Another year flying by, gave up smoking in Jan to become a fitness freak have to work on this 5.30 a...
Another year flying by, gave up smoking in Jan to become a fitness freak have to work on this 5.30 am gym lark though.
Member since:07.09.2004
Reviews:103
Members who trust:34
Way Way back in 1999 I had the pleasure of owning a Rover 220 GTI. With 75'000 miles on the clock it was starting to rattle a bit so a new car was in order.
At the time I had the cash to hand to buy a car so paid a visit to my local dealer (with the cash). I decided upon a Rover 214 with a set of add on alloys. OK, maybe a bad choice but hey.
On discussion and a flash of the cash he then offered my £750 quid for the car and the new one at just under £10,000 at which point I gave a few choice words and left.
On the way home I passed a car dealer in Beaconsfield (Bucks). They always had car import deals in the window. Having nothing to loose I went in and asked for the same car.
To my surprise I was offered the same car for just under £8500, including fees etc. After a while I realised the sales guy wasn't joking and handed over the cash and promptly spent the change.
Now that's where the party began to go a little sour. At the table I was told that it would take about three and a half weeks to get the car. Not to bad or so I though. On asking further questions I was told that it was a right hand drive UK made car but with German lights and was coming up from middle Germany on a transporter……to this day I will never understand how it was right hand drive with lefty lights. Anyway, turns out it was cheaper to make it here, export it and re-import it again.
So my 3 ½ weeks passed and the day before delivery I got a call saying there was a 2 day delay. Fair enough. Another 2 days passed and I received another call. Oh sorry sir, but the transporter has broken down on the Autobahn it will be another 2 days.
To cut a long story short, the car arrived about a week late but to their credit they delivered it to my work and believe it or not, drove my old car back to my house….no idea why.
Well the car was fantastic and I even got a free set of lefty lights in the boot. There was no real trouble importing the car, the garage was reputable and covered all the transfer and registration paperwork.
The other thing you think about on an import is whether the insurance company will insure an import. At the time I was with Norwich Union and they gave me no troubles at all. Standard car, UK registered, not a problem
So would I import a car again ? Well if the story had ended here hen the answer would have been yes.
However, I would possibly say no. About 6 months later I had sold the car (was to slow) and bought a Renault. I had the Renault in for a service and whilst waiting in reception of the Maidenhead dealer I over heard another customer talking to the sales guy. He was looking at a Laguna and asked sales about the trade in of a used Megane. The sales guy asked about the cars history to which the owner replied it was an import. To my amazement the salesman virtually through the guy out of the showroom saying he would never touch a dodgy import (from Slough trade Sales). I can only assume the Renault dealer was suffering from lack of Sales through cheap cars going out by the dozen down in Slough. Who knows.
So if your thinking of buying an import make sure you ask around before hand. May be worth doing your homework. I never had any trouble passing off the Rover as I sold it back to the garage I bought it from. Whatever the case maybe you'll still get a good cheaper car from Europe but I would always go through a dealer / specialist, easier all round.
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