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IRELAND’S BRIEF OBSESSION with buying new cars is well-documented, but these new graphs show just how out-of-kilter the country was with the rest of the EU.
This information compiled by the All Ireland Research Observatory (AIRO) at NUI Maynooth shows new car registrations across Europe from 1991 to 2012, with figures for Ireland peaking dramatically in 2000 – and cratering in 2009 in the depths of the financial crisis.
The first map shows Ireland (the green line) compared to the UK, France, Greece and Poland over the two decades (the key is just above the graph). If you go to the AIRO site you can compare data for all EU countries.
AIRO notes that there was an increase of almost 25 per cent of new car registrations in the year 2000 as many drivers had delayed buying a new car in order to get the 00 licence plate which was perceived to have a higher resale value.
Singificantly, Ireland’s car registrations have now fallen back to levels last seen in the mid-90s: almost exactly the same number of cars were registered in 2012 (79,498) as in 1994 (80,402).
Can’t see the images? Click here to view them on the AIRO site.
(Graphs: AIRO/Car photograph via Shutterstock)
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That’s when we were all millionaires
That’s when we all “thought” we were millonaires.
I used to ball up receipts, throw them in the air and shout, “celtic tiger booming economy” after buying rounds of mojito’s for the chicks…. Ah the good old days. ..
Ya could get anything ya wanted on the MA’s ESB bill.
Seen quite a few 013 Audis & BMWs around the place. Some people still seem to have a few bob. Not me :(
131
Are you sure they weren’t 131?
Sorry. Typo. 131.
I have a 1998 Lexus with only 70k miles on it and I plan on driving it into the ground. They say Lexus will get over 200,000 so that’s my plan
It’s a Toyota with a fancy badge, service it every 7,000-10,000 miles and you will. Use good oil. Total or castrol 5w 20 syn. No cheap shite. If diesel replace diesel filter every 20,000.
Ah the good old days in the motor trade, helped me get the mortgage I can’t pay now!
I’m confused. Everyone tells me “well I didn’t go mad during the Celtic Tiger!”. Who bought all these cars? Did Sean Quinn but them all? That must be how he’s hiding his assets from the State. They’re all stashed in zone b of the long term carpark at the airport.
Everybody bought them. This I know.
Finance companies and banks were almost paying you to take out a loan. They were giving kickbacks to dealers that got them business.
I was selling boats then and couldn’t get them in quick enough Vincent.
100k was nothing but in all fairness it was the select few .
1 week before the builders holidays I would be sold out of stock.
@mike- I didn’t realise free will was confiscated during the Celtic Tiger.
@ Vincent ?
Exactly vincent the “it was all the banks fault i signed a 300k mortage” shower that do be commenting here would claim they didnt even own a car in 2002-2008 haha
Jay, blaming Irish consumers on the crash is like blaming those shoveling coal in the boiler rooms of the Titanic for it hitting an iceberg.
And as an FYI, I have never owned a new car.
Not blaming the crash consumers for any of the crag is both immature and illogical
I bought a car in the boom an overpriced ar at that bit the banks fidnt knock on my door i knocked on theirs the car dealer didnt stop me in the street and tell me to buy a car i just walked in and bought one ( on my lunch break) and that was all common practice in the boom. I dont blame anyone else but myself for my current financial situation and looking at it any other way would be highly childish
Ronan
Not blaming the irish consumer is both illogical and immature
I bought an overpriced car i didnt need in the boom years the banks didnt come to my door offering a loan for it i went to them and the “evil” dealers didnt hold me at gunpoint in the street and march me into the car lot to buy a car
I dont blame anyone but myself for the foolish decisions i made in the boom years like buying a car when a smaller car would have done or no car at all would also have done as i worked in town and i think it would be quite childish to blame anyone else for the decisions we ultimatly made ourselves to keep up with the jones
Sorry peeps didnt think my first comment posted so had to re write to as close as i could remember ha
Jay, you having the access to that credit was the problem. Of course you would buy it if you could. Consumers consume, thats how its supposed to work. The reason we have a Dept of finance and regulators is to manage and regulate the economy in such a way that encourages sustainable growth.
The great lie thats being perpatrated now is that it was the consumers fault. That absolves those in control of all blame and resposibility, very dangerous. Even some consumers are blaming themselves.
Jay, consumers go about their daily business in the economic environment thats created by policies, laws and regulations. To think that economic well being should depend on consumers being responsible is illogical.
Of course you would buy if you could ???
Did free will not come into play at all here no?? I know plenty of people who had access to the same credit i had but chose not to abuse it..
Ok so explain how some people splashed out on flash cars and some didnt if they were both under the same blanket of laws leglisation and policys ???
Ray, you cannot provide access to massive amounts of cheap credit in the hope that the vast majority of the population will self regulate, this may happen to some extent but I dont know of any Country that allows the amount of cheap credit that was available here and bases their economic policies on the hope it wont be abused. This is why Govt’s are supposed to use tools such as interest rates to cool an over heating economy.
I agree that the government could have increased interest rates to cool down the boom but to claim that practicly no fault was with the consumer for all the lavish spending and credit splurging is ludacris
Where did I say that Ray?
When an individual gains access to cheap credit and drives themselves into a financial hole its their fault.
When so many individuals do the same that it drives the entire country into a financial hole its the fault of those dictating financial & economic policy, ie: govt, regulators & banks.
I had a 00 C reg jeep. The number was 30918 (August reg). I don’t think the cork reg’d cars went over 14/15k in the last 5 or so years. That’s a big hit for the car dealers in Ireland. I’m guessing that the same trend happened everywhere in Ireland.
A friend of mine has an 00C33000+ reg, and its an irish car, not an import. Still has the same car 12 years later. Since 2008 I don’t think 10000 new cars a year have been sold in Cork, never mind 15000. Brother in law of mine imported an 09 car in 2010 and it was registered below 9000. Easier to spot the imports in the last year in cork as they are numbered 40000+ now.
Really? I saw a car reg 2010 C 43*** recently and thought it was a dodgy plate. So the extremely high numbers are for imports. Learn something new everyday!
Yeah, my 98 Japanese import bought in 2005 hasn’t a high reg, so that must be a new thing.
131 reg Audis and BMW’s are most likely leased company cars, not privately owned.
Plenty of 03/04/05 BMW 520 going around cant give them away
I take one if you’re giving them away.
I’m surprised the major peak was that far back and not in the 2004-2008 boom years. Everyone seemed to have bought new cars back then.
Remember that was the time that the EU told Charlie McCreevy to do something to “cool down” the economy to prevent a collapse because there was too much money flowing around the place, so he came up with the SSIA. Notice the dip straight after the SSIAs opened in 2001 to 2002 (25% interest was nothing to be sniffed at), and how it slightly spiked again about five years later when the SSIAs matured.
Cars and the loans for them in 2000 were being agreed at the car dealers and granted by the salesman after a quick phone call to the lender. It was our Banks learning stage in how easy it was to make profit and pay large dividends. The forerunner of the great F**K up.
Motor trade is dead,until the ludicrous vrt charge is abolished it will never recover,if the government insist on vrt then the person who buys there car brand new should have no car tax to pay for the first 5 years or get rid of it and make new cars cheaper with higher roadtax,vrt is nearly half the cost of buying a new car
Vrt just another tax were stuck with,it is worth importing cars still a few bob to be saved
I remember pre boom time(mid 90s)going into a car dealer and him telling me I needed a HOME OWNER to go as guarantor for me before he could proceed with the sale…Oh the irony of it all now.
Half of those were Putos id say…..
Any of the 131 I have seen were in fact punto’s but haven’t seen too many.
@ Vincent Dolan Have you been in hibernation for the past 13 years?
In 2000 the NCT was introduced and this exacerbated the spike in new car sales as every dealership in the country were offering scrappage deals.
People were paranoid that their older cars would be condemned by the NCT and would be worthless. Shedloads of people who never bought a new car before bought 00 cars.
There’s shtill a few pound to be found in Kerry I can assure you
Oops I don’t live in Ireland. Was just replying as a car sale story, not Celtic Tiger story
my car does skids its awesome
Haven’t seen any 131 cars yet ……… As I’m out of the out of the country working as there is no work in Ireland, saying that I have a 00 vw golf ( at my disposal if i get home ever now and then , thanks ryanair ) car 250k miles on the clock, they don’t make them like they used to …….. Good nite
Were we not catching up with our European partners in car ownership.
I traded my car in for a horse and now the horse is only worth a couple of burgers.
Back then my bank manager was running his own car dealership out of the carpark at the rear of the bank, all imported Audis and BMW and sold the trade ins from a local hotel park opposite his house, made an absolute fortune.
Iv seen a large number of 131 Cars on the road so far..!
Been looking at most regs and there seems to be a good amount of 2011 and 2012 aswel.!
If you take the outlier of the year 2000 out of the equation the graph looks quite similar to the UK, and their plates wouldn’t have had the vanity factor that having a ‘zero-zero’ reg had in Ireland.
If we had reg system similar to UK I’d say that would have smoothed registrations to pretty much the same as the UK.
back in 2009 just as the car industry crashed i picked up a 35000 euro car for 10000 it was regiesterd in 2007 it had 3000kms on the clock still have it today and aint getting rid of it i know its worthless now but 4 years of motoring for 10000 euro is brill good deals still to be had there is now only 60 k on the clock so itll keep going for another while ..and its been trouble free just the cost of fuel one set of tyres and an nct test ….happy days
i remember a spike in car sales because there was a loophole closing in which people in the north and u.k could buy a car in the republic and not pay vat, the punt sterling rate was probably in there favour too,
NCT introduction was the driver of car sales in 2000
I don’t think the 00 spike had as much to do with vanity as it did with the subsidised scrappage scheme.
True, first time I ever bought a new car, and the last! A Punto, lasted until 2011 when someone crashed into me. Got 1500Punt for an 87 fiesta in scrappage as far as i can remember
Bought an avensis during the boom. Still holding its own.
have your say