A friend and work collegue of mine has been offered a large discount off a Nissan X Trail that is is advertised as `Eupopean Union Import`.
Am I right in thinking there are insurance and re-sale implications to buying one of these,and probably the instruments would read in KPH rather than MPH.
He does not keep his vehicles for more than two to three years,so re-sale value is important to him.
Any advice and information regarding this matter would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.
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These will likely be Irish or Cypriot imports. Don't think there are any insurance implications but the resale values will be lower, however the new price will be much lower so it's horses for courses.
Isn't it the case that all cars sold in the EU must have both KPH and MPH? (Obviously with MPH in small digits on continental cars).
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I hired a Focus in Ireland in 2005 and IIRC the speedo was marked only in km/h.
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I hired a Focus in Ireland in 2005 and IIRC the speedo was marked only in km/h.
Eire distances on Road signs are now KMs - hence KPH speedos
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If it is the same advert as I saw they undercut Motorpoint by £500 and do not seem to want to charge you for cleaning the car B4 delivery - this was on an 2.2Dci Aventura
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A few months back I bought a "European" spec Volvo for export, and the speedo shows only km/h. When i drive it back in the UK every few months I have to pay very careful attention to the speed limit and do the conversion myself.
Guess Europe doesn't care about mph. Seems a silly oversight though.
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Most cars sold in the EU have KPH only speedos-it's only the Uk that adds KPH figures to MPH speedos.
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"Isn't it the case that all cars sold in the EU must have both KPH and MPH? (Obviously with MPH in small digits on continental cars)."
No - they must have KPH speedos. MPH is now only required in the UK.
Some cars sold in Ireland since January 2005, when speed limits switched to metric, have KPH in large markings on the speedo and MPH in small, but this isn't commonplace.
Others (e.g. Toyota Yaris) have digital displays that can be switched between KPH and MPH but again, this isn't commonplace.
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I did exactly this 3 years ago with a Golf V LHD. If it hasn't been converted to UK Spec, then you have to do the following.
Change the Front Lights, Swap the Rear Fog Light and replace the Speedo with one that has KPH and MPH. Then you need to get Type approval, using evidence that the work has been carried out (Garage Bills), then you can register the car.
In addition, you may need to have Rear-Safety belts fitted (UK requirement), AND also side-mirrors may need to be changed if they are the reduced size ones.
Hopefully iin this case t's all been done, and the only difference is the Spec (trim, functions etc)
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VW Bora (51) 2.0 SE
VW Touran (54) 1.9 TDI
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I have bought three Cyprus import Hondas from Bob Gerard Ltd - all had 'normal' mph speedos - I think Cyprus uses miles anyway, which might be the explanation.
According to the website, Gerard's will sell you an Aventura for about £17,900 OTR. All they require is a modest deposit by credit card (which gives you some protection anyway) and payment by debit card on collection, which might be a consideration if your friend has concerns about the vendor.
As to resale value, I was told by the Honda agent when I last changed that I would have been offered £1,000 more had my CR-V, then three years old, been a UK supplied one. As I had saved about double that on purchase I was not unhappy. Cyprus is now in the EU so you now get a manufacturer warranty, though not necessarily the same as the UK one.
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