Best place to purchase English Import

choo choo man

Hi,

I am looking at buying a Passat or A4 tdi 2008. I am looking at an english import with low miles. Has anyone any recommendations for dealers or are you better off going up north?

corktina

my fear would be that the car might be clocked,a tarted up write-off or worse. In my opinion ther best place to buy an English car is England...

Turtle-TM

There's plenty of places to get decent ex fleet or hire cars in the uk. Search online, arrange to see a few and get the ferry over, Manchester,Liverpool and other places on the west will have plenty of places selling cars like that. As always do a car reg check on them and then drive one home if it's the right car at the right price. Also check the vrt first before you go!

testicle

England

Bartyman

Cargiant have a good selection, a lad in work bought off them last year and has had no issues.

Anan1

choo choo man wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking at buying a Passat or A4 tdi 2008. I am looking at an english import with low miles. Has anyone any recommendations for dealers or are you better off going up north?

Why are you looking for an English car in particular?

corktina

because they are all so charming and terribly well brought up

lifer_sean

choo choo man wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking at buying a Passat or A4 tdi 2008. I am looking at an english import with low miles. Has anyone any recommendations for dealers or are you better off going up north?

A4 TDi's, and to a lesser extent Passats, are in demand in the UK too. Low mileage and high spec ones will make good money in the UK also ... do the maths and you may find that importing isn't that attractive. Decide for yourself, maybe it works for you.

Above all else, make sure that any UK car has a service history. Be aware that it's not unusual for cars in the UK to have 170,000 miles after 3 years. You buy a car with 90k miles on it after 3 years but no history ... you think "90k miles, it's so high it's surely correct", but it could still have a lot more.

If buying in the North, be aware that there are many companies that specialise in buying damaged repairables in the UK and selling them in the North, where they get repaired and then sold on.

Leonard Hofstadter

Unlike the Irish, the Brits are pretty good at looking after their cars. So don't buy anything without a full service history.

Also don't buy a poverty spec car with a small capacity engine - there are loads of these type of cars in Ireland. If I was bringing in a Mondeo for example, I'd be looking at a 2.0 TDCi Titanium as a bare minimum (and ideally a Titanium X or a Titanium S) - otherwise it will have been a total waste - LX, Edge and Zetecs are ten a penny here so there is no point in going over there just for the sake of it.

choo choo man

Anan1 wrote: »

Why are you looking for an English car in particular?

There seems to be a lot of keenly priced Passats and Audi's (VRT included)on the market at the moment. The spec seems to be quite good, provided you dont mind the MPH issue. All of the cars i have looked at have full service histories and are immaculate. Granted some have massive mileage and some only have 50k+. All cars have service history.

Tommytwotimes

I used Arnold Clark in Stafford to buy my 2008 Ford Mondeo, the English models have much nicer specs, are better maintained, and I was able to fly in to get this car at 9 am, drove to Holyhead and was back home at half five. It is not far from Birmingham, about an hour, and the road to Holyhead was motorway all the way, with no traffic incidents on the day. The guy I dealt with was called Stephen, nice fella, and Arnold Clark have garages all over the UK.

Anan1

choo choo man wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of keenly priced Passats and Audi's (VRT included)on the market at the moment. The spec seems to be quite good, provided you dont mind the MPH issue. All of the cars i have looked at have full service histories and are immaculate. Granted some have massive mileage and some only have 50k+. All cars have service history.

Look for a well-priced car with FSH and in excellent condition so, rather than narrowing it down to English cars only. Make sure to verify the service history by calling the relevant garages and run a full HPI check including V5 serial # and issue date before handing over any money.

Esel

Worry about previous laundered diesel use if buying in the north.

Soarer

Bought our Prius T-Spirit from Steve James in Liverpool.
Bought it in 2008 when it was just over 36 months old. It was a fleet car that had just finished it's 3 years, and came with a FTSH. She had 85k warranted miles on her, which we were a little worried about being too high for 3 years, but she was as new.
Bought her for the princely sum of £7550, and the VRT was only around €700 'cause of the rebate on Hybrids.
Flew from Cork to Liverpool in the early afternoon, Steve collected me at the airport, went to his premises to do the deal, hit the road and got the evening ferry home again.
4 years and 40k miles later, and she's still running as well as the day we bought her. Never had a mechanical ailment and only for the odd battle scar from herself driving, you'd never think she had 120k+ miles on the clock.

I know that went slightly OT, but basically.....
Make sure the car has a full service history
Don't be afraid of high mileage if it's warranted
Check the vrt before you head over
When dealing with the seller, pretend you have a few other cars to fall back on if their car doesn't suit. If they think your only option is their car, they mightn't be so willing to shift on price or whatever.