druddle

My other (better) half is looking to buy a Yaris SR 3dr. Have spoken to a couple of import companies in the UK (Litchfield Imports, Motorpoint), but I would like to look in to the possibility of buying from a dealer in Europe and going over to get it.

Does anyone know how i can get a dealer list, and what the story is with import duties, etc.

Dave

frisby

druddle,

The Yaris is a great car to import as it comes with a 3yr manufacturers warranty unlike most imports which only have 1 yr.

Be careful with the SR as often it is not to full UK specification.

The SR on arrival to the UK officially has the following local enhancements fitted which are:

- 15 inch alloys
- stainless steel exhaust
- body kit
- leather steering wheel and gearstick surround.

Imported SR's don't have these mods included in the basic price so make sure they are added into the quote. A few dealers know the situation and sell the full UK spec Yaris SR as standard.

Imported Yaris only have a Thatcham Cat 2 Alarm as even if the Cat 1 is fitted abroad by the dealer it doesn't usually attain Thatcham Cat 1 status from a UK insurance company. its best to fit a Cat 1 alarm on arrival in the UK if stipulated by your insurance company.

To register, the car, you will need the following.

- original invoice
- Certificate of Conformity (CoC)
- V55 form
- Vat 415 form
- V267 - declaration of newness
- proof of insurance (vehicle insured using chassis number - make sure the comapny is happy to do this)
- cheque for £125

fill in and take all the above info to you VRO and usually in 2 working days you will get a tax disc and a registration. pop down to Halfords and get your plates made up, stick the disc in the window and you ready to roll.

Within the next month you will get your V5 document and a VAT bill charged at 17.5% of the tax free price of the car, based on the exchange rate at the time your paperwork was dealt with.

Oh and some dealers have cars in stock at the moment but often cost a little more. Tell me what colour your after and I'll see if I can find one for you.

Anything else, just ask.

laters

fris

albob

dave,
there is a good guide at

druddle

Fris

Thanks for the info. I have mailed 2 Belgian and 1 Dutch dealer and specified the colour i want and the fact that it must be UK spec. Am waiting for a reply.........

I am after a metallic silver 3 door.

Dave

[This message has been edited by druddle (edited 29 September 2001).]

druddle

Any joy Frisby ?

dave

Christian_Driver

druddle,

Meant to post this last week, but Scoobynet/company internet connection went down as I was doing it. Hope it is still of some use!

+++++

I actually imported a SR for my girlfriend November last year. I got dealer listings from the internet (just do a search for "Toyota Netherlands" and "Toyota Belgium" and you should find the main sites for each country. I can recommend the dealer I used in Eindhoven (Lanato) as being very efficient.

The process itself was very easy - got my quotes via email (almost every garage seemed extremely clued up on it all), chose my dealer and waited for the car to be delivered (quite a long lead time though - 5 months)...

I concur with frisby that you need to be very careful to ensure you are getting full UK spec. The car the dealers in Europe get is missing a number of bits (it is called a Luna over there), although the couple of UK Toyota dealers I phoned were extremely helpful and seemed to have a SR upgrade pack you could buy.

I haven't upgraded yet (all in, including tyres it would be about £1500), but even if I do we will still have saved £2500 over UK list!

Incidentally, the SR pack I was quoted on included the following:

- 15 inch SR alloy wheels (tyres extra)
- Color coded rear spoiler (plus painting and fitting)
- Lowered and stiffened suspension
- Bigger exhaust backbox
- Badge kit

As I mentioned, the Toyota dealers in the UK are very good about dealing with imports. When I phoned up and explained that I was looking to upgrade my Euro-SR to UK-SR, they were very helpful and didn't seem to mind that it was an import (different from some of the experiences friends have had with euro imported Subarus...).

The only headache we had was actually getting insurance to drive the car back from Holland. Some of the bigger UK insurers at the time would only insure it when it was in the country, but we managed to get full cover through Hill House Hammond in the end. Even if you can't get cover it is only about £300 to get it trailered over.

All in all, it was very easy and saved me a bundle of cash, so I would recommend it. That said, if you can get one through an importer with all the UK bits already added almost immediately and still save a considerable amount, I'd probably do that. Depends whether you want to save the most money or get the car reasonably quickly...

If you want any more info, feel free to email me.

Cheers,

Christian

frisby

druddle,

plenty of Yaris 1.0 and 1.3 5dr GLS but no SR's that I could locate for you - now if you'd wanted a quick delivery 360 Spider F1 it would have been another matter

Any more questions just ask.

laters

fris