For nearly 19 years, Cartell.ie has been at the forefront of vehicle history reporting, equipping consumers with essential data to make informed decisions. The company has long advocated for enhanced data sharing across the industry to protect buyers from purchasing unsafe or previously damaged vehicles.

“The CCPC’s findings reaffirm the importance of transparency in the used car market,” said Ger Toher, Chief Operating Officer at Cartell.ie. “We have always championed consumers’ right to clear, accurate, and comprehensive vehicle history information. Greater access to critical data, especially write-off records, will help ensure buyers are protected from hidden risks. Our commitment remains to provide the most reliable vehicle history insights, empowering motorists to purchase with confidence and trust.”

As Ireland’s first and original vehicle history check provider, Cartell.ie’s reports include a wealth of information, such as:

• Write-off history – Including damage severity and category classification where available.
• Outstanding finance – Ensuring the vehicle is free from financial encumbrance.
• Previous mileage readings – Detecting odometer fraud.
• Ownership history – Checking the number of previous owners.
• Imports and previous country of registration – Highlighting cross-border risks.
• Taxi or fleet use – Flagging vehicles that may have high mileage or wear.
• CO₂ emissions and road tax information – Helping buyers understand running costs.
• NCT history verification – Confirming past NCT test dates and certificate legitimacy. While specific test results or pass/fail status are not disclosed, this verification provides added confidence for buyers. For UK vehicles and imports, full MOT history, including test results, is available.
• Insurance claims and stolen vehicle records – Offering insights into past insurance claims and theft status where available. While stolen vehicle checks apply to UK reports, the depth of claim history depends on insurer submissions.

In addition to its consumer-focused services, Cartell.ie offers trade sellers on its sister platforms, Carzone.ie and CarsIreland.ie, a free vehicle history check for each ad placed ensuring this data is available to buyers. Buyers can also filter search results to display only vehicles with a history check, ensuring maximum transparency throughout the purchasing process.

Cartell.ie believes a collaborative approach, combining industry expertise with government oversight, is key to improving data accessibility. The company continues to advocate for broader access to vital vehicle history data, particularly category C and D write-off records, to support safer, more informed car purchases.

Cartell.ie looks forward to further engaging with the CCPC, the Department of Transport, and other stakeholders to drive meaningful improvements in data transparency within the used car market.

The post Cartell.ie Supports CCPC’s Call for Greater Transparency in the Used Car Market appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

This years event will be the 17th Ted’s Opel Vauxhall Run, and will take place on Saturday August 10th 2024.

Based at The Mills Inn, Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, the Scenic route will pass through some of the Lee Valley’s beautiful scenery along with some historic motorsport sections and former rally stages. It takes in Ballyvourney, Farnanes, Coachford, Dripsey Model village, Berrings, Donoghmore, Rylane, Millstreet and returning to the Mills Inn for a BBQ and prizegiving. 

Registration takes place on Saturday morning from 9am with a €20 fee per car. Each driver will receive a starter pack containing a special run Mug and Keyring and other goodies. The first Award of the day will be presented at 10am and the cars will depart at 10.30am. 

The event will raise money in association with the Dogs For the Disabled, a very worthwhile Charity, for dogs that make a unmeasurable difference for people in need.

This years event sponsors will be Opel Ireland, Cartell.ie. and Casey Caravan Services.

You can get down to support by giving a wave even if you don’t have a vehicle. Or follow the event on Facebook, Ted’s Opel Vauxhall Run 2024 .

The post Cartell Sponsors Ted’s Opel Vauxhall Run 2024 appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

Wesley Littleford, Cartell’s Commercial Operations Manager, notes, “A car, even if used, is likely to be one of the biggest purchases a person will ever make. It pays massive dividends to know exactly what you’re getting into before any potential purchase.”

A history check digitally delves back into a car’s records, verifying — or sometimes denying — any claims made by the seller. So, what should you be mindful of when obtaining your car vehicle history check?

Outstanding Finance

Now that second-hand car market values are starting to correct after significant inflation during the pandemic, there’s an opportunity for unscrupulous sellers to try and turn some extra profit during market changes.

Using its extensive motoring marketplace data, Cartell estimates that two-year-old second-hand cars have a 35% chance of still having finance owing, while the rate for three-year-old vehicles is 32%. With complete ownership not transferring until the final payment to a finance provider is made, there is a one-in-three chance that any second-hand car on the market is still, technically, the property of a finance provider.

In some cases, a less honest individual may attempt to sell a car that they do not technically own. Once they stop making their repayments, the finance company will seek to repossess the car — leaving you with no legal recourse and without a vehicle.

Written-Off Cars

As well as providing finance details, a vehicle history check can also reveal if a car has been written off.

Insurers can write off cars for relatively minor damage, which may be adequately repaired, returned to roadworthiness, and sold. However, it’s crucial that the seller discloses this and prices the car accordingly. A written-off car, no matter how well repaired, will always be worth less than a pristine equivalent.

It becomes even more serious with the higher categories of write-offs. Categories C and D can be legally and safely repaired and resold in Ireland. However, if a car has been so severely damaged that it falls into Category B, it can only be dismantled for parts, and only the undamaged parts may be sold and reused. If a car is damaged to the extent of being a Category A, then it’s legally required to be crushed and not even used for spares.

Equipped With All The Facts

With any car being such a significant purchase, it pays to ensure you’re making your decision with all the right facts. The simple version of all this advice is easy – get any car you’re considering checked to save yourself any regrets down the road.

The post Cartell Reveals Dangers for Car Buyers Who Miss Vehicle History Check appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

Now, a history check won’t verify the condition of the car as it is today — you still need to do that yourself with a thorough inspection and a test drive — but it will tell you things that can be even more significant. After all, a component that breaks can be fixed, but if a car still has outstanding finance owed on it, that’s a whole other ballgame.

Essentially, a history check digitally delves back into the history of a car and verifies — or sometimes denies — anything that’s been told you by the seller. It goes back and checks for any history of insurance write-offs, of the car having been stolen and recovered, and will also check the identity of the car itself, to help in the fight against vehicle cloning.

Why is it so important now to get a history check?

Simply because the second-hand car market has seen the values of many cars massively inflated in the past few years, especially since the pandemic. Now, those values are starting to correct, and cars are becoming a little cheaper in many cases, but whenever there’s a change in the market there’s an opportunity for unscrupulous sellers to try and turn some extra profit.

The big issue right now is outstanding finance. With more cars being sold on the basis of a loan or a PCP deal, Cartell has estimated that two-year-old, second-hand cars have a 35 per cent chance of still having finance owing, while the rate for three-year-old cars is 32 per cent. That’s a one-in-three chance that any second-hand car at which you might look to buy is still, technically, the property of a finance provider, as ownership does not transfer until the final payment has been made.

In some cases, this may well not be an issue — a seller may be selling their car in order to pay off that debt, but in some cases, there are darker forces at work, and a less scrupulous person can sell you a car that they don’t technically own. Once they stop making their repayments, the finance company will come looking for that car, and it’s theirs to repossess — you will have no legal comeback and will be both out of pocket and without a car. So, it’s really important to know that before making the buying leap.

There are other significant issues, not least that of written-off cars

Cars can be potentially written off by insurers for relatively minor damage, and it’s certainly not unknown for such cars to be properly repaired, returned to road-worthiness and sold on. However, it’s hugely important that the seller tells you this, and prices the car accordingly — a written-off car, no matter how well repaired, will always be worth a little less than a pristine equivalent. So again, it’s important to be armed with knowledge, not least because you’ll want to inspect the quality of any repair work.

That becomes even more serious when you consider the higher categories of write-offs. Categories C and D, in Ireland, can be legally and safely repaired and resold. However, if a car has been so severely damaged that it is declared Category B, then it can only be broken down for parts, and then only the undamaged parts may be sold and reused. If a car is damaged to the point of being a Category A, then it’s a legal requirement that it is to be crushed, and not even used for spares.

This becomes a little more confusing when cars that come in from the UK are involved, as UK write-offs are filed under different categories. Thankfully, the most serious categories — A and B — are the same, but the UK uses Categories S and N as the equivalents of the Irish C and D.

It’s good to know this given that we are seeing an increasing number of used imports from the UK this year, with the number of cars crossing the Irish sea increasing by 32 per cent to the end of February, compared to the same time last year. That’s 10,270 extra used cars on Irish roads, and it’s been previously estimated that as many as ten per cent of those might be previously written-off, so once again it’s vital to keep your wits about you.

The simple version of all this advice? Get it checked; don’t regret it.

The post Why getting a car history check is more important than ever. appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

Toyota, Ford, and Volkswagen dominate

One thing is abundantly clear from the figures: three brands are dominant in the Irish car market — Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen. As per Cartell.ie’s research, it’s actually two brands and two models that dominate.

In terms of manufacturers, it’s between Toyota and Volkswagen. Toyota is the most-registered brand in ten counties — Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, May, Offaly and Tipperary. Volkswagen, meanwhile, is top dog in the other 16, taking Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Meath, Roscommon, Monaghan, Sligo, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.

It’s tempting to see an east-west divide between the two brands, with reliable and solid Toyota taking the more rural western half of the country, and Volkswagen the (arguably) more cosmopolitan east, but then with Volkswagen top in Sligo, and Toyota taking Cavan, that mostly puts that theory to bed.

Some will be surprised to learn that Ford does not take a top brand ranking in any county, but when it comes to individual models, it’s a different story. And in spite of Toyota’s impressive sales performance in Ireland in the past decade, the big-selling Corolla can only take a series of second places — in Clare, Cork, Kerry and Roscommon.

In all counties, the dominant pairing is the Volkswagen Golf and the Ford Focus, and it’s honours-even between these two titans, which take 13 counties each. The Golf is the most-registered car in Carlow, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Sligo, Westmeath and Wicklow. The Focus takes top spot in Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.

Considering that the Ford Focus has not been a best-selling car in the new car market for some time now, it’s testament to both how well the Focus sold in the years prior, and to the fact that Irish car buyers tend to keep cars for longer and longer these days. Indeed, drill down into the lists of most-registered models and you’ll find that many out-of-production cars are still rolling around, such as the 662 examples of the Toyota Auris still registered in Cavan, with another 6,200 of those in Cork. There are also 1,089 Toyota Avensis still registered in Kilkenny, and another 869 in Laois.

SUVs and crossovers not dominant yet

For all that SUVs and crossovers currently dominate the new-car sales lists, the fact that those new sales have been relatively low since the mid-2000s, and the fact of buyers holding onto cars for longer means that only two have really put down a mark on Irish roads. Unsurprisingly, these are the Nissan Qashqai and the Hyundai Tucson.

In new car terms, both have been sales giants in the past decade, and while they don’t dominate the overall registrations to the same extent, they are starting to creep up the rankings. The Qashqai, for example, is the fifth-most registered car in Cavan, Clare, Dublin, Kerry, Limerick, Meath, Waterford and Wicklow, while it takes third place in Louth and Wexford. The Hyundai Tucson tends to be down in the lower half of each county’s league tables, but given its stellar sales performance since 2016, that surely cannot last.

County tastes

Clearly, given that the best-selling cars nationally will reappear locally, the top tens in each county are broadly predictable. The Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla tend to dominate the top three, while the rest of the top ten is generally taken up by the Volkswagen Passat, the Nissan Qashqai, the Skoda Octavia, the Ford Fiesta and the Toyota Yaris.

However, that does leave some space for individual tastes to shine through in each county. In Donegal, for example, it’s clear that many are shopping cross-border for their cars, as Vauxhall is the ninth-most registered brand. Meanwhile, the rise and rise of the premium car marques has left its fingerprints on Ireland’s registration stats — the Audi A4 breaks into the top ten in Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Westmeath and Wexford. Meanwhile, the BMW 520 gets top-ten placings in Dublin and Kildare, perhaps unsurprisingly so.

Where luxury brands are concerned, it’s probably equally unsurprising that Dublin rules — there’s clearly money about as BMW, Audi and Mercedes occupy sixth, seventh and eighth places in the brands list.

There are other little regional variations, too. The Opel Astra, once a huge-seller in Ireland but a car whose sales tailed off in recent years, still takes seventh spot in Leitrim, tenth spot in Donegal, Sligo and Waterford, and ninth in Roscommon. The Volkswagen Polo is popular in Dublin and Louth, taking seventh and eighth spots in the registration charts, respectively, while Monaghan seems to be an outlier — the Opel Insignia is the tenth-most registered car there, yet it does not appear in the top ten anywhere else, while the SEAT Leon is the sixth-most registered, and again does not appear in any other county’s top ten.

Peugeot and Renault also do well overall, breaking into the top ten brands in many counties, but without managing to get a single model from either brand into the top ten most registered individual models in any county.

Long turnover times

What these lists of registrations most clearly show, however, is the length of time it takes to make a major impression on the national car park. The Hyundai Tucson, for example, has generally been the best-selling new car in Ireland for eight years now, but it’s — as noted — always in the lower half of county top tens for total registrations. There are no electric models on the list as yet, either, and the Qashqai and Tucson are the only SUVs that break into any county’s top ten. So for all the fuss and furore over both SUVs and electric cars, they still make up only a very small proportion of the cars most of us drive in most parts of Ireland. That will change, of course, but these numbers show it will take time.

The post Which cars are more common on each of our county’s roads? appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

This years route will take the cars through some of the southwest most scenic landscape and superior rally stages, be it seascape or mountain terrane or iconic stages that takes your fancy, it’s all included. On leaving the Gleneagle Hotel and head over Moll’s Gap into Sneem, on to O’Carroll’s Cove Beach Bar and Restaurant where we will stop for lunch. After lunch we will continue to Waterville and over Ballaghisheen Pass and Ballaghbeama Pass before returning to the Gleneagle Hotel via Moll’s Gap.

There will be an array of Perpetual and Special Awards on offer throughout the day, and also a raffle for numerous Spot prizes. 

Registration takes place on Saturday morning from 9am, a fee per car of €20 applies. Each car will receive a starter pack. 

Cartell.ie are delighted to continue our long term sponsorship of the event, alongside support from Opel Ireland and Casey Caravan Services.

The chosen charity for the event, Dogs for the Disabled, has been a partnership since 2008.

All Opel/ Vauxhall / Bedford / GM vehicles are welcome regardless of age. If you have an Opel or Vauxhall, polish it up and bring it out, you might even win an award or a spot prize.  

The post Ted’s Opel Vauxhall Run 2023 – Sat 12th Aug appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

To bypass these tariffs, some carmakers chose to set up shop in Ireland – as Ford did from 1917 to 1984 – while others such as Toyota, Renault and Fiat established assembly lines in the country, shipping cars into Ireland in knock-down form and putting them together on Irish soil.

However, when the EU Single Market came into effect at the beginning of 1993, the Irish government found itself being forced to abolish excise duty on cars entering Ireland from the EU. After much deliberation, the decision was taken to rename the tax to sidestep the EU law. Et voilá, VRT as we know it was born.

VRT – changes over time

Up until 2008, VRT was calculated according to three rates – one for cars with an engine capacity of 1,400cc and below, a second for engine capacities between 1,401- and 1,900cc, and a third for those above 1,900cc.

The rate charged varied from 22.5 to 30 per cent of the car’s value. As a new car, that was the retail price, but as an import it was the OMSP (Open Market Selling Price), which is the car’s value in Ireland – as determined by Revenue.

From 2008, however, the way VRT was calculated changed, taking CO2 emissions into account. Seven bands – A to G – were devised covering 14-36 per cent VRT depending on the emissions rating. This was overhauled in 2013 to include more bands (A1 to A4 and B1/B2), reflecting a widespread move to low-CO2 diesel cars.

Another notable change came into force in January 2021 expanding the system to include twenty emissions bands. The range of VRT rates widened, too, with just seven per cent payable at the low end (0-50g/km), but up to 41 per cent for cars emitting more than 190g/km.

At the same time, Revenue introduced a new ‘uplift’ scheme for the import of older cars with CO2 ratings on the outdated ‘NEDC’ system, meaning their effective rating was increased.

A new VRT table came into effect at the start of 2022 and is current at the time of writing:

How VRT is calculated now

The only difficulty with VRT estimation is the OMSP. Generally speaking, for a new car, the OMSP will be the retail price in Ireland. For an import, however, it’s not that simple, and it rarely coincides with the price you’ve paid for the car abroad.

By way of example, take the Skoda Octavia – a popular choice of car in both Ireland and the UK for several years. A 2023-reg estate model with just over 3,000 miles on the clock can be bought in the UK for £27,495.

In calculating the Octavia’s VRT, Revenue determined its OMSP to be €37,267. Its CO2 emissions place it in Band 12 for a VRT rate of 17.5 per cent. Therefore the VRT payable is simply 17.5 per cent of €37,267, or €6521.72.

Luckily Cartell.ie offers a useful service to help buyers calculate VRT and other import costs. 

Click here to access our VRT Calculator

The post How to calculate Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

This is a complex issue, but it’s an increasingly prevalent one. According to history checking service Cartell.ie, the number of cars being offered for sale with outstanding finance remaining is on the rise. If a car on sale is two years old, according to Cartell’s figures, it has a 35 per cent chance of still having money owed on it. For three-year-old cars, the rate is still 32 per cent. 

The chance of a car having outstanding finance on it then tails off — at four years old it falls to 20 per cent, which is obviously less but it still means that one in five cars on sale at that age are still subject to a finance agreement. When you consider how many cars you might look at in the course of shopping for a second-hand car, it becomes pretty obvious just how significant an issue it is. 

But why is it an issue? Well, simply put, a seller is not supposed to sell you a car with outstanding finance owed. Whether it’s a PCP deal, or Hire Purchase, until the final payment has been made, the car is not legally the property of the person using it, and therefore they have no right to sell it. In fact, the only time it’s legal to sell on a car for which you still owe money is if that finance was in the form of an unsecured personal loan from a bank or credit union — in that instance the person selling the car does own it, and the car isn’t specifically legally tied to the outstanding amount.

In all other cases, though, technically the real owner of the car is the finance company providing the loan (which is really what a PCP or HP deal is) for the car’s purchase, and if you’ve bought that car — and the previous owner doesn’t clear the amount owing — then that finance company can come looking for the car and can seize it.

At that point, you essentially have no legal comeback — the car was and still is the property of the finance company, and therefore whether you have a receipt or invoice for the purchase, technically the sale was illegal and invalid, and therefore the finance company is simply taking back what’s rightfully theirs. Your money, the cash you spent on the car, is then forfeit — you’ve no legal right to the car, so no-one else is liable for the money you spent on it. It’s the ultimate, and most painful, form of caveat emptor — buyer beware. 

What can you do if this happens? Well, you can appeal to the finance company in the first instance. If you can show that you bought the car in good faith, then they may act with some leniency. Equally, if you can track down the person who sold you the car, you should demand your money back from them — preferably via your solicitor rather than getting into any personal confrontation — as they never had the legal right to sell the car in the first place. If neither of those appeals work, then it’s time to lawyer-up and get ready to bring the person who sold you the car, whether they’re a private individual or a dealer, to court.

Obviously, that’s a hugely stressful process and it’s better not to find yourself in that situation in the first place. It’s definitely a good idea to use a history checking service, such as Cartell’s, to look into the background of any car you want to buy before you actually write the cheque. Those history checking services will usually uncover whether a specific car is still the subject of a finance agreement. 

Clearly, there are some people selling cars who, for whatever reason, are doing so to raise the funds to honestly and diligently clear the outstanding amount, but even if that is the case they are in a very legally grey area where they are technically selling a car that does not belong to them yet. If they are honest, upstanding people and immediately clear off their debt once they’ve sold the car to you, then all is well but it’s far better not to get yourself into that kind of setup in the first place, as you are ultimately then relying on the good will of others when a substantial amount of money is at stake. 

Make sure you carry out a Car History Check on every used car you are thinking of buying to see if it has outstanding finance. Simply enter the registration number below to get started!

The post What happens if you buy a car with outstanding finance? appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

With that in mind, here are the most important factors to consider as part of a
vehicle history check on Cartell.ie:

Outstanding finance

One crucial aspect that not many people are aware of is that if you buy a car with outstanding finance, it’s not legally yours until the final payment has been made. Regardless of whether you’ve purchased it in good faith, the car remains the property of the lender who financed the purchase. If the original PCP holder defaults on their payments, the lender is legally entitled to repossess the vehicle, leaving the innocent second buyer with little to no recourse, especially if they’ve bought the car from a private seller. Never buy a car with outstanding finance; a vehicle history check can help ensure you don’t.

Mileage

Most of us have heard of the old trick known as ‘clocking,’ where a seller tampers with the odometer to make the car appear to have covered fewer miles than it actually has, thereby increasing its price. A vehicle history check from Cartell sources multiple mileage records from numerous sources. A buyer can then compare the figure with the car’s odometer reading to check for discrepancies. If there is a discrepancy, it’s a strong indication that the car has been clocked and that you’re dealing with a dishonest seller. If so, walk away.

Has the car been written-off?

When a car is involved in an accident, the insurance company can deem it a write-off if the car is either too irreparably damaged to be safely returned to the road or if the cost of repairs exceeds the car’s value. In Ireland, there are four categories of write-offs: Category A, B, C, and D. Category A and B write-offs are cars so badly damaged that they must be scrapped. Category C and D write-offs are cases where the insurance company has determined that the repair costs exceed the car’s value, but the car can be legally allowed back on the road. A vehicle history check may inform a prospective buyer if a car has ever been written off in Ireland or the UK, which is crucial information

While it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker to buy a former write-off, it pays to be cautious. For example, an insurer may refuse to cover a previously written-off car or charge such a high premium that it may not be worth buying. It’s essential to ensure that a car has been properly repaired after significant damage, as a
poorly repaired car may not perform as it should in a crash. This is why buyers of write-offs need to be extra diligent when inspecting a used car before purchase. If a seller does not disclose that a car is a former write-off, it could be a sign they’re being dishonest. If they’re hiding that fact, what else could they be concealing about the car?

Number of owners

At the time of writing, there are 18,260 cars in Ireland that have had 10 or more registered owners. In fact, according to Cartell’s data, there’s an Audi A6 somewhere in Ireland with 43 registered owners! A car history check will reveal how many owners a car has had. While this may not be vital information, it is
worth knowing. Be realistic in your expectations for an older car with a higher number of owners. However, if you’re satisfied that the car is in sound condition and as described, there’s no particular reason to avoid a vehicle with a high number of owners. Again, the importance of knowing the number of owners comes back to the honesty of the seller. If they claim that a car has had one or two owners from new, but the history check reveals it has had several more, it means they’re being dishonest. If they’re lying about this, what other falsehoods could they be telling?

Was it ever used as a taxi?

Taxis typically have hard lives and often rack up high mileages, usually in urban environments. Taxi use can impose significant wear and tear on a car—think worn clutches, lots of crawling through traffic, and loads of passengers, plus that smell in the back you can’t quite figure out. Ideally, you don’t want a car that’s
had a previous life as a taxi. However, if you know it has and still decide to take the risk, that decision is yours. It’s important to know for sure, though, and a vehicle history check can reveal whether or not a car has had a demanding working life.

The post Car History Check: What to look out for? appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

In the case of four-year-old vehicles checked in 2021 there was a 20% chance of a vehicle from that year being offered for sale with finance outstanding based on checks on Cartell.ie in the year gone by, but, like other key years the four-year- old-car level of finance has increased – to 21% this year.

Older vehicles are also showing relatively high levels of finance: a six-year-old vehicle, for example, shows 16% with outstanding finance in 2022 whereas the comparable figure last year, in 2021, was lower – 15%.

Ross Conlon, CEO CarsIreland.ie and Group Director New Business at Mediahuis Ireland, says: “We are witnessing a market correction: the overall percentages of vehicles offered for sale with finance outstanding in key registration years has risen again since the declines recorded in 2020. Buyers should we aware that there is now a one-in-three chance that a vehicle three-years-old or less is for sale with outstanding finance.”

“Buyers are strongly advised to be cautious in the market as you cannot take good title in the asset until the final payment has been paid to the financial institution. This means you may be buying a huge problem.”

The reasons for the increase seen between 2021 and 2022 is likely due to increased market activity, opening up of markets since the pandemic shut down.

The post Number of Vehicles with Outstanding Finance on the Rise appeared first on Cartell Car Check.

Taking a sample size of 5,000 vehicles Cartell looked at the retail price of each vehicle, assuming average mileage, in November 2020, and used this as a control to test the value of each of the same vehicles in 2021 and in 2022 by running all three years through the Cartell Price Guide (CPG) a vehicle valuation service available to users of its service.

Among the results was a 161 Volkswagen Passat diesel, which was worth €14,900 in 2020 and is now worth €19,500 and a 181 Renault Captur worth €16,950 in 2021 which is now worth €18,400.

The results show that, on average, the year-over-year increase stands at 7.78 per cent. This is a decline on the rate of increase between the years 2020 and 2021 which stood at 15.2%. It should be noted this is the price difference between the various vehicles today compared with the same price for each respective vehicle in the previous two years. Cartell used actual vehicles which, although they were one year older, or, two years older, actually appreciated over their equivalent 2020 value.

Ross Conlon, CEO CarsIreland.ie and Group Director New Business at Mediahuis Ireland says:

“These results show that vehicle values in the used market have continued to push upwards since we last published results in 2021. While the rate of increase has declined it is still a significant event that values have risen – cars are considered a depreciating asset after all. While microchip shortages appear to be levelling out there are still issues around availability of new vehicles and this is consequently pushing values up in the residual market. We expect to see the rate of increase decline further over the next 12 months.”

The post Average Car Worth 8% More Now Than Last Year appeared first on Cartell Car Check.