Hi again,
The Subaru I am interested in I notice has come from Cyprus, Nicosia - that was where it seemed to have first been purchased.
I am now in a dilema - as I just rang a local subaru dealer who said to me dont touch it, you wont get a subaru warranty with it and it wont pass its mot because it doesnt have a cataytic converter. Its an 07 plate so mot is up next year. What should I do? - listen to his advice? or does anyone here have any experience advice??
Any help greatly appreciated.

 

Even though its from Cyprus, it probably UK spec. Sounds like scare tactics by the dealer. It will have had a catalytic converter when new . It should be covered by Subaru warranty if it was registered with IM group. EU imports don't have an alarm / locking wheel nuts as standard.

 

I'm not sure about the warranty part. I imported a L200 from Cyprus and it went through its 1st mot fine, had a cat on it, just had to fit rear fog light.

If your not too bothered about the warranty, and to be honest as most Subarus are bought and modified, the warranty would be invalid anyway.

If it doesnt have a cat, they can be purchased quite cheap from ebay to stick on when the mot is due. Just make sure that it has a rear fog light, which it probably does.

I'm obviously not a pro on this sort of thing, but if the car is cheap enough I wouldn't let the above worry you.

 

Mine's from Cyprus,you can apply for the warrenty from Subaru UK

 

Anyway I can find out if it had been registered with IM Group - is there a website??

 

I think you'll have to phone them up with the chassis no and reg.

 

Give subaru (IM) customer services a call, you will probably find it is already registered with them. I had one imported form the same place had it serviced at three different dealers never had a problem. The problem i had was that i had to get a proper alarm and traker fitted, also had to get it undersealed. Most car coming from cyprus are personel imports and so dont fall into the car supermarket issues with IM

 

Dealer is at it mate,

It is virtually the same car as uk one, no tracker,alarm locking wheel nuts. that is it, i have had 2 now fom cyprus and holland. first one was dealer serviced as well.

Mac

 

The one I have put a depsoit down has a tracker fited - but I presume that was purchased from the previous owner..
Another query I have.. The dealer I am buying it from described in the Ad Spec D - STi with pro drive kit. However, having researched the Spec D Sti I looked under the bonnet of this car - there was no logo on the air filter (STi) - how can you tell if its a genuine STi ? - What should I look out for. It has all the badges in the right place - but anyone can do this. I have the chassis vin number but cant make head nor tail of it from a car thats come from cyprus. Any ideas?

 

Both the STi and the Spec D will have 6 speed gear box, brembo brakes, etc.

 

Also, STis have blue cloth interior, Spec-D has black leather interior.

If you HPI check the car it will tell you the model details registered.

 

put up a link to the dealer website

Butty on here seems to know quite a bit on the spec D LOL

Shaun

 

Same here mines from the exact same place in cyprus and IM have ok'ed my warranty.As echo'd this is scare tactics as they hate grey imports losing subaru money.Mine did however have a cat and it in my shed after replacing it with a H & S sports cat.

 

Mine came from Cyprus new in 2006. Phoned up IM and got a full Subaru warranty, the local dealer's fine servicing it to. Had to get a CAT 1 and a tracker fitted (£500), but it only cost £14500. Go for it

 

Hi All,
Thanks v.nuch for you replies.
I really am in 2x minds now whether to get this car or not. I have HPI'd it and its coming out ok. Just throwin up that there was a plate transfer which I know about and HPI spoke to me about it. HPI also throws up this warnign:
The VIN is not registered with the VRM supplied
I have checked the VIN with IM and they do say its an imported scooby from Cyprus and they didnt throw up anything that should worry me. Do you think the above warning is something to do with the plate transfer - which HPI cleared - or am I just not putting the correct VIN in - cant tell the difference between the Zero (0) and O....
Apart form the above, I think all documentation looks ok. A mate of mine worried me though and warned me never to get an import - too many things to go wrong he said... You dont know if it is stolen he said - could have been stolen in any country - then imported here.. Is that true??
I dont mind all this detective work - as I know if I do buy I will have a good car... and if I dont buy its for the right reasons. Anyone else who has an imported scooby from cyprus know what the tell tale signs to look for which could sound like trouble?
Any advice greatly appreciated..
Thanks.

 

Get it bought.

It is effectively a UK car without a few bits. I am on my third and i have never been treated any different than a UK customer. Also remember every Subaru in the U.K is an import one way or another.

I.M and U.K dealers have lost a lot of business over the years simply because they were not able to match the E.U deals.

Buy and enjoy

 

Mate, buy it, you'd be silly not too, they are effectivly the same as uks without tracker....however you can have that fitted at a later date, and the only difference between the type uk's and the ones from cyprus is the pink logo written on the top mount intercooler..
save yourself the money. plenty of people ahve gone down this route.
IIRC when i spoke to keith micheals he said you could insure it has a UK car

you will defo have a cat on there, and if your into modifying you'l end up removing it anyway so who cares

just make sure you get it chekced over tho through RAC inspection etc if you want peace of mind

 

Dealers sell car thgat have been pranged and don't tell anyone, get it AA or RAC'd and you'll have peace of mind. I am now on my third import, the current car being a new grey import in 1999.

The IM and Subaru scare stories are just that, go on and get it.

 

Guys,
This could be the final icing on the cake!!
I really want the car and all Documents were looking good, apart from the most important - the V5.. Now I made a note of the VIN number on the car and contacted IM - they confirmed it was a Subaru imported from Cyprus - with this VIN. Now I asked the dealer (cos i'm 100 miles away) to fax me the V5 of the car (as i hpi'd it and there was a VIN discrepency). Having compared the 2x VINS - the one from the Car and the V5 - there is a slight discrepency on the V5 document - by 1 Letter at the beginning. This is why the VIN was'nt showing on the hpi.
Now i'm in a dilema - could this be a geneuine mistake? - maybe on the part of DVLA? or something fishy going on? - dealer seems geneiune and has never with-held information.. Is it actually possible for dvla to scrw something like this up?.
If its true and they have this could take ages to rectify? - I'm sure my mot would be void, insurance the whole lot right?
Again, much appreciated if you could provide some adive guy?
Cheers...

 

I bought a Dutch import and there was a mix up over VIN's and the certificate of conformity (COC), there was no skulduggery going on just someone wrote down an "english" 7 because it looked like a "Dutch" 1 ..

We have a local DVLA office which is absolutely brilliant.........they sorted out a registration plate transfer (wife's birthday) no problem

Can you book an appointment with your local office for a chat ??

Shaun

 

Hi Shaun,
Sounds very much like my problem. Havent actually bought the car yet - put a small holding deposit on it - but can always back out. Its with a trader. I am going to ask the trader to sort it for me as theres no way I can buy it with the VIN being the way it is. I always thought DVLa could make problems when it comes to things like this? - thought it would be a lengthy process?
Thanks.

 

you say there is a discrepency with the vin number ......

IIRC the uk cars have a different digit to europe/cyprus cars....i think its a GDB for Uk cars and GDF for euro imports.

best person to speak to regards differences is J performance cars on 07811162394 and speak to sam (but he'll probably advise to stay away from imports - as they sell uk cars)

but like i said you will defo save your self some money. do you have a link of the car your interested in?

 

Hi, I mean a discrepency in that the VIN on the chassis does not match what DVLA have or HPI. The first 3x letters it seems have been incorrectly put in to DVLA - the last 7 digits both match up. Could this be a mistake by DVLA or arise suspicion?? Any advice ?

 

As far as I know, its not uncommon for V5 vins to be slightly wrong. '5's and 'S's get mixed up as do 'D's and '0's. If it is something like that then I wouldn't worry. It would only be a ringer if the chassis number has welded on or the V5 was a fake. I doubt a genuine trader wouldn't deal with cars like that.