June 15, 2010

Filed under: Buying Advice — Tags: new car import, New Car Imports — admin @ 2:28 pm

Many new cars were imported into the UK up-to around 2003, when the exchange rate against the Euro made importing new cars less favourable.

There are still however a number of car supermarkets and new car importers who are still selling these cars and trying to pass them off as “UK Cars”.

Some of the recent tricks we have been made aware of are dealers simply calling a new car “UK Spec” and “they are built in the UK”. Now both of these could be true for certain makes such as Honda, Land Rover and Mini as these are build in the UK and exported to the European dealer then re imported back into the UK.

To clarify if a car is a true “Uk Car”, always ask if it is a “UK Supplied car” from a “Uk main franchised dealer”. This is how all of AutoeBid.com cars are supplied and many at lower costs then imports in the first place.

Buying a new car that has been imported within the European Union and is recognised as a “Parallel Import” is ok as long as the car has been ordered to the exact same stand level of specification as the cars in the UK. Every country around the world has new cars built to a different stand specifications and this is where the fun starts… So when you get the car you will then need to check every item (this is not always possible with components such as A.B.S) to make sure it was indeed ordered to UK specification.

Then you have to look at the manufacturers warranty and breakdown cover as you will often not get the full level of cover. Watch out for some dealers who offer after sales (lesser) warranty’s to try to make up for this.

Then and most fundamentally is the reduction to the residual value of the car you will almost certainly face when you come around to selling the car later on. You are required to specify it is an imported car when you sell it and many dealers will not even be interested in purchasing it due to the above reasons.

Lastly, always look out for “Grey Imports” as these will give you a nightmare with warranty issues and not being able to order components for the car.

Therefore a new car import can be ok, as long as you know the negative aspects as well as the initial attractiveness of the reduced price. Autoe Bid does not offer new car imports…

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