8 things Americans will find ridiculously expensive in Ireland
A few of us had some good chit-chat in the forums a couple of weeks ago about the cost of living in Ireland versus other cities/countries. My general feeling is that the cost of living in Ireland isn't so bad in comparison to where else I've lived in the world, namely southern California. Even after weighing up all the factors such as lower income in Ireland and high costs for imports, fuel, cars etc, I still find it more affordable.
However, there are many, many things in Ireland that American's (visitors and/or residents) will find excruciatingly expensive, when they compare it against what they were paying back in the States.
This list is just a start. I hope you'll add to it...
1. Gas/petrol: when the conversions have been taken care of (gallons to liters and dollars to euro), the cost of petrol exceeds that in the U.S by up to approx 200 - 250%. Taking that at face value it seems like you will be dreading every visit to the gas pump in Ireland, but you can relax a little knowing there is some reprieve due to the fact that most cars in Ireland do not guzzle as much fuel as those in the U.S. This is largely due to the generally smaller engine sizes that you will find in Ireland. Because of this I find that the out-of-pocket costs per mile driven, usually comes out pretty close.
Compare Pumps.ie vs Gasbuddy.com
2. Rental car insurance: for those of you coming over on a visit to check out your future home, you may want to rent a car to get around. You will find that rental car insurance is quite expensive in Ireland. Far more than you're used to in America. Besides the fact that insurance is more expensive, you'll also find that you do not qualify for any 'free' insurance through your credit card (with a couple of exceptions), unlike what is typically available back in the States. My friend Stephanie at InfiniteIreland.com can help us out with more details.
Compare Hertz.com vs Hertz.ie
3. Over-the-counter medicines: this one catches a lot of people off-guard, including yours truly. More than once I've gone to get some medicine for the kids, and have had to look twice at my receipt while on the way out the door of the pharmacy. OTC medicine is generally not as widely available in supermarkets like in the U.S. and it is pretty expensive from the local pharmacist. Pills, e.g ibuprofen, typically don't come in large bulk bottles. Instead they come in small packs of approx 12-24 pills. The box of 24 might cost a similar amount to the U.S. 100-pill bottle. Bring some of your basic medicinal needs along with you if possible, or have relatives bring some over for you when they visit. It's an easy savings opportunity.
Compare Target.com/pharmacy vs missing link
4. Eating out in Ireland: In short, it can be expensive! Check out these tips.
5. Dollar to Euro exchange: As much as this has greatly improved from an American perspective in 2014/2015, the fact remains that you are still "losing" approx 10% when you convert dollars to euros. (At time of publishing, the approx exchange rate is $1 = €.91)
This can hurt pretty hard when you are bringing your life savings over, or even enough money just to get you started in Ireland. To date I have used CurrencyFair.com 3 times to transfer money between the U.S. and Ireland. I choose them because they offer the best rate, and cut out unnecessary bank transaction fees. If you don't yet have an established Irish address, then TransferWise are another great alternative.
6. New cars: Cars are expensive in Ireland, especially if you go all fancy and buy something from the new stock selection. Ireland does not produce a car of its own, which if we did might help drive costs down, so anything you buy will be imported. Many people go to to the trouble of heading over to Great Britain, or will take a trip up to the North, to buy a car there. Generally they are cheaper there, but you will have some heavy taxes to pay upon your return. There's more information on that here.
Compare autotrader.com vs autotrader.ie
7. Electronics: Many people in Ireland make pre-Christmas trips to the States. A short holiday is one objective, but oftentimes another reason is to grab the latest and greatest in technology from a U.S. department store shelf. This is another category of item you might want American visitors to bring with them if they are visiting. Even with widespread online shopping deals, it can still be quite a bit cheaper to buy electronics in the States and bring them back to Ireland.
Tip! Watch out for products that may not work well in Ireland if buying abroad, e.g. Regionalized video games, lower voltage electronics etc.
Compare Amazon.com vs Amazon.co.uk
8. Clothes: This is another category of item high on the Christmas shopping list, especially for Ireland's youth. Brand named clothing can be particularly expensive in Ireland. Clothes, along with many other items on the list, are not brought in to the country in such large numbers as they are elsewhere, which means a higher sales rate. That coupled with the fact that there is a 23% rate of VAT in Ireland, makes items such as designer clothes quite pricey.
What have I missed? Whether you live in Ireland, and are fed up with Irish prices, or were shocked at the cost of something during a visit, let us know about it in the comments or by sending me a quick message.
image credit: Flickr/imeall
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1, Fuel is expensive by US standards by a huge lump. But cheaper than the UK and yes European cars do get more MPG than US emission strangled models. I had a US RX7 some years ago doing 12mpg until I stripped the emission kit off to get up to 18mpg and still get exhaust readings that would have passed the US requirements.
2, Ireland doesn’t do short term insurance outside the rental market so this is a monopoly situation for a very few select underwriters. They can basically charge whatever they want and the rental companies have no competitive options.
3, Tell me about it!! fortunately I have a medical card otherwise my “take for life” meds would really break the bank. Anyone on medical card see if the Dr can prescribe some things. I get 100 paracetamol on prescription and recently a €7 cough mixture for the €2.50 charge
4, Had Lunch in the Old Ground, Ennis today, in the bar not the restaurant, same chief 1/2 the expense, 2 meals, 1 Guinness, 1 wine €30.
5,Just watch for Dynamic Currency Conversion, typically 3% also have your money in an account that doesn’t charge for Currency change. That way if you have money remaining in your previous country you can take cash at an ATM without your bank charging you.
6, Cars, if considering buying a car from the UK check the VRT cost of importing. I wouldn’t buy new in any case, a car at 2 yrs old has a lump of depreciation behind it and will loose value at a slower rate whilst still being under warranty in many cases
7, Be careful of Htz sensitive items, things that generate heat like Irons, Hair dryers etc, can burn hot given not only the voltage conversion but the frequency of the current.
8, Unfortunately Irish shopping has historically been go to a shop and pay for what they sell at the price they ask, even if the shop next door is selling the same thing a little cheaper. That trend has changed a little in recent years but the standard economic policy of perfect competition has yet to hit the high street so prices in many places for many commodities remain artificially high.
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9. Charges for mobile phones, Sky and Cable TV, Internet all lack the competition which would bring costs down.
re #9 Tony…expensive as they may be, I think they are relatively comparable to US costs. There’s way more choice for sure in America, and you can get cheaper services, but you’ll either lose something in quality of service, or service availability.
There is one gotcha to MPG numbers. When you have two vehicles with the same engine it is sometimes a difference in the size of a gallon. US numbers use the US Gallon (128 ounces in a gallon/16 ounces pint) and UK/Ireland use the Imperial Gallon (160 ounces gallon/20 ounces pint)
Clothes in the U.S. That are even remotely cheap fall apart in a matter of weeks. Old navy and the likes are the equivalent of penny’s or next, both of which are much better quality and much cheaper.
Charter V sky. No comparison in price. Sky is much cheaper. 4 course meal in Ireland in many counties is under €40. A pint is more expensive. In the U.S. Tax and tip are tacked on after. Where I lived that equalled 25% extra on top of your bill. Mobile phone? Hahahahaha. A pre pay iPhone for my wife. Unlimited calls, 5 go of data and unlimited texts for €20 a month. There is nothing like that in the U.S.
Sounds like you’re in agreement then @cfinegan that the irish cost of living isn’t so bad. I guess it’s all relative though, and whether or not you are comparing it to somewhere else.
1. I’ve noticed most compact and sedan cars have smaller engines. Cars here in the states have 1.7-2.5L engine. Many cars I’m seeing in Ireland have 1.2L-1.5. And manual transmission tend be more gas efficent. .
2. For Americans that want free car rental insurance/ CDW in Ireland get the AAdvantage credit card. It’s about $85 annual fee, but it worth it when you pay 20-30 euros a day on CDW (collision damage waiver). It’s the only credit card that covers CDW in Ireland. I’ve used it several times. Before you go to Ireland just call the credit card company and ask for a document saying that they will cover CDW in Ireland and aadvantage will send you can email.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/earnMiles/credit-card/main.jsp
4. Would love to see Ireland have “happy hour”
5. Looking at currencyfair right now and prices do look cheaper than bank wire transfers.
One of the main things we are worried about when trying to factor in costs of living in Ireland is the cost of heating – the cost of central heating vs coal use. We currently live in a very temperate climate where we don’t have to use much heating in the winter and nothing in the summer.
Hey Carol, thanks for the tip in #2. How invaluable for travelers from the states!
Do you think that the cost of heating will be offset by the lack of air conditioning costs in the summer? I think if you live in a hot climate, the energy costs balance out somewhat. Of course, if you have a badly insulated house, then you’ll be running the heat in Ireland for a lot longer than you would the A/C elsewhere. The energy ratings on rental/sales listings is pretty important for that reason.
You forgot to mention Dublin rent!! 😉
In regards to clothing & electronics, I do think VAT makes a big difference. With most US States charging only 7% sales tax compared to 23% VAT, electronics will automatically be a chunk higher here in Ireland. And we moved from Massachusetts, where there is NO sales tax on clothing. Needless to say we’ll be stocking up when we head to the US for Christmas. 🙂
~Vanessa
Vanessa, Yes VAT is ridiculously high! It is 8% in CA, so it makes a big difference to many purchases.
How bad are you finding the cost of rent in comparison to what you were used to? Is the price per square footage much more?
One caution on that, you are responsible for VAT on items you owned less than 6 months when you enter the country.
Thanks for that David. Now that you mention it, I do remember that condition when I was filling out my customs forms. I’m not sure how they can enforce this though. Maybe they use it to target high end items, such as jewelry, cars, etc.
Just as an FYI for people who some day wish to move back to the US, there is a similar regulation in place.
I looked it up. The 6 month loophole is only for the stuff you bring when moving to Ireland. When coming through customs they probably ask you to declare any purchases and their amounts. The VAT difference is often overlooked. In the US prices don’t include tax on the shelf. My understanding is most or all of Europe includes that in the shelf price.
Our house here doesn’t have a/c. We run the fan on all night. That’s pretty much all you need in the Bay Area. During the winter we’ll run the heater every now and then so each month pretty much balances out. I agree that energy rating on home rentals can really save a family money throughout the year.
I was bored, and did the math. The image for this article show the price as €4.54/US gallon (128oz gallon), or $4.92 with todays exchange rate.
I just checked for comparison, and it’s $2.59/gallon at a CA gas station I’m familiar with.
In Northern California, away from the bay area we are at $2.19.
Livin’ the good life 🙂
$1.59 in the Midwest 😉
Nice, Jason. When I took my family on a summer road trip to the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Highway, and spots along the way gas dropped by about $0.75 once I got past Reno.
It’s $2.49/gallon yesterday at Costco, but average price at gas stations is about $2.79. Southern Caifornia has some of the most expensive gas prices in the country.
Adding insult to the pocket book the winter blends get lower miles per gallon. I have gone from 28 mpg (US gallons) to 22 mpg. Note: US gallon is 128 fluid ounces, Imperial gallon used in Ireland and UK is 160 fluid ounces. This is also why the US Pint is smaller than a pint in Ireland. (16 oz vs 20 oz)
The US pint is one of the biggest culture shocks for an Irish immigrant in America 🙂