My problem involves a Subaru Impreza that my son bought through an online Japanese importer. This is a Japanese-based outfit that brings specialist cars to the UK. He gets his cars hosted on forecourts of local dealers but payment is made to Japan. The importer seems to enjoy good reports on the internet and the owner seems well established. The car my son bought initially test drove quite well, but no sooner had the purchase by debit card been made and he had driven the vehicle off the forecourt a misfire occurred, making it almost impossible to drive and quite dangerous. This was reported immediately to the hosting site who said he had to deal with the proprietor back in Japan.

To cut a long story short, the proprietor has refused to do anything about it. It is an intermittent fault and has proved impossible to trace so far. The warranty insurance he was given has stated that this was a pre-existing fault and voided the policy. My son has spent circa £1000 with a Subaru specialist to no avail.