Buying my first (second hand) car in Ireland

wallabitom

Hi, I have recently moved to Ireland from Australia and am starting to look for a car. My in-laws have a second car we can use for the time being so not in a massive rush.

Looking at the second hand market in Ireland has been an eye-opener. Most second hand cars seem to have very high milage and excessively priced. I grew up in the North, so have also been comparing with there and the UK and prices seem generally better and milages much lower.

Is there an affordable way to import from the North? I have an address there so could buy one and register it there and transfer it here further down the line. I am also interested in buying a campervan further down the line and would also be looking at the UK/NI route for that.

Furthermore the market in Ireland is rammed with German cars, and I would like a Japanese car as I prefer them, do they hold their value well in Ireland. In Australia Toyota is the biggest seller, followed by Hyundai, Kia and possibly Mazda, with the german cars mainly being in well-off suburbs, new cars are much cheaper (base level 2023 Mazda 3 - 160K Euro- VW gold 21k Euro) and generally quite high resale values, so I am out of my depth here and looking for advice.

We have just sold a Toyota Prado and corolla, so looking for a decent size family car (wagon/suv/mpv) and a hatch for a second vehicle. No idea as to budget but around 20k for the larger car and 15k for the smaller would be a good place to start, priorities are reliability and low depreciation.

Any advice is more than welcome

celtic_oz

Imports from the UK mainland have practically stopped since brexit as they now not only incur our VRT but also VAT and customs

Cars already in Northern Ireland prior to 01/01/21 only pay VRT ( still expensive for non hybrid\EV ) and are dwindling by the day.

Stay with Irish registered cars and search donedeal, focus on mileage and NCT expiry rather than year.

Examples :

20K

and

less than 15K

if the second car is just a runaround consider an electric leaf to save on costs, example, 200 kilometers is loads for a runaround in Ireland. A cheap leaf and a new MG4 could be an idea!

Campervans have the same issue

Warning : We do not sell twisties here and bring an umbrella to all BBQ's

wallabitom

Thanks for the all the great advice. I think I put my Bunnings umbrella in the container.

I have no idea about EVs and hybrids and they are still nearly all fossil fuel in Oz. How long do batteries last before they need replaced? And how much do they cost? I read batteries are generally warranted for 8 years, so is it a risk going for a car older than that.

Also I popped into a place in Dun Laoghaire and he had loads of VWs imported from Japan, are Jap imports a good option? I read they have taken off since 2020. I quite like the look of the Honda fit and the prices seem quite good. Any thoughts?

Thanks again, Tom

wallabitom

Also is there any worthwhile auctions around Dublin?

freshpopcorn

@wallabitom Jap imports are generally fine and well speced cars.

Just check they've an imbiloloser fitted.

hoodie6029

Electric is really down to how much you want to spend and what your driving distance are. If you’re going to be mostly around Dublin, electric is a no brainer, providing you can fit the family in the car. You can hire a car, use a service like GoCar for the times that you need it for longer journeys.

You can check if a car has a valid NCT on their website www.NCTS.ie/1104. You’d want to be getting something with at least one year on the cert for peace of mind.

You can check the tax rate on motortax.ie.

coylemj

OP, do not even go to take a look at a car with no valid NCT. The standard BS sales pitch with independent dealers is that they take in a car with an expired NCT and offer it for sale with a worthless 'guarantee' that it will pass. When you submit it for the test. After you have handed over the money. Don't be that mug.

I agree with the previous poster about the time remaining on the NCT. If I was selling a car and the NCT had less than a year to run, I would submit it for the test to get a new cert. Any seller who is not prepared to do the same should be avoided. Either there's a fault in the car that they know about and which will cause it to fail or it's long overdue a service and they're afraid that it will fail on emissions or brakes or something else.