Tuts

Hi all.
New member here after some advice. Will be trading up to a wrx in the next month. I was going to get either a euro import from motorpoint or a nearly new from out of the trader. I have now seen the new shape impreza for £16k OTR (euro import). Cant make my mind up!

Does anyone have any comments on servicing or insurance as I think I might get more hassle with not having a type uk. My local dealer (Preston) pulled a face when i memtioned imports! Do they have to honour the warrenty etc if it european?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

The warranty is pan european, so yes it will be honoured, as for servicing, to retain that warranty, depending on where the car came from, you need to keep to that countries schedule, so if its 5k, it needs servicing every 5k.

Tony

Tuts

Thanks for the quick reply. I thought that was the case but I've heard of dealers not being willing to service imports. Am I better with a dealer or a subaru specialist?

john banks

It is my understanding that they have to service a Euro import under various boring regulations that you can look up. I never had any trouble with my Euro import whilst it was in the dealer service setup until I took the service to independents and modded it to hell I never made a warranty claim which may be a little more hassle.

I paid £17.5k in 2000 and have probably lost £11-12k of that in five years. If I'd paid £22k with the same spec I don't think the car would now be worth any different and would have lost £15.5-16.5k.

If I get a MY06 STI I can't see it being anything other than a Euro or JDM import unless a broker can do a UK supplied car for similar money.

Just be 100% certain you get UK spec, that it is from the EU, there were issues with Cyprus cars which could be trickier to insure/service etc. Additionally you'll probably need to add Cat 1 alarm and locking wheelnuts to meet UK spec. Can't remember if the present WRX comes with a tracker as well, so factor that in as well.

Watch who you give a deposit to for a Euro import some dealers are dodgy, one lost my car! Motorpoint should be OK (triple check the source of the import and get it in writing), allbrandsnew are quoting as well. Litchfield are renowned for quality of service as well.

Tuts

Thanks for the info john. It was allbrandsnew where i saw it. Havent asked litchfieds for a price yet. The wrx doesnt have a tracker fitted so i will need to get that sorted. Still not sure about the shape of the my06 but I probably just need to get used to it! Hopefully the price of this will hold better. If I bought an 05 I'd probably lose a lot in the next year or two.

DPat

The Cyprus issue dates from the time when they were not part of the EU so the warrantee was not valid. This is no longer the case

You have no obligation to use franchised dealers as EU law has made that very clear to them, as TonyBurns says 'just ensure you follow the required service schedule' - then you'll be alright

Tuts

cheers guys