Waterford motorists are driving over €3 million euro worth of "Zombie Cars."
That's the name given to vehicles that are officially 'written off' but are bought by private buyers for re-sale.
MotorCheck.ie has carried out cross- border analysis of salvaged and written off vehicles imported into the Republic of Ireland from the UK.
The company found over 39,000 affected vehicles. At today’s values, the market value of those affected is around €3.3 million in Waterford alone, and €318 Million across the ROI.
Examples of Zombie cars were found currently for sale privately and on dealers’ forecourts with ‘All Clear’ histories.
Zombie Cars a safety concern
In a statement, Motorcheck said the situation "represents a potentially serious safety concern and financial liability. Motorists are warned about this issue and the risks associated with buying a used car in the Republic of Ireland."
Despite the introduction of new Brexit linked import charges, the number of vehicles imported from the UK to the Republic of Ireland remains high. In 2021 over 83,000 vehicles have been imported with a total of 457,000 coming across the water over the past 4 years.
In carrying out the research, Motorcheck cross referenced the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) for 1.9 million Irish vehicles with its UK Salvage database.
Shane Teskey, co-founder of MotorCheck said:
“As of today, we know that almost 40,000 Zombie cars have been imported into the Republic of Ireland – those brought back to life but not necessarily identified as insurance write offs or ex-salvage. This equates to €318M leaving traders or their owners to foot the bill when the car’s true history is discovered. With used car prices rising in Ireland as much as 50%, it’s more important than ever that car dealers and private buyers are made aware of a vehicles hidden history before they pay well over the fair market value for a potentially dangerous ex-write off.”
For a limited time, Irish motorists can check for free if their car is one of the identified vehicles by visiting the Motorcheck website.
About Motorcheck
MotorCheck has been operating a car history check for Irish buyers and car dealers for the past 14 years. In 2016 the brand launched a sister service in the UK where it obtained access to a salvage database containing details of more than 4.5 million vehicles that have been sold as Salvage or Insurance Write-Off’s there.
More here on the latest for Waterford.
