Importing car from Northern Ireland

DarraghR

Hi. So I have about €4,000 to buy a second hand car and want to get one this Saturday or soon enough. The model in mind is a Hyundai i30. My friend just informed me that I could be looking at saving at least 30% on the overall price by importing a car from Northern Ireland.

Cons to doing so would include what if something went wrong and the distance to get back to a dealer. Apparently there is somewhere in Ireland that imports the car for you and gives a 1 year warranty. Anyone hear about this?

Either way I will be heading up to the Long Mile Road to test drive a few cars so could also do with some recommended dealers.

Other cars I am considering are

Hyuandi i30
Ford Focus
Ford Fiesta
VW Golf
Peugeot 308
Honda Civic

Basically looking for a medium sized 1.4 ltr, 5 door, good mileage and year being above 2009 and at least 1yr NCT.

coylemj

DarraghR wrote: »

Either way I will be heading up to the Long Mile Road to test drive a few cars so could also do with some recommended dealers.

You're concerned about a warranty on a secondhand car and you're going to look at cars for sale in the Twilight Zone :eek:

Run a mile from the Long Mile.

DarraghR

coylemj wrote: »

You're concerned about a warranty on a secondhand car and you're going to look at cars for sale in the Twilight Zone :eek:

Run a mile from the Long Mile.

Maybe some more info as to why test driving cars from dealers on the Long Mile Road is not advised ..? ;D

Only mentioned the 1 year warranty because it relates to an import dealer I heard about so might narrow down my search for it.

coylemj

DarraghR wrote: »

Maybe some more info as to why test driving cars from dealers on the Long Mile Road is not advised ..? ;D

That part of the city is notorious for dealers who setup, go bust and set up again across the road under a new name. They sell cars with warranties that are not worth the paper they're written on. Some of them even make the buyers pay for worthless warranties or they write 'no warranty' on the bill of sale where the buyer can't see it until he gets home. Which is completely illegal.

If you see a dealer operating there, put his name into Google, you're virtually guaranteed to find his track record all over the place, including on boards.

DarraghR

coylemj wrote: »

That part of the city is notorious for dealers who setup, go bust and set up again across the road under a new name. They sell cars with warranties that are not worth the paper they're written on. Some of them even make the buyers pay for worthless warranties or they write 'no warranty' on the bill of sale where the buyer can't see it until he gets home. Which is completely illegal.

If you see a dealer operating there, put his name into Google, you're virtually guaranteed to find his track record all over the place, including on boards.

What about Mooneys Garage? No negative feedback regarding purchased cars just issues with wait times.

Good to know this information as I will now be aware. Cheers

coylemj

DarraghR wrote: »

What about Mooneys Garage? No negative feedback regarding purchased cars just issues with wait times.

Good to know this information as I will now be aware. Cheers

Mooneys have been there for years, I have no doubt they have a decent reputation. Any dealer with a franchise (Mooneys have Hyundai) are generally fine to deal with. Mooneys took over the MSL Hyundai dealership in Deansgrange in the past 12 months so clearly the Irish Hyundai distributor is happy with them.

The people I'm talking about are indie dealers (no franchise), they operate out of gravel yards with a portakabin and an Alsatian. I'd advise you to steer clear of any such operators in the Long Mile area.

Major red flag to look out for: the car you're interested in has no NCT and when you enquire, they tell you that they will 'guarantee' that it will pass i.e. they expect you to buy the car and then submit it for the NCT. Run a mile.

bazz26

OP, 4k is really private sale territory imo. Your not going to get much in the way of warranty cover on a car of that value. Standard warranty on cars within that price range will be 3 months engine and gearbox only. I'd scrutinize any 12 month warranty on a car of that value because reality is it's probably nowhere near as comprehensive as you think it is. In fact I'd hedge a bet on it being one of those 3rd party warranties from the likes of carprotect or mapfree. These are full of exclusions and a get out of jail card for the dealer in the event of trying to come back to them with an issue.

Atlantic Dawn

At €4k it's not worth the hassle of importing. If you are buying from a dealer here who has imported the car from the UK and is reselling make sure you do a history check.