Sparks

Just wondered what peoples views are on the mileage & service histories on grey imports. From what I've seen no car comes from Japan with any sort of service history (wonder why they don't leave the books in the cars when they are sold ?) - is this correct ?

The people that have bought greys are presumably not worried about this ? Presumably you had a major service ( i.e. all fluids & elt change ) when you bought it ?

Currently wondering if to look for a grey that was bought in new ( hence should have history, and from I've seen tend to ) or not worry and go for a s/h jap car and ensure full service done when bought. Just browsing the net and have seen sti5 typeRs as low as £13k ( done around 42k miles, so 14k a year.. ) but no mention of SH. That was the cheapest I found.

Whilst on the subject do the importers change the odmeter to read the correct mileage or are they left in Kms ?

TIA for any replies.

Butty

iTrader: (2)

Decent grey imports will have the full jap history and auction details etc.
I spent many an hour listening to the excuses why a car was missing its paperwork then walked away.
I know the paperwork can be forged but it helps settle your mind when buying something from the other side of the world.
I bought a Forster STB from Charlesworths near Nottingham. they seemed to have paperwork for all their cars, so they may be a bet, but they are not the only professional outfit out there.

Nick

Dave Thornton

Mine had a full history too. A little tip to verify the true age of a grey import: Look at the white label on the seat belt webbing - it will show the age of the seat belt, which is usually 2 months older than the car. If the label is missing or is too new, walk away, it may have either got doctored paperwork or haves been involved in an accident.