A dealership in York say 80% of tyeir cars have full jap service history.How reliable are the dealers. i know not to buy one that came from auctions and i understand they should be sva tested do most dealers change the cambelt on arrival and is it a big job undersealing them. thanks for all your advice.

 

Basicaly what you buy is what you get. Unless the dealer supplying the car gives you a warranty then you have no come backs.

There is no way in telling how hard a life the car had in Japan before being shipped over here. My advice would be to buy a car that seems as standard as possible and avoid any with obvious accessories.

My MY 98 WRX has had no problems whatsoever. Just look after what you get.

Mine also seems to have been undersealed anyway, which is unusual but its not a big job if you can get the car high enough.

As for the cam belt, change it anyway. It cost me £125 from Scoobyclinic.

 

In my experience, which is extensive; far fewer than one in one hundred cars which go through Japanese auctions have a physical service record. Very few of the cars that actually have the books have the service coupons completed. This doesnt mean that the vehicles arent serviced correctly; virtually all cars are because dealers wont accept them as part-exchanges otherwise. The service records are computerised making the service coupon books unneccessary. Its theoretically possible that the dealer approaches the vehicle's servicing garage/s and gets them to complete a paper record; but its extremely unlikely; draw your own conclusions*.


Simon

*this is where droves of people who cant see the wood for the trees post stating that their car had a service history..........

 

cheers mate i never realised it was as cheap as that for a cambelt.

 

Ask to see the auction appraisal sheet; every auctioned car has one and theres no good reason for them not to show it to you: in fact it forms an essential part of the vehicles provenance. Ideally youll be looking for a Grade4 car; perhaps a Grade3.5 (most auctions wont give a car a 4 no matter how clean if its odometer reading exceeds 100K kms).

If they cant show you the sheet then you shoud conclude that its either a ****ty grade, or the skankers buy their cars from docks auctions (which sell the dreggs of the auction stock).


Simon

 

Thanks mate a very useful bit of advice