Imported car with no history

whizkid9

Hi, Is it safe to buy an imported car with no garage history? How to ensure if the car is not written of outside ireland? in UK/Japan?

colm_mcm

Are you actually looking to buy Japanese domestic model car?

You won’t get a whole lot of info from Japan, but generally auction sheets will highlight any visible imperfections in the car.

For the uk, there’s no excuse to not do a check.

Atlantic Dawn

A UK purchase would be safer than Irish, we have no official write off database here for cars.

whizkid9

colm_mcm wrote: »

Are you actually looking to buy Japanese domestic model car?

You won’t get a whole lot of info from Japan, but generally auction sheets will highlight any visible imperfections in the car.

For the uk, there’s no excuse to not do a check.

The seller says, he dont know if the car was imported from UK or Japan. He got it as part of a trade from someone. I asked, if he could contact the old seller to get the history and the seller lost the previous traders contact.

can i know, the hisotry from checking the chasis no or something? its a prius

MarkR

Try this. https://uk.vin-info.com/

I was able to use it against a car I used to own, and it brought back some info, including the manufacturing plant.

Also, if you're asking is it safe, you need a mechanic to do an inspection of the car. Can can be washed and polished within an inch of it's life, and have had the arse driven out of it.

Atlantic Dawn

whizkid9 wrote: »

The seller says, he dont know if the car was imported from UK or Japan. He got it as part of a trade from someone. I asked, if he could contact the old seller to get the history and the seller lost the previous traders contact.

can i know, the hisotry from checking the chasis no or something? its a prius

The logbook will say what the original country of registration was. If it's a Japanese Prius I would avoid as the centre console will have been butchered to add an aftermarket head unit and it will look like utter sh!te as a result.


If he doesn't know if the car was imported from UK or Japan he's either a fool or thinks you are.

colm_mcm

whizkid9 wrote: »

The seller says, he dont know if the car was imported from UK or Japan. He got it as part of a trade from someone. I asked, if he could contact the old seller to get the history and the seller lost the previous traders contact.

can i know, the hisotry from checking the chasis no or something? its a prius

It should be pretty obvious whether it’s uk or Japanese. My advice would be to walk away as if he’s as clueless as he’s making out then he could have bought a pig in a poke.
More likely this is a very clued-in trader buying and selling cars and offering none of the advantages of buying from a trader.

Link to the ad?

lalababa

Get the registration number, Look it up on totalcarcheck for 2 pounds. Bob's your uncle.

colm_mcm

Or get the uk registration and run it through the MOT history check for free