993 Import Market
Discussion
Afternoon all,
I run a small business importing rare European performance cars mainly from Japan, and I was wondering what your opinion would be regarding the market for 993's from over there?
For example, today I could buy a 1995 LHD C2 in grey with black leather, manual box and completely standard. It was supplied new in Japan and has done 18k miles with full history (albeit in Japanese). Assuming that its in excellent condition and needing no work, what do you think I could ask for such a car?
Would the fact its from Japan put anyone off?
Cheers,
Bryn.
I run a small business importing rare European performance cars mainly from Japan, and I was wondering what your opinion would be regarding the market for 993's from over there?
For example, today I could buy a 1995 LHD C2 in grey with black leather, manual box and completely standard. It was supplied new in Japan and has done 18k miles with full history (albeit in Japanese). Assuming that its in excellent condition and needing no work, what do you think I could ask for such a car?
Would the fact its from Japan put anyone off?
Cheers,
Bryn.
When buying European cars the Japanese prefer them to be LHD as its seen as more exotic over there.
Odd, but it kind of makes sense if you think about the reaction you get to driving a LHD car in the UK.
In my 3 years of buying cars from over there I have seen less than 10 RHD Porsches out of literally thousands!
Cheers,
Bryn.
Odd, but it kind of makes sense if you think about the reaction you get to driving a LHD car in the UK.
In my 3 years of buying cars from over there I have seen less than 10 RHD Porsches out of literally thousands!
Cheers,
Bryn.
bryn_p said:
When buying European cars the Japanese prefer them to be LHD as its seen as more exotic over there.
Odd, but it kind of makes sense if you think about the reaction you get to driving a LHD car in the UK.
In my 3 years of buying cars from over there I have seen less than 10 RHD Porsches out of literally thousands!
Cheers,
Bryn.
Tis true. Premium imports are almost always specified as LHD in Japan. Odd, but it kind of makes sense if you think about the reaction you get to driving a LHD car in the UK.
In my 3 years of buying cars from over there I have seen less than 10 RHD Porsches out of literally thousands!
Cheers,
Bryn.
pp
Well to answer the OPs original question - all IMHO of course - I'd be happy but would expect to pay the same as for any other LHD car in the UK (normally plenty in the classifieds to use as a price guage). I'm presuming that anything that needs to be done WRT making it legal for our roads would be done so no different to buying a LHD car that's spent it's previous life in Germany.
Not sure what the price difference is for LHD for comparable cars.... 15% maybe?
Not sure what the price difference is for LHD for comparable cars.... 15% maybe?
I never came across this when I lived in Tokyo, had three BMW coupes all specced as RHD - admittedly they weren't very exotic though..
Edited to add:
Oh and I honestly wasn't trying to make him sound like a fraud, was just genuinely puzzled
Edited to add:
Oh and I honestly wasn't trying to make him sound like a fraud, was just genuinely puzzled
Edited by Dreammeister on Thursday 19th July 15:50
In true hijacking the thread style can I ask you another question. When importing the cars from Europe or Japan are you then able to get the VAT originally paid in those countries back or do you get a VAT credit in this country. Otherwise it just seems that you loose too much by paying VAT twice.
I imported my 997tt LHD from Denmark in October and paid 17% VAT. The dealer has now called offering a part exchange for a new 997tt cab that I have ordered for Sep delivery but does this make sense in terms of the VAT already paid (and lost). ?
I imported my 997tt LHD from Denmark in October and paid 17% VAT. The dealer has now called offering a part exchange for a new 997tt cab that I have ordered for Sep delivery but does this make sense in terms of the VAT already paid (and lost). ?
Well when importing from Japan you pay 17.5% VAT on the total cost of the car including shipping based on the monthly exchange rate. As a dealer I can claim the VAT back but then must pay it on the full sale price of the vehicle. So I have to make sure that I'm paying the right price for cars over there!
Europe I believe is different (is Denmark in Europe actually??), but I'm afraid that I don't know the details having only exported cars over there.
Regarding the original post, there are a lot of very high quality, very low mileage 993's over there which may be of interest to the UK market. I think expecting the same as a LHD car from another country is reasonable, although often the cars from Japan are like new. For example, I imported a 1995 Integrale Evo 2 last month with 185k km on the clock, but one owner from new in Japan and its incredible. The local Italian specialist could not believe the mileage and said it was like a new car underneath.
I am going to look further in to importing 993's and possibly 3.2 Carreras as there are some very very nice ones over there.
Cheers,
Bryn.
Europe I believe is different (is Denmark in Europe actually??), but I'm afraid that I don't know the details having only exported cars over there.
Regarding the original post, there are a lot of very high quality, very low mileage 993's over there which may be of interest to the UK market. I think expecting the same as a LHD car from another country is reasonable, although often the cars from Japan are like new. For example, I imported a 1995 Integrale Evo 2 last month with 185k km on the clock, but one owner from new in Japan and its incredible. The local Italian specialist could not believe the mileage and said it was like a new car underneath.
I am going to look further in to importing 993's and possibly 3.2 Carreras as there are some very very nice ones over there.
Cheers,
Bryn.
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