JAPANESE IMPORT MERCEDES CARS

[MRPULLHARD]

Noticed only a few places in uk seem to be dealing in these - 190s, w124,w123 ,r129, G wagons etc. the vehicles seem to be low mileage , rust free, mint condition and good value.

I am surprised to see the established uk specialists in older low mileage Mercs. are avoiding Jap. cars altogether , assume they will claim that the cars don't have traceable histories like uk cars .

However its more likely that they have created a niche and control the market and prices, some of their prices are off the wall ( particularly a specialist in Hampshire) and if they started dealing in jap. imports they couldn't charge as much and would make the uk cars look even more overpriced.

I think a jap. car with a service history in Japanese is worth the risk over an overpriced higher mileage uk car.

[MX-5 Lazza]

The Japanese version of the MoT is a lot stricter than in UK and it makes it hard for them to keep older cars on the road. They do usually come with history but this will be in Japanese and it's hard for us in UK to verify it. JDM cars are usually much cleaner though, especially in terms of rust (they don't salt the roads in Japan) and usually higher spec (AC is common for example).

I'm talking from a Mazda MX5 (JDM Eunos/Mazda Roadster) point of view but I'm sure most of that must apply to other makes. It has certainly driven down prices of all MX5s/Roadsters in UK, partly just because of the flood of imports meaning availability is high but also because the quality & spec of fresh imports is generally higher than UK cars or JDM imports that have been here a number of years.

[Gerradi]

Will this make it a 'Grey import' ?
I know I had a soarer TT & it was a great car in really great condition but I had to pay quite high insurance due to it being a Grey import, one of the things I like about my car is the cheap insurance that Mercs I have owned seem to have. Also I had to have the car undersealed properly as has been said they do not salt the roads in Japan so they will rust over here without it, some of the older UK Mercs are bad enough as it is!

[MX-5 Lazza]

That would make it a grey import. I don't know if it's the same for all makes but with MX5s, most insurance companies don't charge any extra for JDM imports. Some still do though so it pays to shop around.
Like I say, I have no idea if this applies to Mercs.

[jke11y]

I had a Japanese import 2001 G500 and the condition of it was incredible - I also had no issues insuring it, it made no difference. Planning on getting another but RHD from Japan but they are rarer.

[evojam]

Look underneath a 25 year old classic Mercedes-Benz that's spent all it's life on salt free Japanese roads and then look underneath a UK car that's had 25 years worth of salt attacking it and your decision will be made in seconds!! service historys worth diddly squat if the dam thing's rotting away

[andy43]

My 1997 TVR Griffith was in Japan from new until last year - chassis is very very clean.
I've seen pics of Japanese w124 arches and suspension and they really are in a different league to the uk stuff.