VW UK selling Malaysian Imports
Discussion
I've been considering a VW CC for a while now, ideally I wanted a 2.0 petrol auto (DSG) and there seems to be hardly any for sale. A few have come up on for sale at independant garages and one particular car at Cargiant was too good to be true for the spec and mileage. It sold within two days, however I have since seen the exact same car for sale again at two different garages within just a couple of months of each other. Lucky escape?
I figured that due to the potential DSG problems, it would be best to buy directly from Volkswagen and have been waiting for a reasonably priced one in a good colour.
All of a sudden, they seem to have plenty of 2016 models in stock with high spec and delivery miles. The majority are all 1.4 TSi and there are a even a few 1.8TSi models. I thought that was odd as the 1.8 was never availaible in th UK. After speaking to a dealer, they confirmed that VW UK have purchased unsold stock from Malaysia and they selling these cars through their DasWelt Auto approved programme. The 1.8 CC's were easy to spot as imports, however they also have Golfs which are sold with the same UK specification. VW Malaysia has not had the best publicity recently.
Just wanted to see what people's thoughts are on these imports, best to stay away? How about the CC, best to avoid a DSG? I really would need an auto so maybe I should consider something else all together?
I figured that due to the potential DSG problems, it would be best to buy directly from Volkswagen and have been waiting for a reasonably priced one in a good colour.
All of a sudden, they seem to have plenty of 2016 models in stock with high spec and delivery miles. The majority are all 1.4 TSi and there are a even a few 1.8TSi models. I thought that was odd as the 1.8 was never availaible in th UK. After speaking to a dealer, they confirmed that VW UK have purchased unsold stock from Malaysia and they selling these cars through their DasWelt Auto approved programme. The 1.8 CC's were easy to spot as imports, however they also have Golfs which are sold with the same UK specification. VW Malaysia has not had the best publicity recently.
Just wanted to see what people's thoughts are on these imports, best to stay away? How about the CC, best to avoid a DSG? I really would need an auto so maybe I should consider something else all together?
I'm surprised they're selling these through the DasWelt Auto program. In the past main dealers haven't dealt with imports and they've only been sold through the likes of Motorpoint etc.
The key questions to ask will be...
- Find out the build date, i.e. has it been sat in a field unregistered for a couple of years? So it might not be a real 2016 car
- What warranty does it have? Non-UK cars tend to just come with 2-years from the factory, so find out whether they're increasing this.
- Do they have all the base items of spec a UK car would? Sometimes imports miss things like an Alarm which then impacts insurance.
Historically these type of cars are worth a bit less as a trade-in initially (i.e. up until the 3-year old point) but after that no one really cares. They tend to be easy to spot as you've highlighted it will be a large batch with identical spec.
EDIT: Think I've found the cars you mean on Autotrader! They all seem to be advertised as Moda which isn't a real trim level either in the UK or Abroad. The CCs look nice but the Golfs are properly weird specs. I.e. this one http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017... has an engine which was only ever offered in GT/ R-Line, no adaptive cruise, no DAB and the MIB 1 Composition Media unit fitted is one they stopped manufacturing back in 2015
The key questions to ask will be...
- Find out the build date, i.e. has it been sat in a field unregistered for a couple of years? So it might not be a real 2016 car
- What warranty does it have? Non-UK cars tend to just come with 2-years from the factory, so find out whether they're increasing this.
- Do they have all the base items of spec a UK car would? Sometimes imports miss things like an Alarm which then impacts insurance.
Historically these type of cars are worth a bit less as a trade-in initially (i.e. up until the 3-year old point) but after that no one really cares. They tend to be easy to spot as you've highlighted it will be a large batch with identical spec.
EDIT: Think I've found the cars you mean on Autotrader! They all seem to be advertised as Moda which isn't a real trim level either in the UK or Abroad. The CCs look nice but the Golfs are properly weird specs. I.e. this one http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017... has an engine which was only ever offered in GT/ R-Line, no adaptive cruise, no DAB and the MIB 1 Composition Media unit fitted is one they stopped manufacturing back in 2015
Edited by va1o on Wednesday 2nd August 18:06
va1o said:
I'm surprised they're selling these through the DasWelt Auto program. In the past main dealers haven't dealt with imports and they've only been sold through the likes of Motorpoint etc.
The key questions to ask will be...
- Find out the build date, i.e. has it been sat in a field unregistered for a couple of years? So it might not be a real 2016 car
- What warranty does it have? Non-UK cars tend to just come with 2-years from the factory, so find out whether they're increasing this.
- Do they have all the base items of spec a UK car would? Sometimes imports miss things like an Alarm which then impacts insurance.
Historically these type of cars are worth a bit less as a trade-in initially (i.e. up until the 3-year old point) but after that no one really cares. They tend to be easy to spot as you've highlighted it will be a large batch with identical spec.
EDIT: Think I've found the cars you mean on Autotrader! They all seem to be advertised as Moda which isn't a real trim level either in the UK or Abroad. The CCs look nice but the Golfs are properly weird specs. I.e. this one http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017... has an engine which was only ever offered in GT/ R-Line, no adaptive cruise, no DAB and the MIB 1 Composition Media unit fitted is one they stopped manufacturing back in 2015
tSi bluemotion? The key questions to ask will be...
- Find out the build date, i.e. has it been sat in a field unregistered for a couple of years? So it might not be a real 2016 car
- What warranty does it have? Non-UK cars tend to just come with 2-years from the factory, so find out whether they're increasing this.
- Do they have all the base items of spec a UK car would? Sometimes imports miss things like an Alarm which then impacts insurance.
Historically these type of cars are worth a bit less as a trade-in initially (i.e. up until the 3-year old point) but after that no one really cares. They tend to be easy to spot as you've highlighted it will be a large batch with identical spec.
EDIT: Think I've found the cars you mean on Autotrader! They all seem to be advertised as Moda which isn't a real trim level either in the UK or Abroad. The CCs look nice but the Golfs are properly weird specs. I.e. this one http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017... has an engine which was only ever offered in GT/ R-Line, no adaptive cruise, no DAB and the MIB 1 Composition Media unit fitted is one they stopped manufacturing back in 2015
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 2nd August 18:06
va1o said:
I
- What warranty does it have? Non-UK cars tend to just come with 2-years from the factory, so find out whether they're increasing this.
Says balance of 3yrs in the ad you linked to so that could only mean less than 18mths left.- What warranty does it have? Non-UK cars tend to just come with 2-years from the factory, so find out whether they're increasing this.
Pity they don't come with the 5yr Malaysian warranty, or the extended DSG warranty offered there (and across the Far East).
va1o said:
I'm surprised they're selling these through the DasWelt Auto program. In the past main dealers haven't dealt with imports and they've only been sold through the likes of Motorpoint etc.
The key questions to ask will be...
- Find out the build date, i.e. has it been sat in a field unregistered for a couple of years? So it might not be a real 2016 car
- What warranty does it have? Non-UK cars tend to just come with 2-years from the factory, so find out whether they're increasing this.
- Do they have all the base items of spec a UK car would? Sometimes imports miss things like an Alarm which then impacts insurance.
Historically these type of cars are worth a bit less as a trade-in initially (i.e. up until the 3-year old point) but after that no one really cares. They tend to be easy to spot as you've highlighted it will be a large batch with identical spec.
EDIT: Think I've found the cars you mean on Autotrader! They all seem to be advertised as Moda which isn't a real trim level either in the UK or Abroad. The CCs look nice but the Golfs are properly weird specs. I.e. this one http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017... has an engine which was only ever offered in GT/ R-Line, no adaptive cruise, no DAB and the MIB 1 Composition Media unit fitted is one they stopped manufacturing back in 2015
Good point about the build date and spec, I actually ran a HPi check on one of the CC's and it shows a first registration date of 1st December. So it's probably been sitting in a compound for at least 8 months and presumably even longer before it came into the country. The key questions to ask will be...
- Find out the build date, i.e. has it been sat in a field unregistered for a couple of years? So it might not be a real 2016 car
- What warranty does it have? Non-UK cars tend to just come with 2-years from the factory, so find out whether they're increasing this.
- Do they have all the base items of spec a UK car would? Sometimes imports miss things like an Alarm which then impacts insurance.
Historically these type of cars are worth a bit less as a trade-in initially (i.e. up until the 3-year old point) but after that no one really cares. They tend to be easy to spot as you've highlighted it will be a large batch with identical spec.
EDIT: Think I've found the cars you mean on Autotrader! They all seem to be advertised as Moda which isn't a real trim level either in the UK or Abroad. The CCs look nice but the Golfs are properly weird specs. I.e. this one http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017... has an engine which was only ever offered in GT/ R-Line, no adaptive cruise, no DAB and the MIB 1 Composition Media unit fitted is one they stopped manufacturing back in 2015
Edited by va1o on Wednesday 2nd August 18:06
In terms of spec, I would have thought that it doesn't have DAB even though it's quoted on the features list. This one did have quite a few rare options however, such as electric memory seats, electric rear blind, panoramic roof, Xenon headlights and camera.
Bizarrely the car was not listed as an import on the HPi check, so what happens in terms of insurance? It's not a grey import as the manufacturer has imported the car and prepared it to be fit for UK requirements. Is it the same as the dealer ordering stock from different factories around the world? The HPi check also showed the spec of the car, although quoted as a1.8 they seemed to have just used the stats from the 1.4.
Baij said:
Bizarrely the car was not listed as an import on the HPi check, so what happens in terms of insurance?
I wonder what happens when the reg is put into online quite systems - or even done manually - seems unlikely they'd have the model listed so getting insurance may prove a bit tricky?You can run VIN check on the car to check when it was manufactured: http://carinfo.kiev.ua/cars/vin/volkswagen
I assume you have VIN from HPI check.
A lot of UK cars have big gap between production date and registration, it's nothing unusual. Just yesterday I checked Audi A8 which was produced in October 2016 but registered on 2017 plate as demo car. I'm sure I've seen cars with 1 year gap as well, when looking to buy one of my cars.
I assume you have VIN from HPI check.
A lot of UK cars have big gap between production date and registration, it's nothing unusual. Just yesterday I checked Audi A8 which was produced in October 2016 but registered on 2017 plate as demo car. I'm sure I've seen cars with 1 year gap as well, when looking to buy one of my cars.
I have an imported Golf from Cyprus and on most systems it doesn't show as an import. On some it does but others it shows as a UK car. It was never registered abroad so is a UK car on the logbook.
However a VIN decoder shows region info in Greek and VW uk honoured the full 3 year UK warranty when it had a few bits done at 2.5 years old
However a VIN decoder shows region info in Greek and VW uk honoured the full 3 year UK warranty when it had a few bits done at 2.5 years old
Sheepshanks said:
Is yours the same trim level and engine size combination as would be available in the UK?
Yes it's a GTD, but it's not got the same equipment level as a UK car. It's missing the MDI and spare wheel, but it came with the storage pack, luxury pack and RCD510 which on UK cars was an optionSteBrown91 said:
Sheepshanks said:
Is yours the same trim level and engine size combination as would be available in the UK?
Yes it's a GTD, If you can get the VIN (e.g. By using http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/emissionsinfo) that will shed some light on the actual age, as the 10th digit will indicate the model year. I've just looked up a Golf Moda which has F as the 10th digit meaning it's a 2015MY. Confusingly VW model years start production generally week 22 the previous year, so it would've been built between May 2014 and May 2015. So could be 3 years old now!
Don't know if someone has access to a system to get actual build date from the VIN? I can for BMW but not VAG.
Also it's a bit weird they all arrived in the UK end of last year to be registered on 66-plates and seem to have been sat (again) since then.
Don't know if someone has access to a system to get actual build date from the VIN? I can for BMW but not VAG.
Also it's a bit weird they all arrived in the UK end of last year to be registered on 66-plates and seem to have been sat (again) since then.
They don't feel cheap enough to me to make up for the uncertainty but they'll probably fly off the shelves - VW dealers used pricing is generally vey high so these cars will look cheap. For everyday use the 1.4ACT and DSG should be a good combination.
The spec in the one linked above was maybe taken from a UK GT model - says it had adaptive cruise and panoramic roof but I'm sure the car pictured doesn't. But then it says manual a/c but it's got climate. It's on 16" alloys too (which again is arguably a good thing) rather than 18's as in the spec.
Be a good car to buy for long-term ownership as it's got a bit less to go wrong!
The spec in the one linked above was maybe taken from a UK GT model - says it had adaptive cruise and panoramic roof but I'm sure the car pictured doesn't. But then it says manual a/c but it's got climate. It's on 16" alloys too (which again is arguably a good thing) rather than 18's as in the spec.
Be a good car to buy for long-term ownership as it's got a bit less to go wrong!
Edited by Sheepshanks on Thursday 3rd August 12:50
Looks like https://www.vindecoderz.com/EN/Volkswagen can provide factory spec for these cars if you enter the VIN from the emissions checker webpage
The Golf I linked to shows as having a few random things including "Tropical zones and high-water country" - probably not ideal in the U.K.
The Golf I linked to shows as having a few random things including "Tropical zones and high-water country" - probably not ideal in the U.K.
If you do a keyword search for moda and filter to vw in auto trader there are also some gtis and Tiguans for sale.
The GTIs have no nav, have a small screen and no LED rear lights but do have leather. They want 24k for them
The tiguans are 66 plates but have the old RCD510 stereo that was phased out late 15. They also have new tyres as you can see the tyre lube still. Definately dodgy and not cheap enough.
Motorpoint had a batch of GTIs last year brand new for Like 21-22k and they were MY16 cars. These Malaysian ones are definitely quite old
The GTIs have no nav, have a small screen and no LED rear lights but do have leather. They want 24k for them
The tiguans are 66 plates but have the old RCD510 stereo that was phased out late 15. They also have new tyres as you can see the tyre lube still. Definately dodgy and not cheap enough.
Motorpoint had a batch of GTIs last year brand new for Like 21-22k and they were MY16 cars. These Malaysian ones are definitely quite old
SteBrown91 said:
I have an imported Golf from Cyprus and on most systems it doesn't show as an import. On some it does but others it shows as a UK car. It was never registered abroad so is a UK car on the logbook.
However a VIN decoder shows region info in Greek and VW uk honoured the full 3 year UK warranty when it had a few bits done at 2.5 years old
Have you declared the car as an import on your insurance? However a VIN decoder shows region info in Greek and VW uk honoured the full 3 year UK warranty when it had a few bits done at 2.5 years old
I put the reg of the (non UK Spec) 1.8 CC on money supermarket for an insurance quote and it found the details just fine, with the correct engine as well. However it then asks to confirm if the car is an import and none of the available options apply eg UK Spec Euro import, Japanese import.
I also called VW customer servics and even the advisor I spoke to was confused.
He confirmed the car was built in Sept 2014, with a model year of 2015, destined for Malaysia, but delivered to UK where it was first registered in Dec 2016
On some pages it had the spec of the 1.4 TSi and then on other pages it mentioned 1.8. He was also unable to send me a confirmation of the standard spec but will be able to send me details of optional extras?!
It might be hard to identify exactly whats missing from car and it has definitely been sitting around for a long time.
A used 2.0TSi DSG 3-4 year old car with 30k miles is around the £15k mark, which was why I thought these imports seemed good value especially if the dealers are willing to negotiate.
Baij said:
He confirmed the car was built in Sept 2014, with a model year of 2015, destined for Malaysia, but delivered to UK where it was first registered in Dec 2016
I suppose they have to keep them somewhere but seems a little odd to ship to the UK to sit here for two years. At least the warranty hasn't been used up - presumably it runs from last Dec.I wouldn't expect a difference but would want reassurance that the cars had been wax injected and undersealed in the normal VW (not very good) way.
Baij said:
On some pages it had the spec of the 1.4 TSi and then on other pages it mentioned 1.8. He was also unable to send me a confirmation of the standard spec but will be able to send me details of optional extras?!
It might be hard to identify exactly whats missing from car and it has definitely been sitting around for a long time.
I guess you just have to make sure it's not missing anything you regard as vital and anything else is a bonus. I was put off ordering a new Ford once as they have quarter model years - ie 2017.25, 2017.5 etc - and the dealer said they didn't know the exact spec until the cars turned up.It might be hard to identify exactly whats missing from car and it has definitely been sitting around for a long time.
Baij said:
A used 2.0TSi DSG 3-4 year old car with 30k miles is around the £15k mark, which was why I thought these imports seemed good value especially if the dealers are willing to negotiate.
My experience of this with an Inchcape branch for a Tiguan a couple of years ago is they won't budge on pricing on used cars. We ended up ordering new - with deposit contribution and discount you had to go back 12mths+ before used was cheaper, and the new one had been upgraded (inc sat nav as standard).Baij said:
Have you declared the car as an import on your insurance?
No as it is to UK specification (ie build/trim level) (as per all EU cars) and was registered and PDId in the UK with a full UK warranty. It is not an import on the v5 and I have never had any issues insuring it as a UK car. It was sold to me from a local used car dealer as a UK car (not sure they knew it was an import as they took it in px). It's only because I did some digging that I found out mine wasn't.
It was also involved in 2 insurance claims (one non fault and one fault) and they have never mentioned it so assume they are happy that it's a UK car on paper
Sheepshanks said:
My experience of this with an Inchcape branch for a Tiguan a couple of years ago is they won't budge on pricing on used cars. We ended up ordering new - with deposit contribution and discount you had to go back 12mths+ before used was cheaper, and the new one had been upgraded (inc sat nav as standard).
I think you are right, I enquired about one car and they were not willing to move at all on price. I also did a google search to find out why these cars have ended up here.
VW Malaysia had set unrealistic targets for its dealers. Many customers also experienced catastrophic faults with major components on newly purchased cars. This included coil packs, but mainly the sensitive DSG gearboxes as they were not suited to heavy traffic and tropical climates.
Initially the situation was badly handled by VW, with lack of service centres and parts availability. This resulted in warranties being extended to 5 years, however via a 3rd party insurer that again handled claims poorly.
This resulted in customers protesting outside VW's HQ! It seems the damage to reputation was quite bad and hence why there were many unsold cars.
Edited by Baij on Saturday 5th August 11:26
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