buying a BMW import

real_484

Was looking at carzone and saw some BMW's for sale, low miles good price from

Trade Vehicles-Retail Deals (TVD)
Unit 1, Tolka Quay Road, Dublin Port,..

The cars are Singapore imports and prices look very good. Has any brought from here or any experience with these type of imports?

thanks

unkel

Website

How did you get their prices? All of them seem to be POA in their carzone listings

Do you work for them?

real_484

some of the prices were listed this morning on carzone, about 4-5K cheaper than Irish equivalent.

Don't work in anything to do with cars or anything related to TVD. I am interested in peoples comment if they have brought from them and how they have found the cars.

spockety

do they all have VRT paid on them.. if not, it might explain the 4-5k difference in price.

BnA

I wonder does the price you were quoted include VRT. I looked at a few of their pictures on Carzone and none of the cars have number plates on them yet which would lead me to believe that they're not registered yet.

HashSlinging

Guys, I've done a bit of investigating, as we know these are trade cars, I rang TVD today but was told that they wouldnt sell direct they took my number for a local dealer. A local dealer just rang me about the car i was interested in and quoted me 19,900 euros for one. Saving gone...

bazz26

If you are looking to save money by purchasing a UK import then you are better off going over there yourself. There is a wide selection of nice, well looked after, reasonably priced cars over there. You just need to do your homework before doing it.

A few UK cars that are being bought and imported by some dealers over here have dodgy histories i.e. failed MOTs due to bad crash repair jobs, etc, probably bought cheaply through auction houses and sold on over here to the unsuspecting public at inflated prices while still being slightly cheaper than Irish cars.

tinofapples

Huge Stocklist , 387 motors !!

spockety

If you want a good motor from the UK, as bazz26 says, go there yourself.

I went to CarGiant last weekend (www.cargiant.co.uk), and put a deposit down, hoping to collect this weekend. It is an unbelieveable place. It's like taking half of Autotrader's content, and sticking it in a few warehouses for you to browse without phoning around all over the place. Fantastic.

Eoin

spockety wrote:

If you want a good motor from the UK, as bazz26 says, go there yourself.

I went to CarGiant last weekend (www.cargiant.co.uk), and put a deposit down, hoping to collect this weekend. It is an unbelieveable place. It's like taking half of Autotrader's content, and sticking it in a few warehouses for you to browse without phoning around all over the place. Fantastic.

Wow - some good prices there, for example an '02 BMW 320D SE works out at about €21,100 all in (if I got the VRT calculation right). That's very much on the cheaper end of the prices over here (similar carzone search here)

The Bouncer

Hi Real


Saw the TVD stuff too and Enterprise cars in Limerick sell them in Muster 01 520 54000miles fully loaded 21k (probably less 4 cash). The spec on these is much higher than equivalent in Ireland but they only have autos which is a shame.

I am seriously considering one, anyone know how to verify milage etc? Checked out the car and could find nothing to indicate milage not genuine, in fact car looks excellent. Anyone bought one?

The Bouncer

Also does anyone know if the mpg suffers a lot compared to manual?

unkel

The Bouncer wrote:

Also does anyone know if the mpg suffers a lot compared to manual?

The auto has a bit under 10% worse MPG compared to the manual. It will make it easier to sell the car on later with the auto though

The Bouncer

unkel wrote:

The auto has a bit under 10% worse MPG compared to the manual. It will make it easier to sell the car on later with the auto though

Cool that is great to know TBH I thought the auto box would be a disadvantage when selling. Any tips for what to look out for on second hand 01 520i? Also was there a refresh during this year?

There is a rumour that these may be ex taxis? anyone know if this is true?

The Bouncer

Also is AA inspection worth the €350 plus VAT!!!

agent_smith

Hi Guys,

Im in the same boat. I have been looking at TVD for a possible 520/523 setup.
I was wondering how you guys found them for issues that may or may not arise. I was told that all cars that leave the building go first through the Carroll and Kinsella 26point check and that everything would leave tip top... no broken plastics etc...
Also is there a cheaper way than to get an AA inspection. That appears to be overly expensive.
Finally... I was told that the only difference between the Singapore Beemers and Irish ones was the size of the radiator which is larger in the singapore one.. supposedly to handle the hotter climate and the fact that over there the air con is being run all the time. Can anybody tell me if there would be any problems getting parts for one of these vehicles on the irish market if something went wrong ?


Any opinions ??

agent_smith

macshadow

spockety wrote:

If you want a good motor from the UK, as bazz26 says, go there yourself.

I went to CarGiant last weekend (www.cargiant.co.uk), and put a deposit down, hoping to collect this weekend. It is an unbelieveable place. It's like taking half of Autotrader's content, and sticking it in a few warehouses for you to browse without phoning around all over the place. Fantastic.

Spockety,did your car have a sticker over the mileage saying they take no
responsibility for mileage accuracy?
Did it have service history and old mots? if you don't mind me asking.
I spent many a sunday afternoon stolling around cargiant or tradecenter as it
was called then.
You can pick up some good deals but they source their cars from lease hire
firms.across the road there's another part of cargiant with nearly new cars.
Were you able to bargain with them on price?i'd be very surprised if you could.

Mahatma coat

these Singapore imports have been coming in over here for a while, through Darwin Via Timor, the thing here is that the cars sold on the market here are a lot lower spec than the imports, which make them popular and if its a BMW or a merc then parts are teh same worldwide mostly anyhow, so anyone I know who has/d one has been happy with it.

been contemplating a late 90's 7series at somestage meself

PoleStar

Am I right in saying that Crystal Cars (or Cristal as it is also spelt on some of the carzone ads) deals with cars from TVD then? Or are they Jap imports?

Also i am always a bit suspicious when the ad only lists a mobile number, even though it is supposed to be a car dealer.

I guess there is always a risk when you buy an import like this.

Tipsy Mac

Problem with Singaporian or Jap Imports is unless you do the importing yourself through a reputable seller/auctionhouse on the other side there's no way to verify the milage or history of the car, don't really know what you are buying. From what I have seen been sold from certain dealers it varies from cars which have had their milage cut to atleast a third of the correct milage to cars that have been involved in serious accidents.

milltown

I have heard stories of a full time mechanic employed on the boat from SGP to, erm, recalibrate the speedos. You'll obviously be wanting a test drive, so head straight down to Frank Keane's and get them to check the mileage on the chip in the key matches what's on the dash.

If they refuse to allow a reasonable attempt to verify the mileage, walk!

Nightcaller4u

Hi there. Purchased a BMW 520i auto before Christmas off ebay. UK reg. Got the miles verified by the AA (375), but there are several compnies in the UK that will do it. I found the dealer to be quiet honest and helped me alot on paperwork. On full inspection, the car was 100% genuine, and much higher spec than what was on offer in Irl. My advice to you is to 1 - shop around, 2 - get a mechanic to look it over, 3 - fully stamped service history, 4 - if it looks too good to be true then it probably is. Hope i've being some use to you.

agent_smith

And what of this TVD croud. Are they the real deal... legit ?
Most of their cars have high enough mileage. 70 -90k but are in great condition. I am extremely tempted. They have warehouses of these cars in ballymount and on the docks. They also have an auction house where they will go abroad for you and you can purchase remotely from ireland. They appear credible. Anybody with experience with these guys ??