Importing Mercedes from UK

eamondunphy

Hi guys

Wondering if anyone can help,


I'm been looking to buy a mercedes c class from the uk.


I found one on a main mercedeses dealers website and emailed them to enquire about th car.


They replied today stating "Unfortunately due to Mercedes-Benz company policy, we are unable to knowingly sell a vehicle to a customer looking to export the vehicle outside of the United Kingdom"

I'd never heard of this before and am a bit gutted as I really like the car.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any ways around this?

I have relations in London and Liverpool, am wondering, could i use their address to register the car and say something along the lines of me living with them for the time being?

If the dealer sees the UK address, would that be enough for them?

Thanks for any help or advice, you might have!!

coylemj

eamondunphy wrote: »

They replied today stating "Unfortunately due to Mercedes-Benz company policy, we are unable to knowingly sell a vehicle to a customer looking to export the vehicle outside of the United Kingdom"

I think there's a signal there that you're missing - they won't 'knowingly sell a vehicle....'

My reading of it is that as long as you make out that it's going to a UK home, they will sell you the car. A nod is as good as a wink ....

eamondunphy wrote: »

I have relations in London and Liverpool, am wondering, could i use their address to register the car and say something along the lines of me living with them for the time being?

If the dealer sees the UK address, would that be enough for them?

Sound like a good plan to me.

bazz26

Would that practice be in contravention of free trade between EU countries?

eamondunphy

Thanks, was aware of the "knowingly" part of the sentence alright.

Just don't wanna make the trip to get turned away

porsche boy

Turn up with a wad of cash and watch the salesmen trip over each other to get to you. I've never knowingly seen any salesman turn down a sale.

eamondunphy

www.irishtimes.com/news/mercedes-says-no-irish-need-apply-to-import-cars-from-uk-1.566993

Found this article, no clue what the law is on the matter but it's their policy

goochy

have you tried car giant in london ?

Tea 1000

goochy wrote: »

have you tried car giant in london ?

Have you shares in car giant?!

goochy

wish i had ! no just a great dealer .

eamondunphy

I was hoping to stay with a genuine Mercedes dealer that had a warranty, Am I right in saying that car giant don't provide warranties as standard?

Genuine dealers give me peace of mind

john hanrahan

i am weighing up some options myself at the moment and i think cars in the uk are more expensive than here with the current exchange rate and vrt and really no dealer comeback.

the option list would be better but is there value to be had in the uk? i cannot see it it at the moment.

aside from that i would assume that they cannot refuse to sell you a car????

bazz26

eamondunphy wrote: »

I was hoping to stay with a genuine Mercedes dealer that had a warranty, Am I right in saying that car giant don't provide warranties as standard?

Genuine dealers give me peace of mind

But if they are telling you that "offically" they can not sell you a car that you are exporting then what good is the warranty to you over here?

collieno

Keep in mind if you import the car the UK warranty is not valid here, what year is the car you are looking to buy?

Stallingrad

That's a pretty outrageous policy, can't believe it is legal.

Tea 1000

goochy wrote: »

wish i had ! no just a great dealer .

It's nothing special at all, just a typical car supermarket.

Tea 1000

collieno wrote: »

Keep in mind if you import the car the UK warranty is not valid here, what year is the car you are looking to buy?

Explicitly a Mercedes thing? BMW support imports.

eamondunphy

It's a 2013 diesel, I thought that the warranty would carry over as it would be originally registered to an uk address

suchafunkymonke

The warranty doesn't transfer automatically

You would need to contact M-B Ireland and ask them to accept the transfer of warranty from M-B UK and they're under no obligation to do it.

You could keep the UK warranty, but you would need to take it to a UK garage for servicing and a UK dealership for repairs. But this would rely on M-B UK accepting the vehicle warranty based on its VIN and not on it's registration plate, as that would be changed.

To be honest, I don't see the effort making it worthwhile

Marcusm

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Have you shares in car giant?!

goochy wrote: »

wish i had ! no just a great dealer .

The dealership is only a sideline; the site is worth well North of £1billion and about to be redeveloped for housing and commercial space.

spiggotpaddy

Is it really worth the hassle and uncertainty. How much more would you pay here. Try Michael Moore.

eamondunphy

spiggotpaddy wrote: »

Is it really worth the hassle and uncertainty. How much more would you pay here. Try Michael Moore.

Saving 5k ish

Boskowski

Stallingrad wrote: »

That's a pretty outrageous policy, can't believe it is legal.

I guess it's a Mercedes thing where they basically don't want to undermine their Irish dealers. As for the legality I haven't a clue but if it's Mercedes policy you would think that was checked by their legal department.

bazz26

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Explicitly a Mercedes thing? BMW support imports.

BMW Ireland and BMW UK are the same Distributor so that's why the warranty is transferable. Not sure Merc UK and Merc Ireland are though.

goochy

could you buy a warranty from merc. here ?

are you sure you are comparing like for like ? €5k seems alot to save on a c class ? Paul Tobin imports alot but rarely has c class , i am sure if the savings where that great he would have - though i do see my local mb dealer importing c class.

if you are saving €5k do you really need a warranty - just put some cash aside.

eamondunphy

For this one car, I'd save that much, it seems to be priced cheaper than all the other 2013 c class, I don't think I'd save this much on every c class, but defo in this instance

collieno

eamondunphy wrote: »

It's a 2013 diesel, I thought that the warranty would carry over as it would be originally registered to an uk address

In Ireland the warranty is 2 years as opposed to 3 in the UK so that car even if did carry over would be out of warranty

Theanswers

The warranty would be valid in Northern Ireland on the VIN number.

kooga

bazz26 wrote: »

BMW Ireland and BMW UK are the same Distributor so that's why the warranty is transferable. Not sure Merc UK and Merc Ireland are though.

merc uk and merc ireland totally separate

ei9go

They can't not knowingly sell you a car because if buying for export they would have to give you the full V5C which they wouldn't if you were buying as a UK resident.

Seweryn

ei9go wrote: »

They can't not knowingly sell you a car because if buying for export they would have to give you the full V5C which they wouldn't if you were buying as a UK resident.

The situation in Ireland is very same. Imagine a customer from foreign country coming over here to buy a car and drive home. What the seller is going to do? At least 90% of people will refuse the sale, because they will not want to hand over the VR Document and will try to send it to Shannon istead.

Mashie

goochy wrote: »

could you buy a warranty from merc. here ?

are you sure you are comparing like for like ? €5k seems alot to save on a c class ? Paul Tobin imports alot but rarely has c class , i am sure if the savings where that great he would have - though i do see my local mb dealer importing c class.

if you are saving €5k do you really need a warranty - just put some cash aside.

Noticed MSL in Cork unloading a truckful of yellow regs the other day. Seemed to be larger models alright though

goochy

msl cork / msl group import alot of cars - all models - have a 2014 s350 and gl350 as well as many other mercs and german cars. these are not really auction type stock so assume they buy these str8 from uk dealers forecourts ?

masterfuji

I know this post is old but does anyone have any update on it or is it still the same? I am looking to buy in the uk and import but ideally from a main dealer due to choice and value. Do they still not want to sell for export? Is there approved Mercedes Benz dealships that are not part of the group as such?

Thanks

galwaytt

Stallingrad wrote: »

That's a pretty outrageous policy, can't believe it is legal.

Harley and Honda do it in the bike world too.

Stallingrad

masterfuji wrote: »

I know this post is old but does anyone have any update on it or is it still the same? I am looking to buy in the uk and import but ideally from a main dealer due to choice and value. Do they still not want to sell for export? Is there approved Mercedes Benz dealships that are not part of the group as such?

Thanks

Call a UK dealer and ask?