Buying an imported car in the UK ?
Posted by Chris-2018@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 10 comments
I'm on the lookout in the UK to buy a car aged from 2015 - but most of the 'bargains' seem to be the ones imported into the UK?
Should people be seeing red flags when seeing that? Okay to buy? Best to walk away?
1995LexusLS400@reddit
I'm going to guess these are Japanese imports. Japanese cars (this includes European cars sold in Japan that are then imported back here) don't have the same rust proofing that UK cars have, so if you get one and you want it to last through more than 5 winters, you'll have to have rust proofing done. Insurance is also all over the place with them.
You'll also have the issue with the speedometer and odometer being in km. This can make mileage logs during MOTs a bit all over the place. Some testers put the number in as displayed, others convert the km into miles and put that in. As a result, it will end up getting flagged for inconsistent odometer readings if you ever try to sell it.
Chris-2018@reddit (OP)
Thank you, a very helpful post.
Chris-2018@reddit (OP)
More to the point - is there anything to be worried about by buying a car that's been imported into the UK?
JCDU@reddit
Unless you're shopping for something very specific I can't see why they'd all be imported - that's usually quite a rare thing to find. What are you actually looking for?
Chris-2018@reddit (OP)
Toyotas
TheTonyZz@reddit
It’s up to you realistically, run a car vertical on the ones you’re really interested in so you can see the proper history of the car. If you’re looking at 90s and 2000s jdms (I presume so as most imports are jdms) then you should be fine, go for it if they’re rarer and it’s a good price. I bought an imported 2000 MR2 Spyder and I ran a far vertical before, it showed no issues apart from a drop on the odometer but it was just a conversion between km and miles, but for the rest it was clean
Chris-2018@reddit (OP)
Thank you. A lot of that terminology I didn't understand though. How do you do a vertical on a car?
TheTonyZz@reddit
No worries, if you look up car vertical on google you can put the license plate of the car in it and if you pay 15£ I believe, you can see a full history of the car, if it’s stolen, if it’s been used in a crime etc.
Chris-2018@reddit (OP)
Thank you. I'm seeing about 5-10 a day at the moment, so really looking for free if possible.
TheTonyZz@reddit
No yeah the car vertical is only when you’re pretty sure about the car, I only did 2 for two different cars