Does importing mean you save
money?
There has been much publicity
around importing a car from overseas especially Europe.
In some cases it is possible to get a better deal than
in the UK. According to What car in many cases UK internet
brokers can better the European import deals.
Advantages
The only advantage really is that
you can get a better deal and in a few cases you can get
options that are not available in the UK. However,
beware that this could detrimentally affect the value
of your car
Import it yourself
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
Using an importing company
There are a number of advantages
of using an import agent or a company that purchases the
vehicle on your behalf. They are experienced in
dealing with the paperwork from customs and other official
organisations.
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 to look for
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.
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