Focus UK imports opinions

haminka

There seem to be loads of them right now on the market, 2009 and 2010s. I'm looking at one, sold from one authorized UK dealer to another one, the Motorcheck seems to be showing no problems when I ran it on the UK registration.
Any opinions on those cars and what should be looked at?

Meeoow

honestjohn.co.uk is brilliant for checking any known faults on English cars, has all the pros and cons for each year and model, also the cars value

lifer_sean

I wouldn't have a problem with an ex-uk focus. However, there is no way I would touch a car from the UK that didn't have a verified service history. Main reason would be for mileage verification, but also in the case of the 1.6TDCi regular oil changes with the correct oil are a must, otherwise these engines have a habit of eating their turbos and then self-destructing.

I was looking for one of these recently myself but went with a Hyundai i30 in the end ... I thought it was better value for money, and has a longer warranty.

haminka

lifer_sean wrote: »

I wouldn't have a problem with an ex-uk focus. However, there is no way I would touch a car from the UK that didn't have a verified service history. Main reason would be for mileage verification, but also in the case of the 1.6TDCi regular oil changes with the correct oil are a must, otherwise these engines have a habit of eating their turbos and then self-destructing.

I was looking for one of these recently myself but went with a Hyundai i30 in the end ... I thought it was better value for money, and has a longer warranty.

it's a 1.8and the test drive was ok, the car sped up and drove smoothly without any problems

Gru

I've seen two in one garage which both have the same licence plates. The plate seems phony as it gives no hits back on cartell, motorcheck or the motortax site.

Would you have to pay Vrt on these in order to tax them or would the dealer have done that already? They're boasting 160euro a year roadtax and I just want to verify it.

corktina

many will be ex fleet or rental cars, not in itself a bad thing as at least they will have been maintained...

lifer_sean

haminka wrote: »

it's a 1.8and the test drive was ok, the car sped up and drove smoothly without any problems

The 1.8 doesn't have the turbo-eating habit, but is band B (225 euro/yr) for road tax vs the band A for the 1.6, if I'm remembering correctly.

lifer_sean

Gru wrote: »

I've seen two in one garage which both have the same licence plates. The plate seems phony as it gives no hits back on cartell, motorcheck or the motortax site.

Would you have to pay Vrt on these in order to tax them or would the dealer have done that already? They're boasting 160euro a year roadtax and I just want to verify it.

Re. the duplicate plate, was it a standard format UK plate or a personal plate ?

Re. the VRT question, if you are talking about an Eire-based dealer, then they must by law pay the VRT and fit the plates before they sell an imported car to a consumer.

fasttalkerchat

Gru wrote: »

They're boasting 160euro a year roadtax and I just want to verify it.

Tax for the 1.6 petrol is £170 for the year. Doubt it would be cheaper in ROI!

haminka

Gru wrote: »

I've seen two in one garage which both have the same licence plates. The plate seems phony as it gives no hits back on cartell, motorcheck or the motortax site.

Would you have to pay Vrt on these in order to tax them or would the dealer have done that already? They're boasting 160euro a year roadtax and I just want to verify it.

This is Ford only authorized dealer and they left the UK license plate in the boot so I checked it on the Motorcheck and it looks good. It's €225 road tax for 1.9 diesel and the dealer will be sorting out the whole reg depending on the county I choose.

Gru

lifer_sean wrote: »

Re. the duplicate plate, was it a standard format UK plate or a personal plate ?

Re. the VRT question, if you are talking about an Eire-based dealer, then they must by law pay the VRT and fit the plates before they sell an imported car to a consumer.

It's an Irish plate reg: 10C44422, looked legit at first, but it looks like it's only there for show seeing as they have it on at least two cars. I reckon a trip down there for a look might be worth it.

And thanks for clearing up the vrt question, could come in handy.

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Tax for the 1.6 petrol is £170 for the year. Doubt it would be cheaper in ROI!

It's a 1.6 TDCi STYLE 5 door. Is that about right then?

haminka wrote: »

This is Ford only authorized dealer and they left the UK license plate in the boot so I checked it on the Motorcheck and it looks good. It's €225 road tax for 1.9 diesel and the dealer will be sorting out the whole reg depending on the county I choose.

Cool, maybe it's a similar situation here so. I'll just have to pay them a visit, the cars look nice from here.