LG John

I'm currently looking at a full uk spec euro import s2000 that is exactly the same as the uk cars and has a warranty (full one) that is honoured by Honda UK. I know from reading the posters history on another site that he got the car for £22,800otr which is a considerable saving (15-20%) on the UK list price at the time.

The car is low mileage and mint and is for sale at a price similar to genuine uk cars of low mileage/same age. The car is nov 2002 with less than 10k on the clock but if I paid the asking price it means that previous owner would only have suffered 20% depreciation! Similar uk cars sell for about 30-32% less than they cost new. Should I expect any of the initial saving made on importing the car to be reflected in its 2nd hand value? On the basis that he saved 15% buying it relative to a new uk car I think its not unreasonable that I seek to secure a price 5% less than what he is asking (which is competative and a fair price). The result of such a discount is that he'd perhaps get £750-1000 less than what an equivellent uk 2nd hand car would get but I don't see that as unreasonable when he saved nearly £5k when he bought it! Thoughts

How do dutch import classic scoobys sell relative to uk cars for example?

pslewis

Unofficial Imports ...... knock 33% off at least! Very Hard to find a Buyer!

Buy a Proper UK car and look after your residuals!!

Pete

LG John

Any other opinions please

pslewis

S2000s are harder to get 2nd hand than Imprezas ..... I was basing my opinion on Imprezas.

The S2000 will go the way of Imprezas though ...... the Imports will be hard to sell for any money!

Pete

GC8

I certainly wouldnt pay a UK residual price for a grey car; the market price for a grey car will always reflect the saving made when the car was purchased new. This applies equally to cars which have a high demand.

If you cant negotiate a better/more realistic price then Id hold on Kenny; Honda are churning them out you know?

Simon

LG John

I've not had a crack at negotation yet but I just want to be armed with the facts and info. The asking price is £18250 for a 2002, sub 10k miles, mint condition. If this was a UK car its about the amount you'd expect for a GT but since its mint and low miles probably fair for just the rag top. I personally think that being a grey import it should attract a price about 7.5% less in this instance which would be £16,880 in which case I'd be happy at £17k. But is asking someone to drop a price from 18,250 to 17k not just taking the ****. 7.5% sounds so much better, I'll pitch it that way

pslewis

You are talking yourself into it!!

Theres 10% OFF the price of ANY car!!

Offer £17k ...... you have the money, you can go where you like - the seller can't go anywhere else!

Pete

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

I wouldn't think twice about asking someone to drop from £18250 to £17000. In fact I'd probably open lower (maybe £16500), ignore the inevitable abuse, then creep up to where I want to end up. If we didn't end up meeting somewhere I was happy with then I'd confidently turn around and walk away.

I got good prices on both my Westfield and my Primera that way - turning around and walking away often has the effect of making people say 'OK, OK, you can have the car...' - especially if you get in early before they've had other people round to view.

Benny Blanco

Don't know if this is any use to you, but If you're after a new car, www.drivethedeal.co.uk offer UK main dealer cars quite a bit cheaper, or at least give you a good "bargaining baseball bat" to hit the dealer with if you go in with a quote. Just got a quick one on an S2000, and they're £24,300 approx. I know the price of the one you're looking at is cheaper, but with the downsides as per above, just thought it may be of use to you.

As a side note, i don't know how you're doing, but the quotes i got on S2000's were absolutely ridiculous. Got a quote on used S2000 from Adrian Flux, and it was almost exactly TWICE that on a Boxter. That may just be that they wanted to spoil the VTEC fun i had in mind....

Best of luck mate, and if you do get one, treat it to a blitz..

Benny Blanco

EDIT : MY BAD, just saw that the £22,500 was how much he paid, not the asking price. Still, i'll leave this incase any use to you.

GaryCat

As usual pslewis is talking sh1te.

As for the other comments...
This isn't a grey import, it is a parallel import i.e. full U.K. spec. There isn't any reason why it should be worth less than a UK supplied car, however as many people think this way it may be used as a bargaining tool to get the price down so start lower than you would with a UK car and haggle your way to a bargain.

pslewis

Of course its worth less you ********-for-brains!

And who's talking ****e? Looks like its YOU!!

Pete

hades

In reality it's all supply and demand. IMHO given an identical car with identical warranty at an identical price, most people would buy the UK sourced car. However, I expect few people would pay a £2k premium for the UK sourced car versus an identical car/warranty package (certainly not >33% premium as suggested by certain ageing wind-up merchants / imbeciles). How much the original buyer paid doesn't really come into it - you wouldn't expect a 2nd hand car to be cheaper because the original buyer got e.g. Honda staff discount of 20% or something, so why should this be any different?

For say 3 year old WRX's I believe the difference is now <£1k out of perhaps £10-11k. I would guess at a similar (i.e. ~£1k) premium being applicable to S2000's

GaryCat

yeah, yeah, yeah. Next you'll be telling us to vote labour. Pffff...

GC8

Irrespective of your opinion Gary; it is worth less, do you really think that people will pay UK-market rate for a car that was bought for considerably less? A 'grey' import is any vehicle that isnt supplied by the concessionaire.

You dont know as much as you think; in future, better keep quiet, rather than let everyone know.

dsmith

I believe the trade definition of "Grey" import is quite clear...

A car imported into the UK that was orignally supplied for another market. e.g Japanse STi etc imported into the UK. The cars are built to a Japanese Market specification.

This is a parallel import - i.e. the car has was supplied for the UK market and is full UK spec but was imported in parallel to the official importer.

They are different - whether you choose to understand that or not.

The price the original owner paid is just one factor in determining the price a buyer is prepared to pay i.e. the Value of the car.

For most parallel imports once the manufacturer warranty is out of the way and any fear (however misplaced) about it being honoured by UK dealers had gone there will be no price difference come re-sale. So for the first 3 or 4 years the depreciation on the Euro-import will be less than a UK dealer sourced car.

From Practical experience with a Wife's Euro-import MX5 and my Euro-Import WRX neither of which was a grey import at all.

dsmith

Ton confirm from the RAC website

GC8 - you might want to edit your post to save too much embarassment.

GC8

No edit required; the term 'grey' meant, rather obviously, anything other than an official import irrespective of its specification or original market. The term 'parallel import' was coined by motorcyle dealers in the early nineties who were looking to 'gentrify' their market and distance their new European 'grey import' bikes from the raft of used JDM bikes, the original 'grey imports', that were flooding the market.

To get back on topic and away from your pointless and pedantic argument; the car IS worth less than one officially imported by the concessionaire, Honda (UK).

You really went to a lot of trouble to try to show me up didnt you? Seeing as you seem to have time on your hands and little to do, why not visit the library instead of trolling here?

Steve vRS

The market will decide what the car is worth. If there is a limited supply of second hand S2000's then the seller may well get a good price for the car, irrespective of it's status.

Steve

andy1505

I drive an import and my wife drives an import( don't tell anyone because I don't think they have noticed). We have saved £12,000 on the two. To lose that in the residual market we would have to give one away. £7,000 saving on hers and a mere £5,000 on mine. We looked to trade hers in after one year for the scoob and was offeered only £500 less than we paid for it new one year earlier.

dsmith

LOL

To you perhaps - but not too most. And the market rathe than you, will decide its value.

I dont base what I'd offer for a house on what the vendor paid. I dont base what I pay for a meal on what the restaurant paid for the ingredients. I pay what I think its worth in the market and to me.

Practical experience of Wifes Euro-Import MX5 and my Euro-Import WRX rather than S'net waffling from those upset they've paid over the odds for the questionable UK dealer experience.....