Buying during the Covid19 pandemic

xboxdad · 19-05-2020 3:49pm

omega42 wrote: »

Q. If i bought a car that is out of NCT since Jan 2020, where do I stand, I cant get it NCTed until the centers are opened again so am I covered till they do or would I have to keep car off the road until I can get it tested?

Thanks in advance

It's almost the same situation I'm in.. We have a daily driver family car that failed the NCT in January. I got it all fixed in a few days, paid hundreds of EUR, then they cancelled the retest due to the lift issues. The lift situation was supposed to be resolved by mid-April / May. Never happened.

Everyone in the news talks about how they extended the NCT validity for ppl who had their NCT expire during the lockdown. They seem to forget NCT was effectively out of order since January.

You might have seen in my previous posts that we also paid deposit for a new car in March. So now I'll have to drive outside of my 5km zone with a car that has no NCT since January. Good luck at the checkpoints

I also can't sell my car for a reasonable amount of money without NCT I guess.
It also won't have insurance once I get the new car as we're going to transfer the insurance with the bonus to the new car.
So won't be able to drive to the NCT test with the old car even if they reopen finally, so can't sell it at a reasonable price it seems.
Real complex stuff...

Trimm Trabb · 19-05-2020 9:34pm

I'n new to buying.. Anyone explain why cars for sale in Donegal appear to be more competitive than rest of market?

Bullocks · 19-05-2020 9:37pm

Trimm Trabb wrote: »

I'n new to buying.. Anyone explain why cars for sale in Donegal appear to be more competitive than rest of market?

I don't know the real reason but my ould lad would never buy a car on donegal plates because he reconeked their rods were terrible and they were hard drivers up there. I wouldn't mind but he drove the bag out of every car he ever bought himself till he hit his late sixties!

bazz26 · 19-05-2020 9:37pm

Because it's very easy for locals to pop over the border and buy in NI where they are generally cheaper.

Leonard Hofstadter · 23-05-2020 2:08am

xboxdad wrote: »

I paid 500 EUR deposit on a new car on the 1st day of the lockdown and the condition we agreed on is to proceed when the show room reopens.

But.. The show room reopens on Monday and I still can't go farther than 5km..
I'd need to go to the other side of the city (Dublin). M50 or through the city.
Technically they could keep my deposit I guess as it's on me to get there.

What can I do now?

The 5 km limit is for exercise only. It's surprising how many people still believe they cannot exceed this guidance for anything else despite the Government saying this several times since restrictions due to this pandemic were brought in.

Of course, you're still supposed to stay at home unless it is for exercise or for an essential reason, but going to a car showroom counts now they've been allowed to re-open.

challengemaster · 23-05-2020 2:18am

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

The 5 km limit is for exercise only. It's surprising how many people still believe they cannot exceed this guidance for anything else despite the Government saying this several times since restrictions due to this pandemic were brought in.

Of course, you're still supposed to stay at home unless it is for exercise or for an essential reason, but going to a car showroom counts now they've been allowed to re-open.

"5km applies to outdoor exercise, social visits and visits to public amenities"

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/ad5dd0-easing-the-covid-19-restrictions-on-may-18-phase-1/

xboxdad · 23-05-2020 8:32am

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

Of course, you're still supposed to stay at home unless it is for exercise or for an essential reason

So this was the main point for me above. Visiting a show room is in no way essential in my head unless you're an essential worker and need something urgently.

In any case I took my chances and visited the show room successfully.

poker--addict · 23-05-2020 1:24pm

Hi all,

With show rooms reopening, I am on the look out for a used car.

What do we think the supply and demand situation is likely to be in the coming weeks.

Has the consumer gained negotiation leverage? If so, much?

road_high · 23-05-2020 1:49pm

poker--addict wrote: »

Hi all,

With show rooms reopening, I am on the look out for a used car.

What do we think the supply and demand situation is likely to be in the coming weeks.

Has the consumer gained negotiation leverage? If so, much?

Other thread on here from a guy in the trade saying they’d been surprisingly busy this week and also no major savings going on.

SimpNation · 23-05-2020 3:55pm

Greetings,

My car of 20 years just died, it was a VW Passat and served us well. So the hunt for a replacement begins, myself and the missus are both working from home until November at least and live close to amenities so no rush for a replacement.

We have our eyes on either a Audi A4, Audi A5, Mercedes Benz C220 or another VW Passat. Minimum year 2012 with a max budget of 15k. We are open to travelling up North or to the UK to purchase, my question is should we go for one now or wait it out to see if theprices of used cars will crash.

Any insight is much appreciated.

Gracias

colm_mcm · 23-05-2020 4:03pm

If you’re sending €15k then a new shape late 2015 onwards Passat would be a good shout. Older stuff will get hammered in nox charges. With your budget you’ll get something newer of course.

bazz26 · 23-05-2020 4:08pm

I'd wait till later in the year if you can. There is a bit of euphoria going on at the moment as the dealerships have just reopened with reports of brisk trade. Wait until later in the year when things die down and you might find dealerships more keen to shift stock especially if you have no old car to trade.

Ubbquittious · 23-05-2020 4:35pm

How dead is the old car?

kaymin · 23-05-2020 5:00pm

SimpNation wrote: »

Greetings,

My car of 20 years just died, it was a VW Passat and served us well. So the hunt for a replacement begins, myself and the missus are both working from home until November at least and live close to amenities so no rush for a replacement.

We have our eyes on either a Audi A4, Audi A5, Mercedes Benz C220 or another VW Passat. Minimum year 2012 with a max budget of 15k. We are open to travelling up North or to the UK to purchase, my question is should we go for one now or wait it out to see if theprices of used cars will crash.

Any insight is much appreciated.

Gracias

Any chance you'd sell me the windshield washer nozzle? Mine is blocked (2007 passat) and I can't clear it

poker--addict · 23-05-2020 6:00pm

bazz26 wrote: »

I'd wait till later in the year if you can. There is a bit of euphoria going on at the moment as the dealerships have just reopened with reports of brisk trade. Wait until later in the year when things die down and you might find dealerships more keen to shift stock especially if you have no old car to trade.

Sounds like this might be true. I am not sure the reality of job losses has hit the country yet. The government support/Covid payment is hiding the economic mess at worker level. No government can afford to keep paying it, and soon companies will have to make hard decisions.

In addition to higher unemployment, a lot of people are going to be working from home and not commuting for the foreseeable.

SimpNation · 23-05-2020 6:56pm

kaymin wrote: »

Any chance you'd sell me the windshield washer nozzle? Mine is blocked (2007 passat) and I can't clear it

Car is gone unfortunately, sorry.

Thanks for the advice people i will wait until around January 2021 as by then a 2012 will be 9 years old which will provide us with more negotiation leverage and we will see how the economy is looking. Looking like we will be in a deep recession by then and that is when reality will bite but who really knows what will happen.

L-M · 23-05-2020 9:36pm

kaymin wrote: »

Any chance you'd sell me the windshield washer nozzle? Mine is blocked (2007 passat) and I can't clear it

Did you try sticking a needle in the jets?

L-M · 23-05-2020 9:39pm

poker--addict wrote: »

Hi all,

With show rooms reopening, I am on the look out for a used car.

What do we think the supply and demand situation is likely to be in the coming weeks.

Has the consumer gained negotiation leverage? If so, much?

Word around is prices aren’t dropping, mainly because of the UK import situation changing, and the lack of new cars sales therefore lack of used car stock and if it continues throughout the year it’ll create a further shortage.

I can assure you dealers are very keen to move stock, but if you’re expecting cars to drop by 2/3k it won’t happen. Not unless things change

kaymin · 24-05-2020 9:11pm

L-M wrote: »

Did you try sticking a needle in the jets?

Yes, and boiled it but no joy.

L-M · 24-05-2020 9:18pm

kaymin wrote: »

Yes, and boiled it but no joy.

Might need a thinner wire (like a piece off a wire brush) or a shot of air.

road_high · 24-05-2020 11:23pm

L-M wrote: »

Word around is prices aren’t dropping, mainly because of the UK import situation changing, and the lack of new cars sales therefore lack of used car stock and if it continues throughout the year it’ll create a further shortage.

I can assure you dealers are very keen to move stock, but if you’re expecting cars to drop by 2/3k it won’t happen. Not unless things change

Was probably longer term back then but used prices rose significantly around 2012 onwards after the last recession as there was a severe shortage of good used cars due to collapsed new sales 2009-2010. Obviously not at that point here but car ownership rates have remained high and demand may even increase as people are scared off public transport

MrMusician18 · 24-05-2020 11:30pm

poker--addict wrote: »

Hi all,

With show rooms reopening, I am on the look out for a used car.

What do we think the supply and demand situation is likely to be in the coming weeks.

Has the consumer gained negotiation leverage? If so, much?

One thing which could throw the whole used car market open is if one of the big car hire companies goes to the wall. A couple of hundred near new used cars coming to market at the same time would dramatically effect prices here. Hertz North America has gone into chapter 11 bankruptcy (what we would recognise as administration) due to the pandemic, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the big names fall this side of the Atlantic too.

SummerK · 24-05-2020 11:52pm

Toyota is offering upto €2000 discount if you finance car with them. I remember they had something called as trade in booster but now they have this discount if you’re not trading in a car.
If new car prices are going down (seat, toyota) then I think used car prices would go down eventually.

bazz26 · 25-05-2020 12:08am

What rate is their finance? You need to be careful, if their rate is high compared to other lending institutions then the interest paid could eat away at that 2k over the term of the finance.

SummerK · 25-05-2020 1:07am

bazz26 wrote: »

What rate is their finance? You need to be careful, if their rate is high compared to other lending institutions then the interest paid could eat away at that 2k over the term of the finance.

It’s 3.9% APR, same as earlier.

L-M · 25-05-2020 7:15am

The problem is new cars are so expensive that knocking 2000 off a 45k Rav for isn’t going to effect the prince of a 2018 at 24k.

Seat always prostituted itself for new car sales also so nothing new there

SummerK · 25-05-2020 10:02am

L-M wrote: »

The problem is new cars are so expensive that knocking 2000 off a 45k Rav for isn’t going to effect the prince of a 2018 at 24k.

May or may not on a 2018 RAV4 but it will effect 2019 RAV4 for sure. New Luna costs roughly 37.5k after discounts and main dealers are selling 2019 RAV4 Luna for over 35k

. I see a need for price correction if they want to shift used stock.

Seat always prostituted itself for new car sales also so nothing new there

True, but discounts on a new car will effect pricing of 2019 and 2020 used stock to some extent.

L-M · 25-05-2020 9:04pm

One year old cars aren’t a gauge of used cars prices. They’re usually ex demos and the dealer would generally get very little from the manufacture to do one, so generally the prices are high because they’re trying to limit a loss.

ordinaryfella · 25-05-2020 9:31pm

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

Of course, you're still supposed to stay at home unless it is for exercise or for an essential reason, but going to a car showroom counts now they've been allowed to re-open.

Gotta say i'm a little confused by this. As showrooms are now open is it now reasonable to travel > 5km to view a car?

poker--addict · 25-05-2020 11:58pm

I’m not seeming many police on roads at moment, nor anyone getting too excited about the 5km. The roads now are as busy as any time when school is out. People getting very excited/confused about NCTs too, can’t see any police or insurance company holding an expired NCT against anyone who is remotely genuine.

A sensible drive into a garage which is doing some basic hygiene measures and allowing solo test drives, and doing social distance isn’t a threat to anyone. What the government don’t want is crowds of people raving and in each other’s face.

The whole ozone cleaning of cars seems like nonsense too. Stick a mask on, give the surfaces a rub of a disinfectant wipe and don’t hug the car dealer. Wash hands, consider waiting if underlying issues or in an at risk group.

It seems the Northern Irish car show rooms are at least 2-3 weeks behind the Republic.

Buying during the Covid19 pandemic

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