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Drivers go North to cut costs
13 September 2009 By Susan Mitchell
It is no surprise to anyone that it’s much cheaper to buy a car in the North or Britain than in the Republic.
But now an increasing number of motorists are heading North to get their cars serviced and to buy cheaper parts and accessories.
Car dealerships in Belfast are targeting southern motorists, offering courtesy cars to transport people to and from the city’s shopping districts while their cars are serviced.
Alex Wells, spokesman for the Retail Motor Industry Federation, whose members include motor dealers in the North, said there had been a definite pick-up in cross border servicing.
He attributed the increase in business to the depreciation of sterling - which makes products and services in the North more affordable to shoppers from the Republic - and cheaper labour rates in the North. According to Wells, most customers from the Republic come from the border counties.
A survey by the Consumers’ Association last month found that the cost of a car service in Belfast was on average 45 per cent cheaper than a similar service in Dublin. While some dealers disputed those figures, a sample survey of car services by The Sunday Business Post last week confirmed significant price differences north and south of the border.
Stuarts Garages, a Land Rover dealership based in Dublin, quoted €400 for the first service of a 2008 Range Rover Sport 2.7 TDV6.The Donnelly Motor Group, which has a number of outlets in the North, including a franchised dealer for Land Rover in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, said it would service the car for €304 (£266).
Both prices included Vat, and it appears that the Donnelly price includes a number of items deemed extras by Dublin dealers. For example, Stuarts Garages warned that fuel additive would cost an additional €15 to €20. The fuel additive was not considered an extra by Donnelly’s which said it was automatically included in the original quote.
Belgard Mercedes-Benz in Tallaght, Co Dublin, offered to do a full service (called a B-type) for a Mercedes S320 car for €659. MercedesBenz in Belfast quoted €569 (£499) for the same service. ‘‘We have people arriving from the south every day," said an employee of the Belfast company.
When travel time and fuel cost are included in the overall price, the savings would not necessarily justify the journey north for all motorists. But when savings on car parts and accessories are taken into account, there can be substantial savings.
In Dublin, a Jaguar radiator for an XType (petrol) costs €567, including the fitting. Coolant costs an extra €40,bringing the total to €607. Charles Hurst Jaguar in Belfast quoted €490 (£429) for the product, the coolant and the fitting - €117 less.
BMW drivers who want to upgrade to a new Maudio system can save hundreds of euro by buying in the North. Bavarian BMW in Belfast quoted €1,305 (£1,143) for the head system alone, compared to €1,800 at Murphy and Gunn in Dublin.
The Dublin firm charges €90 each for front speakers, €72 for each of the back speakers and €142 for the dashboard speaker.
By comparison, Bavarian BMW charges €57 (£50) for each front speaker, €27.48 (£24) each for the back speakers and €62.55 (£55) for the dashboard speaker.
It charges about €120 (£105) an hour for the fitting, compared to €150 an hour in Dublin. The Dublin dealer said the fitting would take about five or six hours, bringing the fitting cost to at least €750 for five hours work in the Republic compared to €600 in the North.
The total cost in the North came to €2,136, compared to €3,016 in Dublin - a difference of €880. Huge savings can also be made on over the counter accessories at retailers such as Halfords, which has stores in Britain and Ireland (23 in the Republic).
Halfords sells a range of items, including car parts, in-car entertainment systems, child car seats and outdoor leisure equipment.
A recent survey by Professor Barry Smyth of the School of Computer Science and Informatics at University College Dublin found some 98 per cent of products surveyed on the company’s Irish website were more expensive than in Britain.
Halfords in Britain was selling a Venturer DVD player for €79.85 (£70). It cost €110 in the Republic - over €30 more. A Graco baby car seat was a third more expensive in Halfords’ stores in the Republic.
A spokesman for Halfords said the firm was ‘‘committed to bringing our customers the best possible prices’’. He said prices were higher in Ireland due to the extra costs of Vat, labour, exchange rate fluctuations and rates.
The Society of the Irish Motor industry was not available for comment.
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