D & L O’Connell Bros Car Sales Review & Used Car Guide

Anyone who has ever bought a used car from a small dealer knows the real test isn’t the handshake — it’s the first cold morning after the sale. D & L O’Connell Bros Car Sales, a family-run independent in west Limerick, has been trading since May 2014; this guide sorts what’s actually known about the business from what still needs a phone call.

Phone: 085-1049227 ·
Address: Glenmore West, Tournafulla, Newcastle West, Limerick ·
Established: May 2014 ·
Cars Listed: 103 ·
Email: dandltrade14@gmail.com

Key facts at a glance

Nine rows, one pattern: the dealership’s public profile is consistent across platforms, but the details that decide a purchase still have to be asked car by car.

The takeaway from the table: nothing here is a red flag, and nothing removes the need to ask about the specific car before you buy it.

What are people saying about D & L O’Connell Bros car sales Ltd?

DoneDeal’s Limerick market page shows a 4.9 rating for the dealership in its search snippet and labels the business a “trusted independent dealership”. The dealership’s own profile says customers keep recommending it to family and friends, and the listing activity across DoneDeal, CarZone, Cars.ie and CarSpot backs that up — this is a dealer with continuous, visible stock.

Two signals matter more than the star rating. CarSpot’s verification flags: a 2020 Audi A3 from the dealer is marked “official dealer and verified,” and a 2019 Toyota Hilux carries the same verified tag. And the dealership’s own description, which anchors the business in what it actually does: established in May 2014, supplying quality new and used vehicles to the motor trade and public across Ireland, with a qualified mechanic on-site.

What is O’Connell Bros Motor Factors?

• No separate public profile for “O’Connell Bros Motor Factors” appeared in the sources reviewed for this guide
• The dealership itself trades as D & L O’Connell Bros Car Sales
• The most likely reading is a family or trade reference, not a separate business

The direct answer: the sources used here don’t document a distinct company under that name. If the phrase appears on paperwork, ask the dealer directly what it refers to before you sign anything.

What is the best 2nd hand car to buy in Ireland?

There is a consensus answer on Irish forecourts, and it is deliberately boring: small Japanese and Korean hatches dominate the value conversation. The Toyota Yaris is the reliability default, the Hyundai i10 is the low-cost default, and the Skoda Octavia is the space-per-euro default.

• Toyota Yaris — the reliability default
• Hyundai i10 — the low-cost default
• Skoda Octavia — the space-per-euro default

For a concrete price anchor, D & L currently lists a 2021 Volkswagen Golf Style 2.0 TDI 115HP 5DR at €21,900. That’s the premium end of the used market; the Yaris and i10 examples will sit far below it, with age and mileage doing the talking.

What is the crappiest car ever?

• Rust-prone body panels
• Parts that take weeks to source
• Depreciation that punishes the seller more than the buyer

There is no official title, but those three traits are the common thread in every “worst car” conversation. Notice what’s missing: badge, power and looks. A car becomes the crappiest car ever when it’s expensive to keep on the road, not when it’s slow.

The trade-off: the safest second-hand buys in Ireland aren’t exciting, and that’s exactly the point. Boring cars get maintained properly, so look for the one that was serviced on schedule rather than the one that looks fastest in the photos.

What’s the worst month to buy a new car?

There is no published Irish calendar of discount days, so treat monthly advice as a pattern rather than a promise. The strongest seasonal signal runs through dealer targets: stock that sits too long gets priced to move, and that tends to happen at the edges of the year.

• December: dealers clear stock before year-end and private demand drops — the classic negotiation window
• January and July: new-registration months flood the market with trade-ins, which softens used-car prices
• The practical signal: watch listings for price cuts instead of watching the calendar

What is a good mileage for a used car?

• Roughly 15,000 to 20,000 km per year is normal for an Irish car
• Anything far above that needs a service-history explanation
• Low mileage isn’t automatically good — a car that sat for years can hide worse problems than a car driven daily

The state NCT is where hidden wear shows up, and the test fee alone is €60 before any retest costs. A clean NCT is not proof of a perfect car, but a missing one is a reason to walk away.

The implication: timing matters less than condition. The cheapest purchase of the year is still a bad buy if the service record is a mystery.

What color car is least stolen?

The sources reviewed for this guide don’t include official Irish theft-by-color statistics, so the honest frame is dealer-floor pattern, not hard law. The pattern that circulates among Irish dealers and buyers goes like this:

• White: the color most often cited as least stolen — too visible to flip quietly
• Blue: a mainstream color that rarely tops theft or police-stop lists
• Gray or silver: the best at hiding scratches, swirl marks and road grime

What color car not to buy?

• Black: looks sharp for an hour after washing, then shows every swirl mark and dust line
• Red: maximum visibility, which is not a feature when you want anonymity
• There is no universal “never buy” color — condition and history beat color every time

The practical answer: don’t let color override the service file. The worst color is the one you won’t keep washed, and the best color is the one that’s easiest to resell.

What color car do police stop the most?

• No Irish dataset on this was found in the sources used for this guide
• The reliable version is visibility: bright and uncommon colors draw more attention
• White, gray and blue sit in the low-attention middle ground

There is a reason company fleets are white, silver and blue. Those colors blend, and blending is exactly what most drivers want.

What car color hides scratches best?

• Gray and silver: the classic low-maintenance answer — light scratches barely register
• White: hides light dust, shows dark scuffs
• Black: the hardest color to keep looking clean

The trade-off: safe colors are boring, and boring is a feature at resale time. A gray car with a full service file will always be easier to sell than a striking color with a mystery history.

The implication: the color you pick won’t save you from a bad history, but it can make the car easier to live with day to day.

What car companies are located in Ireland?

Ireland’s car industry is a distribution and retail story today. The mass-assembly era is long over; the sector runs on imports, parts supply, dealerships and servicing, and the jobs are spread across the dealer network rather than concentrated in factories.

• No significant volume car assembly plant operates in Ireland today
• The motor trade is built on independent dealers and the garage network around them
• D & L O’Connell Bros illustrates the structure: it supplies both the motor trade and the public, and advertises used commercial vehicles through CarZone Commercials

What this means for a buyer: the Irish car industry is a dealer ecosystem, and a dealer with its own mechanic is worth more than a famous badge. The company that builds the car matters less than the company that stands behind it locally.

The shortlist: best used cars in Ireland compared

Four models, one pattern: each wins on a different metric — running cost, space, or reliability — so the right pick depends on your mileage budget, not the badge.

The pattern: the used market in Ireland rewards boring choices. A Yaris or i10 keeps more money in your pocket over five years; the Octavia and Golf pay you back in space and refinement. The Golf on D & L’s forecourt is a good example of paying a bit more upfront to buy from a dealer with an on-site mechanic behind it.

Buying from D & L O’Connell Bros: upsides and downsides

The trade-off: this is a typical profile for a small independent, and the risk is manageable if you ask the right questions before you travel. The dealer’s strengths — local, mechanic-backed, visible on the main platforms — are exactly the ones that matter for a used-car purchase.

How to buy from D & L O’Connell Bros without the anxiety

1. Call 085-1049227 or email dandltrade14@gmail.com to confirm the car is still there before you make the trip.
2. Ask for the NCT certificate and service history before you travel — the test itself costs €60, and retests carry their own fees (Observer Ireland’s NCT cost guide).
3. Ask where the car came from: trade-in, import, or ex-fleet.
4. View the car at Glenmore West, Tournafulla, Newcastle West, Limerick.
5. Ask the on-site mechanic what the dealer’s own inspection covered and what the warranty includes.
6. Compare the asking price against live market listings before you negotiate.

The pattern: good independent dealers welcome these questions because they have nothing to hide. The answers you get — and the ones you don’t — tell you more than any review page.

What’s confirmed, what’s still unclear

The honest read: nothing in the public record is a red flag, but the public record was never designed to answer the questions that matter most. Ask them, and ask them in writing.

What the dealership and the platforms say

“Established in May 2014, we specialise in supplying quality new and used vehicles to the motor trade and public across Ireland.”

— D & L O’Connell Bros Car Sales, the dealership’s own site

“Trusted independent dealership.”

— DoneDeal, Ireland’s largest classifieds market

“Official dealer and verified.”

— CarSpot.ie, car listings platform with dealer verification

The catch: each label is a real signal from a real platform, but none of them is a mechanical inspection. “Verified” means the listing passed the platform’s checks — the cold start is still on you.

The takeaway

Small independent dealers live or die by repeat customers, and the public record for D & L O’Connell Bros points the right way: a stable family-run operation in west Limerick, a qualified mechanic on-site, and verified listings on the platforms Irish buyers actually use. The unknowns — per-car history, warranty terms, inspection depth — are exactly the questions a disciplined buyer asks before handing over money. For a buyer in Limerick or anywhere in Munster, the decision is clear: shortlist the dealership, do the NCT-and-service-history homework on the specific car, and let the condition of the vehicle, not the family story, close the deal.

Related reading

• Car Sales Near Me: Top Used Car Dealers in Dublin
• NCT Test Cost: €60 Fee, Retests, Cancellation & Rules

Frequently asked questions