CMC950 Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Some forum members may recall that I bought my GTI from Euroimports in March 2006 (very happily) and also that I had quite a lot to say on the subject of importing and the relevance of this fact, come resale. For the record I derived a saving of £3200 on the list price of the car, including extras, when I bought it, including having paid my local VW dealer for a delivery inspection which they happily carried out for £120 and even stamped the book!! I did not feel the need to buy the 3rd year warranty. Otherwise my car was identical UK spec. Equally, there were a few people, with absolutely no experience or knowledge of importing themselves, who thought that they knew more, and quite forcefully felt the need to advice this forum, particularly that I wouldn't get full price for my car upon selling it, because VW are only one click away from knowing its an import, and so I would thus lose the money I had saved in importing, rendering importing pointless. Well, I am happy to report, that's nonsense. I traded my GTI in for a BMW 3 series and, knowing that I do not legally have to automatically declare that my car is imported, (check with a lawyer or the DVLA if you don't believe me), the only question covering the issue was on the declaration of sale, which was 'did you purchase this car abroad'. Answer, NO I did not. Euroimports are a company registered in the UK. Fact. Therefore I PURCHASED the car in the UK. (Before jumping in to respond to me at this point, please carefully note that the key question to me was not phrased as 'did you import this car’ but 'did you purchase this car abroad'. Very different). My GTI was an 06 plate 20K miles, 3dr DSG with leather. The part-ex price agreed on it was £16,000 which I think anyone will agree was a fair book price on a part-ex and in no way a lower price adjusted due to the 'import' status. The reason I am saying all this is that I had always believed importing is a very proper and fair way to save money on a car if you so choose – and on the basis of my story there is simply NO reason to criticize it. I saved £3200, that is an indisputable fact. Plain and simple. So, if anybody on here is considering importing, but still having their opinion swayed by car dealers visiting internet forums to post their mis-information about importing, then I hope I have done you a service. Let me just add that I fully respect the choice of anyone who prefers to go down the dearler route if only to enjoy the feeling of buying a new car. The dissapointment of buying through Euroimports was most definately picking it up at someones house! Take care all. Miss the GTI already… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 At last someone who can prove that importing is not the evil that it is reported to be! Had I not wanted to finance the car via BoS I would have considered the import route having previously owned an imported S3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyGTi Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 For the record, my experience is similar to CMC950's. I part exchanged my import April 2006 5dr DSG GTi (18,000 miles) for £16,000 against my current ED30 last October 2007. I made no secret of the fact that it was an import. The car was basic spec apart from pearlescent paint and cruise (costing £19650 on the road from new). I've also never had any problems financing my import GTI's -first one was with Hitachi Capital and current one is financed through Capital Bank, which is a Bank of Scotland Motor group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ludwig Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 JonnyGTI, <The car ..... (costing £19650 on the road from new).> Is that £19650 what you paid Euroimports? If so, thats about £1800 depreciation per year, right? Not bad as you're selling the car before it's 2 years old so therefore taking the bigger part of the depreciation hit. I better go and have a look at an ED30 then ... ludwig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyGTi Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Yes, I paid £19650 for my 1st (standard) GTi from Motorprovider in April 2006. I then part exchanged it 18 months later for £16,000 against my current ED30. I think it actually works out about £2400 depreciation per year (or £200 a month). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ludwig Posted February 8, 2008 Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 JonnyGTI, ok thanks. I can see now how it works out to £2400. ludwig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ludwig Posted February 8, 2008 Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 cmc950, thanks for taking the time to post this. I agree with everything you say. Well I would I suppose, as I imported my last two Golfs! I also am a satisfied Euroimports customer. RB & CB at Euroimports know their products much better than any VW dealer I've come across - but that's not really saying much is it! He seems to go the extra mile which I doubt many dealers wouldn't. ludwig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhs Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Agree Euroimports do have customer satisfaction as their aim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sealy Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Another vote for Euroimports.... Just for the record, before I ordered mine I went for a price from my local VW Dealer (Dane Chester) and they couldn't give me one good reason not to import. In fact, as their quota was only two GTI's per month they used to 'import' themselves until VW UK put a stop to it. He said that should I want to trade it in after two years I'd get the same price as a dealer sourced GTI as long as there was still the demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC950 Posted February 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2008 I think I should add that although I imported from Euroimports, I am basically giving the thumbs up to importing in general, provided its done right, and there are a number of companies who fall into that category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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