"Since January, we have sold 5 Ferraris, 7 Porsches and 4 Aston Martins".
The 1% of people in Ireland are investing their money in supercars to avoid negative interest rates.
Ireland's new millionaires are among those who spend hundreds of thousands of euros on luxury cars. According to a leading dealership of new and used luxury cars, sales have reached "the highest level since the Celtic Tigers."
Since January this year, the number of Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin and other high-performance cars purchased by the Irish wealthy has reached a record.
Ireland has set up several social media accounts to "spot supercars".
Jeremy Beshoff, based at Beshoff Motor Company in Baldoyle, Dublin, said negative interest rates were spurring demand as consumers began to make better use of cash and invest in models that were "like a work of art" and would increase in value over time.
However, he said the vast majority of people buy for "fun and squandering money".
Over the past 12 weeks, models purchased have included an Aston-Martin DB11 Volante (priced at more than €250,000), a Ferrari 488 GTB (over €300,000), two Bentley Continentals (up to €200,000 each), two Mercedes-Benz SLS 63 AMG Gullwing (both sold as investments, for an undisclosed amount, over €300,000), and two Mercedes-Benz G Wagons (about 300,000 euros) and a Porsche 911 Turbo (also in the range of 300,000 euros).
Beshoff said: "Since January, we have sold 5 Ferraris, 7 Porsches and 4 Aston Martins. Due to the global shortage of spare parts, our biggest problem is getting enough cars to meet demand. We just bought a Bentley Bentayga SUV worth more than €270,000 and now two customers have expressed interest in it. I haven't seen anything like this since the time of the Celtic Tigers. ”
Beshoff said his clients , almost all men — thrived during the lockdown: "Some people did well during the pandemic, and if anything, it's that the business has gotten stronger, and they've accumulated a lot of cash – 99% Irish, mostly cash buyers." ”
"The businessmen who have benefited from the sale of PPE and hygiene services during the pandemic are all customers. Some people have bought several cars from us in the last two years. ”
"There was a guy who bought a Land Rover with me the other day and he said it had been a bad few years, but he rented his hotel room to HSE, which allowed his bills to be paid. Now that everything is back on, his business has returned to pre-pandemic levels. I also met someone who developed software for people who worked from home. ”
Beshoff, who runs the family business with his wife Nicole, said that record low interest rates were also a factor: "Once you hear them talk about negative interest rates, you know they have more than 1 million euros in the bank and they're figuring out how to spend that money." Someone came to me the other day and he had a crush on a special Rolex watch, but they told him there was a ten-year waiting list. At least for cars, they can use it and enjoy it. ”
"There is also an investment side, taking gull wings as an example. Mercedes-Benz only produced gull wings for four years, then discontinued production. In 2011, only one new car was sold in Ireland, and now there are three or four across the country. In the last two or three years, their value has climbed again, you don't drive it to the store, it's like a work of art – it looks beautiful. ”
The inland revenue department, which is trying to get a piece of the pie in supercars imported from the UK, raised the level of vehicle registration tax (VRT) by 4 percentage points on January 1, in addition to a 1 percentage point fee imposed on vehicles imported from the UK last year. As a result, buyers have to pay 41% VRT, 23% VAT and 10% customs duties on cars imported into the UK.
But Beshoff said many are now bypassing Irish dealerships to buy and register cars in Northern Ireland and the UK.
"If they buy and register a car here, then when the car comes into Ireland, they have to pay import taxes and duties that are almost equal to the price of the car," he said.
"That's why, if you look at the photos of supercars found around Dublin on Instagram, 90 per cent are BRITISH licence plates. They have not benefited anything since Ireland raised taxes. It's like increasing income taxes, people just go abroad. ”
Supercar buyers, Beshoff said, "register their car in the name of a family, friend or business and seize the opportunity to drive it out for a ride on the weekend." ”
He added that even if they spend six figures on a car, "the question of 'what is the road tax' always arises." If anything, it's that as the price level rises, the people who spend that money become more savvy. I think that's how they succeeded. ”
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