flynnstudio

I have mixed feelings about imports - yes they represent great value for money (and as we know are the same basically) but I know from personal experience that UK dealers can not buy the cars from the UK importer at anything like the money the independants can import them from..why is this ?

So the question is

1) Is this just a natural evolution of car buying and traditional dealers need to 'catch up and play the new game'. Should the main Importers give the uk dealers a more competitive deal so they can compete ?

or

2) Is it a 'short term' trend which will eventually see those import companies go bust whilst taking a number of UK dealers who can't compete with them and if this happens will we find our brand marginalised and difficult to support ?

or

3) Is the market big enough to cater for both and things will just sort themselves out with a mixture of all of the above ?

If the main dealer networks go under because of the imports will we find the indies importing parts and supporting them like traditional dealers do ?

This isn't just subaru either - all dealers seem to be facing this same new phenomenon...

Is importing the new future of car buying ?

Paul3446

Personally I'm sick of dealer prices, so I couldn't care less!

HOWY

Yes, one only has to look at the way people buy other products to see that there will have to be changes in the car industry if some dealers/ manufactureres want to survive. Globalisation and the Internet etc means people have the oportunity to source bargains from whereever so eventually this will filter into the car market. I would certainly like to see the justification for why subaru are charging UK buyers 4-5K more per car than you pay if you purchase a Euro import (and the importers are still malking a profit). The only justification I have heard (from a salesman who works for a Subaru& Mitsubishi dealer) is that they have high costs to set up franchises.

Interestingly this used to be the situation a few years ago in the retail computing sector now we have a number of low cost distributors who employ the pile em high stack em cheap mentality and it works in the main so I think the Euro importers should be seen in this light. The only real issue will be the quality of pre and after sales service, as at present some of the importers don't offer test drives or provide servicing. So I expect that other independent agents will start to do the servicing of various makes to fill th e gap. If I understand things correctly EU legislation now prevents certain protective practices which will weaken the control of main dealers anyway so I expect when more people wise up and buy imports it will speed up the change and hopefully we can all benefit from cheaper cars.

Paul3446

Where do you stand on insurance if you buy a European import, do you have to declare it and if so, do they bump up the premium?

HOWY

You should declare it but as most are to UK spec (when you fit a cat 1 alarm)you shouldn't have a problem. I didn't with Privilege Insurance.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

It's not that good check out the Motorpoint Fiasco still going on on here!

gubby

You're behind the times m8.

It's sorted

sgcooby

How did it pan out in the end? Are the warranties going to be upheld for the imports?? Hope so as i really considered an import but bottled it and bought 2nd hand instead. If things are looking up i would consider an import next time.

DonnieDarko

^^ yep, its as it should be. 3 year pan european , only difference is slight variation in mileage between services. oh and no PPP

gubby

As you know IM spat the dummy out in October last and said they were not honouring any warranty work on cars purchased from "unauthorised sources" over the previous 12 months.

Just before Christmas they relented and stated that they would now authorise warranty work on Parallell imports purchased through supermarkets etc.

As to why they went through all this aggravation and then caved in. Who knows? It did them no good whatsoever though.

Motorpoint are still flogging them but I don't know if they are offering a Subaru warranty.

Lichfields seem to be the best bet.

HOWY

And Alliance

Lichfields seem to be the best bet.[/quote]

RJL_WRX05

If you pay 15k for a brand new import will it be worth the same as a brand new "UK Dealer" car in say 3 yrs? I am just curious, what are your views? I reckon it would be worth less.

53

iTrader: (41)

Only worth what someone will pay for it, and if they know you got it cheaper they will be reluctant to pay similar money over a full UK one.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

why not ??? it cant be worth £4k less so whats the problem. i think if you have bought an import and have saved a few £££££'s at 1st, you can afford to sell it cheaper than a UK model and not care!!

Scratch

iTrader: (1)

Speaking to a guy recently who said he had managed after about 7-8 months of argueing with IM (IIRC), to get them to accept a full warranty endorsement on his JDM Spec C import

He argued that they were the sole representatives of Fuji Heavy Industries and he had documentation that Fuji heavy Industries gave him a warranty with his car........... (or something like that)

Maybe time to start beating IM at their own game then ? and get them to start bring the JDM models in alongside the UK ones.

Although I guess that would mean no one would buy a UK model ? After all who wants less power and less toys for more money

RJL_WRX05

I agree mate but lets say you can do a deal on a brand new WRX 05 for 18.5K (maybe even 18k)and you can get an import for 15k (+say 500 for alarm etc) that means there is 2.5k-3k difference. When it comes to selling up I wouldn't have thought there is that much in it really? Is it worth it for potential hassle re warrantiy issues? I guess I just dont like the idea of an imported car, I once looked at importing a VW but there were issues surrounding the warranty i.e. only got 2 yrs and the dealers were trying to get out of doing warranty work. There are some really bad stories on here thats all, but I gather these are now sorted. Am I just scared of imports for no reason??

flynnstudio

The problem you may have when coming to sell your import as a trade in is that the dealer will know because it's registered as such on the DVLA when they do a car lookup on it ( probably on the v5 as well I imagine) ...so when they call someone in the trade to underwrite the PX they adjust accordingly (and more than likely unfairly) and your cap/black book values are no longer the only factor you can depend on ( even though they are a joke anyway)...

You can certainly get a MY05 registered in 06 for £18K from a main dealer though...£500 for a thatch class 1 alarm, £200 for professional underseal, £150 on your insurance a year and your probably looking at a grand when it comes down to it...
The problem may indeed be one of ignorance but you can't depend on that - I know for a fact that main dealers simply don't have the skills or ability to work on imports that are in *any* way different from the UK spec because they have japanese writing all over them and the 'tech manual' is just no go..

Do finance companies have any problems with imports ? ie do you get the same rates/competitive rates - I don't know - but if not even if just by a .5 % difference and that can seriously kick the crap out of any savings...
What I have noticed is that on motorpoint and others the scooby saving appears to be much greater than any other car...

Matt03WRX

Just adding my thoughts on this. I bought a 2003 WRX from a Dutch dealer when the blobeye model was first released. At that time it was £21k for a UK bug eye or £15k delivered for a parallel blobeye. I did the sensible thing and imported. Six month wait was a bit of a bind but the car duly arrived on time and to uk spec.

A few quick phone calls and letters, thanks to various people on here and the car was registered with IM UK for cross border warranty purposes. Although I have not yet had to claim under warranty I am certain that this would not be a problem as many other buyers had recommended the Dutch dealer concerned.

Fast forward three years, during which the car has been serviced by my local dealer (CVC Cardiff) and insured without problem, and it comes to trade in time. I know from friends in the motor industry that the CAP value of a UK WRX with my mileage is around £9 to £10k, slightly higher for a private sale. Took a new 2.5 out for a test drive recently and was surprised to be offered £10k part ex value by CVC, and I told them that it was an import. Don't know what dealers are offering on UK cars but I doubt its much more than that, therefore £5k saving at the start has not been lost as a result of lower trade in value. CVC even suggested that a difference of around 10% would be normal if the car was imported (parallel rather than grey).

It is still in my interests financially to sell privately (£10k should be easy) then buy another import. I would personally go with someone like Litchfields as I think the cars are ordered when you buy, rather than sitting on a forecourt somewhere. The PPP issue was and seems to remain a pain but the Dutch dealer was willing for me to do it if I went to him for the work.

I'm sure there are plenty of horror stories out there but importing worked for me and I would'nt hesitate to go for it again. Looking at nearly new STI PPPs now though as I fancy something a bit meatier.

Hope this helps someone.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like a result! Maybe I should look into that, I don't even know how long the FHI warranty is supposed to last. Can't see it being economical to ship my car back to Japan for anything less than a complete new engine and transmission somehow...

flynnstudio

That's good info matt...shows there is a lot of disinfo and confusion around..