Insuring Japanese import car in Ireland

Andy From Sligo

Hi all. Wife seen a nice car at dealers. It's a Nissan... But it's a Japanese import (it's got Irish registration plates on it) .

Phoned her usual motor insurance place this morning and they said there could be problem insuring it because it's an imported car. Is this what she is up against do you reckon because it's imported, impossible to insure or expensive to insure it's gonna be?

The insurance company said they are going to check it out and get back.

L1011

Expensive, not impossible. Existing insurer may say no, but most will insure them.

Parts that are not stocked by the Irish distributors can make certain Japanese imports more expensive to repair; and much longer time periods too - expensive for an insurer providing a hire car

Eoinbmw

All cars are imported to Ireland Insurance company's are just kunts!

I'm sorry I can't offer you advice!

Andy From Sligo

so far , Liberty Insurance through Chill.ie is looking favourable at the moment

Raichų

depending on the car JPN imports can be a bit laxer on security than other cars around. Car theft is almost non existent in Japan so immobilisers don’t always come as standard and make the car a piece of piss to rob.

Andy From Sligo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122069760#Comment_122069760

seems to have good security - got engine immobilizer and alarm and nissan intelligent key fob - and it is a Nissan make (true Nissan) and not some random yokomoto jap import make car which I could understand an issue about security why they would not want to insure it

Atlantic Dawn

The problem is that until such time as a law is passed here that all vehicles imported must have an immobiliser confirmed as being fitted at the first NCT these cars will continue to be all a prime target for theft. It doesn't matter if you fit a €10k alarm system with top of the range ghost immobiliser the car will still be the first one someone attempts to rob as they will assume it has no immobiliser. It's purely being attacked based on the assumption of simplicity of theft and so ownership will be painful either by constant attempted thefts or successful ones.

wiz569

I had no problem getting insurance on a jap import VW touran with Zurich only recently, once it has an immobilizer you should have no problems.

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122070133#Comment_122070133

they never said they wouldn’t insure it though. I am explaining why Japanese imports are often more expensive to insure as they are simply much easier (in general) to steal.

It’s not about brand either. Toyota, Nissan etc are often sans immobilisers because car thefts in Japan are almost non existent. Was a big problem a few years ago but seems to be less of one now as folks have realised before importing to make sure it’s fitted with proper security.

lawred2

was about to purchase a jap import VAG when I read this thread.. still no irish plates - dealer/salesman says no-one has any issues with insurance.. :/

still I decided to ring up current insurer - told me that they wouldn't underwrite as is - needs to be escalated internally. Most cases result in a negative.

interestingly all the online quote forms have one stipulation that you attest to the car not being imported (except from UK)… made me curious as to how many people buy a jap import without realizing… yes the importing dealer would know but maybe further down the line that fact gets lost. Especially with private sales.

are those policies all invalidated? Or is it the case when giving insurers the reg they can tell the lineage at that point? But then why the need to attest to it not being an import..

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122070212#Comment_122070212

did you state clearly that it was a jap import?

Ninthlife

Son bought a 3 series BMW jap import recently. Got a quote from AXA which suited him but when he phoned they realised it was a jap import and refused, eventually they gave him a quote of over €4k

The car wasn't VRT'd by the dealer so no Irish plates at that stage

Phoned GMIB and he got a great deal with zero hassle which was cheaper than his previous insurance on a Focus