Paddy Tax part 2- Cars
Anyone who knows me will know I am a car nut. I was glancing through feeds today and noticed that my lotto winning car was for sale on Ebay. Its the new BMW M3
We purchased a new card for my wife on Saturday, its a Mini Cooper 2006, here it is for sale at €23,000, same car in UK for the equivalent of €15400 and in the USA for €11340
The Mini that was manufactured in Europe is double the price in Ireland compared to the USA.
Oh and the BMW M3, well its available for €113,000 in Ireland and as you can see below $60,000 in the USA.
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You have to love Irish VRT!
Hopefully VRT will be reduced on low co2 cars when the changes come in!
Look at this Hyundai Tuson $17,235 in the US (http://tinyurl.com/jryw8) and $44,242 in Ireland (http://tinyurl.com/jryw8). This is with a conservative $1.5 to the euro. That’s a Paddy tax of 177% at the low end of the car market.
I always thought that the VRT was an illegal tax according to the E.U,maybe I’m mistaken ? but we are getting taken to the cleaners.I’ve travelled a bit and its only when you get home you can actually see it..Best thing to do is force their hand and stop buying here,I,ve told O2 to stick the iPhone,will be buying abroad.As for motors,they have you caught,but Ivr been informed that if set up an address abroad buy your car there bring it home after a year and from what I can gather you don’t pay the VRT,cos its your motor.
VRT is “against the spirit” of the EU Treaties, but unfortunately not in breach of them
At lot of things that are happening to consumers in Ireland are “against the spirit” of the EU Treaties,think its time to stand up,don’t open the wallets for a while and see what happens
Raped, that what we are. Bertie is riding us all. Gee up boy.
As long as VRT is in place I will simply not buy a new car in Ireland, or even one that is less than 5 years old. This is my personal way of dodging this tax as much as I can.
The Wikipedia article on VRT sums up the controversy:
“Some critics of VRT claim that it is effectively a continuation of the excise duty (which was applicable to vehicles in Ireland prior to 1992) and as such is illegal under European union law.”
Unfortunately there is no consumer organization that would take this case to court.