HPI and Insurance (Car initially imported from IOM)

[jelluzz]

Afternoon all!

Couple of questions with regards to a car my partner is bugging me about and couldn't find anything relevant with some searching...

Saw a car for sale on PH for SWMBO, spoke to dealership and car seems spot on... happy days. Asked about service history, dealer said the car was originally located in the Isle of Man as well as confirming F Main Dealer SH etc. etc. etc... happier days

Passed the vehicle reg. to SWMBO who works as part of the motor trade (accounts not sales) as she gets everything she has interest in HPI'd.

Now...

She calls me back and says the HPI check is incomplete as the car was originally registered the Isle of Man so gives an incorrect valuation and also that she would have to insure the car as an import due to the fact its from Isle of Man and also that the price the dealership is charging (which is fair for an original UK car is too high as the car is classed as an import...)

Is this entirely true? I know from Jap imports etc. the need to declare the car as an import but I did not think that the value and the insurance would be an issue for a car from the IoM!!

Just incase anyone asks:

Car already has a UK reg (59-plate) with a build date of the end of 2009 based on a VIN decode, was imported to the UK in around 2012/2013.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

[jelluzz]

mgv8 said:

We are all part of the thing called the EU so makes no odds. Only if it was left hand drive would there be a problem.

Interesting, that's what I believed but she seems adamant that it is a problem.

Thanks for the info so far.

[jelluzz]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Is it not reasonable to think that a manufacturer might spec two identically named models differently depending on the market they were destined for, say Portugal and Finland. Isn't the Finnish insurer entitled to know that the car they are insuring isn't the one built for Finland, but for Portugal. And charge accordingly.

The Portugal model might come with climate control, that they left off the Finland car in favour of some fancy anti skid system.

I see what you mean, had a look through at the spec sheet using a VIN decoder and the car is UK spec. Sorry, should have made that clearer in the first post.