I am thinking of buying a new car for the first time in many years and am a bit confused at the various options. I would like to get a Ford focus LX and keep it indefinitely. Have been offered good prices by the likes of Virgin for full UK specification which are well below What Car Target Price. However I have also been offered a new import from a long established Ford dealer for about £1000 less than the Virgin price. Will only have a two year warranty and though not to full UK specification the missing bits are not important to me and as i will be keeping it for the long term the normal re-sale considerations are not really relevant.Are there good practical reasons why I should avoid an import of this type?Any guidance would be much appreciated.
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Also look at supermarkets such as trade sales and motorpoint. They have deals which I've yet to see beaten (I saved over £5k on list price for a Mondeo).
There are practical reasons for not buying imports, the main one being your reduced warranty period, of which you're already aware. Its a gamble, thats all. But think of it like this: the Focus has been proven as a reliable car; do you really want to pay say £3k more for an extra year's warranty?
I've bought an import and that's the only 'drawback' I have experienced...
Splodgeface
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also worth bearing in mind that new model Focus arrives soon(this summer, I think), so perhaps worth waiting as values of current model will take hit.
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Does anyone know where you may be able to get an imported Van for similar savings?
Just like Fordmac, I would intend tokeep this for a long time.
Hugo.
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Deftly hijacked there, Hugo...
www.vanman.co.uk has Vauxhall Movanos (aka Renault Master) for £10k + VAT.
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Thanks for the comments.Ready now to take the plunge! Very pleased to have found this site.
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One thing to note - although the missing bits don't concern you they may well concern a future buyer.
There is no reason to accept a non-uk spec import, just about every importer can supply uk spec cars at a discount.
Insist on a UK spec car - that way you won't have trouble when you do sell it on and you should have less trouble if there are any warranty claims.
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What are the missing bits? If there is no air con then it's effectively a CL rather than an LX and probably thus actually not that cheap.
The CD player can easily be sourced on eBay for about £100, so that's not a huge issue.
The alloys, likewise, can be added although that seriously reduces the saving (about £400). Have you considered nearly new or pre-reg? These cars may be about the same price and have more than two years' warranty remaining, plus no specification issues.
A randomly selected broker www.newregcars.co.uk does the Focus 1.6 LX for £10,297 new (oh and pretend the 1.4 LX doesn't exist, like everyone else does).
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by brother got a new corsa for 34.5 k on import. think it came from denmark.
He is keeping his forever, the only diference seems to be an opel badge.
Definately worth doing.
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by brother got a new corsa for 34.5 k on import. think it came from denmark. He is keeping his forever, the only diference seems to be an opel badge.
Did it come with one, or three yrs warranty?
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by brother got a new corsa for 34.5 k on import. think it came from denmark. He is keeping his forever, the only diference seems to be an opel badge.
Did it come with one, or three yrs warranty?
For 34.5k, I would hope it was hewn from solid gold and came with a ten year warranty!
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Fordmac said he was keeping his car for a long time so this is not relevant. I would argue that it is highly unlikely (and a bit of an old wive's tale) that a Ford coming from the same factory as all the others will have bits missing. In any case, if its good enough for the rest of Europe, why do we have to be so dismissive of these cars?
When he comes to move it on in 10 years time for £500, I doubt whether anyone will bat an eyelid at the "missing bits"!!
Splodgeface
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Thanks for the comments.This really is a great site for learning a lot about cars and motoring.The only "missing bit"of any note from the Ford plant in Spain seems to be a heated windscreen on the Focus Ghia that I finally decided to get.As I currently drive a 14 year old Sierra and the new car will go into my garage as soon as I can give my 27 year old Cortina away there are a lot of new toys to play with before I worry about my windscreen.
Though the import clearly seems to have been made in Spain in January there are a number of references to Malta on stickers that I have seen on the car.Can anyone explain please what the issues are regarding this?
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Warranty, warranty and warranty.
Malta is not yet in the EU (correct me if I'm wrong) and therefore there is no obligation on the manufcaturer to stand by any warranty. That applies to the whole car and the corrosion warranty.
Obviously you have protection from the Sale of Goods Act, but that's not the best way to be going about getting problems fixed with a new car.
Have you actually signed on the line yet? If not, I wouldn't.
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Splodgeface - things are left off cars that come down the same production line. A colleague bought a Rover 600 which was for Japan but didn't get there and it hasn't got a fag lighter! How much effort must it be to leave that out?!
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I don't think a missing fag lighter will upset too many people...
But I agree, whats the point of cutting that off the production line?!
Splodgeface
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