Do you recall a certain TV programme, media {edit by DD} etc advocating EU imports in the mid 1990s. It was all the rage! Many of us thought, what a great idea and went and did it! Then it all went quiet!
Well I did it! I got a Toyota Mk IV Camry £4k cheaper from Eire, in August 1998 and it was a higher spec than UK. As the years of ownership passed, my Wakefield dealer was great, servicing and warranty claims by Toyota were honoured, and all was well.
However on coming to insure the car became more difficult each year, small print phrases like, personal import, non UK dealer purchase, EU import etc. were exempt. (One company insured it only to exempt it the following year). I was treated like those weird grey imports from Japan.
I therefore wrote to the tv channel concerned, and papers, complaining that we were duped by their publicity. I never got a reply!
Eventually I sold the car for a lot less than it was worth and my next car was full retail UK dealer, since I did not want the insurance hassle.
Has anyone had a similar experience, since those TV programs easily point the finger at UK dealers/manufacturers, but then ducked the issue later on when it went sour for us following their advice. Who are they accountable to?
I now write this because I am interested in the NEW Toyota Corolla, out in Europe, but not in the UK. Would love to get one, but will I get it insured at a competitive premium.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Dennis
A slight edit to the subject line to protect HJ's integrity !
{A further edit to remove any TV channel & programme names. Edits carried out are in italics - DD}
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Frankly I am not aware of these problems. JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) cars imported into Europe often attract a higher premium because of differences in specification and engine power and (mainly) because sourcing some repair parts can be more difficult and expensive than for a UK model - although I think the situation has got BETTER and not worse, over the last 10 years.
There are currently massive numbers of RHD cars being bought from EU dealers and imported into the UK and I have not heard of any problems with insurance, provided the car is to UK specification. For example, I imagine most Subarus being shipped to Cyprus and Malta end up the UK; ditto several other brands....."UK Specification" in the key to it.
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UK Speck!
But alas many commonly known UK insurers do specify NON import despite spec. Take a look at direct line, esure, kwickfit etc. small print! They all take out import af all kinds.
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there is a difference between a grey import and a parallel import
as i understand it, if the vehicle is UK spec and that type of vehicle is sold in the UK, it doesn't matter where you bought it.........the insurance companies don't mind....(parallel import)
however, if it is not UK spec and/or not the sort of vehicle usually sold here, then ins companies can get iffy, as mentioned by Aprilia.........(grey import)
the only reason i know is when insuring my bike (bought off mate who had it originally imported direct to Sultanate of Oman, albeit UK Spec) i once made the mistake of calling it a grey import instead of parallel import and had to go into the nth degree of explaining.......although to be fair the ins co. were pretty good and knew a lot more about the subject than i did
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It sounds to me like you gained £4,000 and that you've had to pay some more for insurance. Did the extra add up to more than £4,000? It wouldn't have unless your extra premium averaged over £440 a year. That assumes nine years ownership - which, given that you're thinking of changing again, seems unlikely.
As for "Then it all went quiet": While you were doing this, the trade got its act together and narrowed the gap, making it not worthwhile; it would have been odd for the TV station to have been trumpeting travelling abroad to benefit from a non-existent difference.
Why did you sell it "for less than it was worth"? Was that also the TV station's fault? Was it then the TV station's fault that you overreacted and paid "full UK dealer" rather than looking for a decent deal?
As for "Who are they accountable to"? They gave advice. You followed it. You saved money and drove a high spec car that you were happy with. It must have been awful. No wonder you want to complain.
V
{Some editing taken place - DD}
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The deleted Con
That's ridiculous - if anybody was conning then it was the insurance companies.
I'll wager most people get around the issue by simply (through ignorance or deliberate ommission) faling to mention that the car is an import. You often hear people saying 'well all xxxxx's are imports'.
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I now write this because I am interested in the NEW Toyota Corolla out in Europe but not in the UK. Would love to get one but will I get it insured at a competitive premium.
The Corolla replacement here is called the Auris - not sure if the Corolla name is still used in Europe, but I can't imagine they get a different car.
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Ah! the new Auris is NOT a Corolla replacement, its a new model in the line up, but Toyota UK dealers will tell you this is not the case.
www.toyota.ie and www.toyota.es show the Auris, as does the UK site, but they also show the NEW Corolla. I have no idea why Toyota UK have dropped it from their line up. Very much like Nissan now do the Note, both the Aurus & Note are ½ way toward people carriers with high rooflines.
The new corolla looks a very decent motor, now coming to insure it would be an issue then, because its not UK spec (Since they don't sell them here), but it would be full EU spec, since they sell them in Dublin, where they also drive on the right like the UK. So does anyone know of an insurance co. I could approach, and with it being EU spec, is it grey? This all makes I wonder how the Poles go on about getting uk insurance?
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Now let me get this right.
Your complaining because you have trouble insuring an imported car, even tho it was a model that was also officially sold in the UK.
Now you want to buy a car thats not even sold in the uk, and expect to insure that with ease.?
You want blame a TV programme and the broadcasting channel for that as well?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
{Small edit by DD}
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I like the cut of your Jib, you just sound like me when watch-dog is on! Of course I want to blame the TV programme & the broadcasting channel; why not.
Some good points here. Anyway on doing research I have found
fifthgear.five.tv/jsp/5gmain.jsp?lnk=530&orderby=d
There is a new Corolla due out in 2008, so I can hapily go off to my UK dealer and get one!
{small edit by DD}
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As I said in my earlier post, if the car is to UK specification (i.e. is a normal production model that was/is sold on the UK market) then there should be no problem at all. I looked at Esure's FAQ's a moment ago and they state there that they cover these cars.
Many Japanese cars are currently available to UK specification from EU dealers at up to 35% less than UK prices. The dealers order these cars from Japan to 'UK specification' and they are built exactly as per the cars supplied to UK dealers.
I think the OP is confusing 'parallel imports' and 'JDM imports'.
The problem will only arise if you have a model (or model designation) different from what was sold by UK dealers.
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This does raise the question in my mind about why insurers would refuse to cover imported cars.
I would assume that for some vehicles, they would be concerned about non-standard parts being very expensive, but I imagine this wouldn't make much difference with regard to most 'gray' imports - and none at all to UK spec cars.
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Thread re-instated following various edits and amendments.
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Dynamic Dave
BackRoom Moderator.
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