RTE have a 2nd hand car buying special on now.

AMKC

Worth a look.

Saying a lot of the imported 2nd hand cars from the UK are dodgy.

drunkmonkey

Well if RTE said they were dodgy it must be Gospel.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118948770#Comment_118948770

A few dodgy cars on it. Category C and D write-offS now classed as category S and N in the UK. . All not safe to drive by there independent inspector. Two of them were not structurly safe and the third was but it was not electronically safe. Low chance if its airbags working again for instance and it was only 5 years old.

drunkmonkey

I see the independent have an article on it, are they saying 40,000 are write-off's over the last few years? That's a huge amount if true.

https://m.independent.ie/life/motoring/car-news/nearly-40000-written-off-zombie-cars-imported-into-ireland-from-the-uk-41567940.html

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118948977#Comment_118948977

No idea but it certainly is a huge amount if true.

RobAMerc

why are they not busy chasing the folks who brought them in ? SIMI decided against it ? Why dont we have a way to see the NCT history and insurance claim history of a car here ? SIMI against it ? Nonsense piece paid for by someone no doubt.

blackbox

Is the programme sponsored by SIMI?

goochy

Would it not show up on nct ? Remembering hearing about how a car transporter full of crashed UK cars would pull up during night at used car dealers in Cork and come morning cars no where to be seen obviously gone straight to bodyshop

fryup

flood damaged a lot of them i reckon, structurally sound but electronically iffy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118949100#Comment_118949100

Motorcheck.ie by the sound of it

drunkmonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118948901#Comment_118948901

Catogery N would be minor and s even though it's structural is repearable, they wouldn't be death traps.

Cat N Tesla Model 3 looks clean enough https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/41864332/clean-title-2020-tesl-model-3-st-rochford

Cat S Model 3 https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/38210892/clean-title-2021-tesl-model-3-pe-westbury

With the crazy prices of second hand cars i'd guess cars like those would be very tempting to Irish traders.

Both of those should show up on motorcheck though, were they trying to make out people weren't using motorcheck and hence buying unknown S&N's.

Atlantic Dawn

How did RTE get hold of the 3 cars for the number of hours required to thoroughly inspect them? Why did they not name the 3 dealers when it would be clear as day they knew they were dodgy cars where a basic history check would have flagged them, they don't just buy the cars unseen from a lucky bag?

Miscreant

Would a history check only show that kind of category if the repair went through insurance? If the car is repaired privately then surely there would be nothing on record.

zell12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118949716#Comment_118949716

https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2022/0419/1293153-tens-of-thousands-of-uk-write-offs-on-irish-roads/

Prime Time identified dozens of cars currently for sale here. Posing as buyers, we approached three dealers about buying the cars they'd advertised for sale. These were vehicles that had been involved in serious front-on crashes... and arranged to examine the cars away from the dealerships.

The CCPC's criminal enforcement division is currently investigating the three dealerships featured.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118949328#Comment_118949328

Catogery N would be minor and s even though it's structural is repearable, they wouldn't be death traps.

They would be if they are not repaired right by a confident qualified person that should be doing it.

One of the cars had it chassis badly welded and there was still a kink in the chassis as well as also having a lose radiator it was literally just hanging there free to move around oh and it's two fronts light units were the same just the cables holding them there no clips and another had a bent track control arm at the treaded section of the bar.

The other car was structurly well put back together but it's electronics modules were not talking to each other and that is the one where the assessor said he doubted if the airbags would deploy if that car was in a crash again.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118949874#Comment_118949874

If the dealer allowed this, then it's highly probable that they didn't know the cars were written off in the UK

flazio

Bob Flavin also doing his own video on the topic. Much more up front that it is a paid partnership with motorcheck.ie

https://youtu.be/SXe0Cd2vTsw

So what is the story with imported cars and the need for an NCT? I presume that there isn't a requirement for an NCT when they arrive in the country, otherwise the back log would be horrendous. Could it be as much as 2 years driving a potentially dangerous defective car before somebody flags it?

Turbolounge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118952387#Comment_118952387

You need an NCT instantly if the car is coming in from outside the EU (exception for cars over 40 years old). EU cars have the remainder of their cert (TUV, etc) transferred to NCT.

flazio

And Ireland is now the only country in the EU using right hand drive cars now isn't it?

zell12

Cyprus and Malta drive on the left too

goochy

Are all imports not nct tested b4 vrt is paid ? Thought this was brought in a few years ago

goochy

Also car tests from other countries have no bearing on cars when brought into ireland

It was certainly a program that gave food for thought- they showed pictures of the cars after their respective crashes and before repair- my god you wouldn’t touch them with a 40 foot barge pole - has turned me right off UK origin cars- another reason to keep saving for a brand new one

Wildly Boaring

Funny how the talk is always about UK cars.

Like a car was never damaged and repaired here

goochy

Yes but we are a dumping ground first them

goochy

For

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118954224#Comment_118954224

It's a rerun of the Japanese car import biz back in the day. Lots of cash to be made and dodgy as hell criminals show up to make it and the best way is to buy cheap write offs, tart them up and sell them on hidden among the good cars. I saw one Jap import that had gone through an auction in Japan as a write off with the whole front end fecked, only for it to show up in Ireland a few months later as a "highest grade". Missing its auction sheet of course(they always were). It was so twisted that the front strut brace was thrown in the boot because it no longer fitted.

Of course SIMI didn't like that scene at all, no matter how good the cars. Cheaper and better specced cars than the ones they were selling? Down with that sorta thing! Cue RTE reports and "we asked Motorcheck.ie"(who had bugger all access to Japanese records anyway) about damaged Jap imports, deathtraps Father! and when that didn't work tales of "boyracers!!" driving them coming to fiddle with your daughters and eat your children.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118954142#Comment_118954142

I have to say it did occur to me that this was a nice push for buying new cars. Wonder did SIMI have any involvement?

drunkmonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118954833#Comment_118954833

It might make some sense to buy new while used car prices are so high, New prices won't drop and only increase if anything, used cars can't keep going up indefinately somone is going to get caught holding the bag soon.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118954833#Comment_118954833

Does night follow day K? RTE have long been a mouthpiece for SIMI. Most of our motoring so called "journalists" the same. The Irish car media is like the bad old days everywhere else, before independent journos called out the incestuous nature of the car industry and the press. For all the laddish entertainment stuff guys like Jeremy Clarkson were among the first to do so, because they were among the first to be able to do so because they didn't rely on pandering to the car industry to put food on the table.

cml387

It's not just Irish journalists who are invited on freebies to Sorrento to test drive the (always) top specced version of the latest model.

donkey balls

So my car was an English import bought from a main dealer its being through the NCT since,Should I be worried?

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118957507#Comment_118957507

If it has been through the NCT and they done there job right you should not be worried.

donkey balls

Cheers for that I remember years ago thinking of going to the UK and buying off a main dealer.

Honestly thought it be fine to fly over and get the boat back from Hollyhead, And that the car and everything be above board.

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118957507#Comment_118957507

You could do a history check on it now to see if anything is flagged, the original UK reg is on your logbook.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118954833#Comment_118954833

Car companies are one of the few remaining industries that continue to spend heavily on TV advertising, but if anything, the show was more a push for cartell and motorcheck.

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118958454#Comment_118958454

And Cartell is now owned by Independent News & Media so more doubt in the media will feed right in to the site.

colm_mcm

To be fair though, the public need to be told to do these checks.

fryup

sold for salvage doesn't necessarily mean 'write off' it could mean it was sold to trade or a finance repossession

johnf2020

Given the cost of importing a car now from the UK with the extra Tarrifs, Vat, VRT & Nox, the only way its viable is to be buying cheap crashed cars for repair. I can't see how its done otherwise

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118954930#Comment_118954930

I would never have considered buying new until last year and the advent of the growing variety of electric cars we have now - I think electric will hold their value relative to an over priced ICE - and that’s why buying a new electric makes sense to me.

If ICE were “normal” prices circa 2019, I’d probably go one more round with a second hand ICE car but there’s no value to be had out there in the second hand car market - if I can get myself a close to 0% finance deal on a new electric I think I’ll be going for it in the next few months

All cars depreciate (except obviously some collector cars) but I think new electrics will depreciate at much slower rates in the short term due to lack of supply and big demand ) , so more savings on fuel and servicing will be retained by the owner relative to their depreciation.

Anyone feel feee to disagree but seeing even 10 year old cars going for mad prices right now, I just don’t see point.

Wildly Boaring

It depends on the duration you're looking at.

I'd not be surprised if today's EVs are out of date in 6 or 7 years. The next iteration from manufacturers will be better than the current. But if changing after 3 or 4 be grand.

Don't know of any low finance on good EVs.