Imported car, what's the catch?

CaptainRAVE said:
Helpful, thanks. I wonder whether undersealing is then as effective if you do it now vs from the factory?

Going to do some phone calls over lunch.
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Having watched a few production line videos it appears a lot of the sealant / rust prevention is applied whilst the car is in bits on the production line, i.e. before wings, doors etc are fitted so I’m guessing if they use less sealant on cars destined for more temperate climates (why wouldn’t they if it’s not needed?) then the inaccessible areas on an assembled car will have less protection and be nigh impossible to retrofit as such, this was my concern especially if the import has been in the U.K. for a while and already experienced road salt.

Probably something over nothing in truth but it did make me wonder and ultimately helped sway me away.
 
Scania said:
Having watched a few production line videos it appears a lot of the sealant / rust prevention is applied whilst the car is in bits on the production line, i.e. before wings, doors etc are fitted so I’m guessing if they use less sealant on cars destined for more temperate climates (why wouldn’t they if it’s not needed?) then the inaccessible areas on an assembled car will have less protection and be nigh impossible to retrofit as such, this was my concern especially if the import has been in the U.K. for a while and already experienced road salt.

Probably something over nothing in truth but it did make me wonder and ultimately helped sway me away.
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It's a complete unknown, that's definitely a worry. In a few years time it could just rust away.
 
For the sake of £500, I'd just get any JDM import undersealed for piece of mind.

The likelyhood of this car being thrashed around while there is salt on the ground is remote so I wouldn't worry too much. Plus it is a recent car from Merc, not one from 20+ years ago!
 
The reason Jap imports don't have proper underseal is because they don't salt the roads in winter over there, I had a R33 GTS and it was immaculate underneath, had it done over here as soon as I got it though.

It does state on the advert that it's UK registered so hopefully they've done the mph conversion, as far as I know they cannot legally "wind back" the odometer to show true miles covered though so when converted to miles it'll still show the full km's covered. They would have to replace the speedo etc. from memory to do that.

If it was imported in 2020 has it been run since then or in their storage getting prepped would be the answer I'd be asking them and also see if you can get hold of the previous owner to see if he got it from auction over there
 
My local Indy seems up for the job including the under seal, assuming it’s clean to begin with, so it could go straight there. You make a good point as to what has happened since 2020 e.g. has it been used on uk roads without underseal and what is the current condition? Tried phoning them, can’t get through. Left a message that’s been read, not sure I can do much more. No reply.
 
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It seems this car has been imported and prepped for UK use. I would want to know the history, get a UK dealer to review it and check out insurance, but I don't think there are any significant worries. You will of course need to sell the car as an import, so cheaply compared to UK cars as this is, so there is no real saving other than the up front cost. Also if you plan to finance you need to find a financier comfy to fund this particular asset.

A friend of mine who lives in UK/Lux orders his Porsches to UK C16 spec but from Lux.
 
Uther said:
That's not a great look when you want to potentially give them 50k...
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No, it’s not and it doesn’t instil one with confidence.

Housey said:
It seems this car has been imported and prepped for UK use. I would want to know the history, get a UK dealer to review it and check out insurance, but I don't think there are any significant worries. You will of course need to sell the car as an import, so cheaply compared to UK cars as this is, so there is no real saving other than the up front cost. Also if you plan to finance you need to find a financier comfy to fund this particular asset.

A friend of mine who lives in UK/Lux orders his Porsches to UK C16 spec but from Lux.
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Fortunately finance isn’t needed. Resale would be slightly more challenging, but when I do buy a GT, whichever it is it will be to keep for sometime. By then then resale cost would be pretty irrelevant to me. I think it’s moot at the moment anyway, I can’t seem to buy it :p
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Fortunately finance isn’t needed. Resale would be slightly more challenging, but when I do buy a GT, whichever it is it will be to keep for sometime. By then then resale cost would be pretty irrelevant to me. I think it’s moot at the moment anyway, I can’t seem to buy it :p
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Buy the GT R, thank me later :D
 
CaptainRAVE said:
That car certainly did the rounds then.
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The bloke that bought it was some dodgy looking Eastern European guy with about 3 teeth and barely spoke English, to be fair he was ok though. When I said I needed some information to put in the new keeper supplement on the V5 he had to phone someone and gave me a name and address.

The car had an unusual intermittent brake failure, I was doing about 90 on a motorway and needed to slow down slightly, as my foot slowly pressed on the brake pedal, the pedal just kept going to the floor with nothing.

Disconcerting feeling I tell you. But after that it was fine and continued to work for months, until in almost the exact same circumstances it did it again.

Couldn't easily diagnose or fix without stripping and replacing most of the brake system just to be sure, and it wasn't worth doing, just couldn't risk a problem like that.

I was very upfront about that when I sold the car.
 
I would have thought a modern car would have the same underseal applied compared to UK spec. All components have same part numbers and all seams would have been sealed regardless of where it was going. I can only guess a UK car might have a slightly thicker stonechip. It is not like a JDM Mercedes will come out of the factory with a bare floorpan.

I know it was an issue with JDM specific cars that were not sold anywhere else. My GT-Four still had a smidge of stonechip on the bottom from factory.

I guess the main reason for the cheapness is because its service history is basically null and void as anything can be faked and cannot really be proven unless you speak fluent Japanese and contact Mercedes direct. It could have blown an engine or been in a crash.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
My local Indy seems up for the job including the under seal, assuming it’s clean to begin with, so it could go straight there. You make a good point as to what has happened since 2020 e.g. has it been used on uk roads without underseal and what is the current condition? Tried phoning them, can’t get through. Left a message that’s been read, not sure I can do much more. No reply.
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I wouldn't worry about underseal on such car.. plus never take it to an indy. They'll just cover it in wax oil and call it a day. Find professionals to use high quality and often clear products for underseal and cavity wax. But for perspective, my 2003 Japan only crown has been in UK since 2003 and has no aftermarket underseal and is literally clean underneath with nothing rusting.
 
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