL's....automatically assumed to be an NI/UK import.

Is that a bad thing? I see UK import, and I'd assume "better spec".

bmwguy

You'll probably get 161 LH 1 sure everyone in Louth drives a yellow reg

DaveyDave

I'm from and live in Dublin, couldn't give a damn what county is on it

Jurgen Klopp

And yet out here in the West people won't touch a D car cause off all teh assumed city stop start driving

Then DL gets painted as destroyed from bad roads

Is there any truth to either? Does teh stop start city driving cause any problems? Maybe with diesil not getting a good run?

grogi

Zipppy wrote: »

Yes I only was a D reg vehicle...certainly would never drive C or MH or LH reg....
I think you'll see that Cork people NEVER drive anything that not a C reg....

Yes, I have witnessed that. LO-CO!

Personally speaking I judge each car on it's own merits and would rarely base my decision on a reg plate.


That said, if i had two identical cars, one a Dublin reg and the other a Roscommon reg, for argument sake, I'd probably pick the Roscommon one because I know in Roscommon the car would have an easier day to day life, cruising around. Whereas a Dublin one would be in bumper to bumper traffic most days and would therefore have more wear and tear on clutch, DPF (if applicable), etc.


But again, each car on it's own merits.

uck51js9zml2yt

I've a KY reg thanks to a poster in this forum. (Can't remember who it was provided me with the link) .
The car hasn't objected to being housed in Dublin though I do bring it home a few times a year which I'm sure helps its mental state:)

JoeA3

Unless it's a fairly niche car I wouldn't be concerned about it. Doubt it makes an iota of difference on your humdrum Golf, Focus, Quasqai or whatever.

But the fact is, if it is a more niche car, a D reg will absolutely be a help more than a hindrince when you are trying to sell it again.

Kenny Logins

Deleted User wrote: »

Personally speaking I judge each car on it's own merits and would rarely base my decision on a reg plate.


That said, if i had two identical cars, one a Dublin reg and the other a Roscommon reg, for argument sake, I'd probably pick the Roscommon one because I know in Roscommon the car would have an easier day to day life, cruising around. Whereas a Dublin one would be in bumper to bumper traffic most days and would therefore have more wear and tear on clutch, DPF (if applicable), etc.


But again, each car on it's own merits.

I hope you're not being serious here.

CiniO

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I hope you're not being serious here.

Why do you think that?
He sounds perfectly sensible to me.

Mintoe

gebbel wrote: »

I've just imported a car from the UK and intend to reg it at my home address...in Louth. However I work in Dublin and with a bit of hassle changing addresses etc I could reg it with a Dublin plate at my sister's place. Now I personally am not into this nonsense, but is it true (as has been suggested to me) that a Dublin number plate on a vehicle may command a better resale price later? It feels like a ridiculous question and I'm not comfortable posting it....but if it could hit me in the pocket down the line.....then I won't regret asking it now. Thanks.

I know dealers in west of Ireland that will sell a D Reg quicker than equivalent G or MO or SO Reg to a west of Ireland customer..... I couldn't figure this one out either but it's true according to several westbof irekand dealers

CiniO

I think we should abandon that silly reg system we use which
a) causes snobbery
b) is impractical and not suitable for purpose due to extensive number of characters in the reg number.


For Irish needs, completely random reg numbers of 4 letters and 2 digits would give over 4.5 million combinations, which is more than enough to fulfil Irish motoring needs.

Spain is using such system but with 3 letters and 4 numbers.
Complately random - no way to tell where the car is from or what year is it.

Something like AZ-17-XC or BF-77-UI
Simple, short reg numbers which would be easy to read.

Mean Laqueefa

If its for picking up chicks/dudes..... they love the D

Stephen15

The reason a D reg is more valuable I would imagine is because people would assume the car is in a better condition because the roads in Dublin are better than in the country. More slow city driving than taring around on country roads.

flaneur

I would suspect it depends where you're selling it.

Selling it in Dublin it might be an advantage and sorrowing counties perhaps because it attracts a bigger potential second hand market, but in Cork for example, it might actually put some people off.

CiniO

Stephen15 wrote: »

The reason a D reg is more valuable I would imagine is because people would assume the car is in a better condition because the roads in Dublin are better than in the country. More slow city driving than taring around on country roads.

Anytime I'm in Dublin I'm appalled by the quality of surface. So many potholes, crevices and ramps.
Also slow city driving is much worse for car in general comparing to fast country road driving.

GarIT

CiniO wrote: »

I think we should abandon that silly reg system we use which
a) causes snobbery
b) is impractical and not suitable for purpose due to extensive number of characters in the reg number.


For Irish needs, completely random reg numbers of 4 letters and 2 digits would give over 4.5 million combinations, which is more than enough to fulfil Irish motoring needs.

Spain is using such system but with 3 letters and 4 numbers.
Complately random - no way to tell where the car is from or what year is it.

Something like AZ-17-XC or BF-77-UI
Simple, short reg numbers which would be easy to read.

I'd much prefer the full date including the day and then a number within that day, it stops the year mattering so much. i.e. 21/8/17 - 1055. Or just a number/letter with the first car being 0 and every car after increasing by 1, instead of going to 10 after 9 go to a and only go to 10 after z to make the numbers shorter.

indeq

Dub car, shure D clutch will be burned out on them yokes with the city slickers driving.

GarIT

CiniO wrote: »

Also slow city driving is much worse for car in general comparing to fast country road driving.

Any link for that? I've heard the total opposite, that sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour is about equal to driving over a pothole in terms of wear on the car.

CiniO

GarIT wrote: »

Any link for that? I've heard the total opposite, that sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour is about equal to driving over a pothole in terms of wear on the car.

Depends to which element.
Surely sitting in traffic for an hour on straight road causes much less suspension wear than hitting a big pothole at high speed.

On the other hand, sitting in traffic for an hour during which you'll travel few miles, causes much more wear and tear to your engine, clutch, gearbox, and cooling system then driving those few miles on open country road.

Now - which is more expensive to fix/replace.
Suspension or engine/clutch/gearbox?

GarIT

CiniO wrote: »

Depends to which element.
Surely sitting in traffic for an hour on straight road causes much less suspension wear than hitting a big pothole at high speed.

On the other hand, sitting in traffic for an hour during which you'll travel few miles, causes much more wear and tear to your engine, clutch, gearbox, and cooling system then driving those few miles on open country road.

Now - which is more expensive to fix/replace.
Suspension or engine/clutch/gearbox?

That's what I was asking. I don't know :pac: My point was both sides are claimed as being right with neither having any evidence.

CiniO

GarIT wrote: »

I'd much prefer the full date including the day and then a number within that day, it stops the year mattering so much. i.e. 21/8/17 - 1055. Or just a number/letter with the first car being 0 and every car after increasing by 1, instead of going to 10 after 9 go to a and only go to 10 after z to make the numbers shorter.

The whole idea of having registration number displayed on a car on a number plate is for identification purposes, especially in case when car is running away (f.e. after hit and run).
If not for that, reg numbers could be printed on tax disc or something else similarly small.

And to be effective measure for identification purposes, it should easy to read when car is running away, and having the least amount of characters on a number plate, and having them as big as possible is crucial for that.

Hence, that even though UK has over 30 million vehicles, they only use registration numbers with 7 characters, and have letters/numbers on them as big as possible.
For that reason it's so much easier to read UK number plate from running away car, than Irish number plate.
Having 9 characters like 151-D-24953 or 07-MO-10684 and letters on number plate shrank due to some nonsense Gaelic country name on top, causes Irish number plates to be not really fit for purpose.

flaneur

The only thing I would say in favour of ours is people tend to remember the 'facts' about the car.

"It was a 162-T Grey Ford Focus"

That tends to narrow it down a bit and be more memorable to humans than AA99 ABC

One solution to the Irish regs being long would be to use

161-C-ABCD type of format allowing a shorter alpha numeric code in the sequence number.

If you allow A to Z and 1 to 9
:

2 chars gives you : 1225 combinations
3 chars : 42875
4 chars: 1500625

It would mean you'd typically have:

181-DL-X2
181-C-X2Q
181-D-X2Q3 at absolute most.

CiniO

GarIT wrote: »

That's what I was asking. I don't know :pac: My point was both sides are claimed as being right with neither having any evidence.

Well sorry, I thought it was obvious.
Suspension wear (which is much more common among country driven cars then city) is much cheaper to fix than engine/clutch/gearbox problems.

However having so much speed ramps in city regions surely also makes significent damage to suspension.

Sitting in traffic for an hour and travelling 3 miles, might cause clutch wear comparable to doing couple hundred kilometres on country roads.
Engine running for an hour to travel 3 miles in city traffic is wearing to similar extent as engine running for an hour to travel 50 miles on country roads.
Gearbox - imagine you're on 5th gear for an hour when on motorway, but need to change gear 500 times during 1 hour in traffic.


Generally speaking, I'd without any doubt choose a car which was used in the country or motorways comparing to one used in the city.

CiniO

flaneur wrote: »

The only thing I would say in favour of ours is people tend to remember the 'facts' about the car.

"It was a 162-T Grey Ford Focus"

That tends to narrow it down a bit and be more memorable to humans than AA99 ABC

I can't deny that indeed 162-T or 09-D and similar are memorable.
But the problem is that people tend to always remember just that.
Do you know how many Grey Ford Focuses there is withing 09-D range.
I'd say hundreds....

In case of AU-48-ER plate, I'd say chances are people would remember at least AU-48 which leaves just 676 combinations out of which only few could be ford focus.
Also if system was introduced wisely, they could make sure there's only one grey ford focus within AU-48-** range, which would make remembering first 2 letters and first 2 numbers and colour and make and model enough for 100% identification.