Japanese Import - would you?

[mightychipster]

Hi,

I'm looking for guidance and advice on the availability of Japanese imports on Autotrader.

Looking for my daughter's first car we've been checking out VW Polo 1.2's, Toyota Aygo or Yaris's and notice that there are numerous Japanese imports for sale.

Apart from the obvious not built for the UK market is there any reason why you wouldn't buy one?

MC

P.S. Is there any way to remove imports from Autotraders search results/options?

[Shuff4]

Usually many are looked after better than UK,
But you often see them needing undercoating once arriving in the uk.

Other than the instruments and radio frequencies there’s no real difference to a uk / EU spec.

[andy43]

I had a TVR from Japan - maintenance and the MOT standard there is much better than the west, plus there’s allegedly no salt on the roads - my 1997 chassis was literally perfect.
I wouldn’t discount an import at all - underseal it and you will probably have a better car overall but do check insurance and also check the road tax cost closely - it may well be very different to a UK car of the same age.

[Matt_T]

I've heard before that imports may be more expensive to insure - and the comparison website have a tick-bix for 'import' so they want to capture this. Maybe run some dummy quotes on the same car to see of this is true.

Can anyone comment on if this is the case?

[Terminator X]

Be careful not crash damaged etc as it's hard to check when they have spent most of their life in Japan. I'd ask to see the paperwork from the auction eg when bought and imported to UK.

In the early Noughties I had a Spec C Impreza and ITR imported from Japan.

TX.

[Jader1973]

Shuff4 said:

Other than the instruments and radio frequencies there’s no real difference to a uk / EU spec.

Japanese crash regs are different (not as stringent) so there will be differences you can’t see with a JDM Japanese car.

Personally I wouldn’t touch one unless it was something special with decent aftermarket support.

[vaud]

Matt_T said:

I've heard before that imports may be more expensive to insure - and the comparison website have a tick-bix for 'import' so they want to capture this. Maybe run some dummy quotes on the same car to see of this is true.

Can anyone comment on if this is the case?

https://www.cuvva.com/how-insurance-works/imported...

No obviously the power, etc will be the same, but you may need a specialist insurer.

[andy43]

mightychipster said:

Hi,

Looking for my daughter's first car we've been checking out VW Polo 1.2's, Toyota Aygo or Yaris's and notice that there are numerous Japanese imports for sale.

Do also look at UK market Skoda Citigo/ VW Up/ Seat Mii - we have a 2016 Citigo for two lots of learner duties as it seemed the cheapest small car to insure. Bought in 2020, we still have it, it’s not broken (even the clutch!) and it’s still worth what we paid for it.

[Dapster]

They definitely do salt the highways in Japan



https://www.c-nexco.co.jp/en/special/vehicle/cold/...

[Baldchap]

Jader1973 said:

Personally I wouldn’t touch one unless it was something special with decent aftermarket support.

This is the highlight for me.

Is the car mechanically the same and can you get parts? For a bread and butter car I wouldn't bother with an import unless I was confident the aftermarket support was there.

[LankyFreak]

mightychipster said:

Hi,
Looking for my daughter's first car

Isn't the insurance usually quite high on imports due to parts prices? had that issue when I was looking at a 1.2 Nissan Cube, mechanically a K12 Nissan Micra but about double the insurance premium/

[vaud]

LankyFreak said:

Isn't the insurance usually quite high on imports due to parts prices? had that issue when I was looking at a 1.2 Nissan Cube, mechanically a K12 Nissan Micra but about double the insurance premium/

Per my link, its the uncertainty for the insurer an the difference between an grey import and a parallel import.

[mightychipster]

andy43 said:

Do also look at UK market Skoda Citigo/ VW Up/ Seat Mii - we have a 2016 Citigo for two lots of learner duties as it seemed the cheapest small car to insure. Bought in 2020, we still have it, it’s not broken (even the clutch!) and it’s still worth what we paid for it.

Thank you Andy, we'll take a look at those too

[Joe5y]

As mentioned above, they are often, if not always, more expensive to insure.

I have had 2x Jap imports and with the exception of little quirks such as the dials being different, you wouldn't really know it had been imported. They were both very difficult to sell on however.

[PistonTim]

Not for something generic.

I'd only consider it for something that was super unusual or you couldn't get here.

[Cjr32blue]

Doesn't apply for cars that an equivalent was never sold here but if the same model was, the import should be 15-20% cheaper to allow for the fact that a good chunk of the market is leery of them. The being difficult to sell being evidence of this.

[mightychipster]

Thanks for all the kind advice so far.

I think we'll ignore imports in our search.

P.S. Is there any way to deselect imported cars from Autotrader search?

Edited by mightychipster on Monday 20th January 15:57

[pti]

Baldchap said:

Jader1973 said:

Personally I wouldn’t touch one unless it was something special with decent aftermarket support.

This is the highlight for me.

Is the car mechanically the same and can you get parts? For a bread and butter car I wouldn't bother with an import unless I was confident the aftermarket support was there.

Surely the more mundane the car, the more plentiful the aftermarket support? A Polo is a Polo, after all.

If it's for a new driver, insurance may be the only question mark.

[pti]

Jader1973 said:

Shuff4 said:

Other than the instruments and radio frequencies there’s no real difference to a uk / EU spec.

Japanese crash regs are different (not as stringent) so there will be differences you can’t see with a JDM Japanese car.

Personally I wouldn’t touch one unless it was something special with decent aftermarket support.

While this is true, (for a global vehicle) it generally just means the Japanese regs are a "gimmie" after engineering for EUNCAP and FMVSS / IIHS. The derivatisation you're alluding to would be too costly.

[Brydo]

I viewed a number of MK6 GTI's a few years back and struggled to find a good example for a reasonable price. Ended up importing one myself from Japan and I'd have zero hesitation doing the same again. It was a low mileage minter.

My only issue was that when someone physically inspected the car at the auction house they noted it had service history with paperwork, when I received the car there was nothing there. I had a local VW specialist check it out and carry out the MOT for it's registration and they had nothing but praise for the car and asked for more information.