Andrew Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 Looking over the classifieds I always see some cars on Irish plates (3 letters followed by 4 numbers?) which are always priced lower than the UK equivalents. Why is this - what are the issues with buying an Irish car? Presumably one could put a UK plate on it when bought and it would look the same as others. I'm talking specifically about BMWs here - not sure if that makes a difference. Maybe warranty or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davyk31 Posted December 29, 2010 Report Share Posted December 29, 2010 If plates are 3 letters and 4 numbers they are Northern Ireland cars so exactly the same as mainland UK cars, NI is still part of UK so car spec and warranty exactly the same. Big engined petrol cars not so popular here so they might be cheaper. You can buy a car here and drive straight away in England no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduisbergkid Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 I'd be interested to know what effect the Irish economy meltdown has had on used prices in the Republic. I know that car tax is linked to engine size or something, and that is is bloody expensive to run anything decent over there. I wonder if there are any bargains to be had ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabby Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 There is a NI Autotrader to help with this. A starter for 10 Used BMW 3 SERIES 3.0L Car for Sale - Auto Trader UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted December 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 This car: BMW : Beautiful m3 coupe for example is from NI and is very low in price for the miles compared to some others yet it has not sold. There must be a reason why English/Scot/Welsh buyers steer clear of NI or Ireland cars. Compared to this one with a worse colour interior something doesn't stack up: Williams Motor Company : BMW M3. It seems to be quite consistent with cars from over the water west. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooH Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 Maybe it's the hassle of collection/shipping or that people consider them to be 'foreign imports' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted December 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 I can only think it must be the latter becuause I've seen examples on the mainland from across the water which don't sell quickly either and are lower in price. Just interesting to think about for any potential resale I might want if I get one I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davyk31 Posted December 31, 2010 Report Share Posted December 31, 2010 M3 are not great sellers over here due to fuel consumption. Also that car in NI is a private sale, the other one in Cardiff is a dealer so prices will vary. No major hassle to transport a car from NI to England / Scotland / Wales, if you want to view yourself flights are tiny prices if you book right, or if you want to get it transported on a trailer its only about £150. Huge numbers of cars come from England for sale in NI so no worries in doing it the other way. I recently traded in an X5 to my BMW delaer in NI, they sold it to a guy from Bath who bought it unseen and they were delivering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saab Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 I had a 330d which I bought in England, but had Northern Irish plates as it had spent some of its life there. There wasn't a huge amount of history with the car so I applied to the DVLA to get hold of the ownership records. Vehicle registrations in Britain are administered at Swansea, but they are handled entirely separately by the Department of Transport in Belfast for Northern Irish vehicles. When the records finally arrived (it took 4 months) I was interested to see that the car had had 4 owners in NI. However because of the way the two vehicle agencies work (i.e. they don't communicate fully) the entire period that the car was in NI was recorded on the GB V5 document as 1 keeper. What this effectively meant was that the car that I had bought as a 3 owner car was in reality a 6 owner car. Had I been aware of this at the time of purchase I would have probably not considered buying it, or at the very least driven a harder bargain. As it turned out the car was a pile of crap - as no doubt the numerous previous owners had discovered! Also when I traded it in the dealer viewed the car as having been imported despite having only ever been registered in the UK and correspondingly reduced the price (this may have been the individual dealer, but it was a huge national chain so someone who should know what they're talking about). Anyway it may not be hugely relevant in this specific case, but it is worth being mindful of when considering a car which has been previously registered in Northern Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted January 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 A very useful reply, thanks Saab. I reckon I'll find something at a mainland dealer in due course anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeDesmo Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 My Wife's cousin is Irish and travels alot between Eire and England - he often buys cars (Diesels) over here to sell in Ireland because they cost much more over there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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