For more information about taking the DIY route to importing a car check out the European Commission's information site at www.europa.eu.int/comm/competition/car_sector .  If you are planning to use a car import agency like the companies listed on this site we suggest to you check out the internet discussion group at www.carimporting.com as this will give you feedback from people who have imported including disgruntled customers as well as happy ones.  Trading standards offer a good source of information www.tradingstandards.gov.uk for potential importers.

If you do decide to import a car you will need to register it, some companies will do this for you as part of the service.  The DVLA site offers more information about what you need to do

Some companies hold a stock of imported vehicles and take advantage of buying in bulk to further reduce the cost.  The only thing to bear in mind that if the car is already registered you are the second owner.  Not a major problem but could affect trade-in values further down the line.

We have compiled a directory of car import companies for you to look at.

What should you watch out for when importing

There are a number of things you need to be careful of when importing. These are as follows

1. UK Spec

You must ensure that you car is 100% UK spec. If your car is not you may have trouble getting parts. Also your insurance company will not be happy if it gets damaged. Although dealers in this country can get the parts it tends to take longer and could result in your car being out of action.

2. Warranty

In the UK cars are generally covered by a three year warranty. However, to try and stop imports often only one or two years of this is provided by the manufacturer. The remainder is covered by the UK distributor. Citroen is a good example of this in that Citroen only provide a one year warranty. Years 2 and three are provided free by Citroen UK for cars that are purchased via their dealerships

3. Insurance and trading in

If your vehicle is considered to be a grey or parallel import you will not get as much money when you come to trade it in. Some dealers will not buy it, others will offer a lower price. This is the case even if it is full UK spec. Its difficult to understand why they do this, cynics amongst us could believe that it is because that car suppliers are trying to minimise the pressure of UK dealerships and the generous margins

4. Using an import management company

It is possible to visit a European dealer, do the deal and do everything else yourself. However, there are a number of risks associated with this all which can result in you losing money. Using a management company does reduce much of these risks but you need to ensure that your money is kept separately (Escrow account) before paying as if they go bust you could lose your money and not get the car.

5.    Shop around

Not all car importers are the same, you have many that are small companies and others like Virgin Cars, and Jam Jar that are large organisations.

Whilst you get more security and peace of mind buy using a big name and in some cases they have stocks of cars you are paying for their large overheads and capital requirements. Our experience that in many cases you can obtain better prices either from UK brokers (using UK dealerships) or smaller companies.