A new European report on car prices shows that prices in Ireland saw the third biggest drop in the euro zone last year. The European Commission's report says car prices here, when adjusted for inflation, fell by 5.7% in 2010 - well above the euro zone average decrease of 1.5%.
The report says that car prices fell in almost every EU country last year with notable decreases seen in Slovakia (-17.4%), Bulgaria (-13.5%), Slovenia (-11.6%) and the Czech Republic (-9.0%).
Among the large markets, prices decreased most notably in the UK (-3.7%), while Germany, Spain and France experienced more moderate price reductions of between 0.9% and 1.9%.
The EU price index for cars (which looks at reflecting nominal prices paid by consumers, including rebates, VAT and registration taxes) increased by only 0.3%, compared to a 2.8% rise in overall consumer prices, translating into 'a remarkable' fall in real car prices by 2.5%.
The EU said the fall in real car prices across the EU continues a trend observed for more than a decade, which indicates that competition between car manufacturers on the market for new cars is working.
Real prices for repair and maintenance, which had increased over the last decade by more than the general inflation levels, did not rise in 2010, the EU also noted.
