I have just sold my wife's 1999V VW Golf 1.6SE automatic.
Back in 1999, I approached a UK VW main dealer for the car. Their attitude was summarised by the statement of 'We do not do discounts. Sir.' They wanted a ridiculous £17,200 for the car.
Next stop VW dealer in Belgium. Same car: £14,150 inc VAT and transit to UK. And flowers. I bought it.
Take the same car the UK VW dealer for servicing and all I get is ye olde 'it will be worth less when you sell it' spiel.
Well, I just sold the car for £7850. So after 4 years the car kept 55% of its original value. The buyer was aware that the car was an import and they couldn't care less anyway: it was the spec and full VW history that was important to them.
So I would like to extend a warm 'Thank You' to Volkswagen UK for distorting the price of thier UK-supplied cars to the benefit of those who imported them from the continent.
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I presume you sold it privately? I think the dealer would have given you less for it compared to a "UK" car?
I asked about trading in my last imported Alfa 156, the dealer wasnt interested, said a ridiculously low price, and told me it would go straight to auction. I sold it privately for more no problems.
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It is just another way of getting ripped off by the trade! Any correct UK spec car with a correct service history is worth a certain amount of money and this value shoudn't be related to what you paid for it. Hundreds of thousands of cars for sale in UK are "Imports" in that they are made in Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, India, South Africa etc. Many of them aren't even made in the home country of their owner. Mercs in America and South Africa, Rovers in India, Fords almost everywhere and so on. It is just another trade nonsense as they try to protect their market (IMHO)
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Well my "honest" dealer told me the reason was, if you`ve saved a hatful on the buying cost, then so will they on buying it off you (although what you paid has got to do with them is beyond me!)
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The real reason that UK cars are more expensive is that every car that comes into the country has to be rebuilt by the finest ex-bmc craftsman.
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lol puntoo
....just so that the cars can be made unreliable enough for us to be happy!
Paul
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They give you trade-ins based on what you paid, they will 'punish' you with a lower trade in n an import, even though the car is worth the same as a domestic. The same goes for car supermarket, pre-registered and otherwise discounted cars. they often come in a shade of paint, trim spec, or 'special edition' which will be listed in Glasses-type guides as having cost less when new, so trade in should be £xxx less than normal.
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HJ has an entire staff of craftsman at all UK sea ports. This ensures a steady stream of enquiries to his website (which we all know generates vast sums of revenue for him).
Of course he knows all the problems, as he (and his evil BMC minions) put them all there in the first place.
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Once you're beyond the 3 years, out of warranty / first MOT stage then nobody cares. It's only trying to sell within a dealer network early on that it matters.
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"if you`ve saved a hatful on the buying cost, then so will they on buying it off you"..
I also thought this was the reason - and I think it was the reason given by glassess guide on either 5th gear or top gear a couple of seasons ago. Although they were implying that the values should be less in the second hand market full stop (that private buyers would pay less).
Don't personally think the argument holds any water. Does this then mean that all fleet cars should be worth less, due to the huge discounts that the companies get?
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