Published: Wednesday, 3rd February, 2010 5:00pm

The best time in years to buy a new car

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John Joe Miney of Bradys Arva was chatting to Teresa Ruddy and her grand daughter one-year-old Fiona in the showroom last Thursday. Teresa and her family are from Ballycastle, Co. Mayo and as she put it, "we've been dealing with Phil [Brady] for years". Her three daughters and son have also bought cars from Bradys over the years - one of them picked up her new Golf last week. They keep coming back because they get good deals at Bradys, said John Joe.

New cars haven't been this cheap in years, thanks in part to the scrappage scheme (details in this the three-page motoring feature in week's Anglo-Celt). There's never been so much choice in terms of safety and technological sophistication... you've never had it so good if you're thinking of buying a new car.

An unscientific survey of a handful of the franchised dealers in Cavan at the end of last week found a generally optimistic mood. Any of the dealer principals and sales teams we spoke to think the economy is doing better: "We're very happy with the start to the year," said Pete Reilly of Erne Motor Works. "Things are changing and there's a lot more confidence - our range of cars is selling exceptionally well. We're very pleased with it so far."

Pete's advice was that demand is so good this year that those thinking about buying should get in quick, and that applies to second hand cars (whose values are going up, and are as high now as they were a year ago) as much as new ones.

Cathal O'Reilly of Jacksons Garage agreed: "I think there's more confidence in the economy this January compared with last year. We certainly see an increase in new car enquires and sales. The commercial vehicle market is also more active this year."

In Redhills PJ McMahon at Seat thought the scrappge scheme was encouraging buyers and potential buyers into the dealerships to enquire. "In general it looks better, "people realise this is the situation and we're going to have to get through it."

Vehicle registrations started slowly in January because of the harsh weather at the beginning of the year, but they've picked up since, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), which released the official figures for new cars registered in January 2010 on Monday.

At 16,595 they are up 5.04% on January 2009 (15,799) and SIMI director general Alan Nolan is understandably pleased: "This is the second month in a row that we've seen an increase in registrations. Given that the first two weeks of January suffered a virtual standstill in trading due to the weather, the fact that the month has finished 5% ahead of last year is a strong sign that consumers are availing of the incredible value available at the moment."

The SIMI expects 70,000 plus new car sales in 2010, and the good news is that the main finance houses are lending so arranging the money to buy your new car should be a bit easier than it was at times in 2009.

Several of the manufacturers have links to the biggest banks, but the best thing is to contact the dealers and find out more.

Happy motoring in 2010.