Buying new BMW

Ahem Mr Killian, my passport actually says the north is part of the UK, and as such will have the same tax system lol.

Even the phone numbers are direct dial with no country code needed from the UK.

I could never understand why they had/have ? different number plates though, ( its hard to tell if they are still different as so many of the cars in the north now have been brought over from the mainland).

I hope we never get the Euro, after watching what has happened to you lot, and my Froggy counterparts.

Until the last number plate change, we werent allowed Z or I anywhere on the plate, on a mainland redg, although we could of course buy an Irish one, prices range form about �50.

I almost went for NIW 2254 instead of my B7 NPW, and although my car has never lived in Ireland, it has had two NI redgs on it.

The bit I couldnt understand is why there was a difference, eg BAZ 2267 versus T226 TUY, the former being the NI one, and the latter the one but last mainland one.

All the other parts of the UK had the latter.

I'm not sure what they do now, the mainland format is now BU04 ABC, where the first two letters denote where the vehicle was first redg, that example would be Birmingham,the two numbers will denote when it was redg, that one would be march to september 2004, and the last three are random.

This led to some great combinations, like DO51 COW, which is made to look like DOZI COW, this was for sale when we bought my wifes new car, but I was threatened with death.

I think your format is good, ( we cant be seen to be copying the Irish though !), although I am used to the UK colours.

Am I correct in thinking you dont have private redgs ?

I have only seen these in the UK, and the States.

Two points:

On the original topic, if you want a fairly specific spec mix of extras and colour then you really need to think about searching in the UK.  The number of the larger engined cars sold here is so small, relatively speaking, that the chances of finding an exact fit for your requirements are tiny.  Found this a couple of years ago looking for an e46 328i touring for my sister.  They weren't to be had here pre-owned at that time regardless of spec and you had a better chance of being murdered in Manhattan than finding the mix of leather, climate, esr and colour(s) she wanted.  Had numerous matches through the UK BMW Approved Used scheme, in her case, and got exactly what she wanted.

On Killian's explanation of his reg number, e.g his being the 320th car registered in that area in that year, that's not quite true in more recent years as the numbers 1 to 200 are reserved in all counties (since about '92 or '93).  They can be had by paying a fee and the number 1 is reserved in some areas for the mayors car.  In fact, all other numbers can be reserved, but they can't be applied to a car until they come up in sequence.

Funny this topic has come up. I'm getting a car (to keep) in january and I am getting a nice english reg. I have an address in england so I can get away with this.

I came across M3 BOY during my search..... now wouldn't that be nice!

Looks good...............unusual colour

Rhys wrote: When I bought my car it came with a private plate, a few people have mentioned its an irish plate, LLL NNNN. so might it be an imported plate?

FIrstly, it wont be an "imported" plate, even if it is an NI redg, it wont be classed as imported, they are quite legal here, as they are issued by the Uk authorities.

Secondly, you wont get too many comments, as a lot of mainland people dont even know these are NI redg numbers, unless you have lived in, or visited frequently, why would you ?

If you bought Killians E30, then you would have a period of time in which to get it tested and re-redgistered, as that would be an imported plate, as although we have many agreements between the two countries ( not needing passports, almost zippo border controls etc, rather like europe now, but its been like this with Ireland for as long as I've been travelling there, you could also spend sterling before the Euro, and in my experience, you still can), they are a seperate country, so as far as cars are concerned, its "abroad".

Lastly, not knowing what letters and numbers, it could possibly be a very old British plate, we seem to have gone through just about every combination, not sure which came first, A1 or 1A, but 4 numbers 2 letters are very common as private plates.

It would be a very unpopular move amongst the private plate bods if we were ever required to standardise amongst Europe, as you would just lose them, you never really own them, you just pay for the privaledge of being able to display them on your car.

My missus just thinks I'm sad.

The A1, and 1A I was reffering to are uk issue, so that could be interesting, two cars with the same number, one from Ireland, one from the UK.

Unless ( I've got me tin hat on ), was the south under UK rule at that time too ?

I have a funny feeling it was.

The one I want was N1 GEL, but I have a feeling that is owned by a Mr Mansell, and is fitted to a red Ferrari Diablo.