Taking Out Foreign Currency

[ardcarp]

Has anyone thought about cars? Mrs May has just ruled us out of the Single Market. She thinks she will be able to strike 'trade deals' with (mainly) France and Germany because we buy a lot of their cars. Well, France and Germany have 25 other EU countries to flog their cars to, many of which use Euros. We probably won't be able to afford European cars anyway if our ailing pound continues its nose-dive, but if we show France and Germany who's boss by imposing an import tax on their products, we definitely won't. I haven't owned a Brirish car since my Morris Minor bit the dust c.1965. Will I now have to forego VW and Peugeot ownership in favour of an Austin Ambassador cobbled up from second-hand parts in the back streets?

[Beef Oven!]

Has anyone thought about cars? Mrs May has just ruled us out of the Single Market. She thinks she will be able to strike 'trade deals' with (mainly) France and Germany because we buy a lot of their cars. Well, France and Germany have 25 other EU countries to flog their cars to, many of which use Euros. We probably won't be able to afford European cars anyway if our ailing pound continues its nose-dive, but if we show France and Germany who's boss by imposing an import tax on their products, we definitely won't. I haven't owned a Brirish car since my Morris Minor bit the dust c.1965. Will I now have to forego VW and Peugeot ownership in favour of an Austin Ambassador cobbled up from second-hand parts in the back streets?

Great analysis

Anyone thinking about cars? Yes, BMW are. And Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche. We buy more cars from Germany than the the rest of the European Union put together. You’ll find that necessity will be the mother of invention. Watch this space.

[Lat-Literal]

Great analysis

Anyone thinking about cars? Yes, BMW are. And Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche. We buy more cars from Germany than the the rest of the European Union put together. You’ll find that necessity will be the mother of invention. Watch this space.

Cool.

Plus there's only three more days........

http://web-images.chacha.com/images/Gallery/5960/what-don-t-you-know-about-your-favorite-cartoon-characters-1224899970-aug-2-2013-1-600x500.jpg

[Dave2002]

Great analysis

Anyone thinking about cars? Yes, BMW are. And Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche. We buy more cars from Germany than the the rest of the European Union put together. You’ll find that necessity will be the mother of invention. Watch this space.

Most other countries have cars to drive on the other side of the road, so if car manufacturers want to make/sell cars for "our" configuration they'll have to decide how to play the markets - whether they're based abroad, or have manufacturing plants within the UK. Also, they would have had to have cars made to UK specifications in any case - which is not a peculiarity of the UK. Many countries have specific standards - emission, safety etc. which car manufacturers have to conform to.

[P. G. Tipps]

p. g. tipps

Great analysis

Anyone thinking about cars? Yes, BMW are. And Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche. We buy more cars from Germany than the the rest of the European Union put together. You’ll find that necessity will be the mother of invention. Watch this space.

I hope you're right. However, it is reported today that Mercedes is already 'scaling down' investment in the UK.

Unfortunately it is not always what we think others should/will do that so often comes to pass. There are longer-term issues for foreign and EU companies if the UK quits the EEA (Single Market) and they are perfectly capable of gradually taking their investments and custom elsewhere just as the UK is now saying it will do!

There is one heck of a lot of wishful-thinking going on here, not least, it seems, in Downing Street ...

[Richard Barrett]

Most other countries have cars to drive on the other side of the road

Yes but a third (76) of all the world's countries don't: the entire Indian subcontinent, Japan, Australia, NZ, Indonesia and other parts of SE Asia, and most of southern Africa, among others.

[teamsaint]

800k german cars sold each year to the UK.

It is a certainty that money will talk, and the deals will be done, and that goes for our exports too.

Fluctuations in markets have winners and losers, same as it ever was. For every person who has lost on the exchange rates, (after a fall from a temporary high), somebody else has gained in the stock market rise.


Our business is having to deal with increased print costs abroad, and other changing variables, good and bad. We're coping. It won't make us or break us. What will do that is how well or badly we run our business, in all likelihood.

[Beef Oven!]

800k german cars sold each year to the UK.

It is a certainty that money will talk, and the deals will be done, and that goes for our exports too.

Fluctuations in markets have winners and losers, same as it ever was. For every person who has lost on the exchange rates, (after a fall from a temporary high), somebody else has gained in the stock market rise.


Our business is having to deal with increased print costs abroad, and other changing variables, good and bad. We're coping. It won't make us or break us. What will do that is how well or badly we run our business, in all likelihood.

[ahinton]

800k german cars sold each year to the UK.

It is a certainty that money will talk, and the deals will be done, and that goes for our exports too.

Fluctuations in markets have winners and losers, same as it ever was. For every person who has lost on the exchange rates, (after a fall from a temporary high), somebody else has gained in the stock market rise.


Our business is having to deal with increased print costs abroad, and other changing variables, good and bad. We're coping. It won't make us or break us. What will do that is how well or badly we run our business, in all likelihood.

If the UK pound fails - or even if it just continues to decrease in value against the Euro - UK simply won't be able to afford to buy so many German cars, however much it might want them. End of.

[teamsaint]

If the UK pound fails - or even if it just continues to decrease in value against the Euro - UK simply won't be able to afford to buy so many German cars, however much it might want them. End of.

But it won't " fail" unless our economy fails utterly, and it won't.

It's a correction. They happen all the time.

[ahinton]

But it won't " fail" unless our economy fails utterly, and it won't.

It's a correction. They happen all the time.

Whilst they do indeed, I did write "if the UK pound fails - or even if it just continues to decrease in value against the Euro". The Euro itself might fail but, if it does, those countries who currently have it as their currency will find it harder to export cars and other things to UK anyway. All is up for grabs - or not. Watch these various spaces. The Eurozone and its currency might disintegrate. EU might do likewise. The Council of Europe might do likewise. Or they might not. Who can say? - ever? Ask Mr Trump; he ought to have at least some idea...

[P. G. Tipps]

But it won't " fail" unless our economy fails utterly, and it won't.

It's a correction. They happen all the time.

But surely in the history of the democratic world voters have never knowingly voted to make themselves, their families and their businesses, poorer?

Being unfortunate victims of unavoidable outside influences is one thing but shooting ourselves in the foot and then expecting to walk merrily on as if nothing had happened is quite another!

[MrGongGong]

But surely in the history of the democratic world voters have never knowingly voted to make themselves, their families and their businesses, poorer?

All depends on what you mean by "poorer"
Lots of people do have families and it's clear that having children DOES make you financially poorer.

[ardcarp]

For every person who has lost on the exchange rates, (after a fall from a temporary high), somebody else has gained in the stock market rise.

I know nothing about economics, so perhaps I should shut up. But as a frequent traveller abroad (including Scandinavia) it seems to me that our currency (Sterling) has been in steady decline for as long as I can remember. For instance, how many dollars were there to the pound in 1960*? Have there not been frequent deliberate devaluations (why does Norman Lamont spring to mind?) and have we not frequently printed more paper money (quantitative easing )? Such measures give us a shot in the arm , all-too-literally like a junkie; a fix that is (a) not real (b) in need of frequent top-ups and (c) probably addictive?

And do I, as a non-shareholding person, benefit from 'a stock market rise'? If private pension annuity rates are anything to go by, I think not.

* http://fxtop.com/en/historical-excha...DD2=17&LANG=en

[teamsaint]

But surely in the history of the democratic world voters have never knowingly voted to make themselves, their families and their businesses, poorer?

Being unfortunate victims of unavoidable outside influences is one thing but shooting ourselves in the foot and then expecting to walk merrily on as if nothing had happened is quite another!

If as a population we start to vote for reasons other than which party will give us the most pounds in our pocket, that might be a good thing.