Should be surfing again soon.................but its gonna be a gamble

[Fieldsy]

Ok, here goes, being one that likes a few gambles in life, I've decided to import my own. Thank you to a couple of members on here who have supplied me with a lot of good information, you know who you are

I've managed to find a site with at least 140-150 surfs on auction at any one time. I've e-mailed them at least three times and they have responded immediately the following morning (Japan time), with all the information I have asked of them.

The site is very informative, and gives you the market prices of the vehicles up for auction so that you can decide your price to bid. Search engine is good and you can limit the search to your particular vehicle. You do have to supply an account number in order for a deposit to be made, and some people might not like to do this, but in for a penny in for a pound.

I have recently been to a local dealer who has a '96 SSR-G Intercooler up for £10,995 with 93,000kms

I have just bid on '98 SSR-G Intercooler with 46,000kms for 1,350,000 which equates to about £7,000, this is my maximum bid, it could go for less or more

I appreciate that import duties, shipping , vat and sva will bring the price up to around the dealer price, but I'm getting a later model with hopefully less mileage. I could have bought a '96, like my original surf for just under £5,000.

I know it could all go tits up, but that will be down to me, on the other hand if it goes ok, I'll be chuffed. As I said, I like a gamble, and I'll only have myself to blame.

I will try and post my experiences as it happens.

There are probabaly a few who would advise me against this, and I appreciate your knowledge and advice, but if I don't try, I'll never know.

I won't post links as I appreciate there are dealers who sell on here, and will only do so if it is backed by the moderators/admins


cheers Fieldsy

[RobD]

Hope everything goes well m8,all the best and good luck

[Koi]

Good on yer mate, keep us posted, hope it all goes well.

[pops]

Good luck m8
hope you get a good un.
as yousay worth a punt hey. will check back with interest

[JimL]

Good luck its worth a try, hope it works out for you.

I know it could all go tits up, but that will be down to me,

Can we say tits now coz that would be great hmm?

[Phil H]

Do they have a section for a Eunos (???)sale (Mazda MX? here I think)
I was after a little car for the summer and would like to try to import myself. A dealer here puts them out at £3000 ish here so there would be less cash risk for a first attempt (while I learn the routine and the places to go). If I can crack it OK then I will start looking for a new Surf to replace my van..

If you don't want to post the links would you mind sending them PM so I could have a look..

Cheers


Phil.

[Rob]

Phil - UK Mazda MX-5 = Mazda Eunos Roadster in Japan

[Pete]

Good luck mate, hope all goes smoothly for you. Do keep us posted, I'm sure there are a few others interested in doing this.
Pete

[MYLUX]

Good luck mate - glad to see people are starting get their own surfs in - less business for the robbing bastids out there.
I've bought in 10 so far this year - if you want any info just holler.
cheers
Neil

[wibblywobbly]

Go for it

I did some research when I bought mine and was pretty much gobsmacked when I saw what was on offer, and the prices.

There is a risk, but then there are bigger risks in life than this, and speaking from experience the knowledge that you are driving away from the docks in a car that you bought on the other side of the planet on a wing and a prayer is a feeling like no other.

Who Dares Wins

Rob G

[Fieldsy]

Thanks for all the support, The manager has mailed me again this morning and told me not to bid until the 5th Jan as the port is closed over christmas, and he's given me all the info I asked about the surf. Hopfully I'm on to a winner, but if not there is always another around the corner

mail from the manager;

Hi, Paul

Thank you for your bidding.
But, As I said in first mail(PS.), We can not accept any bidding
from this week until Jan. 5th. Because, Our port will be closed from
Saturday(12/27). Even if you purchased the car, there is no place
to go from the auction house. ( Auction house only keeps cars in
a few days.)

The car information only for your references,
Hilux surf SSR-G,
This car is SSR-G, 3.0 Turbo Diesel with Sun roof, WAB. but,
The interior color is not indicated ( unknown).
Looks very nice and the starting price is JPY1,150,000-
The price probably will be going up to JPY1,350,k ~1,450,k.
may be more, because the car looks good and have full
equipment.

Merry christmas and happy new year.
Regards,
******



@MYLUX,

I might be throwing a few questions your way m8, hope you won't mind