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Hi Peter,

Sadly, there isn’t. Compared to the UK insurance market, the Irish market is still somewhat in the dark ages when it comes to price comparison sites etc. No substitute for legwork, I’m afraid.

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Hi John,

No, it’s not just another cost to the consumer. Stop-start systems are designed to prevent the car from running the engine unnecessarily at standstill when doing so would be at its most wasteful of fuel. After all, if you’re not moving then what is the point in having the engine on? Stop-start systems are specially designed with either a beefed-up alternator or an integrated starter/generator so that it can handle multiple stops and restarts in rapid succession, and it’s estimated that on an average car, stop-start can save as much as ten per cent of overall fuel consumption – not to be sniffed at, never mind the benefits to city-centre air quality.

Admittedly, the car makers have brought in stop-start to bring their cars' official CO₂ and fuel consumption figures down, and the benefits are only really felt if you are stopping and starting regularly. If you spend all your driving time on the motorway then you won't use the system at all.

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Hi Shariq,

Yes, it is worth it, but it is a hassle. There are specialist car-finding agencies (such as Palmdale, for instance) who for a fee will locate and source a car for you, and they’ll even deliver it for another fee on top, and the word from them is that even on everyday models it’s now possible to make a significant saving thanks to the value of Sterling relative to the Euro. If you’re buying a premium model, or spending more than €20,000 on a car then it’s a no-brainder – you can save as much as €4-5,000 even when you’ve paid for VRT, air and ferry tickets.

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Hi Bryan,

It’s VERY hard to value a car like that without seeing it, but I can give you some pointers. Obviously, the originality is a big selling point, so if you’re going to get anything done to it before sale, make sure it’s done carefully and considerately. To be honest, even if the paintwork is currently a bit faded, I’d be tempted to leave it be, as originality really is everything.

As for a value, you could be looking at around the €12-15,000 mark if its rarity plays out, although many good sixties Beetles go for around €9-10,000 if restored. I think you should get in touch with the VAGE Club Ireland, the Volkswagen owners'  club, and have a chat with one of their Beetle experts before you go about trying to sell it. They should be able to give you some good pointers.

Best of luck

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Hi Eoin,

Mapfre and Carprotect provide decent cover, but, as always with these things, you need to make sure you read all of the small print, and we mean ALL of it, to ensure you know exactly what’s covered and what’s not and in what circumstances. Basically, rather like accident insurance, aftermarket warranties are there to cover utter disasters, not replacement of day-to-day items.

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Hi Donal,

Sadly you’re right – as with so many things in Ireland, transparency in the car leasing market is rather lacking and it’s not at all easy to either get comparisons or to make sure that those are direct and fair comparisons.

There are a couple of sites such as www.autoleasing.ie which do offer some comparison ability, but they don’t cover all brands so it may not be the answer you’re looking for. My best suggestion for the moment is to sit down and have a good chat with whoever looks after your company’s leasing and see what they can do to help. They’ll be much more plugged into the market and may be better able to assist.

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Hi Eoin,

There are a number of UK-based insurers who offer one-day car insurance, usually up to a maximum of 28 days, so a quick run through Google should see you sorted. If you’re concerned about not knowing which company is which, the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) offers a short-term policy, and that should be very trustworthy. Just make sure that you check and ensure that the coverage will extend to Ireland for the time you need to get a local policy sorted out.

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Hi Mairead,

It depends which model you mean. An automatic 2.0-litre VVT-i petrol RAV4 from 2008 has CO₂ emissions of 212g/km, so will cost €1,200 a year. The manual version has CO₂ emissions of 202g/km so costs the same. It gets a bit better with the diesels. The 180hp 2.2 diesel has emissions of 185g/km so costs €750 a year while the 150hp version has emissions of 173g/km so costs the same €750.

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Hi David,

They’re not bad actually. The only major mechanical items that cause regular bother are the engine’s exhaust gas recirculation valve (if the engine is down on power or putting out lots of smoke, suspect this…) and the fragile water pump on the 1.6 HDi diesel. That 1.6 also needs a steady diet of high grade oil at service time. The only other issues are minor electrical niggles, such as the electronic parking brake, sticking fuel filler flaps and the like. Buy one with a full service history and keep it serviced and you should be fine.

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Hi Philip,

Petrol is better for shorter trips, period. Apart from the extra cost of buying a diesel car (which as you correctly point out, narrows a bit with some models), there's the question of maintenance - doing short hops is just bad for a diesel engine as it won't warm through properly and you could develop problems with the particulate filter and other engine components.