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Hi Philip,

Not quite. It's true to say that on a hot day, using the recirculation function can cool the cabin down a little faster as the system isn't pulling in fresh, hot air from outside. But, after a while, you'll notice that the air is becoming quite stale and you may find that the windows are starting to fog up as the oxygen content of the air falls a little.  So really the best thing is to use recirculation for the first few minutes until the cabin has cooled down nicely and then switch to bringing in fresh air from the outside.

Of course, if you're really bothered about efficiency, turn the air conditioning off altogether. 

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Hi Sean,

I assume it's a 2.0 TDCi model? If so it uses a 'dry' belt to drive the camshafts, which has a service interval of 200,000km. However, there is also a tiny chain that links the two camshafts and this is apparently prone to snapping, so make sure that this is changed whenever you change the timing belt, even though it's supposed to be a service-free item. 

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Hi Lorna,

Do you mean motor tax or purchase tax? If purchase tax (VAT basically) then yes – the VAT must be paid before or when it’s imported. If it’s motor tax, then no. It would help if the car has been declared as legally off the road by the previous owner, and obviously you can’t drive it across the UK to a ferry port to bring it here (you’ll have to put it on a trailer), but the Irish authorities won’t be bothered if it comes in with no tax as long as you pay your VRT properly and then tax it here. Unpaid UK road tax is an issue for the UK authorities and the previous owner.

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Hi David,

It's difficult to assess such problems from afar, but it certainly sounds like your power steering system has an issue and you really should bring it to good mechanic sooner rather than later to have it looked at and rectified. If the power steering fails while you are driving it could become very heavy, making the car difficult to control.

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Hi Lurdes,

OK, lots to deal with here. Let’s go through it piece by piece. Theoretically, you will always get better value buying second hand than buying new. 'Buy at three, sell at five' (years old) is the rule of thumb to maximise your value and minimise your exposure to depreciation. But, you’ve been burned in the past by unreliable cars (been there, I feel your pain) so I would say that buying new is actually the best thing for you this time around, especially as you want to hold on to the car for an extended period.

Of the two cars you’ve mentioned, the Toyota Verso should be the most reliable. Nothing much wrong with the Ford, but if reliability is your priority then always buy Japanese. Happily, a manual 1.6 diesel Verso seven-seater is just inside your budget, at €29,100 and there is currently a €3,000 trade-in offer on that model, which means you’ll get a lot more for your old Scenic than you would if you traded it in normally.

There is only one hybrid people carrier so far, and that’s the Toyota Prius+, but to be honest, we couldn’t recommend it. For a start, a new one will bust through your €30k budget barrier, but beyond that it’s a disappointing car – far too thirsty unless all of your mileage is done in town at low speeds. The Verso is a far more versatile car.

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Hi Paul,

Well, you kind of have your own answer there already - it'll cost €2k to fix your Focus now, and even if it were another €2k next year and the year after, that would still work out cheaper (by far) than a finance deal or loan for the €17k cost of trading up to a new car.

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Hi Debbie,

No, you shouldn't have to pay VAT. VAT is only payable on vehicles younger than six months and/or with less than 6,000km on the clock. Unless it's a very unusual lease that you're paying off, the vehicle's VAT will have been included in the original lease cost.

As far as the legality of the company selling it is concerned, it's up to them if they want to. The leasing company won't care one way or another as long as they they get their money. Just make sure it's a reputable company from which you're buying and make sure you carry out a history check with Cartell.ie on the car to ensure that there are no other outstanding loans or finance agreements. Make sure you get a letter in writing that the firm undertakes to pay off the lease when you buy the car and insist on having proof of that in writing too.

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Hi Ray,

You'll pay 13.3 per cent of the 'Open Market Selling Price' (OMSP - the Irish used value as estimated by Revenue).  It would obviously depend on the year and condition as to what that value would be. As an example, a 2009 Touareg commercial would be worth around €13,000 to €15,000. 

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Hi Dan,

Right, I'm going to give you a couple of really safe options: Mazda6 or Toyota Avensis. That budget should see you into a 2008 model, and both are roomy, very reliable and pretty good (Toyota) or really good (Mazda) to drive. 

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Hi Iain,

It should be, but check it with your finance company first. You’ll probably need to keep your Sterling bank account active and transfer money to it from whatever Euro account you’re being paid into when you’re working in the Republic.