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I'm off to look at some imported cars at Trade-Sales with a view to purchase on behalf of my daughter. Has anyone had difficulties with warranty work or insurance after such a purchase?
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My son's 9 month old Punto recently needed 4 or 5 minor fixes, including adjustment of air con belt which wouldn't normally be covered by the warranty. Thought we might have a problem as Trade Sales didn't supply a service book/PDI stamp but dealer just punched the VIN into the computer to confirm the warranty. All fixed with no charge and much courtesy.
I assume you know that you won't get a 3 year warranty unless it's a Japanese make. I believe only the German makes give 2 years. Other makes 1 year. Someone will correct me if this is out of date.
Insurance won't be a problem if the car is exactly as could be supplied by a UK dealer i.e. UK spec. However, best to get some quotes before choosing a car, particularly if your daughter is in her teens.
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I believe that you will be treated differently depending on what make you buy, and where it was sourced from.
Some Jap manufacturers offer a 3yr pan European warranty, without strings. All you lose is the first year RAC or AA membership. We bought a new UK spec RAV4 import last year (via www.tins.co.uk) and any warranty items have been dealt with by our local Surrey Toyota dealer (Abbey Redhill), with excellent service. So much so that I later bought a UK supplied Amazon from them.
However, when buying from one of the 'supermarket sheds' you should be aware that vehicles imported from Malta or Cyprus (eg: non EU supplying dealer) may not be supported as fully as those from EU. Nissan claim to only offer a 3 yr mechanical warranty on these vehicles, for instance. When you sell the car on, this difference may be significant to the second owner.
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I think you will find that from January of this year, European legislation forced manufacturers to give a minimum of 2 years warranty regardless of source, hence all imports are covered for at least 2 years.
The biggest problem you will have is when selling the car on. Rightly or wrongly people are put off by the car being an import. It's not difficult to confirm if car is an import; a call to DVLA and they will tell you.
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Ford give a standard 3 year warranty with dealer bought cars. If you buy from Trade Sales my understanding is that the warranty is reduced to the standard 1 year. TS will sell an extended warranty (basically an insurance policy).
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It never ceases to amaze me at the double standards of main dealers regarding this issue. They constantly warn you of the reduced trade-in value of imported cars. However, I bought a Fiesta Zetec from a Renault Main Dealer, part-exing a Clio. I negotiated a deal that I was happy with, but nothing special. Imagine my surprise when I received the log-book and was able to confirm it was an import. This was never mentioned to me by the salesman. (Surprise,surprise.) A case of having your cake and eating ut.
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This thing about "Is a car an import?" is a load of rubbish! What it amounts to is the trade know you got it at a keen price and want to reflect that if you go to trade-in. For instance, all Mercs and Volvos are imports, why should what you paid for it affect its value, so long as it is to a correct UK spec?
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Many thanks for all your replies. We went to see the cars we were interested in. They were badged 'VSX', so should have been top of the range. They did have a single CD player and air-con, but also the lowest level of velour seat material, no electric mirrors, manual rear windows, no rain-senitive wipers, no alloy wheels, no on-board computer and no alarm system. In other words, what our dealers supply as LX - and at a similar price, after bargaining. Quite a disappointing afternoon!
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If you want an import, you're far better off doing it yourself by contacting main dealers on the Continent. That way, you'll be able to agree a price as you would with a dealer in the UK, ensure exact specification (take your time to do this, as euro spec is often lower than UK and importers often neglect to allow for this in "bargain" prices), and opt to collect the car as part of a holiday or have it delivered to your door by transporter as I did. Paperwork involved is very simple and the relevant authorities are more than happy to give advice free of charge if you need it. I bought an extended warranty from Warranty Direct for mine which exceeds the cover of a standard UK warranty, for just over £200. This is transferable to the next owner should I decide to sell the car before the three year period is over. Euro rate is back up to around 1.59 from 1.54, so now would be a good time to exchange currency to maximise savings.
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I'd be interested to hear how you get on with Warranty Direct if/when you make a claim. SWMBO claimed recently for problems with an imported Alfa whose factory 1yr warranty had just expired but she had extended it with the aforementioned company. The cover(Gold) seems extensive in the booklet but electrical problems such as interior light short out causing failure of interior ECU was a costly and uncovered repair. Don't assume that Warranty Direct offer you cover anywhere near that of the manufacturer. If anything goes wrong just hope that it's major and clear cut!
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We use Drive Assured, part of Warranty Holdings,now part of Ford-we now have to let them know if the vehicle is an import or UK sourced.
No extra premiums for our customers YET!
Mark
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I have heard allegations that the spare wheel/tyre is sometimes missing. I have knowledge of one case where the mising spare was pointed out, one was then quickly found. However, a few months out of warranty, when a puncture necessitated a changeover, it transpired that the spare was not the correct size for the car in question. So check, and make sure everything that you pay for is either fitted and fits the car.
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I bought a newRenault Megane RXI (Sport Alize)Irish import from Ian Shipton Cars two years ago. The local Renault dealer, Sutton Park at Burton on Trent have treated me as a "valued customer" for warranty work, even though I rejected their offer of a similar car on grounds of the price on a p/ex deal being £3000 more. There has been some work done free of charge outside of the warranty, - and it was done immediately. I had owned seven Renaults until 1993, when I stopped buying because of the efforts of an earlier (now defunct) local dealer.
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Got my Fiesta Ghia at Trade-sales, have a 1 year warranty on it but have had no difficulty in getting work done.
Also, the only thing that it was missing was the alarm (which I added for £180) and it came with a CD player instead of cassette. I would definately go back again, I saved over £3000! :)
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