Search data compiled from 2012 clearly shows that Irish car buyers know what they want. The most popular models being a BMW 3 Series or a Volkswagen Golf.
An incredible 71.5% of searches feature a specific make and model, while 53.4% specify a year or year range.
Even allowing for the fact that the results can be sorted by various criteria, that’s a lot of decisive buyers.
The most popular year is 2008, with 14% of searches, followed by 2007, then 2009.
Reflecting the poor sales of new cars in 2009, there’s a distinct lack of vehicles from that year listed for sale. This appears to be encouraging buyers to stick with 2008 cars, as a brief snapshot at the end of January 2013 reveals that users of the site are still favouring 2008 models over those a year newer.
While the premium German brands appear to be getting all the attention in the mass market, Irish buyers seem to have an unerring optimism.
Though most of you that bought a used car in the past year paid between €5,000 and €10,000, you also state that you expect to spend twice as much next time around.
There is considerable interest in exotic brands, with surprisingly strong interest in Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Maserati (in that order).
Needless to say, the stock levels of these cars don’t seem to match the ‘demand’. While the average BMW or Volkswagen attracts in the region of 250 to 350 searches per month, there are 2,294 searches for every Lamborghini in the database monthly! Cartell.ie confirms that there are just 17 Lamborghinis registered in Ireland, 71 Ferraris, 115 Aston Martins and 100 Maseratis.