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HOW MUCH LESS IS A 2001 (y) RHD UK SPEC PERSONAL IMPORT WITH FULL UK AUDI SERVICE HISTORY,EVERY EXTRA INCL SATNAV/TV 35000MILES WORTH,COMPARED TO A UK DEALER SUPPLIED CAR WITH THE SAME SPEC/EXTRAS ??

AT WHAT AGE OR MILAGE WILL THE STIGMA OF "IMPORTED" CEASE TO AFFECT THE RESIDUAL VALUE OF THIS CAR. DONT FORGET THEY ARE IDENTICAL CARS IN EVERY WAY, EXCEPT THE ORIGINAL OWNER WOULD PRESUMABLY HAVE SAVED SOME TIME AND OR MONEY BY PERSONALLY IMPORTING THE CAR 3 YEARS AGO !!

ANY MEMBERS WITH ANY EXPERIENCE OF THIS SITUATION PLEASE LET ME KNOW A S A P .!!

Please write in lower case next time...it looks like you're shouting.

sorry
just geting to grips with this keyboard.!!

No probs

bye the way in case anyone is wondering what the warranty situation is ? as long as the v5 , the service book, a pre inspection fee of £50 is supplied, then audi uk will register the car on "the computer" and sell a 12 month all singing and dancing warranty for £905 !!

No major issues, except I would expect to pay less than a UK car. It's a mindset issue, as IIRC there is now a European Law that protects people that prefer not to be ripped off, and buy their cars in Europe.

P.S. It's really hard to read stuff in capitals!!!

PhilT wrote:P.S. It's really hard to read stuff in capitals!!!

Only when one is as short as you are

biturbo wrote:

PhilT wrote:P.S. It's really hard to read stuff in capitals!!!

Only when one is as short as you are

you're not the tallest guy yourself Paul IIRC!

tbh the only difference is the 3 year warranty. As that has passed now there should be no difference in price unless service book and manual is in Arabic.

So, HOW MUCH are they A S K I N G then?????!!!!!!!

Actually an import has only a 2 years manufacturers warranty. When the EU law changed, it meant that Audi UK only has to top-up 1 year of warranty on a UK-supplied car instead of the previous 2 years.

As the owner of a UK-spec import (which I organised myself), I can assure you that the car itelf is no different from one from a UK dealer. In fact mine is better because I was able to get options fitted which were not available to UK dealers.

So there are only 3 issues for the buyer of a used import:

1) Warranty. As noted if the car is less than 3 years old, it should be worth about £1K less per year.
2) Insurance. Some insurers still penalise owners of personal imports. If a buyer is aware of this then they may feel that the seller should provide a discount to compensate.
3) Passing on the savings. A buyer knows that the import cost less new, so feels that some or all of this should be passed on. For reference I saved about £9K off the £43K UK list price of my S4 3.5 years ago.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
By law, the owner of a personal import must keep the VAT receipt for 4 years. So if you buy an import less than 4 years old, you MUST get VAT receipt from the seller!

I think there is a 4th issue:

Selling it on; there is still the stigma of imported cars even if you can convince the buyer it s all the UK spec and more. You WILL be able to sell any car imported or not at the RIGHT price. But I suspect people are likely to buy UK supplied cars than imports generally.

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago, I was all set to buy a 4yr renault scenic at the right price (read: cheaper price) when I found out it was an import. Not having the time or knowledge to check it was UK spec etc. I declined.

The cars condition was excellent, low mileage, warranty was not applicable. But I didn't want it because I do not want any HASSLE whastoever selling on a car later or limit who may want to buy it.

When I told the seller my reasons; he was well annoyed, it sounded like the seller was let down again for due to his car being an import.

I also saved £7k (25%) on a perosnal imported car; making damm sure its was UK spec and more; but when I came to sell it; nobody wanted it at the time even though I offerd it a cheaper price. In the end I traded it in (& got the RS4 ) and got less than what a UK supplied car would have got. I wasn't bothered as I still make a saving overall.

It was a hassle something I've learnt that I can do without in the future.

Like PhilT says - Unfortunately its still a mind set issue. Hopefully imports will become more and more common and hopefully more accepted. Cos we are ALL basically still being ripped off with UK prices.

PS Dippy that's a top saving.

So what's it worth? Tough question to answer. I suppose I'd try to establish the initial saving and if there were any insurance issues. I'd try to factor the saving into the used price somehow. I'd also consider any desirable extras.

It's not the fact that its imported that's the problem. It's the fact that everyone knows that imports cost less and they don't think they should have to pay the same price as a local one, thereby giving the seller a big profit. If the seller got it cheaper, the buyer wants it cheaper too.

Personnaly I think its a mixture of the saving and the stigma of it not being a "UK car" which really, means bugger all if the basic spec is the same.

And of course the buyer wants it as cheap as possible