In another case of buyer beware, Cartell.ie, the All Ireland car history checking company, believes that up to €32 million Euro may still owe on cars imported into Ireland from the UK.

There have been almost 40,000 vehicles imported from the UK & Northern Ireland in 2008 and 8% of these are still on finance.

According to Jeff Aherne of Cartell.ie, “This is based on a random sample of 1,527 vehicles imported into Ireland since January 2008 which was a mix of public and trade checks carried out on the Cartell.ie website. If the average debt per vehicle was as little as €1,000, you’re looking at €3.2 million Euro. However a lot of these vehicles are of high value and many people are availing of higher specifications and attractive pricing due to the new VRT system and the low cost of Sterling. It is therefore more likely that the average debt on these types of vehicles is €10,000”.

Aherne continues, “The most worrying aspect is that the new owners, who imported the vehicles in good faith, are still liable for the debts and according to our partners across the water, HPI UK, the lending institutions are prepared to chase these outstanding debts which could ultimately result in repossessions.”

This is an extremely worrying development for UK lenders as these vehicles are now out of their jurisdiction and were exported without the finance being cleared. Checking to see if a vehicle is on finance is not part of the Governments remit when the vehicle is being imported.

Jeremy Raggett, Used Car and Fleet Manager with BMW Automotive (Ireland) Ltd has confirmed that his counterparts in the UK at BMW Finance and Leasing, have agents working on their behalf locating vehicles in the Republic of Ireland.

A recent press release from HPI UK has indicated that 30% of vehicles which it has checked in the first three months of 2008 are on finance. This is an increase of 2% on the first three months of 2007. This seems to be a worrying trend and could lead to even higher percentages of UK vehicles with finance outstanding being sold here in Ireland. HPI is the UK’s largest provider of car history checks and has been in operation since 1938.

Cartell.ie, whom provide car history checks and finance checks on UK and Irish vehicles, have seen a sharp increase in the number of Irish vehicles being checked with finance owing and are urging all consumers intent on importing a car to use the service to protect themselves.

For worried owners if the vehicle has been purchased from a garage we recommend contacting the National Consumer Agency as the onus should be on the garage to clear finance before selling it on. If the vehicle has been purchased privately contact Cartell.ie on 1890252331 for advice.

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