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I've just looked at the cheap (£8750) RS2 thats on autotrader at the moment, it is very clean and seems a bargain BUT, its still on german plates, the bloke selling it says it will be easy to re-register in the UK.

Do any of you guys have experience at importing a car?

Will i have to pay VAT etc...

I really want it but I'm worried about it being stolen, out standing finance etc, is there any way to check?

please help the new guy!

Unless you really know what you are doing I would suggest you use a specialist dealer. MCP have an excellent reputation. Suggest you take a look at website http://www.mcp-motorsport.co.uk/ and/or call them to get the low down.
It is the way I would approach buying a LHD RS2 direct from Europe.

thanks alister, I'll speak to MCP. I'm letting my heart rule my head though and I really want it, Its in good condition for the money and seems genuine enough, I just worry its too good to be true at the price.

I bought it! a few little things need tydying but I love it already!!!

Tell us more ! and well done

Great bits:- 1995, 72k miles, LHD, FSH, 1 owner, Blue with blue alcantara/black leather, driver AND passenger airbag!, totally standard. Just had new brakes and tyres all round! Goes like s**t off a shovel!

Bad points :- wood trim (errrr!!)(can I get the carbon trim from anywhere?) needs cam belt doing (is this a DIY job?) and air con regassed, needs wing mirror glass on drivers side, front bumper cracked (only little crack), wheels badly kerbed.

Just minor things really but i'm a perfectionist and it was considerably under £10k!

You can occaisonally find carbon trim on UK and German e-bay. Also worth keeping an eye on www.s2forum.com

In regards to your new tyres: make sure your new tyres are the right size. In short the RS2 was only homologated on one size of tyre namely the Dunlop SP Sport 8000 in 245/40ZR17. Unfortunately, Dunlop no longer make these tyres and no other 245/40ZR17 tyre will properly or safely fit on the 7 inch rims of the RS2. It has been established by many RS2 owners that the best way to solve this problem is to move to a tyre size of 225/45ZR17. For proper info on this do a search on tyres on this forum and also have a look on http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/RS2list/

In regards to changing the cam belt: If you haven't changed a cam belt before, you may want some help doing it as it is a bit of a job to do as much of the front of the car has to come off to access the various pulleys and belts, you also have to make sure that the everything is lined up perfectly before you put it all back together again. Whilst the front is off, as well as replacing the cam belt, you might want to consider changing the cam belt pulley, the cam/hall sensor and the water pump. Some people do this and many people don't. But what ever you choose to do make sure the cam pulley gets put back exactley as it came off, if it goes back on incorectly you will loose the "s**t off a shovel" effect. This happened to me and it took over 8 months and many headaches to resolve the issue. Read the following thread which explains more.

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8661



Angus

"can I get the carbon trim from anywhere?"

If cost is no problem!?:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... Track=true

Thanks for the "heads up" on ebay.

I have the wood around the auxilary dials and ash tray as well though? did the carbon not stretch that far?

how much of a hastle was it to import from germany? how did you get it to the uk before insuring it? what about the language barrier with the seller?

thinking of getting a german one myself ...

cheers
stef

Stef,

I'm going to dissapoint you now, .... I bought it from a german bloke in Manchester!

Insurance was no problem, I'm with tesco's and they did it on the chassis number untill it was on UK plates. There appears to be no way of checking history other than the original dealer that sold the car. Obviously HPI et al don't cover foriegn cars. Audi Uk or German headquarters were unable to help with the history as well. When you register with the DVLA they contact interpol! so that was a bit of a worry because although i knew it hadn't been crashed and repaired (from german main dealer who spoke very good english). I didn't know if it had been stolen/recovered. which was a little bit worrying!

However, I now love my car and am so glad that i took the risk. I couldn't afford a RHd, UK car so it was the only way to get one!

Hope this helps.

Sounds like you got a bargain. I wish they spec'd the RHD cars the same as LHD - electronic climate, heated seats....

I have the wood around the auxilary dials and ash tray as well though? did the carbon not stretch that far?

My one does not have carbon in those locations...just black plastic or vinyl.