Irish motorists pay more for their cars

Irish cars are the second most expensive in Europe, based on pre-tax prices, according to the latest EU survey. Only Britain has more expensive cars than the Republic, while they are cheapest in the Netherlands and Portugal.

The survey reveals variations across EU member-states of up to 49 per cent between the most expensive and cheapest, based on pre-tax prices. The UK is the most expensive for 61 of the 72 bestselling cars from 22 manufacturers, while 35 models were cheapest in the Netherlands and 14 in Portugal.

Ireland is neither top nor bottom of the league on any single model, but comes second or third from the top 26 times. The VW Polo, Ireland's worst comparative showing, costs 37 per cent more pre-tax in Dublin than in Lisbon.

While manufacturers supply retailers with the same models at widely differing prices, in theory consumers can save substantially by buying abroad tax-free and paying Irish duty when they import their car themselves.

Responding to British motorists' complaints that they find it difficult to buy right-hand-drive cars in mainland Europe, the Commission yesterday reminded manufacturers of their right to do so.

Right-hand-drive cars must be made available throughout Europe to dealers wishing to sell them, and the Commission "will not hesitate" to prosecute manufacturers who fail to do so, a Commission spokesman said.

The survey makes complicated reading for the Irish motorist because of the heavy Irish duty paid. The result is that pre-tax value is not necessarily correlated with post-tax value as the extreme case of the Audi A3 illustrates: pre-tax it sells at only 1 per cent more than the cheapest pre-tax Audi A3 in the EU (Lux), the Republic's best value of all models. But after Irish tax it is 38 per cent more than the cheapest posttax A3 in the EU (Neth), making the Republic's A3s the most expensive in the EU.

Of the manufacturers surveyed, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda were persistently the worst relative value in Ireland, with all their pretax prices coming second from the top of the price league.

The Commission notes the claim by some manufacturers that different prices are the result of currency fluctuation but says that not enough of them lower prices when currencies of exporters rise. "The introduction of the euro will put this argument to the definitive test," the Commission says.

It stresses that complaints about malpractices by car manufacturers should initially be addressed to national competition authorities or courts.