Volkswagon Sharon - is this unusual

sandrle

Hi
I would really value your thoughts / opinion on the following

I was looking this week to upgrade my 07 VW Sharon - I came across a 161 Sharon on the main VW site for 33k - I had arranged to look at the car this morning

I was very pleased with the car and got into a discussion over trade in value - I was very close to putting a deposit on the car and was talking about the warranty and extending it by a year and he then mentioned that it was a UK import - I was a bit taken a back as this had not been mentioned before - He went into the office and came back a few minutes later and he said the car had been owned by a VW employee in the UK - I just got nervous and politely told him I would get back to him early next week

Couple of questions
Is it normal for a main VW dealer to sell UK imported cars
If I were to go ahead with it what should I watch out for / check out
For some reason I just feel nervous about buying a UK import we are putting a lot of money into this and I don't want to make a mistake - Am I just being over cautious

Any guidance you can give would be really appreciated

bazz26

Why are you nervous now that you know it is a UK import?

eoinzy2000

sandrle wrote: »

Hi
I would really value your thoughts / opinion on the following

I was looking this week to upgrade my 07 VW Sharon - I came across a 161 Sharon on the main VW site for 33k - I had arranged to look at the car this morning

I was very pleased with the car and got into a discussion over trade in value - I was very close to putting a deposit on the car and was talking about the warranty and extending it by a year and he then mentioned that it was a UK import - I was a bit taken a back as this had not been mentioned before - He went into the office and came back a few minutes later and he said the car had been owned by a VW employee in the UK - I just got nervous and politely told him I would get back to him early next week

Couple of questions
Is it normal for a main VW dealer to sell UK imported cars
If I were to go ahead with it what should I watch out for / check out
For some reason I just feel nervous about buying a UK import we are putting a lot of money into this and I don't want to make a mistake - Am I just being over cautious

Any guidance you can give would be really appreciated

I bought a uk import passat from a VW dealer a year ago. Great machine.

magentis

Makes no real difference tbf.Why not get the UK reg and run a history check if you are concerned?

blackeyedpeat

I was in an Opel dealership near tbe border about two years ago I'd say easily half his stock were Vauxhall imports.
There wouldn't be too many 2nd hand Sharans available in Ireland( More Tourans)so sourcing in the UK is a good way to get stock.
I imported a 14 Sharon S about 3 months ago to replace a Galaxy. Really happy with it.

shooter69

sandrle wrote: »

Hi
I would really value your thoughts / opinion on the following

I was looking this week to upgrade my 07 VW Sharon - I came across a 161 Sharon on the main VW site for 33k - I had arranged to look at the car this morning

I was very pleased with the car and got into a discussion over trade in value - I was very close to putting a deposit on the car and was talking about the warranty and extending it by a year and he then mentioned that it was a UK import - I was a bit taken a back as this had not been mentioned before - He went into the office and came back a few minutes later and he said the car had been owned by a VW employee in the UK - I just got nervous and politely told him I would get back to him early next week

Couple of questions
Is it normal for a main VW dealer to sell UK imported cars
If I were to go ahead with it what should I watch out for / check out
For some reason I just feel nervous about buying a UK import we are putting a lot of money into this and I don't want to make a mistake - Am I just being over cautious

Any guidance you can give would be really appreciated

No reason to get nervous , bought my wife's Audi from a dealer in NI that had brought in from Audi uk where it was owned by an Audi sales guy , if anything it was a better spec'd car and was spotless , I say go for it if you're happy with it !

greenflash

But also bare in mind that just because someone works for a supposedly reputable main brand dealer, it does not mean they're not a dodgy lying used car salesman.

I recently looked at a UK import at a well known main dealer and was told the car had been an in house demo/staff car in England. Turns out it was a hire car previously. Thing drove like crap and the salesman tried to hide it by dictating the most pointless test drive route ever. He then offered way over the odds for my current car as a trade in which confirmed the alarms bells.

No matter what the car and who's selling, it's always worth checking the history yourself.

bazz26

There is alot of scaremongering going around about UK imports being clocked/written off. The reality is that it's the chancers selling them over here from the likes of supermarket carparks and backstreet dealers that are the ones doing the clocking or hiding the fact they are written off.

Most UK cars come with full documented service histories unlike over here, get a look at the service history and ring the garage who serviced it or VW UK given it's a 161. It's very unlikely that a large main franchised dealer would risk their reputation by selling a UK car with a dodgy past.

colm_mcm

I don't think it's the import bit that is strange, it's the whole "employee of VW uk" bit that I would find hard to believe.

jennyhayes123

My last 2 cars were UK imports. No hassle. Generally cheaper cars with more mod cons

Del2005

bazz26 wrote: »

There is alot of scaremongering going around about UK imports being clocked/written off. The reality is that it's the chancers selling them over here from the likes of supermarket carparks and backstreet dealers that are the ones doing the clocking or hiding the fact they are written off.

Most UK cars come with full documented service histories unlike over here, get a look at the service history and ring the garage who serviced it or VW UK given it's a 161. It's very unlikely that a large main franchised dealer would risk their reputation by selling a UK car with a dodgy past.

The reason why there is so much scare mongering on UK cars is because they have an open system to verify milage, we don't so it's unknown how many Irish cars are clocked. You can check online UK MOT milage you can only see Irish milage on the NCT cert. You can't find out if an Irish car was written off, the UK again has easy access to several types of write off.

Weren't BMW Ireland advertising UK cars last year, all sold as BMW approved.

Atlantic Dawn

If the speedo is miles only it would be a pure pain in the hole, otherwise history check and if all checks out go with it.

bazz26

Del2005 wrote: »

The reason why there is so much scare mongering on UK cars is because they have an open system to verify milage, we don't so it's unknown how many Irish cars are clocked. You can check online UK MOT milage you can only see Irish milage on the NCT cert. You can't find out if an Irish car was written off, the UK again has easy access to several types of write off.

Weren't BMW Ireland advertising UK cars last year, all sold as BMW approved.

That's my point, the data is there and easily obtained so there is nothing to be nervous about or in fear of a UK import.

bazz26

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

If the speedo is miles only it would be a pure pain in the hole, otherwise history check and if all checks out go with it.

I think people make this out to be worse than it actually is, we drove here for decades with speedos in mph and kph while we have only being driving with kph clocks for 12 years. Also VWs have a secondary digital speedo readout on the central display that can be switched between mph and kph.

nhunter100

Atlantic Dawn wrote:

If the speedo is miles only it would be a pure pain in the hole, otherwise history check and if all checks out go with it.

If it's a UK car the speedo is graduated in miles and kms. An inner and outer set of numbers.

Zaph

blackeyedpeat wrote: »

I was in an Opel dealership near tbe border about two years ago I'd say easily half his stock were Vauxhall imports.
There wouldn't be too many 2nd hand Sharans available in Ireland( More Tourans)so sourcing in the UK is a good way to get stock.

It seems to be common practice for sourcing vehicles that wouldn't be too common on Irish roads. A mate of mine bought a used Peugeot 5008 last year and the dealer told him that the only way he could get them into stock was to bring them over from the UK. He's delighted with it (well technically his wife is, he hates driving it but it was bought for her) and said it was in much better condition than some non-imports of other models he looked at.

Atlantic Dawn

nhunter100 wrote: »

If it's a UK car the speedo is graduated in miles and kms. An inner and outer set of numbers.

Lots of newer model UK VW Group cars are miles only.


https://www.cargiant.co.uk/car/volkswagen/sharan/FL62YKV


https://www.cargiant.co.uk/car/volkswagen/sharan/RJ13YTY

nhunter100

Atlantic Dawn wrote:

Lots of newer model UK VW Group cars are miles only.

You got me, happy to be corrected. In my defence I'm referencing only what I have seen to date.

Atlantic Dawn

nhunter100 wrote: »

You got me, happy to be corrected. In my defence I'm referencing only what I have seen to date.

Yes I was looking at importing myself and this was a major issue for me, I've no problem with the mph and smaller kph but with mph only it's a pain.

nhunter100

Atlantic Dawn wrote:

Yes I was looking at importing myself and this was a major issue for me, I've no problem with the mph and smaller kph but with mph only it's a pain.

Maybe VW is thinking post Brexit.

chicorytip

Del2005 wrote:

The reason why there is so much scare mongering on UK cars is because they have an open system to verify milage, we don't so it's unknown how many Irish cars are clocked. You can check online UK MOT milage you can only see Irish milage on the NCT cert. You can't find out if an Irish car was written off, the UK again has easy access to several types of write off.

Cartell, My Wheels and other car check websites do provide up to date, verifiable information regarding previous mileage and accident damage.

Atlantic Dawn

nhunter100 wrote: »

Maybe VW is thinking post Brexit.

Yes not sure what's behind it, problem created when the old dual system was perfect.

Atlantic Dawn

chicorytip wrote: »

Cartell, My Wheels and other car check websites do provide up to date, verifiable information regarding previous mileage and accident damage.

There's no official category A, B, C, D etc rating damage as they have in the UK in this country nor compliance to rate it.

nhunter100

Atlantic Dawn wrote:

Yes not sure what's behind it, problem created when the old dual system was perfect.

The UK is significant a market it justifies the speedo change, it's here it will have a large effect.

Del2005

chicorytip wrote: »

Cartell, My Wheels and other car check websites do provide up to date, verifiable information regarding previous mileage and accident damage.

Isn't the mileage from the NCT protected under data protection? The last few reports I got asked me to confirm that the mileage was correct, the UK pulls from the MOT database.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Yes I was looking at importing myself and this was a major issue for me, I've no problem with the mph and smaller kph but with mph only it's a pain.

How is it a pain? 75mph for motorways. 60mph for main roads, 30mph for built up areas. It couldn't be simpler. I have a UK import for the last 3 months. The last time I had a car with MPH speedo was in 1997 as I've had Japanese imports from 97 to 2012 and irish cars since then. I have no problems.