Hi guys, I'm wondering if we buy this car is going to be a problem or not when we come to sell it.
The story goes.... The private seller is selling his car which is an import via Motorpoint. He is selling at UK forecourt price. Many months a go I heard that one of my friend have also imported a Golf TDI and made considerable savings, but when he came to part part exchange his car at the local VW dealer. The dealer found out that it was an import, and instantly deducted £3000 off the value. (The dealer checked it from the computerised system).
I'm worried that if we buy at the UK price, we will loose out when we sell it off at a later date. Is this true ? Any experience from you guys sellers/buyers of import cars are appreciated.
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Ususal UK swindle! You buy a car which is an 'import' in that it is made abroad - you save money on it - you sell it to a dealer - he knows how much you paid for it and adjusts his price dowmwards to match the price you paid. Also if your 'private seller' is trying to get the forecourt price for his car he will be disappointed, unless he is offering a good warranty, finance and a courtesy car, or have I misread something?
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You have absolutely no reason to buy this car at that price. There are shedloads of good used cars without this hastle.
Tell him to poke it at that price.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I agree with you Armitage.
The seller told me that the car only had 12 months warranty provided by the import company. I only found out that when I asked the question "Surely the car still have another 6 months warranty since it's a 2 and a half yr old car". The seller said no, it's an import.
I will steer away from this seller anyway, unless he can drop his price. I will phone uup the dealer and ask jhow much they generally deduct the value if it's an imported car. I will then go back to the private seller tell him that - to see if he drops his dealer price.
The car in question is a VW Polo S, 5 dr 65BHP (£6000). Looking around, a lot of dealers sell at this price and obviously offer some warranty at least. So the car we had a look wasn't that cheap. We only like it that, the car drives very well, and ther body work was in good condition, but the fog light was broken and two minor scratches.
I think I should change my username from Perfection to something else. Obviuosly the car is not perfect.
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Ususal UK swindle! You buy a car which is an 'import' in that it is made abroad
The majority of cars are made abroad. I assume you mean that it wasn't made for the UK market. I've never completely understood this 'import' thing and why UK spec cars are so superior.
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UK cars often come with a higher spec than is supplied to other countries - think better stereo, climate rather than A/C, etc.
Also often have longer warranties.
In some cases (and im thinking Japanese semi-exotics) the parts may be different as the exact model was never supplied in the UK.
In this case walk. there is not a shortage of polos and even if you bought a warranty, it might not be as good as the mfr supplied scheme.
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you think british cars have higher spec than europe? You not looked at many abroad then!
The real reason our cars are higher priced is because we have rhd versions and they sell less than lhd so they represent it in the price.
Nothing wrong with imported cars converted properly imo. As for imported cars not converted properly that is a different matter!
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"you think british cars have higher spec than europe? You not looked at many abroad then!"
Actually I have looked at and bought cars abroad. rhd is irrelevant to the import question when we are talking about rhd cars sourced through the european dealer network in another country - which is generally what is meant, and I would bet is the case on a polo.
Talk to any of the dealers that specialise is bringing new rhd cars in from europe as gray imports and you will find that spec levels offered in different countries varies. Talk to anyone that has arranged a personal import eg from holland about how options are offered and bundled in different countries.
Or, you could just spout.
I wouldnt touch a lhd -> rhd converted car with a bargepole.
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Well just for the record my Father bought a VW Golf Mk 4 TDI Estate from an import company in 2001, at a saving of 3.5k. They had the car in stock and it was full UK spec including met paint (extra cost in UK) and cruise control (extra cost in UK). He sold it private recently at 5 years old, approx 26k miles and got 50% back of the new price paid. That was after being knocked down as well. The buyer wasn't worried that it was an import cause the warranty had expired and he was buying a quality car in mint condition. All things considered a good buy !
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Yes, exactly, I mean the car was imported from abroad (bought at a low price) and the seller expects to sell at the UK dealer price. Obviuosly if we buys it from him we will have problem selling it off/ part exchanging it in the future, i.e. sells at a lower price than any other UK market car.
Time to shop around for some more cars from the dealer then...
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I have bought three new 'imported' cars so far - all Hondas, made in the UK as it happens.
Whn I came to trade in a 52,000 02/52 mile CRV the Honda dealer offered £8k saying it would have been £9k had it been a UK supplied car. Given that I saved at least £2,000 when I bought it, and that he was still offering me 50% of what I had paid, I was not especially upset.
In the end I bought another from the supplier of the first one, and was allowed £9k anyway.
I still wouldn't pay anywhere near forecourt price for a private deal, though, and I would always expect a lower price for an import - the warranty is probably shorter, and out of warranty you have less, if any, chance of any 'goodwill' if you have big problems.
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One other thing to point out is that we can't verify the exact specification of the car. The seller advertised the car as 65 BHP, but it could be 55 BHP model. When we looked at the log book, all it says is POLO, S model.
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Given that the specification can vary, perhaps some of these imports have a higher spec? I can't see any reason why we in the UK should always get a higher spec than elsewhere. A different spec surely doesn't necessarily mean an inferior one.
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"Talk to anyone that has arranged a personal import eg from holland about how options are offered and bundled in different countries."
I did this, nearly five years ago, when I bought my Leon SE. I did a fair bit of research both online and through a magazine that I think was called "Car Import" (later turned into "Used Car Buyer", I believe). I took the precaution of ascertaining the UK spec on the car I wanted and ordering a match from the dealer in Holland, who was happy to confirm that he could match UK spec and emailed me a list of the optional extras required to achieve this. As it turned out, most items on the UK spec list for the SE came as standard on the their Signo (or was it Stella?) trim level, only a few factory fit options were needed. I was also able to include a CD changer, which wasn't even available as an option in the UK when I was ordering (back then it was only available with the Cupra, not the TDi or any other model in the range - how we have moved on!). Had to pay 90 euro extra for the shade of red I wanted, which was a non-cost option here.
However, the overall saving to me was about £3700 off UK list, for a car that exactly matched the UK spec and whose 2 year warranty I increased by a further two years with Warranty Direct (included in the overall price I paid). The additional warranty would have transferred to any subsequent owner had I sold the car while it was still covered, so I reckon I would have been able to get at least market value for it. Just a pity I liked it too much to let it go!
--
andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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Manatee, can you tell me where you sourced your Honda from ? I am looking at buying an imported FRV from a UK agent or alternatively importing it myself from a Honda dealer in Holland. Any guidance/advise would be much appreciated
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Can someone clarify why exactly is it that local warranty periods aren't honoured when importing vehicle? At the end of the day it's "manufacturers" warranty, and should be automatically extended to 3 years in UK.
Or are we to understand that manufacturers ship B grade, sub par vehicles they can't guarantee to work for 3 years to millions of continental drivers leaving "the good, properly put together stuff" for our tiny island market?
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[Nissan 2.2 dCi are NOT Renault engines. Grrr...]
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I have a UK sourced car and the deal is 2 years manufacturer's warranty and then one further year dealer warranty - whatever that means.
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Can someone clarify why exactly is it that local warranty periods aren't honoured when importing vehicle? At the end of the day it's "manufacturers" warranty, and should be automatically extended to 3 years in UK.
Perhaps the extra years warranty on UK cars is funded by the UK importer rather than the manufacturer.
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I really dont understand why imports are worth less if they are exactly the same specification as UK cars.
Quite a lot of 5 Series, for example, are 'imports' - but to UK specification (EU spec is different). The ONLY way you can tell its an import is the stamp in the book from the pre-delivery inspection. Thats it. They are identical in every respect to a UK dealer purchased car.
But worth thousands less. Why? Becuase its an 'import'. An 'import' eh, as opposed to the main dealer UK car which was... oh yea, imported from Germany as well.
Why are they worth less?
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Why are they worth less?
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you are all approaching it from the wrong angle.
the real question is: "why should the other so called 'uk' cars be worth more than identical 'imports'?"
the true value is the lower price that the 'imports' are priced at. anything more is the usual great r.o.b. "rip-off-britain".
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>> Why are they worth less? >>
Market forces - buyers *expect* them to be worth less.
I *think* it's BMW where the dealer has to tell the customer if it's an import, or BMW UK make the dealer take the car back if the customer finds out later.
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>> Why are they worth less? >> you are all approaching it from the wrong angle. the real question is: "why should the other so called 'uk' cars be worth more than identical 'imports'?" the true value is the lower price that the 'imports' are priced at. anything more is the usual great r.o.b. "rip-off-britain".
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Not all, as I did say I couldn't see why a UK spec car should always have a superior spec.
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Not all, as I did say I couldn't see why a UK spec car should always have a superior spec.
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??? eh? are we talking at cross-purposes?
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>> Not all, as I did say I couldn't see why a UK spec car should >> always have a superior spec. >> ??? eh? are we talking at cross-purposes?
I was trying to say that I don't understand why a 'UK' spec car is always considered to be superior, when it may not be.
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Quite true, however the majority of imports by the car supermarkets etc are of lower spec and have shorter warranties.
It doesnt have to be like that but often is. Personal imports are a different issue because people will have hopefully bought a decent spec car.
I know my brother looked at passats at either trade sales or motorpoint (I dont remember which) and the spec was not as good as UK spec.
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Manatee, can you tell me where you sourced your Honda from ?
www.bobgerard.co.uk/index.php
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Should have added that with the above supplier you are normally buying a car that is in stock, or about to be. You pay a deposit by credit card (therefore some protection) and you can pay the balance on collection so low risk. Good people to deal with in my experience. It probably helps that I have had no problems with the cars.
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You are missing the point about VAG "imports". There is generally no difference except if the car is one that was built for another RHD market like Cyprus.
Any car that left the VW or Audi factory with right hand drive and a mph speedo was generally built to "UK" spec. Until 3-4 years ago factory cars had a one year warranty and the UK importer added his own two year warranty so UK vehicles had 3 year cover.
Since then, 2 years became the norm and the UK franchisee only had to add one year of his own (did prices come down to reflect his lower cost?)
I have a lot of experience importing VAG brands and when I had customers who wanted to deviate from the UK spec for some reason, VAG refused to supply cars that were built differently from those shipped to VAG UK, so buyers have some protection by this in that they can almost be sure their used import is identical to an import.
There were some odd differences though. UK dealers charged for polished alloy mirrors on some sporty Audi's yet it was a free option out of the factory. They charge more for electric rear windows on the old A4, yet it was standard out of the factory and removed for "UK spec".
Once the vehicle is 3 years old, the whole import thing can be disregarded, the car is out of warranty whoever supplied it and it would only be the main agents still trying to protect their interests by talking down the value of a 3 year old car.
Importing died when the Euro gained strength from 1.65 to 1.42 and the savings were lost. UK dealers like to give other reasons but the government is very keen on a 1.35-1.40 exchange for us to enter the Euro, so the big savings are unlikely to return, hence the free market for sellers with a 2-3 year old "import".
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