Tipperary car sales down for first three months of the year

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) in association with DoneDeal have issued their first Quarterly Motor Industry Review for 2017.



The SIMI/DoneDeal Report highlights the challenging and uncertain year that the Industry has faced with new car sales (-8%) and commercial vehicle sales (LGV’s -11 and HGV’s -3%) both reporting a decline in the first quarter of 2017 despite the Irish economic prospects looking better than at the beginning of the year.  


With car sales across the country affected by the slight downturn for the start of 2017 the new report has highlighted that every county has seen a decrease in new cars sales in the first quarter, including Tipperary. 

Car sales in the county have decreased by 13.7% in the first three months of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016. 

There were 2,175 new cars registered in the first quarter this year with 2,520 cars registered for the first quarter last year.    

According to DoneDeal 5,130 car ads were placed on their site from Tipperary in the first 3 months of 2017 and the value of the cars advertised was €39,679,403.

Alan Nolan SIMI said – “Brexit continues to play a role in uncertainty. The decline in new car sales has been a nationwide trend in the first quarter of 2017 and the motor industry in Tipperary is no different. Used car imports increased by 56% while LCV imports were up 53% on the first quarter of 2016. 

“Used car imports are primarily between 3 and 5 years old (49%) reflecting the shortage of second hand cars during the registration period 2009 to 2013 and the over 6 years age group (37%).

While the number of imports nearly new are relatively low (9% up to 2 years old), overall the volume of imports is impacting even if indirectly on the new car market.

“2017 is still shaping up to be a good year even if down on last year’s strong Q1 performance and while the market is difficult to predict this year, the second quarter of 2017 will hopefully give us a clearer picture.”

The SIMI/DoneDeal Review outlined that the cost of motoring in 2017 which has seen an increase in petrol +14.3% and diesel prices +18.7% (March 2017 vs March 2016), although Motor insurance costs have seen a reduction of 6.1% from July 2016 to March 2017 over the full year March 2016 to March 2017 motor insurance still shows an overall increase of 0.7%.