Ady Booth

Has anybody got any experience with importing impreza's from the likes of Holland and Denmark?
I currently have a MY97 UK car, but noticed earlier today a site which is offering new turbos for £15200 inc VAT.
Is there a catch or should I put my car in next weeks autotrader?

Ady.....:confused

NickP

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ady Booth:
[B]Has anybody got any experience with importing impreza's from the likes of Holland and Denmark?

I'm currently 4 months into a waiting list for a silver MY00 Impreza with aircon, turbo/oil meters and a variety of other options from Holland. Doing the deal with the dealer was very easy. It's a full UK spec car (arguments rage about the underseal, although it's only about 30 quid to get it done again!).

Including the VAT I have to pay it's working out at about £16500 (I locked into the NLG conversion at 3.555). I had to pay a 30% deposit (4000) when I ordered it. (30% of the dealer price, which excludes VAT which you pay later).

The waiting list was no longer than my UK dealer.

The only difference is that there's no alarm. It *is* fitted with the same immobiliser as the UK car. My insurance company doesn't care about the lack of alarm (although others do).

It also only comes with 1 year warranty rather than 3. However, the extra years are available from a number of 3rd parties for a few hundred quid.

Finally, I have to go and get it. The flight to Rotterdam is about 48 quid, and it's 2-300 miles to get it back home. I think I can get cheap Eurotunnel tickets if I travel back at about one in the morning. If not, there are some very cheap Hovercraft tickets.

I reckon I'm saving around 6000 - enough for another 'sensible' car so I don't put too much mileage on the Scooby! (or a serious amount of mods......)

Nick

sickboy

I bought from Belgium and recommend there because of the warranty. Saved £6k.

Do a search on the BBS for imports- there have been loads of threads about this topic.

Good luck

P

Same here - MY00 in Silver with air-con, due in around July for me - can't wait

Ordered mine through Keyring Cars (www.keyring-cars.co.uk) They handle all the paperwork and only charge £150. A lot of people seem to have gone direct to a dealer but heard a few stories of people getting slow or no response so decided that £150 was worth dealing with someone who already has a relationship with the dealer.

I'm paying a similar amount, working on £17k all in including travel etc. Would definately recommend fitting a Cat1 alarm though so allow £500 to cover that as well.

You will see many previous posts debating the pros & cons of importing from Europe - do your research and then decide if it's worth the "risk" I thought so but some don't!

Some dealers do see to have new cars in stock at present for UK list, still comes back to the 6months v's £5/6k debate though

I've not heard about the underseal being an issue - anyone got any more info on that ??

Cheers

Matt

PaulW

Bear in mind that UK dealers will sell stock cars for less than list.

Paul

astronut

Hi Ady,
I ordered a 4DR Impreza Turbo from a dealer in Holland at the end of January. Estimated delivery date is early July. All the dealers I phoned were really helpful and spoke good english.

£15,200 is a bit high at todays exchange rate (£1 = 3.63 NLG)! Phone around a few dealers in Holland and you may be pleasently surprised.

Cheers,
Raj

NickP

[QUOTE]Originally posted by P:

I've not heard about the underseal being an issue - anyone got any more info on that ??

There has been some discussion on a "Importing Scooby" mailing list about whether or not the EU imported cars have the same level of underseal on as the UK cars.

Some people thought that they all left the factory with the same amount, but that IM or the UK dealers added more underseal and could therefore offer a longer corrosion warranty.

Others thought that this was cobblers and they were all the same.

I have no idea which is true, but I do know that people have found bodyshops that will underseal the car for about UKP40. This means that even if the pessimists are right, the saving is still 5960

My dealer didn't have any cars that they could give me immediately. Besides, this way it arrives in summer

Nick

Jonathan

Surely people ordering now in March with a six month lead time will be getting their cars Aug/Sep and November see the new Scooby ?. Two months and then your in the old shape. Can you order now and specify MY01 ?

Jonathan

Geezer

Ady,
If you seriously want to import one, make sure you get a forward exchange contract, or open an account in the currency you want at your bank. Most high street banks will do this for you. The cost of a standard spec turbo from Holland is £11804 (obviously you have to pay VAT @17.5% at port of entry) and dropping, but sterling is unlikely to stay this strong for long.

Also remember that even if you do get all your cash converted now, VAT will be charged on the exchange of the day you import it, so that could be a stinger if sterling collapses.

Hope this helps

NickP

I'm sure I've read somewhere that if you can prove the exchange rate you used to buy the car then you pay VAT based on that.

e.g. I exchanged 4000 at 3.45 NLG, and have a forward contract for the rest at 3.555.

This may mean that I can 'choose' whether to 'lose' this documentation and pay the VAT based on the spot-rate on the day I register it, or pay based on this documentation.

I'll let you know.....

Nick