Off Topic Thread 5.0

awec

I have bought all my cars in the UK. You get far better spec than on offer here.

Generally even with VRT it’s cheaper, but I’ve always bought up north so I don’t have to worry about ferries or flights.

Zzippy

Buer wrote: »

My limited knowledge of bringing cars in from across the water is that you will get it cheaper but after VRT, there aren't the savings that make it a no brainer. You will get a better deal but you need to invest the time and effort into achieving that which will also involve making a trip over and driving a new vehicle back...and you don't really want to waste a journey over to kick some tyres and find out the car is not what it seemed.

Once the deal is done, it's done and you've little ability to go back to the dealer (if from a dealer) for anything that arises.

I find that those who do go across the water, are looking for something specific and options in Ireland could be limited (as in Zzippy's case) or they're really into their cars and enjoy dedicating the time and input into sourcing a car from outside Ireland.

Cars in the UK tend to be much higher spec. Dealers here offer v basic package on new cars with optional extras adding a lot to the price. That carries through to second hand car prices. UK cars also tend to be better looked after with a full service history commonly available.
I bought a car 2 years ago over there, loads of extras. Looked hard at Irish market but couldn't find same car for less than 6-7k more than I imported mine for.

The Parish King

awec wrote: »

I have bought all my cars in the UK. You get far better spec than on offer here.

Generally even with VRT it’s cheaper, but I’ve always bought up north so I don’t have to worry about ferries or flights.

Potentially a stupid question here, but is there much difference in costs between NI and England? NI would be more appealing considering the shorter journey and no need to quarantine afterwards too.

b.gud

The Parish King wrote: »

Potentially a stupid question here, but is there much difference in costs between NI and England? NI would be more appealing considering the shorter journey and no need to quarantine afterwards too.

I haven't looked in a while and can't remember price differences between England and NI but for me the big difference was the number of options available was usually a lot higher in the UK. So for a given model, spec level, and year you would probably see about twice as many options in the England as you would in NI

awec

The Parish King wrote: »

Potentially a stupid question here, but is there much difference in costs between NI and England? NI would be more appealing considering the shorter journey and no need to quarantine afterwards too.

Price is about the same as it's the same market, NI dealers buy cars from dealers in Britain and vice versa. Not as large a selection obviously.

Going to England is a good bit more work than going to NI. Most, if not all of the major / reputable NI dealers will be very familiar with selling cars to people from the ROI, they'll be able to give you VRT estimates and give you all the documentation you'll need to VRT it.

swiwi_

awec wrote: »

Price is about the same as it's the same market, NI dealers buy cars from dealers in Britain and vice versa. Not as large a selection obviously.

Going to England is a good bit more work than going to NI. Most, if not all of the major / reputable NI dealers will be very familiar with selling cars to people from the ROI, they'll be able to give you VRT estimates and give you all the documentation you'll need to VRT it.

Hmmm. Maybe I should buy my next car in NI. Are those major / reputable NI dealers you speak of very familiar with selling cars to people from Switzerland?

kuang1

The Parish King wrote: »

Potentially a stupid question here, but is there much difference in costs between NI and England? NI would be more appealing considering the shorter journey and no need to quarantine afterwards too.

I say again, €350 will get your car shipped from the UK to here. Saves time, travel expenses and quarantine.

DGRulz

My Dad brought a car over from the UK last year via UK car imports. The guy behind it looked after everything and there's a mechanics report done before you agree. All Dad had to do was transfer the money and collect the car.

Zzippy

kuang1 wrote: »

I say again, €350 will get your car shipped from the UK to here. Saves time, travel expenses and quarantine.

Some people don't like the idea of buying a car without seeing it or driving it first. We are talking to an Irish dealer who finds and imports cars for people but gives the reassurance that if you don't like it there is no requirement to buy, he buys quality cars that he can sell on anyway if you don't like it. Sister in law bought through him last year and they're very happy.

Zzippy

Zzippy wrote: »

Some people don't like the idea of buying a car without seeing it or driving it first. We are talking to an Irish dealer who finds and imports cars for people but gives the reassurance that if you don't like it there is no requirement to buy, he buys quality cars that he can sell on anyway if you don't like it. Sister in law bought through him last year and they're very happy.

If you don't mind banging on the details by DM I'd appreciate it !

Dave_The_Sheep

Deleted User wrote: »

If you don't mind banging on the details by DM I'd appreciate it !

Same. I'll be in the market next year ...

kuang1

Zzippy wrote: »

Some people don't like the idea of buying a car without seeing it or driving it first. We are talking to an Irish dealer who finds and imports cars for people but gives the reassurance that if you don't like it there is no requirement to buy, he buys quality cars that he can sell on anyway if you don't like it. Sister in law bought through him last year and they're very happy.

Yeah I wouldn't buy a car before driving it.
Which is why I would test drive here and buy there. As I said before, when buying a car that's a year old, manufacturers guarantee puts my mind at ease about everything.

thomond2006

WiFi down all day thanks to the storm. Not even a text alert from Eir about when it could be possibly back. Their "customer care" 20 minute queue today cuts you off after 15 minutes. It's such BS.

Synode

thomond2006 wrote: »

WiFi down all day thanks to the storm. Not even a text alert from Eir about when it could be possibly back. Their "customer care" 20 minute queue today cuts you off after 15 minutes. It's such BS.

It's unbelievable how such an incompetent company can survive. You'd have to imagine most of their customers are older people who've just never bothered changing supplier

Neil3030

Steve Bannon, Trump's former strategist, arrested on federal fraud charges regarding a private fundraising campaign he helped initiate, which promised to allocate all donations toward building a border wall between the US and Mexico. Needless to say, very little wall got built and the feds further allege that hundreds of thousands were syphoned off by Bannon and the other organizers. Estimated sentence of 7 to 9 years if he loses at trial, but a Presidential pardon would be possible, given its a federal swoop.

Weirdest part of the story - he was arrested by US Postal Service agents, on a boat owned by a Chinese billionaire....

Wrap your head around that one.....

How is a Presidential pardon even a thing

Neil3030

[Deleted User] wrote: »

How is a Presidential pardon even a thing

It makes sense that a "crime against America" might be reappraised in a different time or context (e.g. Susan B. Anthony).

But yeah, it's pretty much otherwise a handy perk for getting your mates / family off the hook.

Bazzo

Synode wrote: »

It's unbelievable how such an incompetent company can survive. You'd have to imagine most of their customers are older people who've just never bothered changing supplier

I have had equally bad if not worse experiences with BT who are a massive company with no shortage of competition. Literally tens of hours on hold often ending in either being cut off or a customer service agent hanging up on me. Wasting multiple days of annual leave being told I'd need to be home for an engineer who subsequently didn't show up and then not getting the issue fixed because I wasn't there at a later date when they decided to arrive but told me I wouldn't need to be in. Being charged for 6 weeks (yes WEEKS) where I had no internet or TV.

OldRio

I think I'll bunker down for the day and read 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell.

Squidgy Black

Woke up to no electricity, great start to the day.

thomond2006

In the Eir queue for an hour. No answer.

Stheno

Jeez ye are a miserable lot this morning

Neil3030

Neil3030 wrote: »

Steve Bannon, Trump's former strategist, arrested on federal fraud charges regarding a private fundraising campaign he helped initiate, which promised to allocate all donations toward building a border wall between the US and Mexico. Needless to say, very little wall got built and the feds further allege that hundreds of thousands were syphoned off by Bannon and the other organizers. Estimated sentence of 7 to 9 years if he loses at trial, but a Presidential pardon would be possible, given its a federal swoop.

Weirdest part of the story - he was arrested by US Postal Service agents, on a boat owned by a Chinese billionaire....

Wrap your head around that one.....

US Agencies have weird jurisdictional overlaps. I remember the start of the "In the Line of Fire" movie you had secret service agents breaking up a counterfeiting gang as that fell within their remit.

The Bannon arrest should be a terrible news story for the administration, fraud and profiteering in relation to donations for a wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for, it's a horrendous look but it's unlikely to register with Trump supporters.

Definitely an odd coincidence though given the amount the US postal service has been in the news. Quite amazing to have a candidate openly admit to want to restrict voters but at least there was push back from both parties.

Still a long way to November.

I wonder will we have our own election this year. Without drifting too far into Irish politics I.... Mod edit: Don't drift. At all. Thanks.

Podge_irl

Deleted User wrote: »

US Agencies have weird jurisdictional overlaps. I remember the start of the "In the Line of Fire" movie you had secret service agents breaking up a counterfeiting gang as that fell within their remit.

SS is part of the Dept of the Treasury, which is obviously in and of itself a bit weird. Great movie though.

What Trump benefits from is just sheer fatigue at this point. Something outrageous happens with such great frequency that it is surprisingly easy to become numb to the scale of each individual event.

stephen_n

OldRio wrote: »

I think I'll bunker down for the day and read 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell.

Am re-reading 1984 at the moment, not sure it can be classed as fiction anymore.

Podge_irl

stephen_n wrote: »

Am re-reading 1984 at the moment, not sure it can be classed as fiction anymore.

Of all the things in that book, the "we have always been at war with Eastasia" bit was one I thought would actually not be able to come to pass with the advent of things like the internet and mass spread of info.

Turns out it is the one aspect that is most successful and happening right in front of our faces. You don't need to lie delicately, you just need to convince people to believe you and disbelieve others no matter what.

Dave_The_Sheep

Going to be hard to convince people to adhere to follow-up restrictions in Kildare if it turns out Hogan flew from Belgium, went and lived in Kildare for week or so, then swanned off up to Galway for a golf gala, regardless of what he claims he was told by the hotelliers.

Dave_The_Sheep

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Going to be hard to convince people to adhere to follow-up restrictions in Kildare if it turns out Hogan flew from Belgium, went and lived in Kildare for week or so, then swanned off up to Galway for a golf gala, regardless of what he claims he was told by the hotelliers.

Hogan is more of an issue for the EU Commission to deal with, but given his profile internationally he's given easy ammunition to his detractors.

Otherwise we've had a ministerial resignation and 6 senators have had the whip removed which means their political careers are over. Thousands have taken the piss during lockdown and not paid anything like that kind of price - the integrity of covid messaging should be fine albeit this hasn't helped.

There wasn't a drop in adherence after Bobby Story's funeral so I don't expect there to be one after this, but it's good to see we still have accountability in politics all the same.

Dave_The_Sheep

Deleted User wrote: »

Hogan is more of an issue for the EU Commission to deal with, but given his profile internationally he's given easy ammunition to his detractors.

Otherwise we've had a ministerial resignation and 6 senators have had the whip removed which means their political careers are over. Thousands have taken the piss during lockdown and not paid anything like that kind of price - the integrity of covid messaging should be fine albeit this hasn't helped.

There wasn't a drop in adherence after Bobby Story's funeral so I don't expect there to be one after this, but it's good to see we still have accountability in politics all the same.

Indeed, and as Hogan is one of those people I'd rather have on our side in the upcoming Brexit negotiations, it's a good thing he won't be forced out from here.

Thousands of people did take the piss, but those people are not in positions of national leadership. It doesn't matter really what they do in terms of the government message on Covid. Personally I'm not going to change much of what I'm doing, but the messaging has not been great (it's been awful, between Martin and Donnelly in interviews/press conferences) in the last few weeks, this absolutely doesn't help. It's not quite Cummings, but it's not a million miles away - particuarly because (as you say) we've had resignations as a result. And yes, it's good to see there is some accountability - but this will have an effect on adherence. How big remains to be seen.

Podge_irl

Without delving into Irish politics too much - Cummings is an unelected bureaucrat of the type that Brexiteers claim to despise, who is seemingly running the entire country's policies in basically everything who then flouted them completely and claimed he did nothing wrong while staying in his post and then continuing on in his efforts to dismantle previously functioning areas of the state while the entire elected cabinet seem to prostrate themselves before him because the PM they idiotically chose has delegated all authority to the man.

Basically, its nothing like Ireland and the comparisons are not helpful.