I'm looking at a car from a dealer which seems quite good value, he said its a UK import and they testing the market with them. Does anyone know anything about UK imports! Good or bad! Has had a full AA check already I can get a copy of.
barrie2,
Jul 17, 5:31am
What is it! Good cars in UK to import as the MoT (WoF) far stricter than NZ. Has this car failed the UK standards so getting dumped over here! A lot of cars on NZ roads would not be allowed in UK, very keen on exhaust emissions or any sign of rust. Saying that a lot of yobbo's over there do not abide by the rules and have no MoT, Rego or insurance (which is compulsory - as it should be here)!
tiffnp,
Jul 17, 5:51am
Uk cars are subjected to poor weather conditions including snow, which they put salt onto melt the snow. As you can imagine this salt slurry causes MAJOR issues with the majority of the UK cars, all the ones Ive seen lately (mostly Mitsi Evos and stis) have bad corrosion which in turn has had a bad repair/cover up with underseal once imported into NZ. Be very careful and get an inspection done on it before buying. I would suggest going to a Panel beater for the inspection, not the AA.
jellybeanbee04,
Jul 17, 7:15am
Its a 2008 4wd ute if that makes any difference and can come with a three year warrenty. Thought I'd check if it covers any rust issues and if so take the risk as is about 10k cheaper than any others and looks a lot tidier from what we can see.
rovercitroen,
Jul 17, 7:35am
Clocking of the odometer MAY be an issue with UK imports. Get it checked out properly.
jellybeanbee04,
Jul 17, 7:59am
Would an AA check no be considered properly! What do peope suggest instead!
kazbanz,
Jul 17, 8:03am
jellybeanbee--We looked into UK imports. With the exception of the corrossion issues -(and they are big issues) they seem to be good value for money. DON'T buy into that "full AA inspection" trap though. A FULL AA inspection is a 7 page report not a single page that hung in the window. Pay the $100 odd dollars and have a mechanic look the car over then I'd be tempted to have a panelbeater check out the nderside for sighns of dodgy corrossion removal
jellybeanbee04,
Jul 17, 10:24am
Thanks for that. Have done an aa check before so will see how many pages turn up when its sent through. Thanks everyone. Will think on it and look into the car
westwyn,
Jul 17, 10:39am
As a Trader, I've just landed my third vehicle from the UK and like the other two, happy with the overall condition- they currently offer good value for money in the higher price bands due to the favourable exchange rate, VAT removal on later-model vehicles and relatively high depreciation due to a depressed UK economy. Underbody corrosion tends to be an issue on older vehicles rather than new, with Japanese-assembled rather than Euro assembly having less underseal too. Entry compliance here is pretty strict on rust, so unless the compliance shop itself is corrupt, most reputable TSDA's will insist upon robust clean, treat and inspect processes before signing off a car for entry to our fleet. Both Mazda 6's I've had (one just arrived) needed nothing more than the exposed metal exhaust brackets cleaned and treated, no more than a Japan-sourced Atenza or for that matter, a Kiwi-new Mazda 6- the metals are the same. Utes CAN be more of an issue for rust due to the conditions they are worked in, so I would inspect one of these carefully- although expect SOME surface corrosion like ANY used vehicle- the majority of Kiwi-new 2008-2011 utes I see have surface corrosion on the chassis legs, and this doesn't seem to bother anyone! Odometers are generally very reliable due to the inspection / paperwork trail that must be conducted prior to obtaining entry- an HPI Gold report or DEKRA report that highlights any accident history, money owed, odometer discrepancies etc, is usually the first thing we get- in the event of any issue the car would stay in the UK. And most of the current UK arrivals (around 180-200 a month, only small numbers) are sourced directly from the lease companies themselves, usually with full service histories and generally in very good condition from the get-go. And yes- as a result, good value for money for Kiwi buyers. Like any used vehicle, do some homework, get it checked out (but don't expect brand-new either!) and enjoy!
clanky,
Jul 17, 9:02pm
Further to this, does anyone have an idea as to the cost of importing from the UK.transportation, import duty etc. Just curious.
kazbanz,
Jul 17, 9:25pm
clanky-short version -its the same as out of Japan except the freight is about double (no its not an exact figure) The process is the same as buying from Japan. Cost are --Car cost converted into nz$ Agents fees -I would guess about $1000 but dont quote me Freight -roughly $3500 Customs GST-roughly 15% of purchase price. Compliance-about $400 Regoaround $300 Work to get to compliance standards-!
kazbanz,
Jul 17, 10:06pm
-I just spoke to my freight company --freight from uk will cost $3400 plus a tiny bit of gst (about $20)
rsr72,
Jul 18, 3:28am
Look carefully underneath at complicated radiator/cooling systems, steering, air-conditioning pipes, fuel lines and connections which are liable to corrosion in joints/unions and expensive to replace or repair.
zak1998,
Jul 18, 4:10am
MPH not KPH like here on the speedos
austingtir,
Jul 18, 4:50am
If its relatively new like less than 5 years then the weather probably wouldnt of got to it yet but otherwise i would tread pretty carefully.On the other hand our exchange rate is good versus the pound so if its dirt cheap it might even be worth the hassle.
franc123,
Jul 18, 6:50am
I think if you stuck to very late model stuff there would be little risk in it, most of the speedos also display km as well or could be programmed to do so if need be, or if not it may even be possible to fit a complete kph instrument cluster locally and get it configured with the converted odo reading by the agents for that make if mph bothers you that much, or just refer to your GPSAll you really need to remember is that 30mph is 50k, 45 is roughly 70 and 62 is 100.That is far less of a nuisance to live with than having entire ventilation/audio/satnav control panels in Yappanesy and completely useless IMO.
zephyrheaven,
Jul 18, 7:18am
Seen insane corrosion issues on late model Range Rover stuff (4 so far), nothing structural but have a crack at removing any nut or bolt or screw on the whole vehicle - snap.
I would avoid at all costs, rather have a glowing one from Japan myself
807,
Jul 18, 9:28am
Was going to say the same thing .would be a pain in the rrrs, in my opinion. God knows why they haven't gone metric.
franc123,
Jul 18, 10:32am
Just no satisfying some people is there. it's hardly a big problem.
sas777,
Jul 18, 11:53am
Actually Pomland HAS gone metric, it's just that a few exceptions stand out, the most noticeable one being imperial road speeds. This was debated on around twenty years ago, the decision was to leave things as they were due to the law being unable to retrospectively force vehicle owners to get their speedo changed to kilometres per hour. This would mean people driving a mis-matched car to the road signage with potentially disasterous results. The only other example of the old systemI can think of is beer in pubs being sold in pints - this is allowed as a tradition. Beer sold in bottle shops sometimes comes in 1 pint cans marked as 568ml as it's illegal to sell in pints. Milk is sold in metric. There was a butcher up north somewhere who sold his goods in pounds and ounces, fighting the system. I think he was imprisoned in the end. Oh, and then there's car tyres.
socram,
Jul 19, 1:21am
There are places around who can sort out your speedo.I presume it only means the backing disc.The odometer is another issue.Nothing is insurmountable. There are plenty of older cars stil running around with the speedo in MPH.My 1989 250cc Honda was also imperial and that was NZ new.
bitsy_boffin,
Jul 19, 1:45am
Driving with an MPH speedo is no problem, 30 and a smidge = 50, 50 = 80, 60 and a smidge = 100.
If you can't do that mental arithmetic (or indeed judge your speed without looking at the dial all the time), well, driving probably not your strong suit eh.
Edit to add:I'd expect most vehicles over in the mother land would have dual markings anyway with KM/H just marked smaller.Mine certainly does and it's 30 years old.
freedomaira320,
Jul 19, 1:46am
I frequently see people mention the weather/salt issues as being a problem with UK import cars, but it is never mentioned about Japanese imports. Japan has a more extreme climate than the UK, far colder in the north and a very high rainfall. Why is it never considered an issue regarding corrosion!
bitsy_boffin,
Jul 19, 1:51am
I don't think salting roads is common in Japan.
freedomaira320,
Jul 19, 1:56am
So what do they use instead! It's a far colder country than the UK, and heavily populated in the coldest areas.
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