A missed opportunity

[sparksie]

Guys

For some time now, I've been accessing the 'net from public locations.
This has meant I couldn't log in because I didn't have my password and didn't want to reset it from such an insecure environment.
Around Christmas, while scouring the classifieds looking for a wheelchair accessible car, my attention was caught by a 2000 reg Xantia 2.0 HDI, which had one owner from new and was still in use with paperwork all in order. The asking price was unrealistic and it didn't sell.
Over the following couple of months it reappeared with ever decreasing asking prices, until finally, with tax and test now expired, it vanished at Euro250!
I feel it has probably been scrapped and I wish I could have put a link on here so someone could have saved it.
Now that I seem to have some sort of internet access again, would this be something that would be appreciated, if the situation should arise again?
I know there would be transport to sort out for most of you and, post Brexit, probably red tape in spades too, but Irish cars tend to be a lot less rusty than their UK counterparts, so there are compensations
What do you think???

[GiveMeABreak]

You could always put a link up in the For Sale & Wanted section in future, then it would be for members to pursue if they were interested - but I would make sure you specify this is not your vehicle so you don't get lots of questions being asked!

[van ordinaire]

Not sure why Irish cars should suffer less from rust, as the the climate is, essentially, the same, albeit with a reputation for being wet - less salt perhaps?

Assuming it's drivable transport shouldn't be any more of a problem than any other distant location - but the ferry would ramp up the cost of cheap car.

The great attraction of buying Irish is the prospect of something a little different, e.g. strange (to our eyes) early Japanese models OR, how does a BX van appeal?

[Gibbo2286]

I think there are costs involved with the transferring from ROI to UK registration, I can't remember the details but I did buy one some time ago from a returning expat and remember it wasn't too easy or too complicated, I don't think it could be done online at the time and I had to make a trip to the regional office at Bristol and deal with the bureaucrats face to face.

[van ordinaire]

Be the same as registering an import from any EU state I would've thought - &, presumably, it has to be done on-line now.

[sparksie]

Yes, it's mainly to do with the salt.
We have no salt reserves here and we have to buy it from other countries and ship it in.
This means, even in freezing conditions, it tends to be used sparingly and only on major routes.
You guys, on the other hand, may as well be driving in the sea for large parts of the year, with the inevitable results.
I'll let you know if it happens again.
It's a shame they're getting so scarce now.
"Scrappage" schemes are mopping up many perfectly good cars over here too!
Eco-mentalism seems to be second only to H&S in it's rampant destruction of common sense and it's a world-wide epidemic!

[van ordinaire]

Of course if we were serious about it we'd ban the manufacture of all cars (after all the world has enough to go round) & redirect all the resources to making the existing ones "cleaner" - & last forever.

[sparksie]

A bit extreme, but have you seen any footage from Cuba lately?
No new cars there for decades, yet they still seem to get around as well as they ever did.
I don't believe we need so many new cars, but neither do I believe we don't need any, or even that we only need to replace existing stock as it expires.
Motor manufacture is hugely profitable for a select few, who appear to have the ears of influential people who can skew legislation in favour of new, often environmentally catastrophic, vehicles.
Said new vehicles come with "free" servicing, for the duration of the warranty, but very limited lifespans post warranty, which makes me wonder what was actually serviced? The failures are often expensive enough to warrant replacing rather than repairing, especially with low repayments and incentives, and the circle goes on.
Ask any reputable used car dealer and they'll tell you good, used stock is getting very hard to come by.
Even the banger market has been destroyed by the insurance companies.
Sorry. Off on a rant.
I believe a one owner, low mileage, all working as it should car, of any make, should not be consigned to scrap and I thought this was the place to find like minded people who might benefit from my awareness of them.
That Xantia would have been worth its initial asking price all day long, were it not for the chevrons on the grille!

[van ordinaire]

If you think that's extreme, you wait 'til the Mayor of London consigns 1,000's of cars to scrap &, effectively, closes every garage & workshop within the M25.

Just another facet of the inability to reconcile clean air in a few specific areas with the wider environmental issues. In fact, those who make the decisions can't, apparently, see there is a conflict.