There are some brand new Volkswagen Passats 1.8TSI Highline on sale at Motorpoint for about 6k under UK list price. Some of this saving probably reflects the fact that the cars are sourced from Ireland, not the UK.
Does anyone have any experience of trying to get a non-UK sourced car warranty repaired/serviced at UK dealers?
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The Republic of Ireland is a foreign country so the cars will only have the European two-year warranty.
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My last golf tdi was an import from holland back when it was worth it. I purchased new from a supermarket. Check its spec closely it may have different spec to uk . It may also have some extras fitted mine did . You will usually only get a 2 yr european warranty . I had my car serviced at a couple of dealers without any problems and even a few warranty issues sorted and later traded it in at a vw dealers who werent interested it was an import . If you do buy make sure you register with vw uk so they can put on their computer.
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Check the speedo isn't in KPH only. Cars for the Irish are now required to have metric speedos; most makers don't mark MPH on them at all (I expect they're using standard parts from the parts bin for European models...).
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Some of this saving probably reflects the fact that the cars are sourced from Ireland, not the UK.
Isn't the Euro vs £ rate now such that it is cheaper to sell UK cars in Ireland?
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Isn't the Euro vs £ rate now such that it is cheaper to sell UK cars in Ireland?
Yes. Several Irish dealerships are reported to be buying nearly-new stock from forecourts in the UK and reselling them at home. The exchange rate is good enough that they still turn a profit.
BMW Ireland - who are owned by the same parent group as BMW UK - have started selling what they call the 'Sterling collection'. These are new 2009 BMWs, sourced and registered through BMW UK, then imported into Ireland, re-registered, and sold with the full warranty you'd have got on an Irish-sourced car.
There are three factors driving both markets: 1) exchange rates and 2) there are only a small number of Irish importers and distributors, whose wholesale prices are considered too high by the trade and 3) many buyers - especially self-employed - are wary of being seen in new 09 plate cars when the country is in the grip of a recession.
BTW, the reason its cheaper for a UK dealer to sell an Irish-sourced VW is that our pre-tax retail prices are lower in an attempt to offset the high VAT and VRT rates charged on new cars.
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In 2000 I bought a Cyprus-sourced Nissan Terrano 2 from Motorpoint. The dealer in Sunderland took a sort of "brass rubbing" from the VIN plate, after which it had the remaining 2.5 years of warranty. No different from UK spec so no servicing problems.
The car was thousands cheaper than if bought in UK and I still got back a third of what I paid at trade-in over 5 years later.
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