Andy Hamp

Well IM and/or Subaru NL have come up with a good one here.

Firstly they're doing everything they can to make it hard for us to get the kit's (apparently we'll only get them when there are NO UK sourced car awaiting the kits and not just UK300's). But now they are saying that it voids our warrenties. To coin a phrase, "I can't BELIVE it".

Anyone out there heard this from anywhere else ?
Anyone out there had problems getting PPP on a pre-MY01 car ? Had an warrenty problems ?

Angry from Surrey

(I suppose that with only 4 months to run on my 12 month pan european warrenty, the warrenty will have run out before IM will supply me with the kit as it is )

john banks

All my dealings with IM have led me to believe that they are "not very good". I have a Belgian MY00 and it has one month left on its first year of warranty - who knows if the second and third on Belgian sourced cars are any more than vapourware? I have fitted a PPP. I am laughing all the time. But IM are still "not very good" (IMHO of course, based on their failure to act on information that I have repeatedly faxed/sent to them, and generally being unhelpful and saying different things depending on who you speak to. Usual disclaimers apply, my opinion, not Scoobynet etc. If not in a public forum I would use more "appropriate" language about this outfit.

orbv

Before ordering a MY02 from europe I look into the question of warranty and PPP. The answer I got was fussy but in short it made the warranty invalid. No one could or would confirm this in writing but I'm still working on it.

I even tried to get the dealer in Europe to supply the PPP. Still waiting for a response.

EvilBevel

As far as I understood it ...

Subaru importers (IM, Benelux) etc ... buy off the insurance from FHI.

This means that the warrenty claims are dealt with on a local/regional basis.

In Belgium or Holland, fitting a PPP voids the warrenty. This may well be because Prodrive can't fit the PPP themselves (which they insisted up until recently I believe), and that probably has to do with legal/insurance issues.

Since you bought your car from Aalsmeer, it seems obvious that IM is not going to cover the warrenty in their place.

You may understand from this why there are very few people in the Benelux that went for the PPP ... price is virtually the same, availability is no problem, but you have to sign a document stating your warrenty is void ...

So technically, you are out of luck.

But look at the bright side ... if you fit non TUV approved 17" alloys (like the Oz Superturismo) in Germany, you lose your warrenty and can get fined for it ...

This may all suck pretty much, but the bottom line is that the UK is priviliged in having a tuning kit that is officially approved by the importer ... provided you bought the car from IM of course.

HTH,

Theo

Nico van Steen

Theo,

There's another upside for it.... You only have to wait one year, before you can start adding mods without having to worry about warranty (which is crap anyway) :-)

Nico van Steen
MY99 Impreza GTturbo (came new with 1 year warranty)
MY00 Mitsu EVO VI RS2 (came new with 0 warranty)

wrx.co.uk

At this rate you might as well nip down to Warrander buy an STI with 320BHP and a 3 year warranty, IM are fast doing themselves out of business.

Phil

Now I know what the advantage of buying a UK MY01 at full price was

My PPP should have been in this morning but now promised for tommorow (Bank Holiday Problems)

Phil

Nathan L

Oh well, the £1600 I was going to spend on the PPP will now be spent elsewhere.

Possum Link anyone ?

Dave T-S any news on when this will be available ?

Nathan

Dave T-S

Off topic slightly, IM initially told me that if I replaced the sports seats in my MY01 with (genuine Subaru) buckets and disconnected the side airbags, it would invalidate my warranty.

They have now written me a disclaimer letter in case I subsequently disconnect them, have an accident, and try to make a product liability claim.....

*Oh, how we laughed*

Nathan
The first MY01 Link is on the mule and testing now......

Andy Hamp

I couldn't agree more.

Exhaust BB & center section from Scoobysport ...

Link ECU from BRD Bob ...

Samco Hoses (coz they look good ) ...

What shall I do with the remaining £500 ... Any suggetions ?

Andy

[This message has been edited by Andy Hamp (edited 28 August 2001).]

Nathan L

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Andy Hamp:
<B>
What shall I do with the remaining £500 ... Any suggetions ?

Andy[/quote]

Yeah, save it for the extra fuel you're going to use

Nathan..

The Saint

Attention IM Snoopers !

I cannot understand how incredibly stupid and greedy IM are, especially compared to
Mitsubishi's policyn on grey imports etc.

When will these greedy stipd swine learn that a monopoly working against the buying public will eventualy work against them.
Wonkers.

Tooooooooooossers.


The Saint

Chins

Am I stupid or something. This is not the fault of IM, but of Subaru Holland. If a warranty issue arrises on a car from Holland, then IM claim the money back from Subaru Holland.

If Subaru Holland say they wont cover the car with a PPP, what has that got to do with IM. Surely this shows that IM are more forward thinking than Subaru Holland, and that those that saved money buying from Subaru Holland were dealing with an importer behind the times.

This has sod all to do with IM and everything to do with Subaru Holland.

Good to see another reason to buy a UK car. Flame suit well and truely zipped up

Jonathan

With a UK car with PPP if you hadnt guessed.

Neil Smalley

I must confess to be a little disapointed by this stance of IM/Subaru. However it IS their policy to make and to do buisiness as they see fit.

Personally I think this anti competitive, anti import stance will do them serious harm in the future. If it is their right to make policy, it is ours as their customers not to buy their products.

I think, even amoung some dealers there is the belief that the year is 1996 and Impreza waiting lists are still a year long. They can, therefore act as though we have no where else to go to spend our money on bargain basement performance cars.

I want to see Subaru do well, they make excellent cars, and like most owners I get excellent after sales. But IM/Subaru's biggest weakness is in the attitude to imports, and to some extent it's attitude to it's drivers club(although this may have changed). I feel as if would properly address these issues, then not only would we it's customers be more likely to buy a new car again, they would obtain more revenue from pleased customers.

Over to you IM and ultimatley Subaru.



[This message has been edited by Neil Smalley (edited 28 August 2001).]

W9GTR

Jeez it's not often me and chinns agree but...........
IM is an importer of Subaru cars, not the manufacturer. As such it relies solely on revenue generated by sales of Subaru products in the UK to survive. They make their margin and in return you get a three year warrnty.... it's called risk and reward! Why should they look after import warranty claims? It cost's them time and money to administer any transaction. They have to pay dealers to carry out the work required for which they will probably only recieve a token reimbursement for the parts from abroad. More importantly, they need to offer their own customers a justifyable reason for their existance. i.e something that differentiates a UK car from an import which might represent value for the extra money UK customers have to pay.
I don't have a problem with people who import their cars, you make your decision based on the pros and cons which we all know and you live with the consequence. I do have a problem with people naive enough to believe IM should pi55 in their own pool just to make their lives a little easier. Wake up and smell the coffee! There is an old saying you know about cakes and eating If IM made it easy for personal importers....er.... they would have a really sound business on their hands wouldn't they
Loads of cars to look after but alas very little in the way of revenue. In any business you need to putting more in the top than is coming out of the bottom.
BTW no I don't work for, or know anyone who works for IM. I do know that the real world sucks sometimes and a reality check is often needed to remind ourselves that most businesses cannot run on fresh air and windy pud
Cheers
Steve


[This message has been edited by W9GTR (edited 28 August 2001).]

[This message has been edited by W9GTR (edited 28 August 2001).]

spudgun

lol"w9gtr
"fresh air and windy pud"

gotta agree on this one too.

Phil

IM Fan Club

Sign up here LOL

Andy Hamp

Hey Guy's don't get me wrong !

My only critisium of IM is that they are treating me in a rather anti competitive way. I have no problem with a waiting list for the PPP, but first come first served please. Why should i be treated any differently from a UK customer, and get at the bottom of the list until every UK owner has it fitted. IM will make the same amount of money from me than it does from them.

It's Subaru NL amaze me. The UK will give, upto 36 months warrenty on a PPP car, but i would get 0. What does this mean for IM ? Lost business for them and their dealers, more for Pete & Bob.

Ok, yes i did spend 6 grand less than UK owners for my car, but so could all of you. Do you think my dutch dealer and Subaru NL don't make a profit out of that ? Are you happy being screwed by IM (and the rest of the UK car manufactuors) ? The reason i did was i couln't afford to buy new here.

Look at the bike market. The reason UK prices are the same as the rest of europe is because or grey imports forcing the prices down. It should be the same here for cars.

I'd buy from IM tomorrow, but i'm not prepared to be ripped off.

Andy

(sorry, rant over)

JackClark

Your not being ripped off. I paid extra for the service I recieve from my dealer and importer.

BT52b

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by JackClark:
<B>Your not being ripped off. I paid extra for the service I recieve from my dealer and importer.[/quote]

Worth £6000 is it?

The disadvantage of importing is the 4 month wait.
I don't expect worse service, in fact I demand equal treatment.

Warranties are another matter, they're upto Subuaru NL or whoever, but you would expect IM to put some pressure on them if they would make some money out of it wouldn't you.

Maybe when the rush has eased off a bit they will.

Stephen Read

OK guys let's not forget that the relative profitability of UK and Dutch dealers is nothing to do with the 'high' UK price people have to pay in the UK versus what can be achieved via the personal import route. The saving is mainly the fact that as a foreiner, the Dutch goverment don't get the 30-35% luxury tax when a dutch dealer sells a car to a foreign citizen. The net cost to the dealer of teh car pre-taxes and the ultimate profit margin made by the dealers may be closely equivalent.

The thing that bugs me about the PPP issue is that in my view, this product carries a high price because you are paying a premium for that hidden warranty. In my view SUK/Prodrive were right ro reduce the price of this upgrade for MY00 and older cars as they should have made a decent return on their investment by now and as the value of the cars falls, the amount people are prepared to pay to upgrade them will also fall (relatively). What I think they should do is offer an even cheaper price to those who will not qualify for the benefit of a three year warranty!

Ps. if you PPP a new car I assume you get a 3 year warranty. But, if you do it to a 2yr old, do you get a new three yr warranty? Doubt it!

DrEvil

correct me if I'm wrong, but what you are getting with the PPP is three yrs warranty on the PPP parts directly (hoses, ECU and exhaust) and it doesn't invalidate the remainder of your UK waranty..

just a thought.

EvilBevel

&gt;&gt;Do you think my dutch dealer and Subaru NL don't make a profit out of that

Um, they virtually don't actually. The only reason they do this is because they sell bugger all, and the UK sales makes the numbers look a bit better...

From the horses mouth.

Sales of the MY01 are a *disaster* in Holland & Belgium.

Theo

Stephen Read

Dr Evil,

Point taken about the 'PPP parts' themselves being covered for three years from date of fitting...but; given that the result of adding these parts is an increase in torque/power, the accountant in me says that some of the 'premium' should be set aside to cover the 'potentially higher' collateral damage which 'could' be inflicted to other moving parts?

If this potential 'warranty risk' is never going to materialise, then it is money in the bank for IM/Prodrive.

Ps. Just my view and in now way am I casting aspersions as to the quality of the developement/product. I have been in the Listers demo car round Donno and thought it was fantastic. Just a little pricey, IMHO

DT

I'm in the same predicament and well p****d off with IM attitude. I was on the list early and have been bumped down due to this red tape and beaurocracy.

What I was trying to explain to Subaru yesterday, is that a lot of Scooby owners spend serious money on their cars.
I've already spent £1,500. With PPP or SS/Link shortly thats another £2k ish, then there will be lights, brakes,suspension, spoiler etc. (when wallet recovers!)

My experience in trying to get the PPP is pushing me down other routes because the customer service and performance gains are better. I've only a short warranty so the PPP does not have that attraction to me like it does for some uk car owners. You could therefore argue that they should be giving me more attention, as I'm more likely to go elsewhere for my business.

Therefore, with the right customer service, IM, Prodrive, the dealer could make far more from me than they would from the sale of the car. Thus far I'm more inclined to use the Scooby specialists who understand their market and what their customers want.

DrEvil

True, but I believe thats kinda the point, the car is built to with stand a lot more BHP/Torque than the standard turbo.

If you think about it the Jap cars (non STi) were running around 260Bhp, with very little difference in running gear and engine.

Think about it, the underlying statement here is, IM/Prodrive feel that the car will not be adversely effected by 1.1 bar turbo preassure, as long as the ECU is mapped appropriately for fueling etc and the hoses are re-enforced to the turbo... How much would a link setup cost when done properly, with a scoobysport mid-section+backbox and new hoses? (yes I know it would give you more flexibility on future power increases).

just another thought... I'm not batting for either side, as I believe its horse for courses, I fancy the link route myself.

Andy Hamp

DrEvil,

The Link/SS option is (i think) less than the PPP option.

My only concern is that there is a degree of hard wiring into the car (this is the recommended BRD way of doing things rather than the PossumLink standard install). If it were just an ECU and custom mapping, i'd go for it in a shot.

Andy

Dave T-S

MY01 Link is £#### inc vat, inc KnockLink, LambdaLink, all fitting and mapping.

**Edited Link price out, because I may have an old price - checking with Bob**

SS full MY01 system inc turbo up-pipe is about £900.

So, it's dearer than the PPP, and you lose your warranty, but get P1+ levels of bhp/torque........

**Andy, can't respond to your email because it has a digital signature**


[This message has been edited by Dave T-S (edited 30 August 2001).]

Nathan L

Dave T-S

Please can you Email me where you got those prices for the link system from.

I was quoted alot more than that

Thanks Nathan..

The Saint

I wonder how Mitsubishi can service and support imports, and make a profit out of it, but IM cannot.

The point is that IM and a shed load of other car franchises are abusing a monopolisic position WRT car supply and servicing in the UK, creaming us with inflated prices. This the case even allowing for tax differentials. Those were the findings of HM government........


The Saint