Impact of COVID-19 on motor industry?

carsfan2

carsfan2 wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/motor-vehicles-generate-6-2bn-in-taxes-for-state-says-report-1.4239993

This article shows the importance of the sector to the country.
I wonder will garages be allowed open again next week. Maybe for servicing but I can't see why a showroom could not be open if strict limit on numbers.
That said it is not an essential journey to check out a car.

It shows the importance of fuel taxes anyway
Fuel taxes brought in twice as much as Vehicle Registration Tax on new and imported car, and VAT on servicing parts and repairs all combined.

Motor tax revenues generated €6.2 billion for the Irish Exchequer last year, according to a new industry report. The Irish State got €1.7 billion from Vehicle Registration Tax on new and imported car, and VAT on servicing parts and repairs. It also got €3.5 billion from fuel taxes and €900 million from annual motor taxes.

jmreire

Augeo wrote: »

It shows the importance of fuel taxes anyway
Fuel taxes brought in twice as much as Vehicle Registration Tax on new and imported car, and VAT on servicing parts and repairs all combined.

Motor tax revenues generated €6.2 billion for the Irish Exchequer last year, according to a new industry report. The Irish State got €1.7 billion from Vehicle Registration Tax on new and imported car, and VAT on servicing parts and repairs. It also got €3.5 billion from fuel taxes and €900 million from annual motor taxes.

Yes, it shows just how much the state is dependant on motor generated taxes...be interesting to see what will replace them when we are gone all electric....or even to see how much Covid-19 has cost todate in lost motor taxation alone.

Leonard Hofstadter

Sounds like a reason for us all to stick with ICE, or better yet, upgrade to bigger engined cars with more cylinders, all in the name of financially supporting the country through this difficult patch:pac!

jmreire

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

Sounds like a reason for us all to stick with ICE, or better yet, upgrade to bigger engined cars with more cylinders, all in the name of financially supporting the country through this difficult patch:pac!

LOL !!!!:):):):):)

sc86

jmreire wrote: »

So we are going to throw money a it,,,,wonder why we did not do that in 2008?? And where is this money going to come from? I presume that it will have to be repaid?? And at what cost?
Currently, what I am quoting is coming from the ESRI, and our Minister of Finance, who has a whole department of professionals working for him.And financially, is in charge, his opinion will do for me. But if you prefer David Williams, go right ahead, and good luck to you, As I have already said earlier, I sincerely hope that we will not have recession, but based on what I see and hear, I don't think that it can be avoided.

Where did i say there would be no recession?
The country is closed because of a virus for at least 1/4 of the year, , not because we have gone bang like 2008. With a proper stimulus package to protect business and boost the economy we can get out of this quickly ,not 6 years like the last time.
Yes we will have to borrow , we have no choice , but the ecb is offering cheap money this time due to our good credit rating.
The people you talk about have hinted that they intend to spend there way out of this and do the opposite to what they did in 2008.
You dont seam to grasp how this works at all so theres not much point trying to explain it.

Anyway back on motor trade topic

Rows Grower

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/car-sales-ireland-2020-april-21951346

Skoda are getting ready to be back in the game.

Psychedelic Hedgehog

From that article - 280 new cars sold in April across the entire country is a scary statistic.

Rows Grower

Psychedelic Hedgehog wrote: »

From that article - 280 new cars sold in April across the entire country is a scary statistic.

I thought it would be an awful lot less to be honest.

Do the fandango

Well you can be sure a third or so are pre-reg or demos, so it’s probably closer to 200 passenger sales. Spread out over 26 counties, and with Dublin obviously taking the largest share of that, it’s very slim pickings all around.

Going to be some hard negotiating between brands and dealers when readjusting July’s targets. It’s servicing, parts and used cars that will drag places over the line into 2021.

carsfan2

Psychedelic Hedgehog wrote: »

From that article - 280 new cars sold in April across the entire country is a scary statistic.

I thought the figure would be zero as it was impossible to do a handover in April surely.
I am not so hopeful that showrooms will reopen next week maybe essential servicing only?
There is also only so much that can be done online when it comes to making as big a purchase as a car.

carsfan2

carsfan2 wrote: »

.........
I am not so hopeful that showrooms will reopen next week maybe essential servicing only?...........

Media rumours suggest outdoor workers like builders (some) and landscapers are likely along with perhaps garden centres.

jmreire

sc86 wrote: »

Where did i say there would be no recession?
The country is closed because of a virus for at least 1/4 of the year, , not because we have gone bang like 2008. With a proper stimulus package to protect business and boost the economy we can get out of this quickly ,not 6 years like the last time.
Yes we will have to borrow , we have no choice , but the ecb is offering cheap money this time due to our good credit rating.
The people you talk about have hinted that they intend to spend there way out of this and do the opposite to what they did in 2008.
You dont seam to grasp how this works at all so theres not much point trying to explain it.

Anyway back on motor trade topic

Oh, don't you worry my understanding of the financial borrowing / interest ratio. I'm basing my comment's on what the Minister of Finance and the ESRI have to say about it...I presume that they know what they are talking about? Or do you doubt them too?? So if they say a bad recession is on the way, I'm inclined to believe them. Zero interest rates or not,,there will still be a payback.
And today, this was on the newspapers
" IRELAND’S CREDIT RATING has been downgraded from A- to BBB+ (that’s three above junk status) by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, with an outlook of ‘stable’.
How will this affect Irish borrowing capability do you think? Will Zero interest rates still apply, if our credit rating's drop???
Now back to the Motor trade.....Yes a recession will definitely affect the trade, from sales to servicing. I know quite a lot of people in the trade, and no one is being very optimistic about the immediate future, or even further out. And it's not just the motor trade either.....a recession affects everything,

jmreire

Rows Grower wrote: »

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/car-sales-ireland-2020-april-21951346

Skoda are getting ready to be back in the game.

Yes, they are trying now to "work around" the virus,,and this will be the future for all forms of employment,until such time as a vaccine is found for it

mickdw

All these report of cars sales having slumped are idiotic - as if they are a true reflection of demand in the community. The garages are closed and people are locked in their houses so what kind of sales could anyone expect to see.
I dont see a major issue with the retail side of the car business opening. It should be one of the easier businesses to open. Distancing should be reasonable easy on showroom side and some interactive screens / screens should allow sales person to keep away from customer. By all accounts the disinfecting treatment they have for cars is excellent so that covers off test driving and staff driving cars etc.

mickdw

All these report of cars sales having slumped are idiotic - as if they are a true reflection of demand in the community. The garages are closed and people are locked in their houses so what kind of sales could anyone expect to see.
I dont see a major issue with the retail side of the car business opening. It should be one of the easier businesses to open. Distancing should be reasonable easy on showroom side and some interactive screens / screens should allow sales person to keep away from customer. By all accounts the disinfecting treatment they have for cars is excellent so that covers off test driving and staff driving cars etc

Toyotafanboi

Bit if a sense of humour with VW

Rows Grower

mickdw wrote: »

All these report of cars sales having slumped are idiotic - as if they are a true reflection of demand in the community. The garages are closed and people are locked in their houses so what kind of sales could anyone expect to see.
I dont see a major issue with the retail side of the car business opening. It should be one of the easier businesses to open. Distancing should be reasonable easy on showroom side and some interactive screens / screens should allow sales person to keep away from customer. By all accounts the disinfecting treatment they have for cars is excellent so that covers off test driving and staff driving cars etc.

You obviously didn't get the memo about the the biggest recession since the Great Depression that is forecast.

Do the fandango

The biggest issue I can see with dealerships reopening will be the loss of the coffee machine. And more so for staff than customers.

jmreire

mickdw wrote: »

All these report of cars sales having slumped are idiotic - as if they are a true reflection of demand in the community. The garages are closed and people are locked in their houses so what kind of sales could anyone expect to see.
I dont see a major issue with the retail side of the car business opening. It should be one of the easier businesses to open. Distancing should be reasonable easy on showroom side and some interactive screens / screens should allow sales person to keep away from customer. By all accounts the disinfecting treatment they have for cars is excellent so that covers off test driving and staff driving cars etc

Yes sales have dropped, for sure against last year: SIMI said that 6,174 new cars were registered in March compared to 16,687 in March 2019.
BUT still 6'174 new vehicles WERE sold in March, and sold during the lockdown, so this proves that sales were possible, despite Covid-19 lockdown. But people are not buying. Sales have been declining for the last Nr of years, and one good reason why is given in a post a few pages back on this forum, which gave the yearly tax take by the Govt from car and transport industry alone. It's actually mind boggling, to see it set out in black and white figure's. Its a very true saying that if you take too much blood from the animal, it will die. And this is what is happening to the motor trade in Ireland,,it's being taxed out of existence. Covid-19 may get the blame, but even if we did not have the virus....sale's figures are dropping anyway. Covid -19 will just make a bad situation much worse,,,,how much remains to be seen.

maddness

I get the point that the dealerships are closed therefore no cars are being sold, however when we get to our new version of normal there will be an adjustment to car values. The manufacturers will have to offer incentives and used cars will be cheaper. A cars only worth what someone is willing to pay.

jmreire

maddness wrote: »

I get the point that the dealerships are closed therefore no cars are being sold, however when we get to our new version of normal there will be an adjustment to car values. The manufacturers will have to offer incentives and used cars will be cheaper. A cars only worth what someone is willing to pay.

6174 new cars were sold in March,,,during the lock down. Just because the showrooms are closed doe's not mean that there are no sales going on. Have a look at www.carsireland.ie, select the car of your choice, and full contact details will be included in the Advertisement. Cars / vehicles are still moving, but not in anything like the same volume as this time last year.
As for used cars being cheaper......the used car market depends on new car sales, to actually provide the used cars to sell. If new car sales drop, so will the 2nd hand stock from that source. BUT if a lot of handed back or repossessed vehicles come on the market, due to massive unemployment/ recession, then you could see a glut of used and therefore cheaper cars for sale.

CianRyan

My garage will be opening up on a staggered basis on the 18th, the show rooms will remain closed until further notice.
I'll be having a zoom meeting during the week with the rest of the team to explain everything further.

At an absolute guess, we'll either be working part time or some, week swapping or some of us wont be back to work yet.
I'll know soon enough.

Toyotafanboi

Same, we are teeing up for the 18th. Hearsay is staggered staff in the workshop. These isn't next nor near 2m between bays so it'll have to be. Every car will be getting ozoned in the carpark before work begins.

Warranty periods have been extended officially. Lots of non essential workers tow ins building and to be fair a reasonable few service inquiries so it looks like we will be going back to some quantity of aftersales work at least.

CIP4

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Same, we are teeing up for the 18th. Hearsay is staggered staff in the workshop. These isn't next nor near 2m between bays so it'll have to be. Every car will be getting ozoned in the carpark before work begins.

Warranty periods have been extended officially. Lots of non essential workers tow ins building and to be fair a reasonable few service inquiries so it looks like we will be going back to some quantity of aftersales work at least.

Do you reckon you will be doing standard servicing work ?

PsychoPete

I was talking to my brother last night, he works in a dealership. Him and a few more were back into work yesterday to pdi and service sales cars. Sales team had people interested in and collecting some cars this week

Toyotafanboi

CIP4 wrote: »

Do you reckon you will be doing standard servicing work ?

Yeah, it's back back to business as usual, or whatever the new norm of "business as usual" is from that date.

That said there'll be nobody there before the 18th to take a booking so it will probably take the first week to start getting on our feet with the new routine.

Cyrus

Folks do you think dealers will be opening for collection of new cars from the 18th?

scooby77

Hertz Global (includes Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly) seem to have narrowly avoided bankruptcy (for now anyway). While this is partly a travel related story, a huge factor is that they had to take a massive write down in the value of their almost 600,000 cars.
Not a good sign for dealers with a lot of stock (particularly used)!

PsychoPete

scooby77 wrote: »

Hertz Global (includes Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly) seem to have narrowly avoided bankruptcy (for now anyway). While this is partly a travel related story, a huge factor is that they had to take a massive write down in the value of their almost 600,000 cars.
Not a good sign for dealers with a lot of stock (particularly used)!

Hertz will hardly keep onto the cars through the summer they have from dealers

Do the fandango

Cyrus wrote: »

Folks do you think dealers will be opening for collection of new cars from the 18th?

No — The 18th is for service & repair departments to get back. The likelihood is that showrooms and sales can reopen to the public in Phase2 on June 8th, but that’s provided there is no upsurges in Covid cases.

I’m not sure of the legalities but if garages are chancing their arm, doing deals and having people collect their new/used cars before June 8th then I wouldn’t put much trust into their practices elsewhere. Nothing wrong with taking deposits, but interacting with members of the public before then is bad form. You won’t see any of the larger groups or reputable, established dealers doing it anyway.