No sorry about the subject title as it was just intended to get your attention (if it has!):

I'm wondering if there's a market for used Subaru's from Hong
Kong in the UK market? The cars would be shipped to UK and collected by the buyer at a designated port. Take a look at some of the local prices of a few examples (shipping and any UK taxes (if any) is excluded):


1. 2002, Subaru B4, +/- shift gears, low milage, STi AP disc-brakes?, £9,200

2. 1996/97, Subaru GT Legacy, low milage, 1 owner, 260ps, £4,300

3. 1997, Subaru Forester 2.0 Turbo, sunroof, auto, green, alloy wheels, £5,600

4. 1997, Legacy, Silver, Auto, twin turbo, no collision, low milage, 250ps, £4,200

5. 1999, Subaru Impreza STI, no collision, black, 4 doors £7,500

6. 1997, Subaru Legacy GT, auto, dark red, 17" alloys, no collision, £4,500

7. 1997, Subaru Imprexa WRX, no collision, blue, sunroof, excellent condition, £5,000

8. 2000, Subaru Classic STI6?, 1 owner, silver, no collision, no modifications, excellent condition, £10,700

9. 2000, Subaru Legacy GTB, +/- gear, 260ps, roof rack, TV, white, low milage, no collision, excellent condition £11,400

10. 1997, Subaru WRX, sunroof, 280ps, no collision, excellent condition, all options, blue, £5,600

11. 1997, Subaru Legacy, manual, 4 door RS?, white, all options, 280ps, £4,200

12. 2002, Subaru Legacy GTB, 1 owner, silver, low milage, mudflaps, £17,500

13. 2002, Subaru WRX, +/- gear, full STI body kit, blue, 1 owner, excellent condition, £13,500

14. 1997, Subaru Forester Turbo, 1 owner, sunroof, low milage, no collision, black, excellent condition, £6,000

These vehicles are of the same spec as those you would import directly from Japanese i.e. run on the same fuel and have km/h readings on the dash and etc. Question, for people who have already imported Japanese vehicles, what modifications have you made for the fuel system to use UK fuel? Also are there any other modifications required?

Have been out here for almost 10 years and so don't really know what constitutes a good buy compared to prices back home, so any comments would be good!

Could it be something worth looking into?

Cheers,
Simon

 

Hi Simon, those figures look reasonable.
Import tax and duty.
ie £5000 + 10% + 17.5% = £6462.5

The price for an MY97 you quoted is what i paid, to import from
japan 6 months ago.
It should be a tad cheaper than that by now, given depreciation.
I wouldnt compare them with uk prices until you see the mileages.
But for the money, my car had 38k miles; to buy a second hand car
in uk for same money, the mileage would have been more like 80k.

 

Thank you the useful bit of information Mr. Tapper . The mileage would be about the same as the 38K miles you got on yours when they say low milage. Anyway these are just asking prices and to give people an idea of pricing for used scoobs.

 

Don't forget cost of SVA, MOT and decent security to satisfy the insurance company and then these cars all of a sudden will be very similar to UK ones pricewise?

Damian.

 

Looking at those prices they are at the top end of market for personal imports.

For example I sold a 96 Legacy GT for £7500 two years ago. It's safe to say that prices haven't dropped that much in two years for cars with no UK equililent. However your price, by the time it gets here SVA'd MOT's taxed converted and alarmed you looking at over £7500, however I think the most a buyer would pay is 6.5 to 7.5k and and car already here is probably worth a small premium.

Having done all this before it's seems easy but the moment a car isn't quite what it seems...

Some models shift easily others don't, people don't like paying for something without seeing it so getting orders can be tough

 

ok. all good comments andf taken on board

 

One other cost that Foot Tapper may have forgotten to take into account, i worked for an export company for many years but i'm not so clued up on imports into the UK but IIRC dont you have to pay duty and vat on the cost of shipping as well??

 

For HK spec cars, at least u don't need to fit a filler-neck restrictor for the SVA test, cos it's done by the local agent already.
HK runs on RON98 petrol, but I have not heard the local importer adapting anything for the cars here, nor have I heard abt blown engines on HK GC8 STis.
Insurance premiums in HK are killing the market for these cars, hence the low 2nd hand prices.

 

Clarence, you've got HK to the T. Premiums are very very scary!

 

Yes, Jess_i is completely correct,
shipping from Japan was around £450 (including onboard insurance)

add that before the duty/vat calculation.

 

don't forget the port charges too.

or the clearance charges.

 

what about the secrity of the deal ie checking wether stolen you can do this with cars from japan not so sure about HK.....

 

In HK, ppl steal Subarus (& Hondas, the hottest item on the list) not to sell them on, but to break up the parts.
Every time the local plod recovered a stolen car, only a stripped out shell is left.
The other hot items in HK are Japanese SUVs & large MPVs, again they're for breaking up parts rather than exporting the whole car overseas. This is cos China no longer allows RHD cars to be registered there, so out goes the largest outlet for stolen cars in HK.
If u're buying a 2nd hand car locally in HK, the chances of u buying a stolen car is much smaller than in UK, cos the car registration procedures are much more stringent here, both the buyer & seller have to produce valid ID to the transport department for a change of ownership. Everything is centralised.
I'm surprised at how lax the system is in UK, especially the HK system was in place for a very very long time b4 the Brits left.