Revealing that car is import question

T

thedaras

Registered User
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812
Hi all,
My sister has just put a deposit on a car which she now knows is a UK import, I posted earler asking if there were any issues around this, and it appears there isnt.

However I was surprised when she told me she had no idea it was an import until the last minute!

She said it was advertised as 08 XXXX, there was no Yellow reg indicating that it was from the UK. She went to view the car and the garage owner didnt mention it to her on that visit, nor did he mention it when she phoned him later on that week.

He basically told her, after she had taken it for a test drive,and as she was asking about his best price. Just very casually threw it into the conversation.
Is this a fair way of doing business?
Is this the norm?
 
I wouldnt say its the norm but it is becoming more prevalent,Had she not seen the service log or enquired about the history of it?
 
thedaras said:
Hi all,
My sister has just put a deposit on a car which she now knows is a UK import, I posted earler asking if there were any issues around this,and it appears there isnt..
However I was surprised when she told me she had no idea it was an import until the last minute!
She said it was advertised as 08 XXXX, there was no Yellow reg indicating that it was from the UK.She went to view the car and the garage owner didnt mention it to her on that visit,nor did he mention it when she phoned him later on that week.
He basically told her, after she had taken it for a test drive,and as she was asking about his best price.Just very casually threw it into the conversation.
Is this a fair way of doing business?
Is this the norm?
Click to expand...

When she took it for a test drive, did she not see it didnt have irish plates?
 
chrisboy: It did have Irish plates,and this is why she was pretty much taken by surprise to find out it was an import and the garage said they would sort the VRT etc..

mark1, It had an Irish reg plate and she had asked about the mileage,etc.
When she took it for the test drive,that was the time she enquired about more details and only then did she find out it was in fact an import..The advertisement for the car shows with Irish reg plate.
When she first went to view the car (It was a quick look,as she was viewing other cars ,to come back on the Saturday when she was off work),the sales guy didn't mention anything to her at that time about it being an import,nor when he rang her during the week nor was there any indication on the advertisment.( It had Irish plates )..Hope that clarify s things.
 
If the car has already been imported, vrt paid etc. then it is no big deal, but afaik garages are not allowed to hold UK/NI cars without registering them themselves.
I imported a car myself low mileage, high spec, fsh from a main dealer in NI kept it for a year and traded it in for what i paid for it myself including the vrt, to buy a low tax band care down here. It should have a car check cert giving details of the car and get a warranty from the dealer if you buy it.
 
thewatcher, you say "garages are not allowed to hold NI/UK cars without registering them themselves",if thats true how come this garage had a UK car which was not registered?
It is a UK car,garage had Irish Reg plates on it , advertised with Irish reg plates,customer not told until last minute it was an import.
My sister has put a deposit on it and now the garage will go and pay the VRT etc.
My point is , should it have been advertised with Irish reg plates on it,should it have been mentioned in the advert,should the dealer have told her the first time she saw the car that it is an import and the VRT etc will have to be paid (by the garage).
 
I would have thought he should and i would have thought that this would all have to be paid before you could register the car here, I would be very wary about parting with any more money till the vrt is paid, say your sister pays the asking price and the garage dont pay the Vrt, I would think she will be liable???
 
I’d think it’s fair enough, as long as when the buyer asks for the history it’s all given to them.

To many car buyers it’s very obvious a car is a UK model, it’ll usually have higher spec than the Irish equivalent, it’ll usually be slightly cheaper than expected for that model, it’ll often have a MPH speedo instead of a kph. There will usually be a UK dealer sticker left somewhere on the windscreen. And it will almost always have a service history with stamps of the UK garages it was serviced at.

If the buyer isn’t aware of those sort of signs they probably should be shopping with someone a little more experienced as they're probably missing other stuff, is the clutch worn etc.. Though in general with UK sourced cars you're already benefiting from having someone from that garage vet them before purchase.

From the salesman's point of view there’s little point in “warning” the car is UK sourced since the inexperienced buyer may overreact and use this as an excuse to avoid the car. I’d always prefer a well looked after higher spec UK version for slightly cheaper than the "poverty spec" Irish one.
 
I know we bought a UK import last july from BMW garage in Athlone (from ur other post someone spoke of BMW and diesel, which it is). Salesman told us straight away, one owner registered in Ireland, car was in Ireland for two years (u can compare date of reg in ireland and when first registered), prev irish owner had all documents etc in handy little folder, we were happy then and happy since.
 
The Irish used car market is full of UK imports. Most main dealers moved into the UK importation business a year or two ago as there were some good deals to be had. Some others have made a business of bringing cars from the UK into Ireland, and some have been doing this for as long as I can remember. A car that has been imported from the UK has the very same chance of beig clocked, or abused, or crashed-repaired, or whatever.

What I dont understand in this case is, how can a car have an Irish reg plate if the VRT has not yet been paid. You can only obtain a registration number on the payment of VRT.
 
Thanks for the replies ,Ill try answer them all now.
She has only paid a small deposit,the garage have said they will now go and pay the VRT and then have the car registered.
She has no problem with it being a Uk import and the documents all add up.
It was only owed in the Uk ,so no prior owner in Ireland.
She saw an Irish reg plate on it,she saw it on the photo advert ,on closer inspection,it has a digit missing..
Not sure what the Odometer reading is,ie miles or Kilometres.
And yes she took the car for a drive with the "Irish " plates,with the missing digit :eek: (though she was unaware it wasnt as presented at that time).
I suppose the main issue is if a dealer should bring this to the attention of buyers when they advertise the car?
 
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