millband

Just started thinking of replacing my UK MY97 wagon after 4 years. I'm after an unmodified bug-eye WRX wagon to replace it, and I've seen an '01 euro import (arrived in UK via Motorpoint Burnley) which is the spec I'm after and only 14k miles - all for £12.5k

I've not considered an import before, and I was wondering if anyone had an experience with buying second hand now they've been around a couple of years. Anything in particular to look for?

Questions I have so far are -

- anyone know if Robinsons of Rochdale or K T Greens of Leeds will service an import? (I'll ask them on Monday if nobody's tried it)

- what's the going price for an '01 import? I've not seen any others to compare with it, £14 to £15k seems to be right for equivalent UK cars, is £12.5k good or still too much?

- is insurance more expensive/harder to get on euro imports?

- any differences to UK spec I should make a special effort to check for?

Sorry for all the dim questions, but I'm lacking in 1st hand experience!

Cheers,

Steve

Nathan L

Steve

To start you off mate.

A RHD Euro spec MY01, will be exactly the same car as you will buy here, as a UK car. All European cars conform to the same EEC certificate of conformity, issued for cars in the European market. This saves Subaru money as they can produce 1 spec car instead of several different specs.

However ! The alarm system fitted to UK cars is fitted when the car arrives in the country and is a Sigma. Cars from Europe are often fitted with different alarms. When my car landed in this country I had it fitted with a Clifford as this is my personal preference. Euro cars do not come with locking wheel nuts as standard, these are also fitted to UK cars when they arrive here.

Any Official dealer will service a Euro Import, some may not like it but they all can. The service department of Lancasters in Sevenoaks where I used to get my Euro Import serviced were fine about them, however the sales team always used to look at me with daggers.

Insurance on a Euro car SHOULD NOT be anymore money. When the insurance company ask you if it's a UK car tell them yes it is. It is the same spec so therefore is. Just make sure you have a CAT1 alarm fitted to it. I had problems with Admiral insurance when I got my Euro car but after speaking to the insurance ombudsman they confirmed the above.

Cars originally made for markets outside the EEC such as JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) or USDM (United States Domestic Market) are classed as "Grey" Imports and are more to insure and more difficult to get serviced.

Just one word of warning with Motorpoint. Some of their cars are sourced from Non EEC countries so get it in writing where the car came from. Otherwise take the chassis number to a local Subaru dealer and ask them to confirm where the car came from on their computer system.

IF I were you I would keep an eye out on here for an MY01 Import there are some very good specced cars for sale at times an you might pick up a bargain.

Cheers

Nathan..

millband

Thanks for the reply Nathan, thats very useful and sounds pretty reassuring. I was concerned about euro cars having underseal, alloy bonnet etc that UK cars have. Good point about the VIN number, I'd get that anyway to do an HPI check but I'll also check where it was sourced from.

Now you mention about non-EEC imports, I seem to recall some places getting cars from Cyprus or similar.

As far as the price goes, I've seen some UK cars get close, but they tend to be higher miles (Such as Barries which looks nice - http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/threa...hreadID=258325). Even so do you think there should be some room to negotiate down from £12.5k on an import though?

Cheers,

Steve

Nathan L

The best way to get a guide on prices is to trawl the for sale ads on Autotrader or the like. UK cars will cost more than a Euro Import for the first couple of years. As the early Bug-Eye Euro cars only had a one year warranty. However as the cars both approach 3 years old the prices will even out as neither will have a warranty, unless extended by the owner.

I will be looking for about 15k for my '51 plate' 01 WRX Saloon but it's not entirely standard

Yes you are right Cyprus is the country Motorpoint get a lot of their cars from and as far as I know these (even though they are UK spec) are classed as 'Grey Imports'.

BTW My 'Euro' car has an ally bonnet and underseal as you mention above.

millband

Thanks again Nathan. Will ask lots of questions when I see the car!

millband

Seen the car, looks good so far. It has an EU certificate of conformity, but I don't know its country of origin in the EU. Will check with a dealer tomorrow.

Cheers,

Steve

The Mad Doctor

Millband,
I bought a second-hand Scoob in this country from an English seller. He had originally imported his car from Belgium. There were a couple of small things that needed doing under warranty but as the original buyer had not registered his car with Subaru UK, I could not get the things done under warranty. If you but this car, make sure you register it with Subaru UK. This is irrelevant if the car only has a one year warranty as Nathan says but if it has a three year warranty, it might be useful if you need to do things for it next year.

chiark

Nathan's sorted it for you - that's everything. Oh, and you might need a set of locking wheelnuts as EU imports don't come with those

millband

Cheers guys. Now I've seen the car it has -

- 1 year left of 3 year transferable Motorpoint warranty (Motorpoint - so it *could* be from Cyprus?)
- Sigma Cat 1 alarm with cert.
- OEM Subaru stereo
- Tracker Monitor
- locking wheel nuts (important those, otherwise I'd have to spend £10 )
- Rest was to UK spec as far as I could tell

I've heard misgivings about after-market warranties, but the car is already 2 years old so I'm prepared to risk that. Warranty isn't everything and I'll save the price of short engine on the purchase so I'll take the risk (my current UK car had piston slap at 30k fixed under warranty so I know there *is* a risk). I forgot to check for underseal though - do'h.

Looks and drives straight, so after checking with my insurers tomorrow I'm going to make a sensible offer on it.

Cheers,

Steve

MJW

Just check it's not from Cyprus before you part with the cash !
Also if second hand, the *first* owner should have registered it with Subaru UK.

millband

Is being from Cyprus really so bad if everything else is in place??

compshack

No coming from cyprus or malta isn't that bad. After all they are all made in the same factory then shipped to there destination's. I have a sti 8 from motorpoint from new. It's been fine. Had to get the alarm and trakker fitted but it was still cheaper. The down side is if you want to fit PPP you can't, also even though Subaru garages will service your car they don't like to and getting parts can be difficult. Where are you in the pennines. There is a Subaru specilist in Hebden Bridge.

millband

Hi Compshack, I'm actually just round the corner from you - in fact we nearly bought a house in Barrowford when we moved out here! Do you know Dreamweaver? He's another local on the BBS.

I'm going for this car, Cyprus or not. It might be slightly different (somewhere - don't know where. Suspension settings? ECU programming? Underseal?) to a UK car but it's no more a risk than buying a 2nd hand JDM car IMO and plenty on the BBS do that.

Warranty is def. an issue if buying brand new, but frankly not on a 2yo car - most cars only had 1yr warranties when new not so long ago anyway! It's just a case of buyer beware like any second hand private sale, and I'll just have to trust my judgement and live with the consequences.

I've spoken to my insurers (Privilege) and they don't seem to care where its from - the cost is just £8pa more than my '97 car

I suppose servicing *may* be an issue, but I'm sure the dealers will be quite happy to take my money.

By the way, who are the people in Hebden Bridge? I didn't know about them.

Cheers,

Steve

repunzel

Jeremy clakeson'S argument, dutch imports are worth more cos they are probabaly fitted with a better alarm than the (U.K ones sigma m30 COMPLETE GARBAGE) also these cars where built on the same production line, exact same parts.

My opinion U.K dealers are nothing but scum, money grabbing filth