Japanese imports - no history available - legit or not?

taytoking

Hi all,

Looking for some advice. We are looking for our first family car and test drove some decent options in Kylemore Cars. We really liked a couple but we’re surprised to discover that they were Japanese imports and are available for sale with no owner history and are also subject to us souricing an NCT. To me, this sounds unusual and definitely a cause for concern. Does anyone have experience buying here and/or with Japanese imports? Is getting insurance difficult? Are we better off avoiding? All advice welcome - thank you!

Atlantic Dawn

Auction sheets if the car was sold in Japan via auction would show details on the cars history, highly unlikely they would share them with you or possibly even have them if they bought the cars through a third party. Insurance can be more expensive as the majority of them do not have immobilisers meaning they can be stolen with nothing more than a screwdriver, this makes them a prime target for theft. Advantages for Japanese imports is they are generally low mileage, high spec, have little or no corrosion owing to the climate.

colm_mcm

Absolutely avoid the likes of the Toyota Aqua or Mazda Demios if you’re living in Dublin. A child could (and often do) steal them.

masterboy123

My friend got Japanese import with full history. Low mileage and relatively good spec.

I would say avoid this deal.

taytoking

Thanks all! Appreciate the info!

User1998

If the car is a ‘German’ Jap import you will have no problem with theft etc.

Alarms and immobilisers can be added to the ‘Japanese’ Jap imports.

I’d be certain you picked them up wrong on the NCT part. They are a huge garage they wouldn’t make you do the NCT yourself.

No point avoiding Jap imports. They are great cars and soon enough our roads will be full of them

History can be checked here:

https://www.cartell.ie/japanese-import/

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118596952#Comment_118596952

I’m very surprised that its still possible to get insured on these without an alarm/immobiliser being fitted.

colm_mcm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118598165#Comment_118598165

I think a lot of owners might get a shock when they try and make a claim.

They ask you if the car has an immobiliser when you take out the policy, they’ve been standard fitment in Europe for 25 years but they still ask.

this is how easy the steering locks are to get past

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLYQ6XXG/

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118598401#Comment_118598401

Yeah I’d say most people are unaware. I actually heard a story of a dealer local to me. They have a list of say 30 basic features that they add to all of their adds, things like electric windows, electric mirrors, standard stuff.

They automatically added that list to the add of the Aqua like they do with all of their cars, but alarm & immobiliser was one of the features on the list

When the buyers car eventually got stolen the insurance company wouldn’t pay out and they managed to get a full refund from the garage for claiming the car had an alarm and immobiliser when it didn’t.