Am going to view a car Saturday which seems up for a good price.

It's done under 10k and they mostly sell prestige motors. He tells me it's a parallel import from Cyprus .... ordered by Subaru UK for a customer.

WTF does that mean

If I buy it will my resale value be dropping like a stone ???

Cheers

 

Subaru UK would not Import from Cyprus .... they buy from Japan, so thats just bollox sales speak. AFAIK.

It's a Cyprus Import and (generally) worth less than a UK car supplied by a Subaru Main Dealer.

But cars should be bought on condition, history, service record, mileage, number of owners and price. The Import factor plays a part, how big a part only you can answer.

 

If it has not been "Imported" for a specific customer then Subaru (IM) UK are not held to the Warranty either (if the car is less than three years old).

Agree with Pete on the condition etc (shocking I know).

 

Well, i have a cypriot WRX and can confirm that it's exactly the same as a UK spec. I paid £14.5k, saving several thousand over buying from a UK dealer. Warranty didn't bother me at all as I planned to spend the "saved" money on mods.

The cypriot imports only come with CAT2 alarm and came without side airbags. They were an option however and mine was specced with them.

Several importers have a good raport with Sub UK and can "sort" the warranty out. However some dealers claim not to acknowledge it. No experience with that so can't comment.

 

Can't see Subaru UK ordering a car for a customer from Cyprus - they have enough trouble selling the ones they import direct!

Check the car has been registered with Subaru UK which will mean it has the balance of the 3 year warranty.

Alarm and Tracker are added by Subaru UK so the car you are looking at may not have them.

 

He did say the Subaru will honour the warranty (but I'll be checking this first) as far as I can see there is no tracker (although an alarm is fitted).

"But cars should be bought on condition, history, service record, mileage, number of owners and price. The Import factor plays a part, how big a part only you can answer."

Totally agree - hence the price depreciation question

Condition looks perfect no bumps or scuffs anywhere but then at less than 10k miles so it bloody should be really !!

Needs to be a bit cheaper me thinks ... insurance will also be affected I'm guessing ?!!?!?!?

 

If getting from a Subaru Dealer then they should at least give you 12months full Subaru proven warranty but could end up a Warranty insurance scheme.

As said above "Normally" CAT 2 Alarm only most insurers require at least CAT 1 alarm on a Scooby and some want tracker

check if the sytem has been updated to a CAT 1 as previous owner would have simular issues

propably with the low security

maybe cheaper EU/UK deals about

IMHO


Tony

 

A few people seem to be forgetting that Cyprus is now in the EU and therefore under EU law Subaru UK must honour the warranty. Given Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004 any car purchased before they joined would be well out of warranty anyway by now.

Regarding value, my experience of actually selling a 6 month and 12 month old EU import Sti is that it makes very little difference - either private or at a dealer it's £500 or so. No harm in letting the seller think you are afraid of higher depreciation on an import though and remember that car should have cost around £22K new not the £27K of a UK supplied car.

 

Nowt wrong with the Cyprus/Maltese imports. Check it is registered with IM, for the warranty -- which will not be a problem at any dealers either.

 

To add, there are things missing from the EU import cars. Mats, Alarm, Locking wheel nuts. Plenty of threads to search for on EU imports vs UK cars.

Those kinda things. Easily added. Plus there's increased warranty on certain parts for an EU car.

 

Im not sure but arent uk cars undersealed due to salt on our roads and imports not?


Thats what i've always been lead to believe anyway

 

actually subaru uk did buy about a dozen or so cars from malta/cyprus as an exercise for them to compare costs and they were specced out exactly to the same spec as a uk car at the docs so they had the sigma alarm and locking wheel nuts etc etc and they do honour the warranty on these funny exercise cars as well as we have just had one in at work for warranty purposes.

 

A Jap import will not have underseal, however an EU import will be undersealed, I know as I have one. You will not get side airbags unless they were fitted as an option. I didn't want them anyway as the seats are better without. You will not get a tracker or alarm unless they have been fitted after sale nor will you get the 3 years Subaru assist. Thats it, apart from these small details they are identical to uk cars only you save around 5.5k over uk list.

HTH


Chris.

 

As other responses I doubt that Subaru UK had anything to do with this car coming into UK.

Looks like its value has already dropped like a stone so someone else has taken the hit.

But definitely need to check that mechanical and rustproof servicing has been done and service book all up to date to maintain the warranty depending on the car's age.

If from Cyprus, then the warranty would be given by Subaru Cyprus so Subaru UK only acts as middleman - Subaru UK have to liaise with Subaru Cyprus to get the go-ahead for any warranty work so it's important that servicing records are up to date as Subaru UK are not going to bust a gut to help you!

Subaru cars supplied by officially appointed european dealer network come with 3 yr pan european warranty. Subaru UK previously tried to argue that EU legislation excused them from handling warranty work on EU imports but Subaru Europe instructed Subaru UK to get into line as the pan european warranty put Subaru Europe under an obligation to customers which was being blocked by Subaru UK! After all, if you took your Subaru UK supplied car to France on holiday, you would quite rightly expect Subaru France to carry out any warranty work if it were required ! So why should Subaru UK try and conjure up some half-baked scheme to try and excuse themselves !

Note that the warranty was 3yr pan european so it didn't matter if Cyprus was / wasn't in the EU when the car was supplied. Things have changed now as per post from blue dragoon.

Cars do come supplied with underseal contrary to some myths - however I understand that Subaru UK put some extra underseal on UK cars before they are delivered to dealers. I've never understood why they do this since UK isn't the only place in europe where salt is used on the roads eg Norway, parts of which are affected by coastal salt laden air. However it does give Subaru UK dealers a monopoly on frequent retreatment in order to keep the warranty alive - also helps to make Subarus one of the most expensive cars to keep on the road when compared with others in the same peer group.

My impreza came via Malta and comes with 12 yr anti perforation body waranty - I think UK are limited to 6 years even with all that extra retreatment work which Subaru UK demand !

As regards insurance just bring it up to same spec as UK cars as regards tracker and alarm locking w/nuts and what you pay should be no different from a car coming thro Subaru UK.

 

Thanks guys for all your help...

I'm off saturday to buy and have seen another (and negotiated same money) which is a UK car so will go for this (providing everything else stacks up) if not thanks for your advice and I'll expect them to fit (or discount) tracker and cat 1 alarm.

thanks again !!!!!

 

hi i bought a clio 182 import almost and regrettedly didnt buy a wrx but was told uk subaru dealers are reluctant to do warranty work however some will!
no difference to a car bought in the uk if it is the same spec just cheaper to buy so cheaper when it comes to selling time i sold mine to a dealer and had no problems.

since had 3 wrx's really wish i bought the 1st 1!!