WR1 Ant

IM are an independant company that imports and sells subarus in the uk they buy them from FHI convert them to uk spec and sell them on to uk customers makeing a profit, built into this profit is a certain amount for any warranty claims to be payed so why should anyone expect IM to cover warranty claims on any car that they havent sold !!!

Harry_Boy

Agree to an extent. Certainly I wouldn't be willing to sanction my company to repair something at my expense, unless I could claim it back from the manufacturer.

However, if it was apparent that it was an investment in future business, then that would be a different matter. And that's why people are now finding that IM has 'softened' its attitude to such claims, driven by dealer requests and insistence.

Thankfully, we may well have the opportunity to deal with a wholly owned subsidiary of FHI in the not too distant future.

johnfelstead

The cars come from Japan in UK spec, IM dont convert them to UK spec, they come off the factory line in Japan in UK spec.

The only cars that go through a process you could call conversion are specials like the WR1 which has the PPP, PFF7's, springs etc fitted once imported to the UK.

Harry_Boy

You're right John. Some locking wheel nuts, a cheap alarm and an (alleged) squirt of underseal are hardly a major conversion.....

comic cuts

I'm sure that IM haven't "softened" under pressure from customers over warranty claims to EU cars, they have administered warranties from other countries (eg Belgium and Holland) for some years. Now that Malta, Cyprus et al have now joined EU no doubt the same will apply. Don't forget that those Pan European warranties are controlled, not by IM, but by the country of origin, and their decision on warranty matters would rule.

Harry_Boy

Going by my own experience with a Belgian import. Dealer always manages to sort out warranty issues via IM without recourse to the importer in the country of origin.

johnfelstead

Isnt that the law in the EU now? They dont have a choice with regards to honoring the Pan European warranty. I think it was last year the EU upped the minimum waranty that must be included in the sale of a car to 2 years, and Subaru decided to provide 3 years cover on all cars sold in the EU.

I think the only thing they can do is refuse to give an extended waranty option, as that is outside the EU directives. They cant refuse waranty work on cars not serviced in the delaer network either, if the service work was carried out to standard and used genuine parts.

WR1 Ant

This is what I ment by converting to uk spec

hades

A couple of minor points, they may have been stated earlier, but I got a bit bored reading the same stuff repeated.

Early ECUTEK remaps did not include the CEL fix. I had one done ~2 years ago on my 02WRX, they hadn't worked out how to stop the cat inefficiency light at that stage. With 270bhp, and 18psi boost, that suggests to me that the car had in fact been remapped.

Cat inefficiency CEL will come on when cruising at steady motorway(ish) speeds (probably 60+), and not until. Once it comes on, it stays on until an ECU re-set. If it has come on twice, it will come on again at some point whilst you're cruising; I'd guess in about a week . . . . .

The cheapest CEL fix consists of a resistor and a capacitor, total cost 22p and 10 minutes with a soldering iron under the car, near the rear 02 sensor. Do a search, I posted how to do it a long while ago. (has been used a lot in the USA)

It wasn't post-01 that all EU cars got a 3 year warranty - it was late 2002. Mine was a May 02 from Holland still with 1 year warranty. At the time, it was also only 1 year manufacturer's warranty for UK cars, years 2&3 came through dealer/IM (although that amounts to almost the same thing).

IF a car is bought as UK spec, and registered with IM at the time of purchase, you can handle warranty claims via IM, they just bill e.g. Subaru Benelux. I never had any problem with main dealer servicing/parts etc with my car registered. Now the warranty is expired, I let powerstation service it instead, as IMHO I'll get a better job.

You could in theory get a UK PPP fitted to an EU import, you just wouldn't keep the warranty, at which point, other mods would probably make more sense.

Apologies if some of the above has been stated already.

hades

P.S. All IM/UK dealers do is get the Cat 1 alarm upgrade and locking wheel nuts fitted, and do the PDI, IIRC. Personally, I think having a "different" alarm to most scoobs could be a plus point: professional thieves are likely to know the bypass for the normal UK fit alarm.