Hi guys (again)
Firstly, Thank you to all those who have posted replys to my previous questions.
I tossed and turned all night and I decided to take a leap of faith and go buy a surf from a local car dealer that seems to specialise in Jap Imports (Junction 24 4x4) in Notingham.
I did all the visual checks you guys recomend when test driving a used freshly imported Surf and I was happy that (in my very limited knowledge) the Surf was good. It was a unregistered 1996 Gen 3 3.0 ltr TDI Auto SSR-X in a lovely Pale Blue.
I asked if he could provide proof (A BIMTA Cert) that the car was not listed as stolen in Japan and a BIMTA Milage Authenticity Cert and he kinda change the subject and rambled on that he had the Original Paperwork on his Computer that was sent to him by the Auction House in Tokyo and that this showed the Kilometers as recorded at the time of auction. So I said OK may I see it - he fumbled about on his keyboard and after 10 mins or so opens a JPEG that was a Scan of a Jap document that did indeed so a recorded Kilometer figure.
I did the conversion in my head and it worked out that there was a few hundred miles on the UK conversion than the Jap Document allowed. When I questioned him about this he said that some miles could have been either lossed or added during the conversion as it was not exact. He also said that that the extra miles may have been added by the car having been driven up to Nottingham from Southampton Docks when the car was Imported into the UK. Can they drive an unregistered car on the UK roads ??
The dealer said he would accept a £200 deposit and that he would take the car off of sale for one month. I also HAD to either accept or reject within ONE week of making the deposit - If I did not then I would loose the deposit. I said I was not sure If I could make all the checks (BIMTA and RAC engineers reports) I would need in order to decide if I want to buy the Surf in one week and he just shrugged his sholders and smiled.
I thought about it and decided to make the deposit and when I asked the dealer what form he would take the payment he said either cash or Pay Pal !!!
I said I would prefer to pay by Credit Card so that I have the legal backup that using a credit card would give me and the dealer said "No Way" - he does not accept credit cards and that was that. He then said he would consider a Credit Card Cheque but I do not know if a cheque would give the same legal protection in the UK as a Credit Card would.
It just all seems a bit shadey and "back street dealer" to me - do you guys know what I mean. Surely its up to the dealer to prove to me the car is legal and safe - after all he needs my money more than I need his Surf....right?
This does nothing to give me the confidence to buy a Surf from this dealer but what do you guys think?
Any comments would be great!
Thank you again
Regards
Kenny
Firstly, Thank you to all those who have posted replys to my previous questions.
I tossed and turned all night and I decided to take a leap of faith and go buy a surf from a local car dealer that seems to specialise in Jap Imports (Junction 24 4x4) in Notingham.
I did all the visual checks you guys recomend when test driving a used freshly imported Surf and I was happy that (in my very limited knowledge) the Surf was good. It was a unregistered 1996 Gen 3 3.0 ltr TDI Auto SSR-X in a lovely Pale Blue.
I asked if he could provide proof (A BIMTA Cert) that the car was not listed as stolen in Japan and a BIMTA Milage Authenticity Cert and he kinda change the subject and rambled on that he had the Original Paperwork on his Computer that was sent to him by the Auction House in Tokyo and that this showed the Kilometers as recorded at the time of auction. So I said OK may I see it - he fumbled about on his keyboard and after 10 mins or so opens a JPEG that was a Scan of a Jap document that did indeed so a recorded Kilometer figure.
I did the conversion in my head and it worked out that there was a few hundred miles on the UK conversion than the Jap Document allowed. When I questioned him about this he said that some miles could have been either lossed or added during the conversion as it was not exact. He also said that that the extra miles may have been added by the car having been driven up to Nottingham from Southampton Docks when the car was Imported into the UK. Can they drive an unregistered car on the UK roads ??
The dealer said he would accept a £200 deposit and that he would take the car off of sale for one month. I also HAD to either accept or reject within ONE week of making the deposit - If I did not then I would loose the deposit. I said I was not sure If I could make all the checks (BIMTA and RAC engineers reports) I would need in order to decide if I want to buy the Surf in one week and he just shrugged his sholders and smiled.
I thought about it and decided to make the deposit and when I asked the dealer what form he would take the payment he said either cash or Pay Pal !!!
I said I would prefer to pay by Credit Card so that I have the legal backup that using a credit card would give me and the dealer said "No Way" - he does not accept credit cards and that was that. He then said he would consider a Credit Card Cheque but I do not know if a cheque would give the same legal protection in the UK as a Credit Card would.
It just all seems a bit shadey and "back street dealer" to me - do you guys know what I mean. Surely its up to the dealer to prove to me the car is legal and safe - after all he needs my money more than I need his Surf....right?
This does nothing to give me the confidence to buy a Surf from this dealer but what do you guys think?
Any comments would be great!
Thank you again
Regards
Kenny
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