Dealer mis-sold car - not told it was an import

[motco]

TooMany2cvs said:

motco said:

A mate of mine bought a car new from the Trade Sales Centre on the Bath Road in Slough. It came through Malta I seem to recall. No problems at all and was treated by everyone as if it was a UK bought car. Their entire business was predicated upon these imports. What's the problem?

A lot of new cars come with <say> two year manufacturer warranty, which an EU-supplied, EU-spec grey import would get, then a third year importer-backed warranty, which a grey wouldn't get. In addition, any warranty-borders goodwill from the UK importer would be very unlikely. But once the warranty's history? None.

A non-EU spec import, though, might have parts supply problems and delays, which could well add to an insurer's costs in the event of a claim. So, to simplify matters, insurers tend to ask if it's an import. That question can be answered by a quick glance at the V5C. Where it was imported from, or to what market's spec it was built? Not so simple.

Also, an import may well have history that won't show up on an HPI - write-off, f'rinstance. Even if it was originally UK-supplied, if it's been exported and re-imported, it might well lose that history.

Because of those risks, buyers will tend to prefer cars that were first registered in the UK, so used values are slightly lower.

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Thursday 5th March 16:33

Fairy nuff!

[Yarders91]

Final update:

Dealer offerred him £5500 for it. Asked him if he was going to persue it in court but has decided he hasnt got time to do it so will just chalk it up to experience and sell it private. Has had more than a few decent offers too which is good for him

[pork911]

Yarders91 said:

Final update:

Dealer offerred him £5500 for it. Asked him if he was going to persue it in court but has decided he hasnt got time to do it so will just chalk it up to experience and sell it private. Has had more than a few decent offers too which is good for him

decent offers against non-import value having disclosed it was an import?

[Yarders91]

Yep. Looks like hell be taking a bit of a hit but nowhere near as bad as he thought.

[mannyo]

My current Audi is an import, the PDI was carried out by Continental Motors in Malta. The full HPI check makes no mention of the car being an import, neither does the V5C.

The car is full UK spec with a lot of extras, even the car data codes has one that states for the UK market. The car has only ever been registered in the UK, and the V5 makes no mention of the car being an import and last year I had no problem getting UK recall work completed. Apart from the stamp in the service book you would have no idea my current car is from Malta.

It was quiet common 10 years ago for cars to be purchased abroad due to the favourable euro to £ exchange rate, and the savings on executive cars were huge.

[mph1977]

Jobbo said:

TooMany2cvs said:

If it was first registered somewhere other than the UK, the V5C will have two dates on it - first registered, first registered in UK - and will say "Was previously registered and/or used outside UK. Declared manufactured <year>" or similar on the front page.

My 5-series has the import wording and 'declared manufactured 2012' on the V5. It was originally registered by BMW's distribution centre in Thorne, Yorkshire (hence a Y-prefix, 12 plate) and subsequently sold to a chap in Northern Ireland. I bought it in Belfast. Somebody at some point erroneously ticked the 'imported' box when it changed ownership, so despite it being on its original 12 plate it states it's an import. Since I can prove it isn't, I don't really care.

as has been pointed DVLNI isn't full integrated with DVLA - did it go on to NI plates at any point as well ? ( although that is less of issue now that GA et al are legitimate politicians in a legitimate political party ! )

[Red Devil]

TooMany2cvs said:

If it was first registered somewhere other than the UK, the V5C will have two dates on it - first registered, first registered in UK - and will say "Was previously registered and/or used outside UK. Declared manufactured <year>" or similar on the front page.

Near enough spot on. My 'grey' import.

V5C Page 1 Section 3 Special notes (these notes cannot be removed)
1. Was registered/used overseas Declared Manufactured 1996.

V5C Page 2 Section 4
B Date of first registration 01 08 1996
(B.1) Date of first registration in the UK 02 04 2007

No indication of where it came from.

mph1977 said:

as has been pointed DVLNI isn't full integrated with DVLA - did it go on to NI plates at any point as well ? ( although that is less of issue now that GA et al are legitimate politicians in a legitimate political party ! )

As has also been pointed out above (by Jobbo) this is incorrect.
DVA Coleraine's vehicle registration and taxing is no more. As dead as John Cleese's parrot.

Its function was taken over completely by DVLA Swansea in July last year - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-2798...

As with any change of system with which those Welsh wizards are involved the result was inevitable: a shambles.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-2876...

[SteBrown91]

My golf is a motor point import special. Only issue I had insuring it was with the dealers 7 day cover, otherwise its been fine. (I didn't buy it new)

Rang vw at 2.5 years old to get the noisy fan motor looked at, and it wouldn't show on their dealer database but was in the central vw database. The service lady asked if the car was an import (I played dumb and said I didnt think so) to which she said oh well its an EU car so makes little difference.

In the early 2000s cars (premium cars especially) were ripe for being ordered in UK spec from Belgium dealers or being imported via republic of Ireland.

I wouldn't worry about it