Buying Car UK. Best way/ferry home.
- Thread starter Birroc
- Start date
You'd be far better going from Fishguard and getting Stena Line. Departures are at 1430 and 0245 - see below.
If you're planning on staying then anywhere along the M4 will cut down your journey time. SW London (say Richmond) to Fishguard is about 4.5 hours for the 0245 and can be about an hour longer for the 1430 daytime sailing (stuck behind doddery drivers in Wales etc.). Getting to Fishguard is easy - right to the end of the M4, follow the signs to Carmarthen and turn left at the roundabout.
Then just go N25 Waterford-Limerick-Galway.
You could buy the car, mooch around for the day in SW London and then head off for the 0245 ferry, be home at lunchtime on Sunday. Get a cabin - best €40 you'll ever spend.
The Swansea-Cork ferry takes an age.
Only fly in the ointment is that the weather looks poor for the weekend and no ferry will run if the winds are too strong (can't get off the berth).
Good luck with the car.
Superferry and Express from Fishguard
If you're planning on staying then anywhere along the M4 will cut down your journey time. SW London (say Richmond) to Fishguard is about 4.5 hours for the 0245 and can be about an hour longer for the 1430 daytime sailing (stuck behind doddery drivers in Wales etc.). Getting to Fishguard is easy - right to the end of the M4, follow the signs to Carmarthen and turn left at the roundabout.
Then just go N25 Waterford-Limerick-Galway.
You could buy the car, mooch around for the day in SW London and then head off for the 0245 ferry, be home at lunchtime on Sunday. Get a cabin - best €40 you'll ever spend.
The Swansea-Cork ferry takes an age.
Only fly in the ointment is that the weather looks poor for the weekend and no ferry will run if the winds are too strong (can't get off the berth).
Good luck with the car.
Superferry and Express from Fishguard
Fishguard - Rosslare
Rosslare - Fishguard
Depart
Arrives
Depart
Arrives
SuperferryRosslare - Fishguard
Depart
Arrives
Depart
Arrives
02:45
06.15
Express*06.15
08:00
10.00
Express*10.00
11:30
13.30
Superferry13.30
09:00
12.30
Superferry12.30
14:30a
18.00
Express*18.00
15:00
17.00
Express*17.00
18:30
20.30
Superferry20.30
21:15a
00.30
00.30
The Holyhead ones cost the same no matter who you use. Fishguard is cheaper. The overnight ferries from Liverpool cost a fortune and they have stupid fuel supplements on the price so a 240 crossing becomes 300 at purchase.
We always use Irish Ferries from Holyhead as it is near to us as Stenna fast boat goes to Dun Loaghaire.
We always use Irish Ferries from Holyhead as it is near to us as Stenna fast boat goes to Dun Loaghaire.
The Holyhead boats are bigger and better than the Wales boats generally. Not sure there's any advantage going that route if the end point is Galway. The overnight Stena ferry goes to Dublin Port too.
The drive up on the M1/M40 and M6 is probably going to be more congested than the trip on the M4 to Wales.
Remember you'll need a few GBPs for the Severn Bridge if you go that way, no card payments.
If you're booking with Stena ask for the price of the Premium ticket - priority boarding and lounge access. This may be the same price or just a little bit more than booking an economy/flexible ticket this late in the day.
Also remember that Man U play Spurs at home on the Saturday, so the routes from the Home Counties to Old Trafford will be very busy (plus the Spurs fans will be travelling), and it's Liverpool v. Everton on the Sunday at 4.
SSE
The drive up on the M1/M40 and M6 is probably going to be more congested than the trip on the M4 to Wales.
Remember you'll need a few GBPs for the Severn Bridge if you go that way, no card payments.
If you're booking with Stena ask for the price of the Premium ticket - priority boarding and lounge access. This may be the same price or just a little bit more than booking an economy/flexible ticket this late in the day.
Also remember that Man U play Spurs at home on the Saturday, so the routes from the Home Counties to Old Trafford will be very busy (plus the Spurs fans will be travelling), and it's Liverpool v. Everton on the Sunday at 4.
SSE
€244 incl. for a Transit and 2 pax. Out 2/2/09, back the following night.
For a van, plus essentially 2 nights dinner, B&B that's a good fare imho.
p.s. You need to know where to book as discounts can be had
Hi suzie,
I picked my car up from London in April last and came home via Holyhead. Left London (Stansted area) in the afternoon and drove straight to Chester in about 3 hrs flat on good roads. Stayed in the Holiday Inn Garden court A55 just outside Chester £45 for a twin room. Chilled for the evening, had a beer and left refreshed the next morning for Holyhead. The road is direct and you can reach the port in about 90mins from Chester. I on the other hand took the coastal route and enjoyed the drive in my new sports coupe!!! Landed in Dun Laoghaire around 4.50 pm.
All in all a very relaxed and enjoyable drive.
Daithi
I picked my car up from London in April last and came home via Holyhead. Left London (Stansted area) in the afternoon and drove straight to Chester in about 3 hrs flat on good roads. Stayed in the Holiday Inn Garden court A55 just outside Chester £45 for a twin room. Chilled for the evening, had a beer and left refreshed the next morning for Holyhead. The road is direct and you can reach the port in about 90mins from Chester. I on the other hand took the coastal route and enjoyed the drive in my new sports coupe!!! Landed in Dun Laoghaire around 4.50 pm.
All in all a very relaxed and enjoyable drive.
Daithi
Birroc, Congratulations on your purchase. We bought a car 2 years ago in Warrington (Hour and a half from Holyhead). We flew to Manchester and were collected by the garage. The car was beautiful (and still is) and I received a lovely bunch of flowers from the Garage. We had a lovely time collecting the car and a great trip home on the fast ferry. The best part was we saved approx 20K in total. My husband is contemplating having the timing belt changed in Warrington and making a weekend of it. He finds the local garages very expensive and incompetant.
I'll be doing the same for any major work on my car. Cambelt belt change in Ireland for me will be about €1,100 and I have to drive to Wicklow and stay overnight. A specialist garage in Birmingham established and highly recommended for their work does the same job for in about 3 hours for £500 all in. So I'll be making a nice driving weekend holiday trip when I need the work doing!!
Hi Lamb,
My husband bought a Volvo S80 fully loaded. I rang the garage in Warrington this morning but they do not have Audi in any of their franchise. I found our contact on the internet (spent many hours researching) and have been very happy with the car. I would recommend going to an Audi Dealer - keep away from the private as you have no comeback. Also, another point of interest.....the warrenty on our Volvo covered all of Europe, therefore, if we had any issues we could contact our local garage. Good luck with your purchase.
Mary
My husband bought a Volvo S80 fully loaded. I rang the garage in Warrington this morning but they do not have Audi in any of their franchise. I found our contact on the internet (spent many hours researching) and have been very happy with the car. I would recommend going to an Audi Dealer - keep away from the private as you have no comeback. Also, another point of interest.....the warrenty on our Volvo covered all of Europe, therefore, if we had any issues we could contact our local garage. Good luck with your purchase.
Mary
Daithi, what make of car do you have?
I'm waiting for our Warrington contact to give me a price for belt and full service, might as well seeing as we are going over.
Had car serviced 3 - 4 times over here and had issues each time. Garage forgot to reset computer......oil marks on inside of door and steering wheel (cream leather).....floor mats marked.....bulbs not working that were previously working etc etc. The garages certainly know how to charge but that is about it.
Got quote for 720 Sterling all in. Making arrangements for sometime in Feb. They will hold the quote for 3 months.
Got the car and did London to Holyhead in 5 hours. All the ferries from Wales seems to leave within an hour of each other (2pm ish) and the fast ones are not running in January. Anyway, got the car, happy days.
Now to VRT it..........do I need to NCT it straight away too ? Its 2005
Now to VRT it..........do I need to NCT it straight away too ? Its 2005
Not till the 4th anniversary of when the car was first registered in UK (if car was registered in UK in Jan 05 then yes). But you are better off doing it as soon as you can. I think you can do it 6 months in advance for the first NCT. I don't think you can do the NCT with UK plates still on the car as the car will not be on the Irish system and therefore will not show up for the NCT.