Buying in the North

I'm looking for some advice please. I want to buy a 2003 Volkswagen Passat 1.9tdi 130 bhp. Having checked prices on many car sites, it seems that I can save at least €1500 if I buy the car in the North, bring it down here, and pay roughly €3000 VRT to the Revenue Commisioners.

I'm looking in particular at 'Richard Patterson Motors' in Kilkea, Co. Derry. They specialise in bringing turbo diesels in from England and sell all their Passats with full VW service histories, fully serviced and ready for the road! They seem very helpful to talk to and say that If there's ever a problem with their cars, customers will be looked after.

I intend to travel up to them in a couple of weeks, and am wondering if anybody has any experience with this dealer, or any experience in general, good or bad, when buying cars north of the border?

Any advice would be appreciated.....

Re: Buying in the North....

Might be worthwhile getting a full car inspection through the AA (Dekra) - I know its very good in UK - not sure if available in the north, about €250 I think but they go through it with a finetooth comb!!!!Its a case of picking a car and telling the dealer you want it checked by the AA - if the car is ok they should have no problems allowing this, then just book it with AA for an inspection. You dont have to be there - they will ring you with report. (you dont have to be an AA member btw)

Other big thing is to get a HPI check to make sure the car does not have outstanding Hire purchase agreement on it.

Re: Buying in the North....

I was thinking of buying from the north last year but instead went to a franchised dealer in England. I heard English motorists put a lot of time and effort into the upkeep of their cars so you'll get more extras and a better looked after car. Also got a better deal in England than I was getting in any of the Northern dealerships I contacted. with the franchised dealer I got the HPI check and safety check done at their expense.

Re: Buying in the North....

Liamob said:

They specialise in bringing turbo diesels in from England and sell all their Passats with full VW service histories, fully serviced and ready for the road!
Any advice would be appreciated.....

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Would you not be better off to cut out the middle man and buy direct from England in this scenario?

I bought an A6 diesel privately in the north a couple of years ago and after all expenses it still worked out about €3/4k cheaper than it would have cost me down here (cost me €22,500 all in and they were being advertised for approx €28,000 down here at the time)

Re: Buying in the North....

I live in Donegal and many people buy across the border and import secondhand cars because of the savings. Garages are as reputable as the Republic ! Only comment I have is that salt is used on the roads in the North in winter, so watch out for underbody rust. If the car is well maintained previously, this should not be a problem

Re: Buying in the North....

Liamo

Have you got a website for the dealer?

Re: Buying in the North....

There are two garages I'm looking at. Richardpattersonmotors.co.uk and mucc.co.uk.

Thanks for all your replies. I like the AA inspection idea. I must investigate this immediately.

Re: Buying in the North....

grahamo said:

I heard English motorists put a lot of time and effort into the upkeep of their cars

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And french men cycle around on rickety old bikes with strings of onions and garlic around their necks, germans meanwhile are very humourless, but ruthlessly efficient.......

Does anyone know what the VRT calculation is based on? Is it a straight % of the market value or does the engine size etc come into play?

Also, are there better countries to go to other than the NI / England?

VRT changes depending on engine size
up to 1.4 is 20%
up to 1.9 is 25%
over 1.9 is 30%

The percentage is then on the OMSP

The problem with going elswhere is Right Hand Drive is not so available.

A very interesting thread.

Just a few questions:

1) Will you save more on a higher value car?.........I ask this because I have heard of people importing from England and they seem to be all Audis and BMWs.

2) Is there greater savings to be made by travelling to England rather than the North?

3) Are the savings only to be made on second hand cars as opposed to new?..............I like the idea of buing an almost new car...maybe a year old and make some savings.

4)I wonder if I did import a car and then went to selll or trade it in a few years later, would the trade in price be adversely affected because I imported?