I have my 5dr Impreza on order from Belgium (but still have 4 months to wait ). I would be interested in your experiences of collection, insurance, registration (with DVLA) etc. The agent I ordered through can arrange for delivery to Dover for £364 inc VAT, which seems an OK deal considering trade plates cost £200, insurance required, cost of getting there, ferry back etc.

What worries me though is the transporter driver would sign for the car at the dealer, if there is something wrong (e.g a dent) when it gets back, I don't think I would have a leg to stand on. What did you guys do?

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by PT:
<B>I have my 5dr Impreza on order from Belgium (but still have 4 months to wait ). I would be interested in your experiences of collection, insurance, registration (with DVLA) etc. The agent I ordered through can arrange for delivery to Dover for £364 inc VAT, which seems an OK deal considering trade plates cost £200, insurance required, cost of getting there, ferry back etc.

What worries me though is the transporter driver would sign for the car at the dealer, if there is something wrong (e.g a dent) when it gets back, I don't think I would have a leg to stand on. What did you guys do?[/quote]


Hello

If I was you I would do AS MUCH of the work as possible. I had the fortune to be working in Europe and Holland was not too far from where I was based, so I was able to actually visit the dealer before placing my order. The dealership itself was very helpful, with its staff speaking fluent English. Indeed they have a whole section dedicated to UK customers. I wanted to do all the work myself as this saves the most amount of money, there is minimum risk and no one else drives your car (read THRASH). The dealer arranged trade plates and tax and the car was ready for collection approx 6mths after placing my order, with no delays or changes to the schedule. I insured my car on the chassis no. prior to collection. There was no premium for an EU import. I combined the collection of the car with a short break with my girlfriend and when I arrived at the dealership the car was immaculate with a full tank and all the paperwork was ready. I drove home with no problems having pre-booked the crossing etc. I already had the relevant forms from the DVLA for importing EU vehicles and filled out what I could. I personally handed in the forms at my local registering office, filling in the blanks there and then. The most important document to have is the Certificate of Conformity (provided by the dealer), the letter which accompanies the trade plates (proves you could legally drive from Europe to UK) and the bill of sale. You MUST provide these to register your vehicle. This proccess took about 10 days in my case. About one month later you get a letter for the VAT.

Hope that helps

 

I have a 00MY impreza Turbo which I recently personally imported from Holland. I have registered the car with Subaru UK which is neccessary for any warranty claims or product recalls. However, the service manager at the UK main dealer I used for the first service tried to give me scare stories about work not being authorised for certain claims on parallel imports, long delays etc etc. This was obviously a feeble attempt to make me wish I had bought my car from him and be ripped off, rather than saving myself thousands buy buying the exact same car abroad. Whilst I will not loose any sleep over this, I would be gratefull for any pitfalls encountered by other owners of EU imports, as so far I can see no catch

 

Use a different garage, I had this so I took my car to another Subaru Dealer who was more than happy to service the car and do warranty work, they even registered the car for me with IM. No problems at all, just nice saving 7g.

 

ernie,
my local dealer welcolmed my import with open arms, was told that by not ordering mine from them all i was doing was letting someone else into the queue a week earlier,and they will make more out of servicing mine anyway in its lifetime. if your dealer wont sort a warranty problem pronto,they are the ones who are going to lose out on charging x,y,zzzzz pounds!!

like everyone else says tell them to p*** off and take your servicing elsewhere.

regards
d

ps,when mine was booked in for its 1000mile service they were honestly embaraced to ask me to pay the labour (30 quid) as that is covered in the original purchase price

[This message has been edited by D Noble (edited 17-05-2000).]

 

Ernie,
Thanks for the reply, it is helpful. I have made up my mind - a trip to Belgium to get my lovely new Impreza is in order. One other advantage is I get to DRIVE it back, whereas if bought over by the transport company I will have to wait to register it before I even get to sit in it!

Pete

 

My garage is very willing - Manchester.

My friend imported a Z3 from Belgium 6 months ago. His garage in Stockport have been more than happy to do warranty work, as they get the money from BMW - He has had microwave sensor, 2 new door seals, rear windsheild, seat motor. Now it's been hit by a bus, so they are doing the body repairs

 

Ernie,

Suggest you name and shame. Lets all know who the rogue dealers are out there, and give-em a wide berth!.

It would be good to know who the good guys are too

 

I got mine myself. The whole thing was a doddle! It was a very long day though! Mon morn: 0630 Gla-Ams 1600 Hook of Holland - Harwich and then up to Scotland all in a 'oner (not the fuel though).

I got my local dealer to do the 1k service and the alarm on the Thur.

Dealers can get a LOT of money from you over the years in labour costs so they should be nice' - mine is....

 

Just a few things to add...

I have just imported a MY00 from Holland, where I collected it myself, combining the trip with a visit to Belgium, this was a superb way to spend a weekend.

I was told by the dealer that the transit plates where valid only for 1 week, however I have been driving around in them for a month now - my paperwork got "lost" at the DVLA . I have been lead to believe that the police advise that you not drive a vehicle on transit plates, however this is not illegal .

In terms of servicing, my local dealer (S.G.Petch in Richmond, N.Yorks) where more than happy to service the car, and seemed pretty chatty generally. They certainly did not make me feel bad (however I did feel a bit guilty myself - it is these guys living after all). They also advised me to get it registered with IM, following ernies instructions.

Some insurers however refused to cover me to collect the car, until it landed in the UK. However there are plenty of options in the "Insurance" section to choose from .

Everything went pretty well, and now that I have done it, would do it again.

Mike

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mark_S:
<B>Ernie,

Suggest you name and shame. Lets all know who the rogue dealers are out there, and give-em a wide berth!.

It would be good to know who the good guys are too [/quote]

Hello Mark,

Name and shame it is then. The offending dealer is AE Wilsons, Chadwell Heath, Romford. You may be interested to know that I contacted Subaru UK with regards to his comments, and demanded a letter detailing Subaru UK's stance on EU imports and their main dealers working on them. The letter I received states that parallel imports are no problem, and Subaru UK acts as the administrator with any warranty claims. Even more interesting is their statement that "some dealers may be reluctant to work on grey imports", - this does not seem to be a blanket "dealers must not touch these EVER or they will loose their franchise" statement as you would expect.



[This message has been edited by ernie (edited 18-05-2000).]

 

I'd recommend OSborne's in Colchester. 10% discount for SIDC members!

[This message has been edited by JO (edited 19-05-2000).]

 

I'm importing one from Holland, pick it up in a couple of months.

I have a few queries too.

How long can I drive on ZZ plates? DVLA say only from port of entry to home, and then to register. Others say a month, which is it?

Can I register it without paying the VAT? DVLA say I must pay it, or have a receipt saying I have declared it HM Customs before I register it, but ernie says he registeres it then got a letter for the VAT?

Do I register it for warranty with Subaru UK or IM?

Confused

Geezer

 

H

[This message has been edited by ernie (edited 18-05-2000).]

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Geezer:
<B>I'm importing one from Holland, pick it up in a couple of months.

I have a few queries too.

How long can I drive on ZZ plates? DVLA say only from port of entry to home, and then to register. Others say a month, which is it?

Can I register it without paying the VAT? DVLA say I must pay it, or have a receipt saying I have declared it HM Customs before I register it, but ernie says he registeres it then got a letter for the VAT?

Do I register it for warranty with Subaru UK or IM?

Confused

Geezer[/quote]

Hello Geezer

If I recall correctly, the transit plates last for 3 weeks. However, you can only legally drive from the dealership to your house, or wherever you are keeping the car until its registered. No one could tell me why this is so, after all you have number plates, tax (in my case Holland tax) and insurance, so you are no different from a tourist driving abroad ie perfectly legal. When you register the car, one of the forms you have to fill in is a Customs and Excise form. They then calculate the VAT against the price of your car on the bill of sale (which again you must hand in when registering) using the exchange rate on the date of the bill of sale ie the date you collect your car. This takes longer than the actual registering proccess (approx 4-6 weeks). To register the vehicle contact Subaru UK head office (tel no available from any main dealer) and ask to speak to someone in the warranty dept (specify your vehicle is an EU import). They will tell you what you must send them (normally a copy of your bill of sale and Certificate of Conformity). Make sure you ask for written confirmation that they receive this and that your car is registered with them, so as to avoid problems in the future.

Hope that helps

 

Days of Chelmsford are excellent an dealership.

Based on them I can see why Subaru win JD Powers.

robski

 

Ernie,

Just to add my 2pence, my Dutch import is due at end of next month (touch wood). Spoke to Quenby's (North Herts) service manager about fitting a/c and doing all my servicing. He was quite happy to oblige once it was confirmed the car was NOT a "grey import".

I've heard lots of other stories like yours too. One guy was told by a dealer that they couldnt/wouldnt service his parallel import because all foreign Impreza ECU's are different to UK. Also suggested that come trade-in time, you would lose out big time. What a load of Horsesh1t mixed with sour grapes . I'll take my chances. Thank God all dealers dont take that small minded viewpoint. Fact is I would not be buying a Scoob at all if I had to pay their prices.

 

robski -- I wasn't really that impressed with Day's of Chelmsford when I went there for a test drive (before I'd settled on the import route), and I've heard (either on this board or the importingimprezas mailing list) that they won't service Dutch imports.

Osborne's of Colchester, on the other hand, are very helpful. As long as you don't get landed with the green Justy while your pride 'n' joy is in for service.

Quenby's in Baldock seemed OK when I went there to look at second hand Imprezas.

 

For those of you who drove your imports back and then registered, did your V5 state "New at first registration"?

Pete

 

Hello Pete

Yes it did. The V5 does not show any indication that the car was sourced from abroad

 

So what's with the rubbish from the dealers about suffering at trade in time then. Couldn't be they're attempting to 'protect the market' could it - surely not!

 

carl,

Im glad they dont service dutch imports. The time to get a service slot is long enough as it is!

I think like a lot of dealers until you seriously start talking about buying one, they think your just another bloke wanting to test drive a scoob to see how fast they are.

robski

 

Yeah, thank god they don't service WRX's either. I'm sure the WRX owners would agree.

 

Hi Pete

I think it is exactly that - rubbish. All Subarus come from the same factory, therefore a car sourced from Europe comes off the same factory line as one bought from a main dealer in the UK. There is NO difference car wise, the only difference being the extra two years warranty. But are you really going to get £6-7000 (average saving on an EU import) worth of repair bills during the second and third years of scooby ownership? I dont think so, and that is the only way you can come unstuck. Once its time to get rid of your scooby, if its 3 years or older there is absoloutley no difference from an "official" UK car.

 

PT,

To address your original question, my understanding is this. There has been a recent change in EU law ie literally a few weeks ago that means UK insurers can no longer insure a car outside of the UK that is not yet registered in the UK. If you collect the car yourself you will not be insured for theft/accident until you get it on to the ferry. I would be interested to hear if anyone is finding insurance companies AT PRESENT that are covering this. I would hope that any import company worth its salt is insured for damage to your car in transit and so the dents should not be a problem.

Cheers

Don

PS Has anyone heard of the imported cars arriving with a tank of european unleaded 91 RON. (ie not there superunleaded 95 RON) How would you know if your car was underperforming from this and may need an ecu reset?

[This message has been edited by Don Key (edited 19-05-2000).]

 

I have had a similar experence with Bell & Corvill who wanted over £110 for the first service and tried to make me feel guilty about importing by pointing out all the service costs and warrantee problems. I therefore took the car to Cheam Motors who charged about £75 and were very helpful on the warrantee registration issues. They also offer 10% discount for SIDC members. However, they stated that they have to get approval from Subaru Warrantee dept who in turn have to get approval from the Dutch Warantee dept before they do any expensive work. This they claim is the only way they can get gauranteed payment. This obviously slows up completion of the work.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Don Key:
[B]PT,

To address your original question, my understanding is this. There has been a recent change in EU law ie literally a few weeks ago that means UK insurers can no longer insure a car outside of the UK that is not yet registered in the UK.

Don,
Do you have a reference for this - seems strange! I spoke to Green light earlier this week and they said No Problem!

Pete

 

PT

I was first alerted to this on the imortingimprezas website (on onelist.) It seems that all of a sudden this was the line the big insurance companies were giving people who were just about to collect their cars after initially being given the green light (no pun intended.) I can vouch for this being the case with Direct Line but there were others mentioned too. It seems that some of the smaller companies are offering cover anyway (or do not know about the change?) Glad to hear you've got cover anyway as my works computer started firewalling the site and I never found out what these people did in the end.

Cheers
Don

[This message has been edited by Don Key (edited 22-05-2000).]

 

Don,

It was me that raised the issue on the mailing list after Privilege suddenly U-turned on the their cover (two days before I was due to pick the car up!).

After I got backed (driving on the dealer's 3rd party insurance) I emailed the Association of British Insurers who replied with:

--quote--

The EU "rules" to which you refer have in fact been around for some while now and it is only as a result of the relatively recent upsurge in people purchasing vehicles abroad that the issue has been highlighted.

In essence, one of the EU insurance Directives stipulates that a vehicle has to be insured by an insurer authorised to transact business in the country in which the vehicle is registered. We believe this has some relevance to the payment of premium taxes.

We have taken the matter up with the Government because UK insurers are anxious to provide the cover their customers want but are prevented from doing so.

Unless you can persuade the Dutch dealer to extend the cover beyond third party, one option is to see whether your own insurer has an arrangement with a Dutch insurer whereby the cover can be provided.

I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful but I assure you that we are anxious to see this matter resolved.

--end quote--

Regards,

Nick


[This message has been edited by NickP (edited 22-05-2000).]