Thinking of buying a new car,is it a good time of the year to be buying?A few have said it's a bad time to be buying as it's a sellers market.Has any of yous went to England to buy before and what are the best websites to look on over there?Would it be wiser to buy from a dealer or take ney chances buying private?
When you say new I take it you mean second hand? What type of car are you thinking of?
Do a straw poll of your friends to see what Make makes them happy. If you don't have a lot of knowledge of cars, an independent dealer may be wisest but make sure they service them as well as just selling them like GJL.
I would suggest that Japanese cars though soulless are pretty indestructible mechanically. Now all makes are pretty good though French cars don't seem to be well thought of. VAG cars e.g. VW, Audis and their clones (Seat, Skoda) are also good.
Happy hunting.
Quote from: GJL on January 07, 2015, 10:20:30 AM
When you say new I take it you mean second hand? What type of car are you thinking of?
Yeah second hand,but something fairly fresh,I hear ones saying to go to England as 90 percent of the dealers is all soon that and to cut out the middle man
Quote from: Family guy on January 07, 2015, 11:47:30 AM
Quote from: GJL on January 07, 2015, 10:20:30 AM
When you say new I take it you mean second hand? What type of car are you thinking of?
Yeah second hand,but something fairly fresh,I hear ones saying to go to England as 90 percent of the dealers is all soon that and to cut out the middle man
This is true but don't forget to factor in the hassle, time and risk associated with you doing it yourself.
I have bought my last 3 cars from England. I wouldn't buy a car from here again. It is a bit of hassle but you do get a better car if it has done mostly motorway miles.
If your spending decent money then there's definitely more value in England. Bought a couple over there from the large Car supermarkets in around London. We planned it well so that we flew over had a weekend away and then bought the car and drove home on the ferry. Real easy. But do your research before hand. We chopped a good £1.5 -2K of an A4 a couple of years ago.
Remember that if you are from the south to factor in the vrt cost as well.
I'm after an upgrade myself...looking for something around £7k - £8k. Honda Civic or Seat Leon something like that but what year would you get for that sort of money?
Quote from: illdecide on January 07, 2015, 04:13:38 PM
I'm after an upgrade myself...looking for something around £7k - £8k. Honda Civic or Seat Leon something like that but what year would you get for that sort of money?
That sort of money will get you into a nice 2011 1.6tdi Leon with good spec.
Are the smaller diesel engines up to big mileage GJL? In my mind they wouldn't but I'm not basing that on evidence.
I was set on buying a used car but some of the deals (dealer contribution and 0% finance) are starting to make a new car financed on PCP look like a good idea, am I missing something?
I've bought a good few cars in England and have an interest in them. I assume the person in the OP is from the south. It used to be a no brainer going to the UK to buy as sterling was weak but today sterling is strong. I would say it comes to a basic question of maths. Get the sterling price, convert to euro, add couple of hundred to cover flights, go to revenue.ie to calculate your VRT. Then compare this price to say carzone.ie for the same model and then make your mind up.
In my opinion cars in the UK on average are in better condition and better looked after than in Ireland but there's manys a gangster about clocking cars so make sure someone gives it a good look over (same can happen in Ireland too of course).
Now there are also a lot of dealers (in fact nearly every dealer) in the south bringing in cars from the UK and in many cases they can buy them cheaper than you could if you went over yourself. Today I would say there is feck all saving on most models that you cant get here. The ones that fleece you are the main dealers and most of them are selling the same UK 2nd hand yokes.
Japs are good etc etc. Toyota are making plenty of mistakes and in all honesty most cars have some issue or the other. Even some of the French cars are much improved, especially Peugeot. Id stay away from Renault personally. THe only car I very seldom hear complaints about are Hondas which seem indestructible.
Zulu - 0% finance is a great way to have a new car but do you really need a new car? If I were you I'd compare the cost of 0% finance on a new model versus say a 12 month old car in the same model with less than 10k on the clock (and likely 2 years warranty remaining). Do you really want to pay the difference just to have "15" on the number plate??? Only you can answer that one.
Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 07, 2015, 07:34:37 PM
I've bought a good few cars in England and have an interest in them. I assume the person in the OP is from the south. It used to be a no brainer going to the UK to buy as sterling was weak but today sterling is strong. I would say it comes to a basic question of maths. Get the sterling price, convert to euro, add couple of hundred to cover flights, go to revenue.ie to calculate your VRT. Then compare this price to say carzone.ie for the same model and then make your mind up.
In my opinion cars in the UK on average are in better condition and better looked after than in Ireland but there's manys a gangster about clocking cars so make sure someone gives it a good look over (same can happen in Ireland too of course).
Now there are also a lot of dealers (in fact nearly every dealer) in the south bringing in cars from the UK and in many cases they can buy them cheaper than you could if you went over yourself. Today I would say there is feck all saving on most models that you cant get here. The ones that fleece you are the main dealers and most of them are selling the same UK 2nd hand yokes.
Japs are good etc etc. Toyota are making plenty of mistakes and in all honesty most cars have some issue or the other. Even some of the French cars are much improved, especially Peugeot. Id stay away from Renault personally. THe only car I very seldom hear complaints about are Hondas which seem indestructible.
Zulu - 0% finance is a great way to have a new car but do you really need a new car? If I were you I'd compare the cost of 0% finance on a new model versus say a 12 month old car in the same model with less than 10k on the clock (and likely 2 years warranty remaining). Do you really want to pay the difference just to have "15" on the number plate??? Only you can answer that one.
Would agree in principle but it is a good way for someone to pay off a new car (with safety of full warranty etc) on a monthly basis rather than trying to dredge up 20 grand cash. An equivalent loan is obviously going to have interest.
Quote from: Tony Baloney on January 07, 2015, 07:41:21 PM
Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 07, 2015, 07:34:37 PM
I've bought a good few cars in England and have an interest in them. I assume the person in the OP is from the south. It used to be a no brainer going to the UK to buy as sterling was weak but today sterling is strong. I would say it comes to a basic question of maths. Get the sterling price, convert to euro, add couple of hundred to cover flights, go to revenue.ie to calculate your VRT. Then compare this price to say carzone.ie for the same model and then make your mind up.
In my opinion cars in the UK on average are in better condition and better looked after than in Ireland but there's manys a gangster about clocking cars so make sure someone gives it a good look over (same can happen in Ireland too of course).
Now there are also a lot of dealers (in fact nearly every dealer) in the south bringing in cars from the UK and in many cases they can buy them cheaper than you could if you went over yourself. Today I would say there is feck all saving on most models that you cant get here. The ones that fleece you are the main dealers and most of them are selling the same UK 2nd hand yokes.
Japs are good etc etc. Toyota are making plenty of mistakes and in all honesty most cars have some issue or the other. Even some of the French cars are much improved, especially Peugeot. Id stay away from Renault personally. THe only car I very seldom hear complaints about are Hondas which seem indestructible.
Zulu - 0% finance is a great way to have a new car but do you really need a new car? If I were you I'd compare the cost of 0% finance on a new model versus say a 12 month old car in the same model with less than 10k on the clock (and likely 2 years warranty remaining). Do you really want to pay the difference just to have "15" on the number plate??? Only you can answer that one.
Would agree in principle but it is a good way for someone to pay off a new car (with safety of full warranty etc) on a monthly basis rather than trying to dredge up 20 grand cash. An equivalent loan is obviously going to have interest.
do you not have to pay a hefty enough deposit though? I looked into buying a new Kia Sportage. I had to have €8k up front then I was going to be paying €240 every month and I wouldn't even own the car after 3 years as there was an option at the end of the contract to buy it outright for another few grand.I guess the other option means handing the car back??
If I got a loan from the credit union I could buy a 2013 Sportage,same repayments and nothing up front as the loan would cover the full amount and I own the car in 3 years.
Maybe I'm missing something also when it comes to finance from the car dealer as to be honest I did find the whole thing rather confusing. Probably my own stupidity but the salesman didn't help with how he explained it.
Still haven't bought anything yet.
There are loads of finance options but the smaller/cheaper cars will often have 0 deposit, 0% finance over 4 or 5 years as they can obviously do this on a Seat Ibiza or the like. For a bigger car like the Sportage these deals with zero contribution from the buyer typically don't exist as either the monthly repayments would be massive or you would be paying it off for years.
Thanks for the thoughts lads. The 15 reg is not a consideration for me but I would do approx 20,000 miles a year with a lot of motorway driving and some pretty lengthy trips thrown in so I'd like to have something I enjoy being in. I'm not that interested in owning the car outright as I used to do that but would prefer to change car every 3 - 4 years now. My understanding is with a PCP I can pay a deposit of whatever I want, pay monthly and then after 3 years I have a guaranteed value which if lower than the actual value of the vehicle leaves me with a deposit towards a new car. For example Skoda were giving £1500 towards a new superb and 0% finance (Audi were contributing £4500!), if I put £3000 deposit and the difference between the guaranteed value and the actual value after 3 years was around £3000 then I'd have my deposit back without putting my hand in my pocket. Only if I got another Skoda of course but still, it seems like a pretty good deal to me but maybe I'm not grasping the full story?
I won't buy anything more than 3 years old so with dealer contribution and lower interest rates I reckon I might be better off with a new car that will always be under warranty, would't I?
Quote from: theskull1 on January 07, 2015, 05:45:20 PM
Are the smaller diesel engines up to big mileage GJL? In my mind they wouldn't but I'm not basing that on evidence.
I've seen plenty of the new 1.6 TDI VW engine with well over 100k miles on and going perfect. The secret is regular servicing and no shit diesel. IMO cars coming out of England are better maintained and the diesel over there is generally better. I brought over 100 cars out of England last year and have had very little issues. Be warned though you need to know what you are at if you go to public auctions or car supermarkets. Lots of scrap over there too. I buy out of closed trade auctions that give very detailed descriptions of the cars and flag any issues like previous repairs or mechanical faults.
Quote from: GJL on January 07, 2015, 08:55:07 PM
Quote from: theskull1 on January 07, 2015, 05:45:20 PM
Are the smaller diesel engines up to big mileage GJL? In my mind they wouldn't but I'm not basing that on evidence.
I've seen plenty of the new 1.6 TDI VW engine with well over 100k miles on and going perfect. The secret is regular servicing and no shit diesel. IMO cars coming out of England are better maintained and the diesel over there is generally better. I brought over 100 cars out of England last year and have had very little issues. Be warned though you need to know what you are at if you go to public auctions or car supermarkets. Lots of scrap over there too. I buy out of closed trade auctions that give very detailed descriptions of the cars and flag any issues like previous repairs or mechanical faults.
These lads should just buy their cars from you amd save the hassle ;D
Quote from: Tony Baloney on January 07, 2015, 09:08:54 PM
Quote from: GJL on January 07, 2015, 08:55:07 PM
Quote from: theskull1 on January 07, 2015, 05:45:20 PM
Are the smaller diesel engines up to big mileage GJL? In my mind they wouldn't but I'm not basing that on evidence.
I've seen plenty of the new 1.6 TDI VW engine with well over 100k miles on and going perfect. The secret is regular servicing and no shit diesel. IMO cars coming out of England are better maintained and the diesel over there is generally better. I brought over 100 cars out of England last year and have had very little issues. Be warned though you need to know what you are at if you go to public auctions or car supermarkets. Lots of scrap over there too. I buy out of closed trade auctions that give very detailed descriptions of the cars and flag any issues like previous repairs or mechanical faults.
These lads should just buy their cars from you amd save the hassle ;D
I like your thinking Tony. 8)
Bought a 2012 Seat Leon 1.6 Ecomotive last year, had almost 40k miles on it. Got it for a very reasonable price and am more than happy with it. The sat nav and free road tax were a bonus.
whats shit diesel and how do you recognise it?
Quote from: rosnarun on January 08, 2015, 04:31:28 PM
whats shit diesel and how do you recognise it?
It is diesel that has been mixed with home heating oil or laundered green/red diesel. Very hard to recognise but the best way to avoid it is to buy from one of the big respected retailers like BP, Maxol etc although there are no guarantees. Avoid small independent retailers especially on the border.