Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Kia's 4 new EVs, VW Tayron & EV repair expert hits us with the facts!
404 Plays1 month ago
This week, Nobby travels around Europe to look at new Kia models including EV4 and looks at the 7 seater Volkswagen Tayron. Paddy visits mechanic and EV repair specialist David Corbally at his Service Stop Limited workshop to set the facts straight about EV battery repair, failure and the true cost of battery or module replacement!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
You're very welcome to episode two of the Drivers Republic podcast. This is myself, Mark Noble. Paddy Common is over there, metaphorically. Down in Ballycotton in Kenty Cork, exactly. Down the other end of the country.
00:00:13
Speaker
The real capital. And we are ah thankfully brought to you by our lovely sponsors in association with Dundee Motors, Ireland's favourite car buying website with the widest selection of cars from certified, trusted dealerships. Most Irish drivers find their next car on Dundee. And if you want to get in touch, you can email us questions. If you've got an idea for a topic, maybe.
00:00:33
Speaker
You'd like us to call around for tea. ah Drivers of Public Podcast at gmail.com is the website.
Mark's Travel Adventures and Environmental Concerns
00:00:40
Speaker
Well, Mark, you've had a busy week this week. You've been living out of a suitcase, pretty much.
00:00:45
Speaker
It's not over yet. Yes, this has probably been the busiest back-to-back week of this motoring life that I've chosen for myself. um So I'm two hours off a plane from Nice, and this time, 12 hours from now, I'll be wheels up on the way to Malaga. So I'll have done eight flights this week. And don't worry, someone has already messaged me to say, what's the story with your carbon footprint?
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And what's your yeah presumably as well, you're you're not very popular at home, but hopefully yeah hopefully that'll smooth over now if you ah put it in a few hours in the next 24 at least.
00:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, yeah I'm gone again till the weekend, but ah I'm only away once next week. So, you know, that's something. Fine, you can plant some trees. and yeah so So look, let's start at the start.
Kia Event Insights and Concept Car Discussion
00:01:32
Speaker
the Monday was Frankfurt.
00:01:34
Speaker
Monday was Barcelona. Oh, Barcelona. I know why I presumed Kia was in Frankfurt. would have thought design studio was there, isn't it? I think, and their European head office, I think, is in Frankfurt as well. Yeah, it is. No, we went to Barcelona to the W Hotel, which is a lovely hotel. That is my favourite hotel.
00:01:52
Speaker
Full stop. I was on the 25th floor. They have those amazing seats where you can just relax and look out at Barcelona. Stunning hotel. it's ah It's a cool, cool city. But a good colleague of ours, Justin Delaney, was there few weeks before me and said he couldn't sleep all night because the nightclub was on top of him and it was pounding all night.
00:02:11
Speaker
Now, Monday night, even in Spain, seems to be quiet. So by about two o'clock... And I know this because I may have been in the nightclub to two o'clock. Allegedly. It fell silent.
00:02:22
Speaker
But like they do some crazy stuff. like There's a bottle of Patron, always drinking responsibly, in fact, don't drink at all in my room from Kia. And wouldn't be allowed to drink such a drink? Well...
00:02:35
Speaker
Obviously on your downtime the evening whatever you do is up to yourself. Now we weren't driving on this event. This was a studio so what we call a static thing in the yeah industry. But Hannah who is a very nice lady, very funny lady who looks after the events for Kia across Europe laughed her head off when I said why have you left a bottle of tequila in our rooms?
00:02:56
Speaker
It makes no sense. sure look and Sometimes the best things don't make any sense, Mark. No. So then we tipped on the next morning to downtown Barcelona. We had a look at the, well, quite a quite a mix of Kia vehicles. New EV4 hatchback, sedan, a new PV5, which is Kia's answer, I suppose, to the ID Buzz.
00:03:15
Speaker
I'm sorry, Kia. It's very clever, very utility utilitarian, but it doesn't look as cute as an ID Buzz. Nothing does really, though. No. Well, look, let's start with the start in order of size. Kia EV2.
00:03:29
Speaker
Yes. So I watched your video today, and it's there on Nobby on Cars on YouTube. and Well worth a watch because you've done three separate videos on on these vehicles. But let's start with the EV2, which is... let let's say a small sort of golf size entrant?
00:03:44
Speaker
Is that right? Or less? Smaller? Yeah, probably it's similar. It's a little bit taller, which can kind of deceive you. It's certainly, it's no Hyundai Inster. It is a bigger vehicle than that.
00:03:54
Speaker
Currently a concept door. Rear doors that fold outwards, so there's no C-pillar in the car. Well, I suppose what we call a B-pillar. I didn't, I was kind of confused as to why they were calling it a C-pillar.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, the C-pillar is the rear. Riddle me this. Yeah, third rear. So, <unk> you know, I would describe it as no B-pillar, unless there was a typo in the press release. But anyway, so the doors, the rear doors open outwards like a Batmobile. And it has some clever stuff. Like, it look, it is a concept car, so who knows how this will work out. But the idea is you can fold up the base of the rear bench so then you can push back the front driver and passenger seat.
00:04:34
Speaker
You've got this huge screen to watch your films on. You can remove seats from the car and use them as picnic tables and seats. You can remove the speakers from the car, Paddy, and you can play your tunes when you're having a picnic. So think about it. You know, you're on Dolly Mount or whatever or having a picnic in the summertime. Wind coming sideways.
00:04:51
Speaker
Wind coming sideways and someone who's blaring music that you don't like from their new Kia EV2 and you just have to put up on it. Oh, wonderful. You said in the video that a lot of the, you know, with Kia, a lot of the outside design when they show it is very likely to end up in production. I think that's pretty much the case.
00:05:11
Speaker
yeah It'll probably end up looking like that. Any idea how much of that innovative interior is likely to show up in real life? Look, to be honest, i I don't know is the honest answer. There was a lady who was very keen who was obviously had worked on the materials used on the inside and she was sort of walking over during your video to tell you all these polycarbon thing, me bobs that would make up a lot of the dash.
00:05:32
Speaker
and It looks very cool. It's very sustainable. There's there's bits of somehow, i think, hydrated mushrooms in the door panels. It's like... It's like Jesus man Magical Magical Magical yeah So i look I don't know it's I'd say the screen in the car Will make it into the production vehicle um Maybe the steering wheel With a slightly different set of material on it But yeah hard Hard to know Look it is a concept car They do in fairness And they do kind of stick I mean the BB5 Which is the people suppose people of van Whatever you want to call it
00:06:10
Speaker
apart from the lights the headlights that had to be changed probably for eu regs it's quite like the concept that they had so so ev2 when is that 2026 26 but mean i'd say it'd be the tail end of 26 um and any idea on batteries or prices or nothing like that just didn't mention batteries or prices don't i'd i mean it's gonna be a 300 kilometer car at least all right probably 300 400 kilometer range Yeah, but Kia will have to, I presume, develop another battery for it because most of their batteries are at least in the 60s. Yeah, well, they do have... memory.
00:06:45
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I mean, it's it's easy to scale down a battery, really. Yeah, yeah. and Not difficult. and so Something that's probably more close to production is the EV4, though, right? That definitely looks yeah and almost finished. Yeah.
00:06:59
Speaker
Absolutely. So that car will be produced in Slovakia and the sedan will be made in South Korea. Seoul, I think. So hatch and sedan, you'd shown in your video on the EV4 that that rear end of that hatch is beautiful.
00:07:17
Speaker
Do you like it? Oh, the hatch, yes. Yes, sorry. The hatch, yeah. The saloon is a bit more sedate. Yeah, a sedate sedan. It's a lot of comments today on YouTube just saying, have they just stuck the back of that car on? And then equally, people said they loved it. So, no, the, God, like the video probably doesn't do justice. The side angle, as you come around to the rear kind of quarter on the EV4 hatch, it's really, really good looking.
00:07:41
Speaker
It's like, a good looking you know, the EV6 kind of flares up quite a lot. It doesn't do that as much. It's more kind of a straight down angle on the boot part of it. But, yeah. It's just, it's quite low. And again, there was a lot of comments, feedback from people saying, finally, some EV options that aren't just more SUVs, because this is, you know, it's a proper hatchback car and with a really good looking nose on it.
00:08:05
Speaker
So similar powertrains to the EV3? and similar so the 58.3 battery and then you have a 81.4 that's the long range that'll do supposedly upwards of 600 kilometers right the drag coefficient is very interesting you don't want to get too boring and technical for people but basically I love a drag coefficient do you well explain to people will you it's like the offside rule and aerodynamics it's a measurement of how aerodynamic a car is and then the more aerodynamic the car is the easier it cuts through the air and
00:08:38
Speaker
Basic physics, you're trying to push a heavy object through the air, the slicker you can make it, then the more fuel efficient it will be, or in this case, electric efficient. Essentially, that's why aircraft have the kind of shape they do.
00:08:50
Speaker
Now, you can't make a car look like that. You don't want it to take off either. but No, no. So um it's 0.23, which is very, very close to the new Tesla Model Y.
00:09:05
Speaker
So the smaller the number, the better in case of CD, isn't it Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You know, a big brick would be sort of upwards of 0.30. So yeah, given this car is probably lighter than an EV3 with the same batteries, you're probably going to get bigger range, right?
00:09:18
Speaker
Yeah, so this is this is also a front-wheel drive, 150 kilowatt motor. That's 204 brake horsepower for those of us who don't convert in our heads. ah It will have vehicles to load. will have vehicles to grid capability.
00:09:32
Speaker
So that means once upon a time down the future when Ireland gets the finger out, you'll be able to sell the energy. For those people who solar, it's probably easier to grasp.
Volkswagen Tyron Launch and CEO Cameo
00:09:40
Speaker
Essentially, think of your car outside, also like your big solar battery, and you can...
00:09:44
Speaker
you can sell that energy excess energy back to the grid then during the day for 20 cent a kilowatt hour whatever the whatever the rate is that you're getting um is that a this year car uh yeah i get the sense we will probably keep a kind of sense they seem to do things in cycles every year you probably noticed this from your days doing this kind of stuff as well so generally they do dynamic international drives in november The last years anyway EV3, EV9 was the same So I would imagine that car will be In Ireland before the end of 2025 Do you know why they do The drives in November?
00:10:20
Speaker
Because hotels are cheaper Exactly Cheaper hotels And easier access to hotels Yeah so that's why you'll see a lot of that happening ah trying to Trying to do a long Trying to book out a whole hotel In a nice resort in July Is not pretty easy No No I'm going to one of those resorts tomorrow With Audi That you probably wouldn't be getting near In June or July and So the PV5 van to round it up, is that a van with, you know commercial van? Is there a one with seats?
00:10:43
Speaker
There's a double chassis cab. There's a van, just a standard panel van. There is um a wheelchair accessible vehicle. So you have to get a specific, it's called a Wave, as as remember.
00:10:57
Speaker
ah That has a 300 kilo max payload ramp. for wheelchairs and and a lift. And what I love about this vehicle is, i mean, it will make a good panel van, it'll make a good passenger or car if you've got a load of kids whatever. But it's one of the first times I've ever seen an automotive brand go into such detail to make sure they're making the lives of people with mobility difficulties better.
00:11:25
Speaker
Like they've genuinely gone to these stakeholders and said, how can we improve things for you? So for example, beside where the wheelchair will sit, it's forward facing wheelchair. So they'll have the same view as passengers. and Someone can sit beside whoever's in the wheelchair in case they need assistance. Obviously some people don't, but just loads a little nice touches like that. And I know some people that have children with, which need, who need these kinds of vehicles. And I was just thinking of them when I was filming it going,
00:11:51
Speaker
Like up until recently, they might have had a ah converted transit, tornado, whatever, to try and get access. Obviously, the Caddy was another option for some people. But this is a this is a really big vehicle that, you know, will really make people's lives better, I think.
00:12:07
Speaker
Well, the thing is that EVs lend themselves to that because... there's so much you can do in terms of, you know, of space because it's basically just a flat skateboard and yeah you're not trying to get around, you're not trying to get around, you know, transmission tunnels and all sorts of bits and bobs underneath. that you're You're just a flat floor with batteries. So this the scope for making it more accessible must be ah infinite.
00:12:32
Speaker
Exactly. That's good. That's good. Very good. So key are in good form, I suspect. Do they have anything to say locally from a domestic point of view? Um... they didn't really it was sort of let you at it there were definitely some heads from Kia there it was kind of a more of a ah media day and on the Monday I didn't get there till late on the Monday because like I couldn't travel too early so I kind of missed some of that stuff but for Yeah, it was it's the only thing I thought was strange. They had a lot of things set up so you can get like a camping pack for this van.
00:13:04
Speaker
ah But everything had do not touch on it. It's like you just you want to touch and feel stuff and see how things move around sliders. And um but no, it was apart from that, it was it was all good. OK, so Barcelona was done. you Were you on the plane directly to your next protocol? or No, was there a brief stop home?
00:13:22
Speaker
Got home at 10pm, back in a plane. Changed jocks. Changed the jocks. I think I left the house at 10 past 5 the next morning, and so I got about five hours. So where was next?
00:13:34
Speaker
Where it was next? Then we double connected via London Heathrow to Nice. That was yesterday morning for the new Volkswagen Tyron. Tyron. Tyron. It's not Tayron. Tyron. It is spelt Tayron. You would think it's Tayron. It's Tyron, like Porsche Taycan.
00:13:52
Speaker
So this is the replacement to the Tiguan Allspace. Firstly, why the name change? and Well, so this is a vehicle that has in the past been on sale in markets such as China.
00:14:03
Speaker
So there's actually an old model Tyron, which obviously this isn't. It's actually, it's a little bit different again than, i think there's looks even slightly different than, For those who don't know, like there's, um there is, a but what was the vehicle years ago? that was it Was it the ID.6 or was it just something else called 6?
00:14:23
Speaker
that Never saw the light of day here, but it was a massive seller in China. an id From a Volkswagen perspective. Yeah. trying to think what was the car. was It was like a bigger Tiguan.
00:14:34
Speaker
Was there another Tiguan? Fancier Tiguan? Oh, yeah, there was. The name escapes me now, but yeah, another one you mean. Or maybe that was the Taikan from the previous version. I can't. Anyway, I just remember seeing it one day and being like, that's nice.
00:14:46
Speaker
OK, so so look, I mean, firstly, I know you can't really talk about it, but I know from your social media that you have a quite interesting cameo coming up in the video. Yes. ah So ah the CEO of Volkswagen Group, who is Thomas Schaefer, who is pretty much all his life from what I can gather worked in automotive. He started off in Daimler.
00:15:09
Speaker
He's a mechanical engineer by trade, worked his way up, went to different markets, South Africa and places like that. ah ah He was reasonably short term in Skoda as the head of Skoda. um Klaus, who's there now, replaced him in 2022. And then he took the top job in VW. So he's only answerable, I suppose, to the board and Oliver Bloom um and the customers.
00:15:32
Speaker
in fairness so he just wandered into shot he just kind of like there was rumours he was there and i was filming around the back of the car and he yeah he walked into the shot yeah yeah essentially see you obviously cursed Adam and told him to get out was it something more polite and He just he tried he tried to I hadn't got to a piece about the a part of the car and he kind of semi corrected me on it. And I just seized the opportunity then to chat to him a bit about what's going on in the company, some of the new models, future of the GTI.
00:16:12
Speaker
um can't talk about that yet. I can't talk about that I can probably talk to you about something else he said which was effing sorry creamy effing pints Wow So ah Thomas Schaefer even though he runs VW he comes home to Ireland every single week this is home for him Wow.
00:16:34
Speaker
And
Upcoming Audi Event and Podcast Social Media
00:16:35
Speaker
on Fridays, he I don't think he turns his ah ah out of office on for the weekend. Don't get me wrong.
00:16:42
Speaker
But he jumps on a plane and he's here until Monday every single week. And he loves it here. Well, what's not to love? Creamy, creamy effing pints. Yeah like he he can name pubs in do like he's a fan of the Gravediggers in Glasnevin which is a fine pub in fairness. That's a great point again.
00:17:00
Speaker
I'm not saying you see him there all the time so any drinking he's he's hardly a Coddle fan is he? I don't know I mean he's he's obviously cultured he's probably he's probably eating weirder things than Coddle in some of the markets he's lived in and worked in.
00:17:12
Speaker
m Yeah they do have some no variants in Germany that don't look too dissimilar to Coddle. Yeah, but he's also, for a man who has, I'd imagine, quite a stressful job, and according to Google, he's about 55. He doesn't look stressed. He looks well on it, doesn't he?
00:17:29
Speaker
He doesn't have wrinkles. he's Now, I know he's a runner. Maybe that's what it is. But um yeah, look, we I'm hoping we' probably we'll probably try and get an interview with him on the podcast over the next little while.
00:17:41
Speaker
and So that was good. A nice bit of some of the other Irish media and some of the UK media also got chats with him. So that's all under embargo. So the 9th of March, you'll get to... hear and and read what he what he said about the the company and and the models from then on. um And then tomorrow morning, it's Audi Q5. And again, that's all. We didn't really talk about Tyron. You better tell me a little bit about that.
00:18:02
Speaker
What can I tell you? Okay, well, why the name change? So the Tiguan now, well, you used to have the Tiguan Allspace. That's now gone. The Tiguan is just a five-seater. But weirdly, the Tyron is a five and a seven.
00:18:15
Speaker
So if you want a sort of a ah slightly posher SUV, you'd get the Tyron. And the skeptic in me has has wondered, has you know are is this a way to make the car more expensive?
00:18:31
Speaker
Well, it starts from less than 55,000. Okay, not too bad. And the plug-in hybrid, we were talking about the Kodiak plug-in hybrid last week on the episode. So the difference between the entry-level diesel in the Tyron and the plug-in hybrid, which is a higher trim, is 1,000 euro.
00:18:50
Speaker
Wow. Now that's more like it. And presumably now Volkswagen and Volkswagen Group Ireland are consulting you on on how to price their vehicles from now on, right? ah well Well, we'll talk to the head of VW in Ireland, Mr. Alan Bateson, in a few episodes time, and we can ask him.
00:19:08
Speaker
But it's and like, and they're also doing this with the ID.3 GTX, like some of the other models from Cooper, for example, have all recently come down in price. But before they did, VW got in there first with the 326 brake horsepower ID.3 GTX, which was 30, 38, 39 grand.
00:19:22
Speaker
i d three gtx which was thirty thirty eight thirty nine grand so ah And you will get your hands on that car soon, I believe. because i Yeah, I believe there's one coming, yeah. So what's the engine lineup like? Same as T-Mandon or similar?
00:19:36
Speaker
ah Same as, yeah, see, like because of our emissions, so when i drove from Nice Airport to the hotel, I was driving the 261 brake horsepower petrol, right which was lovely. So it's Golf GTI performance. Now, it does not drive or even power deliver like a Golf GTI. Don't get me wrong.
00:19:55
Speaker
But it's... Is that a turbocharged four-cylinder? Yeah. There's also a plug in... So there's a couple of... We're getting the 204 brake horsepower plug-in hybrid that you can get in the Kodiak, but we're not getting the higher output version of that.
00:20:10
Speaker
You can order a 4Motion in it, but it's a special order. ah Currently, we're not getting the 190 brake horsepower TDI. That's the 142 kilowatt, I think. But we are getting the 150 brake horsepower 2-liter TDI. Right.
00:20:24
Speaker
we were trying to explain to one of the guys from VW, German guy, Martin, who's their head of communications. He's also an ex-motoring journalist because that seems to happen a lot. And he he couldn't believe, like I i said to a two liter TDI or line D-Guan is like 63,000 euro here. And he was like, what?
00:20:43
Speaker
And you know, what he had a very innocent sounding question. He said, what if you have a large family and you need to buy a car like this? And we just all looked at each other and said, the Irish government just say tough or pay.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah, it's tax. It was just interesting to hear someone else's perspective. was like, but like these are solutions for people who need to get people from A to B. it's not he wasn't looking at it like a luxury, whereas it's kind of taxed like a luxury here.
00:21:10
Speaker
No, that's your jogger. That's what you get if you have lots of kids. Yeah. So look, what's the most cheaper? What's the most you can spend on one, you know, if you're all singing, all dancing, you're up to 70 grand or so?
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah, so that's kind of that space, but... um No, I think you could have a nicely specced one in Ireland now for sort of like the elegance trim is below the R line. You don't need to go R line.
00:21:34
Speaker
Obviously, it's, you know has a bit more black high gloss around the body work and some nicer seats and stuff. But the the elegance trim I drove and that's that'll be the one you'll see in my video. um it's It's really, really nice. There's this ultraviolet purple color, which is a nice, nice launch color. It's a Lamborghini color.
00:21:50
Speaker
and yeah once When do we see it? and It'll be here within a month, apparently. Wow. Okay, so probably July car for most people. Order books have been opened. There are orders there. I did ask what sort of numbers we're looking at, and they didn't have any figures yet. They just said the temperature test was good and was good feedback about it. So, look, the Tiguan has been a very strong selling car.
00:22:11
Speaker
I don't know versus all space in the past, so... But look, we we see plenty of Kodiaks on the road, so you can only assume this will... And currently, of it is slightly cheaper than a Kodiak, from what I can see.
00:22:23
Speaker
Sorry, Ray, for listening. i didn't it didn' I don't think it always performed as well as Kodiak, really. I mean, Kodiak came, you know, mostly with... It was very difficult to buy a Kodiak without seven seats initially. And um so, you know, they think I think the Kodiak really stole a march on it for a while, but yeah, this could be ah an interesting option. So you've so you've got out of Nice home again or straight over to ah the next protocol?
00:22:48
Speaker
Home in Dublin the moment. um Reminded the kids who their father was. And yeah, tomorrow morning I'm back at it at, don't know, flying at 7am. So that's the new Audi That'll be in Malaga. Malaga, the sun will be shining, I'm sure.
00:23:04
Speaker
um And we're even working on a Saturday, which is quite unusual for this business. I saw that
Dave Corbley's Expertise in EV Maintenance
00:23:11
Speaker
starting to creep in over the last while. i think it's yeah where they're trying to... and get more people through rotations there's probably more influencers there's more people needing to film them and stuff like that so I think that's probably lengthening the amount of time they have to have on these launches but yeah it used to be a thing where there was never you never took anyone away from their families on Saturdays and Sundays but it's obviously changed now A little bit anyway, like it doesn't happen often, but um yeah. it's
00:23:37
Speaker
So you'll you'll be able to tell us more about the Q5 obviously next week, right? and That's also embargoed, but that's the 7th of March. Okay, well you can tell us that that what the dinner was like and if there was any tequila in your room.
00:23:51
Speaker
and but To be honest with you, a lot of these embargoes are generally, it's about how the car drives. You can't talk about how it looks and how it feels and whatever. It's generally just, you know, the the driving impressions and anything where it shows the vehicle moving.
00:24:03
Speaker
But yeah, no, look, on my initial thoughts anyway, the i look, the Tiguan is very nice. i i don't know why you'd really buy a five-seater Tyron.
00:24:13
Speaker
I do know you'd buy a seven-seater if you had to. Yeah, of course. That makes sense. So, coming up after the break, we have quite an interesting interview, and I think it's one you're going to like.
00:24:24
Speaker
David Corbele, Dave... as he probably prefers to go by, um has an operation called Service Stop out in Old Town and and in North County Dublin. And he's been working on EVs a lot recently. he's ah He's a certified EV tech and he's been very popular on social media, huge following on TikTok, explaining to a lots of people what happens when EVs come in. Now, he obviously works on lots of ICE cars, but ah in particular, recently, he's been working on EVs and he's been pulling the curtain back, if you like, and and explaining you know just what happens when you're repairing EVs, what goes wrong, what the costs are,
00:25:06
Speaker
and what to look out for. So join us after the break for what is going to be a really interesting interview. Welcome back to the Drivers Republic podcast with myself, Mark Noble and Paddy Common, who's also at Car Talk Ireland on your social media channels.
00:25:22
Speaker
Paddy, and you do, is you do some car reviews there as well. I do the odd one. Yeah, the odd one. I leave it to the pros like you want to do more of them. But yeah, no, I've been known to ah review a car over the, over the last few decades.
00:25:34
Speaker
Well, you can see if Paddy's a pro or not, because you can find him on Dundeele's YouTube channel at the moment where he is reviewing something recently in the sense of the Ford Capri, the controversial Ford Capri.
00:25:45
Speaker
um And the reason I mentioned Dundeele Motors is because our podcast, ah Drivers Public Podcast, is brought to you in association with Dundeele Motors, Ireland's favourite car buying website, with the widest selection of cars from certified, trusted dealerships. Most Irish drivers find their next car on Dundeele.
00:26:00
Speaker
If you want to get in touch, you can email us driversrepublicpodcast at gmail.com. Now, I'm very interested in this next bit. So I was away. You popped off to North County, Dublin to talk to Dave.
00:26:11
Speaker
m I'm sure we might have some questions afterwards. And if anyone does have a question about this sort of battery topic, do feel free to use that email address to to get in touch. One thing that came up when I was talking to someone who was saying that you had interviewed Dave was...
00:26:25
Speaker
Is he not like are these cars out of warranty because so many manufacturers provide an eight year minimum warranty on their battery and well yeah because they're so busy he's working on these cars is that right.
00:26:39
Speaker
Yeah, there was when I was there, there was you know very, very fresh ID4, lots of fairly new stuff. and And some of them were just for you know no major issues. They were standard services. you know They might have been fleet vehicles. But um yeah, he will do some work that's out of warranty. He is the guy who, you know if the shits hit the fan and and and the car's in real trouble, he's often...
00:27:02
Speaker
the guy to try and put it right. and But yeah, no, he, he would, he would, he had some really fresh stuff there and also some pretty old stuff too. And it's, I think what's interesting is finding out what happens when the older stuff goes wrong.
00:27:16
Speaker
Did he have good biscuits? He did have amazing scones. It was, we sat at, us we sat at his kitchen table for the interview and I did, I did stop chomping before the interview started, but no, so shout out to Mrs. Corbley for, ah for some amazing scones.
00:27:33
Speaker
And Dave is also on social media. Did you cover his ah is channels? people want to follow him and find out more? Yeah, he's on, yeah, he's in Service Stop on Instagram. The other one is, excuse me now. There's a lot of TikTok, doesn't he? Yeah, well, and TikTok is is huge one, but the his username is not Service Stop. It's, let me see, it's I have it in the show notes. it's it's It's worth following because he he does a lot of,
00:27:58
Speaker
just And I don't, there's no real benefit as such to him doing these videos in the sense of he's like, he's not trying to, certainly not trying to scaremonger people. I suppose he's just sticking to the facts. And look, the more information, if people feel that servicing and maintaining EVs at the moment is a bit of a kind of,
00:28:17
Speaker
ah state secret then people like Dave who are just kind of putting it out there is a good thing yeah and and look he's you know his he primarily services standard ICE cars and he does lots of lives on TikTok so I have that it's at Corbs David C-O-R-B-S-D-A-V-I-D that's his ah TikTok channel which has well over 20,000 followers and and he does lots of live videos where he'll show you know work on a car and he'll let you know he'll do a lots of questions you know and people will come on and say you know I have this sort of a noise in my car. What you think it is?
00:28:49
Speaker
so he's he's trying to dispel the ah you know a lot of the myths. And you know there is that feeling sometimes that, you know, oh your mechanic's out to get you and he's just trying to rip you off. He's trying to to show people what exactly and whats ah you know what kind of work goes into repairing these vehicles.
00:29:03
Speaker
What I thought was really interesting to here in a minute, and again, this does come up in people. they Someone hears a noise in their car or they hear that, you know, there's a timing belt gone or whatever, and it's it's in a very expensive repair.
00:29:17
Speaker
But, and Dave gets into this, ah Alongside the parts that are needed, the labor to get, you know, these guys and girls, they have to be paid for their work and then they pay tax.
00:29:30
Speaker
So like I saw a car on Dean Motors a few weeks ago that they were stripping out. I think it was an old Volvo or something They were trying to get to a headlight bulb. and The whole bumper was off. Yeah, to change a light bulb. So a customer would expect how much is a light bulb and then you get a bill for like 300 quid because someone had to spend three hours taking the car but bumper apart, putting it back together and changing the bulb.
00:29:50
Speaker
So there is an element of that. So i'm I'm happy that he kind of covers this and he talks you through the steps of, you know, even getting to the battery might take two hours. Yeah, I mean, he had the whole battery modules laid out from a BMW And just to get to it took hours to show, you know, just to find that one cell out of the, you know, that this, but you know, think it 14 15 cells in each module.
00:30:18
Speaker
One of those cells was faulty. And that was the one that and was causing the problem with the whole car. Now, what was really interesting, and he goes into it, is that, you know, I was always led to believe that it was quite easy to pull out a cell.
00:30:31
Speaker
replace the cell but he was showing me that these were welded in so it wasn't that easy that the manufacturing process had doesn't lend itself to repairing these easily and it's really something that I think needs looking at and is that because they they can't lend themselves to make it easy to to you know take out or they're making it difficult so people can't mess with their cars it's really it's probably a question for the manufacturers and maybe something we need to to put Alan Bates in a few weeks but it It certainly doesn't lend itself to an easy repair. and And what struck me is that there's a sustainability issue here because the module that that he had there that had the faulty cell in it, that whole module is has to be binned.
00:31:12
Speaker
And it's only one cell and the other cells are perfectly functional. He was able to show me that they were all working perfectly well. So if he was able to use those other cells and potentially he could have fixed eight, nine, 10 vehicles from that module, which is now in the bin.
00:31:29
Speaker
Yeah, ah you know, that that was one of those things where you kind of go, make this make sense, because, you know, if you take something off a car that has a bit of life in it, and you can, like, that's simplified. Let's say there's you're changing the wheel nuts on a car, but you know they'll go on another car. You're not going to just chuck them away for scrap.
00:31:47
Speaker
um It's the same idea. Okay,
Challenges in EV Repairs
00:31:51
Speaker
well, let's head off to his kitchen and the s scones and let's find out more about, ah suppose, how you encounter issues with EVs.
00:32:00
Speaker
And welcome back and welcome to the yeah beautiful kitchen table of David Corbley from Servicetop. Dave, thanks very much for having me, first of all. No, bonnour, howdy. Thanks for coming. we are and We were just having a little walk around your amazing amazing premises with how many bays do you have? 14. There's 12 grams and 14 bays. So that would make you one of the largest independent dealers in the country, I take it.
00:32:26
Speaker
Definitely by physical size, I'd say. i don't know about to run over. So look. we Lots of people know you from your social media presence, and that's you know obviously where I found you initially. and i was really interested to talk to you because you've done some amazing work in pulling the curtain back on what happens when your car comes in for service. Not just EVs, I know we'll talk about EVs later on, but also and you know for everything. you You've really shown, you know, what happens, what's the work involved. And I think that's really useful because you've given people an insight and taken some of the mystery away from that world.
00:33:02
Speaker
Yeah, so I started of social media back, I think it was in 2023. And it really was just to help build our profile and really open up the door to showing people what is happening inside. What's the reality of happening inside?
00:33:15
Speaker
And yeah there's no fun in paying to get your car serviced. and people are afraid of going to garages like the reputation of the garage industry in Ireland isn't really very well in high esteem if you like and then but yeah we just want to show them pull it back and show some real stuff and we show the good the bad and the ugly like we show all the good stuff we do we show we also show the mess ups and what the cost of the mess ups and all that sort of stuff so it's interesting yeah Let's go back here a couple of steps, though tell me about how the business started, your own background.
00:33:47
Speaker
So I started out we started in agriculture and and back in 2000, I moved into the car game. um it has a four openly forced courage And and I ran for three years and I dug a big hole for myself and I closed it up again because I just wasn't going well.
00:34:04
Speaker
was good at fixing cars but I wasn't good at the business end it. So I closed it up, dealt with my financial woes and put that to bed and then I kicked off again in 2011. Since then... and since then We started, to i opened up Jill's dad, Sean was part of the business, he looked after all the paperwork, because that's where I fell down in the first part, and I looked after all the fixing.
00:34:26
Speaker
And we went from there, the two of us, to now there's 17 of us in the place, over the space of 10 or 12 years. So, obviously you are looking after a huge variety of vehicles.
00:34:39
Speaker
What are the type of vehicles that you look after primarily? Is there still any agriculture or is it now all passenger vehicles? No, so we don't do any agriculture. Sometimes a local farmer might ring me and say, will you have a look at something for me on a tractor or an air conditioning something like that. And we will do that just to get them in a hole.
00:34:55
Speaker
But in general, The majority of our work now is broken down between fleet and retail. and Wide variety of vehicles from Minis to Volkswagen, Skoda.
00:35:07
Speaker
a The Vag Group's big in our place. BMW's big in our place. Mercedes big in our place. And then the other half of the business is fleet. So we've we've a few big fleet contracts. We look after about 30 companies with fleets from 500 to 300 or 400 vehicles.
00:35:25
Speaker
Talk to us about the car of 2025. Is it a lot more complicated than the car of the 80s or 90s? So cars from the 80s or 90s had very basic systems.
00:35:36
Speaker
Like the engine, you could put it on a bench and run it. And there was no software or anything involved. And what you have now is you have multiple systems to make it car work now. And... The big problem now we have in the motor trade is guys don't understand the connection between the software and the mechanical and the effect one can have on the other because it it can have an effect both ways.
00:35:59
Speaker
So the software software is fixed and it doesn't move, but an engine wears and that software will have to be adjusted and moved to make things run better and properly as it does. Manufacturers are good, they build a lot of this in, they know a lot of the wear items.
00:36:14
Speaker
But the long-term effects, they don't know, and it takes years to get that data back. I suppose understanding them systems is what we have prided ourselves on. We're very focused on technical training and technical expertise, making sure that if you ring me, we can fix your care.
00:36:29
Speaker
That's really important. I think we're in an interesting situation where obviously we've all been used to petrol and diesel cars. We've all been used to what happens when you fix them. And some people would have even a rudimentary amount of knowledge about what needs to happen. And, you know, they begrudgingly might come to you and go, OK, that needs doing and whatever else.
00:36:47
Speaker
Coming into this world of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles, it's a whole new stadium really, isn't it? It's huge because really, so hybrid's a good example, where a hybrid really is two different machines in one machine.
00:37:03
Speaker
And everything, the repair cost them is very expensive because parts are very expensive. The time it takes to diagnose them correctly is expensive. And I suppose the big changes,
00:37:16
Speaker
we're We're in a transition period, like we're going from the horse to the Model T here, essentially. And the big change now is they don't want electric, they don't want hybrid, they want hydrogen.
00:37:28
Speaker
Ice is still working away in the background and it's going to be a long time before it's gone. and Because filter out the ice vehicles on the road is going to take 20 or 20 years, and say.
00:37:39
Speaker
from your you're interesting from a point of view ah ah that you are seeing these vehicles a lot of cases when they're edging out or past their warranty what are the main things that you're learning so far from seeing these vehicles in particular the hybrids and the EVs?
00:37:56
Speaker
So with hybrids and EVs the higher your mileage ones we're seeing very expensive repairs and the ones that are a lot of EVs so we we generally see cars from three to ten years old that that'll be our demographic vehicle and when a lot of times we see say a four-year-old EV it's in bits because the
Sustainability in EV Repairs
00:38:19
Speaker
person who owned the first three and a half years didn't do anything well because it's sold as a vehicle that doesn't need any maintenance so they might have put a couple of tires on it but essentially they've done very little since and the mechanics of it like the suspension parts were replaced and all that sort of as we did in any vehicle but when we get
00:38:40
Speaker
an electrical problem in the hybrid systems or the electrical systems, the high voltage systems, it turns out to be very expensive. So talk to us about some of these problems in particular, okay? and and And look, let me clear up something first because there might be a misconception out there that you don't like EVs. Now, that's, you know, it's it's an odd thing to say because, you know, I presume you're quite agnostic about the vehicles that are put in front of you right? Well,
00:39:07
Speaker
So as long as there's been ah horse and carriage, they've needed the blacksmith, you know, so we're the modern blacksmith. And once cars are moving, they're going to wear, they're going to break.
00:39:18
Speaker
And I love machinery. Like I you sit and look at farm machinery, any of that stuff, but we can't, like it doesn't matter to me. It really...
00:39:30
Speaker
But I suppose it's, you know, to be clear, you're not you're not someone who's out there saying these are basket cases, I don't like them. No, like I think they have a place. And I think there's going to be, they're coming.
00:39:43
Speaker
That's the reality. The ship is on route. We walk around the garage there, there's five sitting in the yard and there's 12 cars on ramps and there's two EVs in the workshop being worked on.
00:39:56
Speaker
and The hybrid battery has been worked on. So it's a reality and someone has to fix them. If you close all the independence, a murder dealers couldn't cope with the work. So it's coming. It's just a change.
00:40:08
Speaker
and I suppose it's embracing that change. But well, it's educating the consumer in the cost of that change. It's going to be the big thing. And that's the big change. What I find really interesting is, you know, there's often commentary about, OK, that the EV sales haven't been brilliant.
00:40:23
Speaker
But from what you're saying to me, you're quite busy with EVs and the main dealers are incredibly busy and there's not enough technicians. So, you know, in the short term, if the sales of EVs in particular double, treble, you know, are there going to be the technicians in the short term to cope?
00:40:44
Speaker
At this point, there's not. Like yeah even for us, like we we have to be very conscious of what we take in because we only have three EV techs and I'm one of them and and I don't do full days in the workshop anymore.
00:40:56
Speaker
and they The main deal is if you try and book something that will remain in it for a big repair or a high vault repair you're gonna need someone trained to level four. It's gonna be weeks.
00:41:06
Speaker
And then the other problem gonna have is the availability of the parts for that repair. It's just... I think what's important and and you know we talked about it when we were in the in the workshop is you know we deal with facts.
00:41:20
Speaker
Both the good and the bad. you know you know, clear up some of the myths for people who, A, you know, there are people who think that if something goes wrong with an EV, that's it, caput. But also there's people who think that, you know, you can flip out a ah battery cell and, ah you know, it's 100 quid. So there's somewhere in the middle is the truth, right?
00:41:39
Speaker
So, yeah, absolutely. And I think i think the problem with EVs stems from the original point of sale. And what happens is they're sold as a maintenance-free vehicle.
00:41:51
Speaker
right So if you were charging, fewboy you buy a new Tesla Enyaq or whatever tomorrow and you charge it off your house, you're probably going to say, man, you're doing big money, probably to say four or five hundred quid a month on diesel.
00:42:02
Speaker
for you'd spend that every month, plus you're gonna spend 1200 to 1500 on a nice car every year on maintenance. What people have done now, they've bought their EVs and they've said no maintenance, no maintenance, and then at the end of that, they have to do a seller placement and you're into 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,000 euros, depending on the vehicle.
00:42:21
Speaker
And they so sort of blame the product, but it's actually a budgeting problem and a misinformation or a missold maybe problem from the start. And I think,
00:42:33
Speaker
Like, EVs are here to stay. Like, we're all going to be driving them eventually. It makes sense to drive them. It makes sense for us to have one here even. But are we in a situation where, you know, the catastrophic failures, are they still very much ah in the minority and quite rare?
00:42:49
Speaker
Well, catastrophic failures in any vehicle are in the minority. If you maintain your... Petrol diesel or anything. Petrol diesel, yeah, like, are in the minority. Like, there's a big myth about EVs bursting into flames, right?
00:43:00
Speaker
Any car can go the fence. And the reality is an EV, like we've got guys in, I wouldn't have them parked close. But if an EV breaks down and the system shuts it down, there's very little chance that that's going to go on fire.
00:43:13
Speaker
There's as little chance of that going on fire, I'd say, as the ice car beside. But if you have a catastrophic failure and it's going on fire, it's going to be on the side of the road where it goes at all. You know, it's not going to... I suppose what I'm getting at it in in the round is that it's likely or more likely that a...
00:43:30
Speaker
an EV will totally fail as opposed to an ice car. I think economically, at this point, they're going to fail. Because no one has 15 grand put into a 20 grand car.
00:43:42
Speaker
And that's that's a reality of life. We would see a lot of customers who go out, if you spent 20 grand in the Scoda Superb, the worst bill you're probably going to get is a 5 grand bill to get it back in the world. Where you don't have the options. If I you go and put a turbo on you,
00:43:57
Speaker
I have four or five options to buy in a turbo. You can buy a dealer, you can buy an aftermarket, you can buy it reforbed you can buy second hand. If I have to put a module in an EV battery, there's only one place really it can come from at this point and that's through the manufacturer.
00:44:11
Speaker
That's going to be a couple of grand. So the options are limited and that in Torn is going to ride yourself. and Before we go into the nuts and bolts of of the repairs of those, is there anything that an EV customer can do to mitigate the potential for those things to go wrong? so bat So batteries are a chemical reaction, that's how a battery works.
00:44:30
Speaker
Heat is the enemy and high speed charging is fine once in a while to get you up and down the road. I wouldn't do it regular, especially if you're planning on keeping something for a long time. and charge cycles the amount of times you charge like some people plug in their mobile phone every night beside their bed and might need might only need it every two days where if you have an ev and you're bringing it from 70 to 90 or whatever charging way you're doing it like that's not great you want to reduce the number of charge cycles so fill up drop down and so so better to charge it say once a week at home fully
00:45:06
Speaker
On a 7 kilowatt charger rather than know every few days at 100. So the the amount of amps you push into the battery is relevant to the amount of heat.
00:45:17
Speaker
So if you reduce the amount of time you charge and the speed you charge at, that heat is controlled and the car can manage that heat for you as well. But high speed charging, the car can manage it, but it's not good for the system.
00:45:27
Speaker
So we were in the workshop earlier on and you were showing me a number of modules off a vehicle. what What really struck me as interesting was you right you were able to show me these modules, you have the cells within in them. First of all, you couldn't remove those individual cells out of those modules because it was welded.
00:45:43
Speaker
That's right. And the there's there's no repair concept for them. and The manufacturers, and I don't believe it's intentional, I just believe it'll be a production system for them and it'll be efficiency.
00:45:55
Speaker
But we have a module with 16 cells on it and there's one cell gone, you're replacing the other 15 at this point because they'd have to be drilled off the whole system taken apart and have there's no aftermarket parts.
00:46:09
Speaker
So you can't put it back together. From a sustainability perspective, I'm sure you can see the incredulity on my face, the fact that you can't take one sellout and you're left with 15. Yeah, it's bonkers.
00:46:23
Speaker
And sorry, is that true across the board? Yeah, so the one we showed you was BMW BMW. b m w Volkswagen the same, they come in a modular pack all welded together. I know it's, you know, how long is a piece of string, but roughly the cost of a module a vehicle? The ones on that bench there were between thousand and two thousand euros, depending on what it is. And I just, as a New Yorker, you were going to ask that question.
00:46:53
Speaker
I looked at an ID4 yesterday and the modules were two to two thousand, three hundred or something like that, in around that. So when you've seen these come in, you know, is it typically one module? Is it typically one cell within one module? Is there any pattern you're seeing? So so the ones we've seen, and BMW would be the ones we've done the most of, we've seen them one module failing, maybe two.
00:47:16
Speaker
So you might test one and it's slightly low, and you might see a bit of discoloration or that on it, and you just... So within those modules, is it one cell that's gone? Yes, always one cell. So, you know, this is what I was asking you earlier on. you You've potentially left with a broken module that has 14 or 15 perfectly fine cells within it. And you could potentially, if you were able to access them, use that for repairs of 10 vehicles. That's right.
00:47:42
Speaker
It could be done, but at this point it's not. And like the the big thing, I suppose, in the cost of repair as well, there's a lot of labor involved in this. So if we go stripping that module and you've...
00:47:53
Speaker
Like the BMW one for example, there's 16 modules, there's four welds per module and then you have the casing taken apart and put it back. So it's quite labour intensive even to put it together. So I've come in with my BMW 330e for example and I said Dave there's something wrong, only getting two kilometres range.
00:48:14
Speaker
how what How much is going into getting to the point of diagnosing the issue? So yeah you'd be into a battery removal diagnosis in about two hours a month. right So we take it in, we are experienced at it, so we take it in, we obviously charge the car, we test drive the car, then we start looking at data on the floor, then we drive it with two people, one person checks the data because obviously under load is going to have a different effect and and then from that point we will say yes, you need a battery removal or no, it's X or
00:48:46
Speaker
So, and then it's from there that you have those costs. So look at like a typical repair on, I suppose it's, you know, it's hard it's hard to quantify, but a typical repair on a 330E that's gone wrong is going to be... Around 3,000 euros.
00:48:58
Speaker
Right, okay. For what is not lot of range. For a one-module change. Yeah, for not a lot of range. No. and Conversely, you know, cheaper EVs, be it this on Leafs, Zoe's,
00:49:11
Speaker
you know a lot of those would be economically wouldn't make sense to repair correct if it's gone very badly wrong. Yeah when you get into motor repairs or inverter repairs and it becomes big money parts they're just written off like you buy 14 Zoe down there you buy a 14 Zoe now for driving for probably five grand and it could be 8,000 euros of repair to repair the motor and the inverter.
00:49:36
Speaker
And critics will say, look, there's zero zero Renault Clio's spinning around, which are absolutely fine. Yeah, and I suppose it took 100 years to get to that point where the ICE system worked, where we had all the options we have.
00:49:49
Speaker
And we're going to have to suffer to that point again if we're going to change over. and And I suppose within the scope of, say, from early LEAF to where we are now, it's A&I-D4, etc., have you seen good progress mechanically, ah the ah technically?
00:50:06
Speaker
they That ID4 down there and there's an E-Tron down there, they're really well-built cars. And technically, they're really good. But they also have technical problems that even, I'd say, the manufacturers are struggling with.
00:50:18
Speaker
and like over the air updates or shutting down cars people come out in the morning and their car doesn't run and the manufacturers are struggling to get all that back online and then when they they're struggling with parts to get it back online there's a whole gap the war in Ukraine I'd say had a huge effect on the productivity of the manufacturers because there was a lot of stuff manufactured wire looms and modules and all that and the availability of rare earth as well but I think um oh yeah like the modern car the modern car is unbelievable to drive and For anyone who say, you know we'll move on to other vehicles shortly, but if you were going to buy a used EV in particular, what would your advice be to people? you know within Buy within the warranty, check the state of health, the battery state of health, anything else that you would have people so look at?
00:51:06
Speaker
sort of We've had a couple of cases this last year where people have
Reliable Car Brands and Social Media Impact
00:51:11
Speaker
brought in EVs from the u k They hadn't been serviced as per the manufacturer's recommendations so the warranty was void and we were servicing them. So if you're buying one, say UK import, make sure it has a full service history. It doesn't necessarily have to be with a dealer but it has to have a full service history as per the manufacturer.
00:51:27
Speaker
Make sure it's within warranty and that it hasn't been crashed or written off because they will, as they're entitled to walk away from a write-off, that they will walk away from a write-off. and Just be aware of what you're buying, drive it, have a checked over, and if you're buying from a reputable dealer, you should be fine.
00:51:45
Speaker
but In terms of other vehicles, standard petrol, diesel cars, are you seeing any trends in in modern tech or anything that's thats that's been we're We're starting to see more petrols coming in. him That's coming. People are replacing modern diesel because modern diesel are very expensive run now because of emission systems. and So we're we're starting to see modern petrols coming in.
00:52:05
Speaker
But the manufacturer, the European Union, is hammering petrols now as well. You have gasoline in particular filters going into cars now and more emission standards on cars. and So that's going to change things, but it'll probably take five or ten years.
00:52:19
Speaker
ah Diesel, I'd say it's slowly dying. I have more customers ringing me now saying, I'm going change the car. What hybrid would you buy or what? But in general, petrol is definitely up. ah And you know, I like old cars, i like classic cars. do you think What do you think will be the cars that will stand the test of time from what we're seeing now? Because you know we we would have loved old Toyotas and the like. What would we be driving around in 30 years from from today?
00:52:47
Speaker
i don't know. i think i think it needs, everyone, manufacturers and repairers need to take a step back and start looking and see. like We need to get locally,
00:52:58
Speaker
upgrown service room repair solutions rather than running back to the manufacturer all the time. That'll reduce the cost of keeping stuff on the road. and With software solutions, i don't know, like maybe AI will write software for us that we can keep stuff on the road and electronics, like stuff will fail, capacitors and all this will fail over time.
00:53:17
Speaker
So it's hard to know, like there's nothing I'm looking at now. Actually the Zeker that I looked at and in Germany during the summer, I'd say that could be a classic.
00:53:28
Speaker
right what What are your top tips for people who, in terms of maintaining their car? So, you know, I've seen you yeah online talking about changes for example on specific models so is there a general rule of thumb that because I don't think in Ireland we're the best at really maintaining our cars no and like again it there's no fun and pain to get your car serviced because you feel like there's no value in it but there is value in it long term if you buy a new car today you should the first tip I'd say is if your payment's 600 put another 100 euros away in a Revolut account for maintenance every month and that will take lot of the pain out it new car costs you
00:54:05
Speaker
and probably thousand euros a year on average to service over a 10 year period. and Top tips, oil changes every 10,000. All the manufacturers are recommending these 30,000 kilometer oil changes and cars are wrecked in five years. Engines are failing within five years.
00:54:22
Speaker
If you go to America, they're still changing oil at 3,000 miles. You know, and we're at 30,000 in 40,000, 50,000 on some of the vans. Small and often, that would be my tip.
00:54:33
Speaker
You know, if you have a problem, Just going to get it fixed. In terms of of particular brands and models, you know is there are there models that you, well you know if you were telling your your wife or your mother or your granny or someone to buy a car, are there brands that are fairly reliable and ones that are at the other end of the scale, ones you'd want to think long and hard of? Do you want me to name them? Think long and hard. Well, I won't catch you i won't live but get you to libel yourself. and So, family car, I'd always recommend a bag model.
00:55:05
Speaker
good comfortable safe we've uh kodiak ourselves seven seater love the cars go superb octavius yeah all that sort of stuff like people bring me about first cars all the time and i'd say polo yaris you know say it's go to something along the lines and then for executive cars i generally bmw lexus and top three pick and it's funny because there would be a perception that BMW in particular which has a potential for a world headaches but not always the case.
00:55:36
Speaker
BMW make a great car. like But it's a great car if you maintain it the way it's supposed to be maintained. If you buy it and drive for five years and do very little to your you're getting a big bill.
00:55:47
Speaker
But that's with any car. We're seeing it with EVs now. like it say It's with any vehicle that you don't maintain. and A big problem is the length of time between oil chains. And the the manufacturers are causing this problem by saying, you don't have to service as your car for 30,000 kilometers.
00:56:02
Speaker
But 30,000 kilometers is a long, long way. Long way. And you think of all the bumps and moisture all these little things. And if you fix them awesome smart small and often, it just reduces your cost.
00:56:14
Speaker
And obviously there's there's levels of servicing. So what seems to happen in Ireland a lot, you know some brands will have, and you know, will have service plans, for example. So the first three years might be pretty solid because they've built it into the price, you're coming back.
00:56:29
Speaker
Then after that, the second owner might go to an independent and then by the time it's year three or, you know, owner three it can be pretty poor. you know from From what you're seeing, and are the standards dropping as the years go on down?
00:56:45
Speaker
So the problem with the Irish Motor Trade is there's no standard. Okay. first Sorry, but like, so we could go, Volkswagen could have a service plan and it could say Y and Z. It could come to us and we call it full service, what we call it, and do what we do, and they could call it something completely different.
00:57:05
Speaker
right And then it goes down to a ladder on the road and it could be an oil change. you know and that's So as oppos to standardization ah but I it, and maybe regulation is the answer, I don't know, but it's having people that you trust and know what they're doing.
00:57:19
Speaker
And there's a cost involved in that. And unfortunately, if you're going to pay someone at a high level to do something of high quality, you're going pay proper money. Cheap isn't always cheap. Yeah, there's a false economy, I think, as well. And and you yeah see you see that on some some used cars as well. You'll see cheap BMW 7 Series, cheap Range Rovers and the like of that.
00:57:40
Speaker
You know, we talked about the good cars. ah to Touch on the cars that you will need caution, let's say, before purchasing. So any JLR product? absolute disaster. And to be honest, I don't know.
00:57:53
Speaker
I personally think they've got away with more more with the two liter ingenium and some of the EV products that they've produced. I give you your own record publicly as saying you don't take them in now. No, we don't know and ending with a two-liter Ingenium engine we we won't even britain let it through the gate. So for people who don't understand what that is, give me some examples. So the Land Rover produced a two-liter Ingenium. It was fitted in Jaguar XE. It was fitted in Discovery Sports, Evokes, Land Rover Discovery 5s and then
00:58:27
Speaker
and It was the worst production engine I've ever seen. I was going down the road, a friend of mine, and I cycle with him regular, and he's had three engines in 150,000 kilometers. How does the problem manifest itself? and The last time his was driving perfect and it just stopped, he stopped the traffic lights and it wouldn't restart.
00:58:48
Speaker
They wear out cylinders, they... time of change problems, turbo problems. I'd say there's a lot to do with emission systems, but the emission system is here to stay. So the solution has to be around the emission system.
00:59:00
Speaker
And Land Rover's solution has been just, yeah, change the engine for the people that shout loud is where they should have all been recalled and changed. Yeah, because this you know it's not just an Irish problem. Obviously, this is everywhere. It's huge. It's particularly bad. And you know it's it's one of those consumer stories that doesn't seem to have...
00:59:18
Speaker
hit the headlines enough no and like we get guys ringing us all the time looking us to take in Land Rover two litre and we say not interested very much and like that's work we that's work we wouldn't should be happy to do but they're so unreliable we to work them all the video now all the time.
00:59:36
Speaker
and And obviously there's big delays in those main dealers as well. So so people can be stuck. And it's not the dealers. This a manufacturer problem. The dealers are only lads like ourselves. They're just doing their job. But unfortunately, they are the representative. They're going to get the flack.
00:59:48
Speaker
And to be honest, I think the likes of the CCPC has let the consumer down on this. piece that should they You shouldn't have to go to them for that. They should pick up that mantle and run with it. But definitely the JLO product.
01:00:02
Speaker
will be a big no-no in our house. Moving across to to social media. So, you know, you've you've been very successful and you you seem like you enjoy it What has it added to your business? Why did you get started on it and and and where did you end up where you are now?
01:00:16
Speaker
So, I started to get involved in it as a bet, right? And there's a friend of mine, she that used she does it and she's quite successful at it. she's notation And and she's built a really good brand around herself.
01:00:32
Speaker
We were over in France and just a bit of slagging and she was like, you should be doing this today. We're chatting about business. I do business. And so I said, I'll have a go. And I just started tipping away and putting videos up on TikTok. I downloaded TikTok and I went, right.
01:00:45
Speaker
And the first video was doing, I walked, just walked down on the yard and showed it like five or six thousand views. And and I get big views. They're within maybe a million and a half, two million views a month. And all the time. And without a lot of effort. And ah I do enjoy it. And I've made loads connections through Business-wise, business-wise,
01:01:02
Speaker
It's been good as far as their profile. We have stuff coming from everywhere. and I can't get back to everyone now. That's the reality. No, but you're very active in terms of, especially that the live sessions are very good. the and But it's also showing dispelling the myths and taking away the mysteries and showing people what what the the work that goes into something.
01:01:24
Speaker
That's right. And there's loads. So for me, there's loads of great characters there. And I know loads of really good mechanics and characters in there. But people have this perception that the mechanics are to get them.
01:01:35
Speaker
And I'm only chasing the same thing you are. I'm only making a living. That's, you know, we have a good business. It's all going well. And it's to open the doors for people to see, well, this is what happens when it goes in. Because it's quite mysterious. Like, ah we're very open in the garage. You guys bring any customer in to see their car in garage.
01:01:51
Speaker
I often ring a customer and say, come down, I need to show you this. I'm not around, I need i need you to come down and look at this because this needs to explain. Sometimes the visual is much better than an email or a phone call.
01:02:01
Speaker
And the care front of house guys are great, but they're not technical. So that message has to be delivered properly. And I suppose to be able to do it on a big scale, i need a big platform. And that's what done it.
01:02:13
Speaker
and And
EV Lifecycle and Government Policies
01:02:14
Speaker
has it brought in new businesses? Yeah, it's definitely brought us a new business. and and It brings you some crazy people too. And some heat, yeah. Yeah, and and and you get a bit of abuse on it too. But no, it's definitely brought us business. like Like, we fixed cars from Carlow, Mayo.
01:02:29
Speaker
You know, people have told cars to us from a long distance where you've fixed them. Because the technical expertise pool is getting smaller. And cars are getting more technical.
01:02:41
Speaker
So lad might be in a dealer for three weeks and no sign getting his car fixed. You know, that's... I think what's important, from my perspective, what's important and what you've done that's very important is you've highlighted a couple of issues. And, you know, one of them obviously is that the future of of the EVs that we have right now.
01:03:00
Speaker
What do you think needs to be done? we saw a car out there which would benefit really, you know, very well from ah fresh set of batteries. and you know We talked about cars like the Volkswagen e-Golf, really, really superbly engineered car, virtually hand-built in Dresden, but shady range.
01:03:16
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that's going to have to be addressed at the European level. like Our politicians should be banging on the door, it because the reality is having a car five to seven years old that needs a major of repair and putting it in the bin is a really bad solution.
01:03:33
Speaker
And the The manufacturers are really good at engineering stuff. So they can engineer any solution. And a lot of the times they're just buying in the parts and and reselling them. So it's it's easy. it's easy see do Do you think the manufacturers, and I don't mean all of them, but do you broadly, is is it a case that they maybe didn't think what would happen at the five, six, seven year stage? I think they don't care. And and and i think i think it's because if you look at big corporate business now, it's all about providing for your shareholders.
01:04:05
Speaker
and And the customer is a means to do that. And I think when you forget about, but ah officer one when average invoice value becomes more important than technical skill in a workshop, that's when the workshop starts to fail.
01:04:19
Speaker
So if you have your technical skill, you can charge what you have to charge to make money. But when it goes the other way, and I think that's the way the manufacturer have gone, I think they've said, we're going to serve or money masters, and this is how we're going to do it, rather than serving the customer. Like Henry Ford is a perfect example.
01:04:41
Speaker
He built a really good product. He was producing 10,000 cars a day at one stage, and flooded the world with them, and made billions, and now it's not working anymore.
01:04:52
Speaker
Because you look now, loyalty in brands is jumping. from one brand to the, and we see it in the cars, we see guys who had BMWs and had bad experiences and now they're moved from our seat or to or they're moved somewhere else.
01:05:04
Speaker
And that's not normal. people People don't change a lot. You know? Because the concerns, obviously, and in particular with the EVs that people have is, you know, I don't want to buy one because it might be worthless in 10 years or 15 years or something.
01:05:17
Speaker
there there's There is a way to, there surely should be a way to make that not the case. Yeah, and I think manufacturers will produce a new car, but I think that's where the local solution has to come in.
01:05:33
Speaker
But it has be an engineered solution where we can say, yeah, we'll take your Tesla, we'll overhaul it, we'll give you another two years warranty, and you have a new car for next five years. Because, you know, we often forget what the whole point of having EVs was in the first place. It was to reduce carbon em ocean carbon emissions.
01:05:50
Speaker
But, you know, you're showing me a battery module that, because it's welded, is effectively... Scrapped. Scrapped. Essentially, yeah. Whereas it could have potentially fixed another 10 cars. you know there's There's too much. and And that solution should be ah manufacturers like at level, at design level.
01:06:08
Speaker
That should never get out. So if this fails, how's this going to be done? And this is where people don't, the Chinese are making a really good product at the moment. But after sales is going to be an afterthought.
01:06:21
Speaker
Where the European manufacturers, they have an after sales, they have a network. And that's at the forefront. But again, it's a European problem. This needs to be said. If you want to sell your car here, you need to have a lifelong solution.
01:06:35
Speaker
wish should We should be putting a million miles on car. The same as an airplane. You can send your jet to Airbus, get completely ref reformed, and back out the gate. Brand new machine.
01:06:46
Speaker
Because you you know we know that there's Skoda Supriar Volkswagen Passat out there with half a million miles in them. i yeah if you you know If you were to to maintain them, you know Will the same potentially be true with car was the EVs, the PHEVs we have now? They'll probably be bit like Trigger's brush, you know. so But what that what that's the reality. Of course you don't understand the reference.
01:07:08
Speaker
and The Only Fools and Horses reference Trigger won an award for, ah was it Worker of the Year because he'd had the same brush for 20 years, but ah he'd changed only changed the handle and the head and the...
01:07:21
Speaker
Yeah, and put but that that's what they're going to be like. But there's no free driver. So we have to expect to pay that. But the consumer needs to want to change the environment.
01:07:32
Speaker
And then the manufacturer will change the environment. If the consumer says, we're not buying new cars, the manufacturer has to come up with a way making money. And that that will change it. Which you know may you account for?
01:07:44
Speaker
really strong residuals on petrol and diesel cars right now. Skoda are flying in particular. We talked earlier last week, Skoda are flying selling diesels. And, you know, there is a hesitancy in some quarters for people to buy cars that they want to hang on to for the future. you know Because ah at the moment, if I was buying a car, if you know if you or i were were presented with ah a situation where someone said, right, you you can buy a new car now, but you need to keep it for 15, 20 years.
01:08:13
Speaker
what's going to be? It's going to be... 2025 called a Kodiak diesel. Yeah, or tail land cruiser or or something like that that you know has the longevity. yeah So, you know, that's that's not a so that's a sustainability issue, though.
01:08:25
Speaker
You know, you know we could we could it could be the source of another podcast, but if you... You know, if you it's more sustainable for you to keep your 2010 events going for 30 years than buying four EVs, correct?
01:08:39
Speaker
Yeah, and... But we're missold. like like Marketing is very good now. And they know they have all the data. like we we Every time we pick up their mobile phone, we give them a little bit more information.
01:08:50
Speaker
So we that needs to be countered by government data, saying, well, actually, if you keep your car, But now the SOMI won't want you to say that either. You know, if you keep your car, that's actually better for the environment. But whereas taxation... It's counterproductive....does everything but.
01:09:06
Speaker
You know, if you're in your older car, your tax is seven, 800 quid a year versus 120 in an EV. You know, your petrol diesel is more expensive than your... And if you look at, like the modern d is a good example.
01:09:20
Speaker
AdBlue, DPF, EGR. And all these pieces have to be on the car, legally have to be on your car. And they're priced out of oblivion.
01:09:30
Speaker
Like a DPF, I think for a Scoda Superb is around three grand, four grand. That's only for a part. And then you have to add it on. So the five grand repair. Who's going to do a five grand repair on a five grand car?
01:09:43
Speaker
And yet, as we spoke with Ray Ligley last week, you know there wasn't much talk when it came to and you know fuels that will reduce your carbon emissions. That's right, yeah like HVO. There should be no tax on HVO. I know loads of farmers around here that will all start growing oilseed rape and put in a factory. I think Country Crest wanted to do it a few years ago.
01:10:04
Speaker
But it wasn't economically viable. But they're a big enough lobby group. And that's where... Yeah, because there was no real incentive you know there was no real desire to have a fossil fuel in inverted commas being incentivized. i think that was the issue with the previous government. Maybe that will change now.
01:10:19
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think the Green Party's doing a lot of harm to the Irish motor industry. and And like look at look at the taxes. Look at the carbon taxes on fuel now.
01:10:30
Speaker
so With that big van outside, it tax. Like...
01:10:35
Speaker
But the customer, the consumer's gonna pay that indirectly. And I think we have to sit back and have a grown up conversation. But I think the people that are having the conversations aren't the right people either. Because they don't know the result.
01:10:47
Speaker
of Like we we would see sometimes people come in with a car and they're very tight for cash. And you tell them, look at it, needs an engine, it is and they end up in tears in front you. And the solution of the government now is go buy yourself a 30 grand EV or 25 grand EV.
01:11:02
Speaker
and they haven't two three grand to put into their car. ah so do Do you think the, you know, we spoke about it last week, the you know, the likes of the Insta in the spring, do you think the the arrival of those cheaper EVs will have an effect?
01:11:16
Speaker
They will, yeah. and But again, sustainability-wise, it'll be interesting to see them.
01:11:24
Speaker
What's a three year old, five year old Dacia's bring? and What's its future? Yeah, and to repair a battery on an EV, it's a three or four day procedure.
01:11:37
Speaker
So again, you diagnose it, you remove the battery, you strip out the cells, you test all the cells, yeah you reassemble retest, refit. It's a big, big build. So is it like on a 20 grand car, that could be five grand build.
01:11:52
Speaker
I was going to say, conservatively, you know and we're only guessing, the batteries on a Dacia spring are probably 40% of the value of the car, perhaps? But are they really? That would be the interesting question. Yeah, okay, true. We don't know. I say, the manufacturers are controlling this, and we haven't enough options.
01:12:11
Speaker
And it's down to options.
Future of EV Repairs and Technician Shortages
01:12:13
Speaker
and like I don't believe any manufacturer should be allowed hold a patent if they can't deliver parts within a specified timeline. interesting and know well that would solve a lot of problems because all of a sudden now we opens up a whole new market for the aftermarket and they say because they'll stand up and they go well we'll start specialising in them and then it everything comes down Dave we could talk all day but I know you need to get back to work so listen thanks for your time and we'll we'll we'll chat to you again hopefully soon no whatever Paddy thanks for that well Paddy I really enjoyed that I imagine you probably learned some bits as well talking to him did you
01:12:46
Speaker
Yeah. And look, ah you know, I was in the weeds in previous jobs ah with EV technology, but it's, you don't really learn what happens after. and And this is showing what happens when, you know, it's down to five, six, eight years of use. And, you know, for, for normal people, and this is the crucial point for me, for normal people who are going to be buying these vehicles secondhand,
01:13:12
Speaker
They don't go wrong very often, but if if they do go wrong spectacularly, as ah as can happen in some cases, as can happen with an ICE e car, petrol or diesel car, the repairs are, you know, can be very, very expensive.
01:13:25
Speaker
And it just doesn't look at this stage like the manufacturing process has been geared up towards making repairs. the repair is easy. And that's something that's going to have to be looked at. Well, that Zoe story was was scary. But look, do you know what? That probably makes sense because at the moment, the the whole driver has just been EVs to market, get the cars out there.
01:13:48
Speaker
ah Until these cars get older, the fleet across Europe even, let's forget about Ireland, you know, there will there will be learnings. There's no doubt. um But I remember, Mark, at the at the very start of the,
01:14:00
Speaker
uh, EV story back when I was a journalist, we were starting to see, you know, reno fluence and the likes of that at the time. And there was all big conversations about battery swapping and, you know, you drive in the battery, we taken away and, and, you know, replaced with another one that has just disappeared. doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I know there are some Chinese brands looking at that.
01:14:23
Speaker
Um, but that would have possibly got rid of some of these issues that we might see coming down the line. Yeah, or or equally, if you do drop it into someone like Dave, he he swaps out your battery while he works on your own and you can still be be mobile.
01:14:39
Speaker
You couldn't do that with an engine. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, the the other the other thing is that but getting access to used battery tech and used battery products is is quite difficult. So you're seeing situations where someone is coming in for a repair and to purchase another battery, it often has to be a new one. And and the costs of that are prohibitive.
01:15:01
Speaker
you know, economically, if your car you know, a number of years old. But equally had that nice story where that person was caught a lot of money from a main dealer. Now, maybe there was the dealer didn't really understand what they were dealing with. Although I don't really want to say that because it's, I'm not saying the technicians here are not trained because they all have had to reskill to deal with EVs. Yeah. I mean, it was, ah it was quoted, this, this customer's quoted 11,000 euros by a dealer to, to get his EV fixed, but they were able to discover that it was, it was nothing like that. It was it
01:15:33
Speaker
a fraction of the cost to put the, the, uh, the car, right. Thankfully for the customer. But, um, you know, we, we all know there's a bit of an issue with trying to and get technicians. We know that there's no, um, you know, there's an issue in trying to get people to, to join the the workforce and, and, and, you know, hence there's delays of often months in some cases of trying to get your car in for servicing. So the service outlets are under pressure.
01:16:02
Speaker
Yep, it's ah it's hard and we need to, it's a bit like we can't find footballers for this country and we can't find good automotive technicians. So maybe we need to look at how much these people are paid.
01:16:13
Speaker
Well, we have to look at how the apprentice system works. That seems to be a huge issue in that, you know, young young people, young guys, young girls coming in to be apprentice mechanics.
01:16:24
Speaker
you know, there's the lure of going to be an electrician or something else where they're paid significantly more, hundreds more per week is there. So that's something that has to be addressed. Like I remember interviewing Linda Jackson, who's actually just retired from Peugeot. She was one of, I think, only three female automotive leaders in the world.
01:16:41
Speaker
So you had Stella Lee, who's still not the world a leader of BYD. She's europe're Europe, ah but Linda Jackson was the actual boss of Persia worldwide. And she's kind of she'd worked very hard all her life to kind of climb up to that part. But she'd said, um on ah naturally had to ask her that cliche question. You're a woman who's in you know such a male-dominated business and you've managed to get right to the top. and Do you realize how much of a, you know, a nice inspiration you'll be for for women? And she goes, yes, but, you know, she goes, we need to do so much more. And one of her points was a workshop in a dealership these days is not what we used to think it was.
01:17:18
Speaker
Cold, oil all over the floor, the wind coming in through the shutters. It's not like that anymore. But... That said, I think the the biggest driver for any job is always how much do we get paid?
01:17:31
Speaker
What's the job like? What's the culture like? and And maybe that is a thing where you you kind of look, you can always do nixers as as a mechanic. But as you say, if you can make more money being an electrician, why would you go and be an automotive ah technician?
01:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, and there's the shame of it. So hopefully that's a situation that we can see fixed because, you know, this, as you said, the job is changing as, you know, the, if you look at an EV repair, it's, it looks like a lab. It's so spotlessly clean. Everything has to be cordoned off.
01:18:01
Speaker
You know, there's, there's none of the oily rags of, of previous generations. So um it's a different role. and We should add on some good news this week because it hasn't been a good month for Porsche. They announced that they will have to cut up to 1,900 jobs, unfortunately, over the next few years because, again, of the slowdown of electrification. And um it's you know it's it's just another sign that, like this week, the figures were announced for European car sales. So the sales are down approximately 2%.
01:18:30
Speaker
But the thing that's driving that downward trend is actually petrol and diesel because electrification has had a good... sort of first dip into 2025 across Europe.
01:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, it has. We've seen a rise in EV sales, particularly as well as PHEV sales, and and that's across the board. But yeah, there has been a bit of a dip, but as you say, um you know it's the petrol and diesel sales which are are starting to come back.
01:18:55
Speaker
you know I think these things will balance out. we're We're at a weird phase in the motor industry because you know the with EVs, it was the early adopters, then and then it was people who could afford them. But i as you know we pointed out last week, when we're starting to see you know reasonable prices for more mainstream cars and cars like the Renault 5 coming on, which is going to be a massive hit. i Hopefully you're driving that in a couple of weeks, but and it's ah that that sort of car is going to really change the landscape for EVs in particular.
01:19:23
Speaker
Yeah, they were all over Nice this morning, yellows, greens. there There are now a few now in the country with miles being put onto them, and which is a normal procedure. So don't do a double take. You probably will see some rent-a-fives in the road over the next few weeks.
01:19:36
Speaker
But the the good news story sort of and for Porsche or Porsche, depending on what way you like to say it, and is that now you can you can basically join their WhatsApp news service and you can get news about and pictures about the company, what they're doing, what models they're working on.
01:19:53
Speaker
Just go to the website. There's a QR code. Scan that and you'll be added to the Porsche WhatsApp group. How cool is that? So are you able to contribute to the WhatsApp group or are you just and to broadcast channel?
01:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say just a broadcast channel. Which is probably safe.
Used EV Market Trends and Price Stability
01:20:08
Speaker
Probably for the best. Probably for the best. Right, stick the kettle on there. We're going to take, it'll only be a second break, but you can hit pause if you like. And we're coming back in part three with some interesting news from our friends in Dundeele.
01:20:19
Speaker
Welcome back to the Drivers Republic podcast brought to you in association with Dundeele Motors, with Ireland's widest selection of cars for sale from certified trusted dealers. The right car for you is on dundeele.ie.
01:20:29
Speaker
data e And Mark, sticking with Dundeal.ie, Dundeal have released their latest Dundeal motoring report. And yeah, it has some interesting headlines in it.
01:20:41
Speaker
So the main thing, and it's something that we touched on in part two, was that the used EV market in particular is showing signs of stability with prices becoming more affordable than diesel and hybrid equivalents. Now, we knew that because we had said, okay, it's it's quite affordable to get into a car. But <unk> We're starting to see increased value on those used EVs.
01:21:05
Speaker
They're saying used EV prices saw a 1% increase in January 2025, the first mo monthly growth in two years. That's interesting. What's driving that, I wonder?
01:21:16
Speaker
Well, I think we're just going to start seeing demand for these vehicles because, well, firstly, there was none. the you know and the and the early examples were, a bit rubbish, to be honest. I mean, if you're, if you know, the only used EVs for a while were early Nissan Leafs and they, um you know, you weren't going to be going too far on those. We're now starting to see the end of the first batch of sort of PCPs with, you know, ID3s, ID4s, Kodiaks the likes coming back. so There's a real demand starting to emerge for these vehicles because, as you've said in the previous and episode, these cars have battery health of 95%, 98%. And they are starting to become more plentiful.
01:21:57
Speaker
and And look, what with petrol and diesel cars still being pretty expensive in Ireland you used, there's going to be a bit more demand for these vehicles. I have to say, is is that the last thing the EV industry needs right now? Is is price increasing used cars?
01:22:14
Speaker
Well, I think it's it's what it's going to it needs to stabilize. i mean, whether it's we want to see them increase, we we want to be in a situation where people think, okay, if I buy one of these, am I going to get anything for it secondhand?
01:22:28
Speaker
And that was that was the fear for a lots of people. And it was a fear based on seeing things like Porsche Taycan's going for crazy money and being able to buy ah a used e-golf for much cheaper than a normal petrol or diesel equivalent.
01:22:43
Speaker
If we start to see a ah leveling off of those prices, it's good for them. It's good for the market. Certainly. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, a good friend of mine and recently bought a Taycan 2021 model, think. the one model i think it's the four s And it was ah it was about 60,000 euro. And naturally, when you do this job, people go to you for advice and you're very conscious, especially if you know, well, look, whether you know the person or not, you're giving them a steer on somewhere to spend a lot of money.
01:23:16
Speaker
So my initial thought was was like, oh God, 60 grand on a Taycan. I don't know where it's going to be in 12 months. um So that's that's good news, I suppose, if if you have bought, especially one of that those premium end cars. I know the Audi e-tron GTs, you're sort of seeing them now for low 50s. I mean, that is a very, very quick car.
01:23:34
Speaker
What a car for the money. What car. It's an issue if you've spent 120, 140, 160 on But are the second coming in and getting that much car, because getting a supercar. second buyer coming in and gay days much car because you're getting a supercar for that money.
01:23:48
Speaker
Yeah. Wow. i mean, what a purchase. and So is there any indication Dundee that this is kind of the lower end or it just across the board or like are used Ionics going up in value or? it's it's ah It's across the board. You know, they they do point out as well that, you know, compared to some of the, you know, the larger models that the the the lower end ones tend to have have more stable pricing.
01:24:13
Speaker
and they have ah they But they're saying as well there's growth in demand. So interest in u v used EVs from one to four years old is up 29% year on year. So that's a huge jump in the interest in these vehicles because, ah you know as I said at the previous point,
01:24:29
Speaker
you know Five years ago, a one to four-year-old EV wasn't much to write home about. Now, it's a much different prospect. We have to remember as well, Mark, that you know January 2025 was the record month for new EV registrations. All just shy of 5,000 new EVs registered, which is a 20% increase on January last year. So the new market is is starting to to really take off.
01:24:52
Speaker
That means there'll be plenty more high-quality used ones coming on stream. No, look, it's a good news story and the you know we we need more in the market. We need more EVs available.
01:25:04
Speaker
and So it's a good thing. and I'm actually i'm just i scrolling through Done Deal right now just to try and find and what kind of money sort of if you probably get you probably get nearly a certainly ah three but maybe a four year old Kia EV6 now and I'll be curious to see now where the values are on them are because that is that's an impressive car like the first one I found here now is 27 grand twenty seven grand
01:25:36
Speaker
Wow, that's pretty decent. That would have been a, this is an Earth as far as you can see, so that would have been a 50-odd grand car ah three years ago. I think, I have a feeling that that car, the EV6, is probably the EV that holds its value the best of any car.
01:25:52
Speaker
That's my hunch. Looking at prices on it. they don't You don't see really cheap ones. they you know And people who have them like them have a good friend of mine who's on a second one now. So does that's the reason you know when you look at the used values of those cars in particular, I think they they really hold their values well.
01:26:08
Speaker
A couple of other findings, Mark, on this were the and in terms of the petrol and diesel market, they said that inflation is slowing for these. So the annual inflation for petrol and eased 0.7% in Q4 2024.
01:26:21
Speaker
Basically that there was ah there was a huge increase in the value of of used cars to the point where the prices were just getting really, really silly. And that was a result of a hangover from Brexit.
01:26:32
Speaker
and the like, there was a poor supply of of yeah of used cars coming into the market. and But that has started to ease
Import Challenges and Car Theft Risks
01:26:39
Speaker
off. where We are starting to see lots of imports from other markets, though. 75% of imports now come from non-UK sources compared to 95% from the UK in 2019. Now, lots of these that are coming in are from Japan,
01:26:53
Speaker
some of the quality of these things, especially if you see some of the Volkswagens are incredible. I know someone who just bought a 2020 or 21 Audi from Japan, bought in Dublin, 20,000 kilometres on it.
01:27:08
Speaker
I've only ever seen this before in a very high-spec 7 series, and but or sorry, was a BMW X7, but this Audi has heated cup holders and chilled cup holders from Japan.
01:27:21
Speaker
So... Yeah, look, I mean, this was a huge thing in the 80s and 90s in Ireland, and now it's effectively back. um And dare I say, a lot of the cars will be in a better kept condition than what would be imported from the UK.
01:27:33
Speaker
ah Some of the quality of them is incredible. Note a caution, however, on some of the cheaper ah used imports from Japan. you know, for people who are are looking, you know, to save a few quid and maybe the cheapest car they can find used as an import.
01:27:47
Speaker
Some of those cars, not all of them but some of those cars don't come with engine immobilizers and that can cause issues but with ah insurance and they're mainly because they're just so easy to steal.
01:27:58
Speaker
So just when you're shopping for a used Japanese air import, try and find one that has an immobilizer fitted. We've had engine immobilizers in Europe for a long time. They were always standard. So, um so, so yeah, just note of caution on those. It's really good point. a remember somewhere I used to live, a neighbor of mine came out one night and her car was gone.
01:28:18
Speaker
And to her, it was a mirage or something, but to her it was, Like, it was her everything. it got her kid to school every day, it got her to work, and the car was just gone. And I found out about it because I got a knock on the door, and the guards at the door, in the dark, I was like, uh-oh.
01:28:33
Speaker
And he said, ah see you have camera there. can we just have a look at your neighbor's cars after being taken? This is like, this is 8 o'clock in the night. A few little yuppros, and yeah, they they had no immobilizer, so yeah, it's a really good point.
01:28:44
Speaker
Unfortunately, you know, when when there isn't an immobilizer in some of those cars, they are, you know, astonishingly easy to take. So it really, and as you say, it's the people who can't afford to lose their car that are losing their car in that case. So so we really just know the caution for anyone shopping in that in that sort of price
Car Purchase Advice and Market Dynamics
01:29:01
Speaker
range.
01:29:01
Speaker
h Good one, good one. Any more nuggets from the Dundale Report? Well, price trends and divergence really to finish off. So budget car prices under six and a half grand have increased by 2.3%, but premium car prices, so over 20 grand have decreased by 1.7%. So probably again, goes back to the point, no breaks, you know, Brexit happened, not seeing as many imports from the UK.
01:29:28
Speaker
So it's harder to get access to ah smaller pool of, of budget cars. So the value of those has increased, but, but um But the premium cars are decreasing. so So, yeah, good news if you're buying at the higher end. But ah unfortunately for people starting off and getting into cars, those values are still still increasing.
01:29:47
Speaker
Well, here's my advice. i mean, it's not really the type of car you're talking about, but it is the same budget. So if you type in your max budget on Dundale to about €7,000 and you search for something like a BMW 7 Series, you will find some of the most beautifully specced 7 Series from the mid-naughties with absolute wooden trays, places for champagne holders, car phones in the dash, everything for about seven grand. I know it's not the specific. Until you hear that dreaded a dreaded noise, that dreaded BMW warning noise, which is going to cost you seven grand.
01:30:25
Speaker
Yeah. But have fun on the slider there in Dundee later on and see what I'm talking about. in An interesting thing in relation to that, Mark, and was what David Corbley had said to me ah when we were there is that It's a good point is that when buying any of these cars, be it an EV, be it a petrol, diesel, be it what ah whatever high-end car is is to budget every month for servicing.
01:30:50
Speaker
Because, you know, you might think, okay, right, well, like I can buy this BMW 7 Series for seven grand. but you need to be budgeting three or 400 euro per month for when the inevitable happens and you get that bill.
01:31:03
Speaker
And hit the point he made as well, which was interesting about EVs as well, he's saying he's seeing people who are buying EVs based on the amount they're saving on petrol and diesel. So say they're saving two or 300 euro per month petrol or diesel ah to be able to keep that aside because you might need that someday.
01:31:23
Speaker
Well, hopefully that money hasn't gone on your PCP payment because your car went up. I know that that's kind of what happened in my house. There was some woman maths being done. was like, ah well, we won't spend 150. What do you mean? said, what you mean? We, it's not my car.
01:31:35
Speaker
um And that's exactly how, and look, you get into a higher spec EV then maybe, but yeah, that's a good point. And as someone who's running a 19 year old 3.6, that's a very sobering financial thought to end the podcast on.
01:31:49
Speaker
Oh God. Right. Rainy day fund. Yeah, always wise. Well, hopefully Dundee will sign up for season two so we can pay some of these bills. Yeah, exactly.
01:32:01
Speaker
Well, look, that's all for this week. Do join us next week where we'll be back with more motoring news. Mark will be ah again, traveling the globe and and traveling Sandy for an industrial estate ah to talk to us about the latest new cars and we'll bring us stay at the latest roundup of news next week.
01:32:17
Speaker
That's it for me. The glamour of it all. And that's it for me. Talk to you next time.