Why do NI/UK cars always look cleaner than Irish cars?

Barney224

Soemthing I've always noticed and was wondering why UK-registered cars (assuming most are from north of the border) always look cleaner around Ireland? Is it because they clean them more regulararly or do they have a coating on them? Or are they just more anal about their cars?

whippet

it's an effect of the 'grass is always greener' .. I live close to the border and spend quite a bit of time in NI and I've never noticed any difference

biko

They do get more fancy cars; Astons, Land Rovers, etc
But compare their Corollas to ours and there is no difference.

colm_mcm

They wash their cars instead of going to mass.

SuperS54

Many of the NI cars you see in "the south" will be on holidays or on business, hence wash the car.

The J Stands for Jay

No discs in the windscreen, less cluttered number plates.

hi5

Can't speak for Northern Ireland, but in the UK the road infrastructure is better, more kerbing, proper laybys for pulling in etc.
The roads are also flatter so less undulations collecting water and muck.
Also the British are famous for washing their cars every Sunday.

filbert the fox

Barney224 wrote: »

Soemthing I've always noticed and was wondering why UK-registered cars (assuming most are from north of the border) always look cleaner around Ireland? Is it because they clean them more regulararly or do they have a coating on them? Or are they just more anal about their cars?

NI cars are Irish - ahem!

whisky_galore

British drivers look after their cars. Irish drivers tend to drive them into the ground, esp commercials get a proper hammering.
British choose all the ad ons, Irish buy the bog standard no frills model.

colm_mcm

whisky_galore wrote: »

Irish buy the bog standard no frills model.

That’s definitely not the case. People who go to the trouble of importing a UK car often go for a nicely specked one, which may give the impression that all uk cars are specced up.
If you take Skoda or VW as examples, the base model is rarely sold especially now that people are doing more PCP deals, the base model is usually used to hit a certain price point.

Charles Babbage

People wash their cars before going on holiday.

chewed

colm_mcm wrote: »

That’s definitely not the case. People who go to the trouble of importing a UK car often go for a nicely specked one, which may give the impression that all uk cars are specced up.
If you take Skoda or VW as examples, the base model is rarely sold especially now that people are doing more PCP deals, the base model is usually used to hit a certain price point.

I assume the reason why they've better specs in the UK is because they pay as much VRT as we do and hence can afford better cars!

thelad95

Seems to be a culture in Ireland of a lot of people not caring about their cars, simply treating them as a liability that gets them from A to B.

Go to any carpark and you'll see a 05 ford, paint work in tatters, two or three black sacks worth of clutter inside like empty coffee cups, empty bottles etc.

Another caveat to the OP is that the further south you go, it's likely that the yellow reg you are seeing is likely to either be someone on holidays (probably washed the car before they went) or someone who has just imported a vehicle, meaning it's probably close to showroom standard.

WacoKid

chewed wrote: »

I assume the reason why they've better specs in the UK is because they pay as much VRT as we do and hence can afford better cars!

Correct. Cars sold in the south have 'paddy spec' to keep the VRT down and in turn the forecourt price.

Someone who knows their cars and wants a good spec will typically import from the UK.