Where can I buy an Elgrand?

[jclarkson]

No - Still looking. I taking my time for the right one and need a little more money yet.

 

[Elfinminx]

I have only had her 12 days of to be LPG with Simon tomorrow!

 

[TravisB]

In Melbourne Australia try AutoProject

 

[tris]

In Melbourne Australia try AutoProject

VIC prices seem to be higher than NSW, less competition i guess

 

[Boroman]

Mine is on a ship from Japan, using car supermarket warehouse in Middlesborough!

Oh dear! Too many o's in Middlesbrough. Any Boro supporter will tell the zero comes after the word Middlesbrough, especially this season

 

[edzanetti]

“Importing directly from Japanese Auctions. Probably the biggest risk, but you can get some absolute bargains. To put it into perspective... E50's and E51's sell for (usually) less than £500 in Japan. The rest is shipping, taxes etc.”

If only this was true.... mine sold for 500000 yen and was quite cheap as it needed new tyres and a new windscreen which puts the domestic bidders off a bit so i was lucky..... some of the others i was looking at at the time went for almost a million yen.... 500000 yen was roughly £3200. Then you pay derigistration fee and a fee to the agent in japan... about a grand iirc. The roll on roll off shipping and insurance was about 900 quid... then you pay duty 30% on the value of the car plus shipping, then vat on top of that. The whole lot came to £8000. This was 2 years ago and the exchange rate has changed a bit. Using an agent bagged me a 25k miles car in spotless condition. As you can see it is impossible to bring a car like that into the uk and sell for 8000 as a dealer...you’d be working for nothing. The cars that the dealers buy are much cheaper in japan because they are in poor condition and the locals dont want them, but they cost you the same as i paid because the dealer has to mark them up by 3000 to make a living. Join a japanese auction site and see the selling prices in japan for yourself...look at the milage and grading... only the high milage cars with low grading ar cheap, the better ones aren’t so cheap because the locals want them and also all the agents who are bidding for the UK, NZ and Australian markets want them as well.... Use an agent and get value for your money. The agents target cars that are out of shaken (mot) and need a bit of work ie new tyres....these are the ones the locals aren’t so keen on and sometimes you can bag a bargain...but not always as there is competition for the best graded cars.

Hi I'm looking at getting a good condition from the auctions, what was the name of the Japanese agent, or could you recommend any good ones. Many thanks

 

[Deand]

My advice would be find one you like here and beat the dealer up on price you may get lucky!!!
I know that if something has been sitting around for a few months the dealer is going to be receptive to moving his stock on and buying another one. especially now given that we have had lockdown for a few months. you may end up paying £500 more but you won't have to wait 4 months

 

[Stmartin2305]

“Importing directly from Japanese Auctions. Probably the biggest risk, but you can get some absolute bargains. To put it into perspective... E50's and E51's sell for (usually) less than £500 in Japan. The rest is shipping, taxes etc.”

If only this was true.... mine sold for 500000 yen and was quite cheap as it needed new tyres and a new windscreen which puts the domestic bidders off a bit so i was lucky..... some of the others i was looking at at the time went for almost a million yen.... 500000 yen was roughly £3200. Then you pay derigistration fee and a fee to the agent in japan... about a grand iirc. The roll on roll off shipping and insurance was about 900 quid... then you pay duty 30% on the value of the car plus shipping, then vat on top of that. The whole lot came to £8000. This was 2 years ago and the exchange rate has changed a bit. Using an agent bagged me a 25k miles car in spotless condition. As you can see it is impossible to bring a car like that into the uk and sell for 8000 as a dealer...you’d be working for nothing. The cars that the dealers buy are much cheaper in japan because they are in poor condition and the locals dont want them, but they cost you the same as i paid because the dealer has to mark them up by 3000 to make a living. Join a japanese auction site and see the selling prices in japan for yourself...look at the milage and grading... only the high milage cars with low grading ar cheap, the better ones aren’t so cheap because the locals want them and also all the agents who are bidding for the UK, NZ and Australian markets want them as well.... Use an agent and get value for your money. The agents target cars that are out of shaken (mot) and need a bit of work ie new tyres....these are the ones the locals aren’t so keen on and sometimes you can bag a bargain...but not always as there is competition for the best graded cars.

Hi, are you able to recommend this agent? Thanks

 

[DEANO14]

Hi

Hi, are you able to recommend this agent? Thanks

I've just used Dan at first choice imports. Waiting for paperwork to go through and then be shipped. He was very very good at communication, alerting me at only the vehicle I wanted but also showing what other models go for and what quality. I'm very happy with the first part of the process. Every question I asked was answered quickly and clearly. Nothing was too much trouble at any time of the day for him.

 

[nzvip]

Go to the car auction Japan, you will find one

 

[bassett]

You can buy one privately through an ad on the likes of Gumtree, Ebay, Autotrader etc.

There are dealers you can buy from.

You can use a UK based agent to import for you.

You can import directly yourself through the auctions in Japan.

The easiest options are to buy from within the UK. You get to see it, drive it, get a feel for it and make a decision. Buying from a dealer in the UK is the most expensive option. They have a business to run, overheads to cover, staff to pay etc. So expect to pay a few thousand more from a dealer than anything else.

Buying privately from someone in the UK is also easy, but you are taking risks. Same with buying any second hand car privately. Make sure you check it over, check the history, check previous MOT's etc.

Importing via a UK agent will save you money, but you will have to wait. Generally these guys have people in Japan to inspect the cars for you before you buy, so you'll know you're getting what you want. Obviously there will be a fee to the importer for putting in the work on your behalf, but they will go through the auctions and find the one you want for you. Then you bid, you buy, you wait, you smile.

Importing directly from Japanese Auctions. Probably the biggest risk, but you can get some absolute bargains. To put it into perspective... E50's and E51's sell for (usually) less than £500 in Japan. The rest is shipping, taxes etc. Then dealer premiums if you go down that route. I'd not advice this for a newbie unless you happen to know someone in Japan who can look at the car for you... or better still, take a trip over there yourself and sit in an auction house for 2 weeks

Great info, Karl. Thanks

 

[bassett]

“Importing directly from Japanese Auctions. Probably the biggest risk, but you can get some absolute bargains. To put it into perspective... E50's and E51's sell for (usually) less than £500 in Japan. The rest is shipping, taxes etc.”

If only this was true.... mine sold for 500000 yen and was quite cheap as it needed new tyres and a new windscreen which puts the domestic bidders off a bit so i was lucky..... some of the others i was looking at at the time went for almost a million yen.... 500000 yen was roughly £3200. Then you pay derigistration fee and a fee to the agent in japan... about a grand iirc. The roll on roll off shipping and insurance was about 900 quid... then you pay duty 30% on the value of the car plus shipping, then vat on top of that. The whole lot came to £8000. This was 2 years ago and the exchange rate has changed a bit. Using an agent bagged me a 25k miles car in spotless condition. As you can see it is impossible to bring a car like that into the uk and sell for 8000 as a dealer...you’d be working for nothing. The cars that the dealers buy are much cheaper in japan because they are in poor condition and the locals dont want them, but they cost you the same as i paid because the dealer has to mark them up by 3000 to make a living. Join a japanese auction site and see the selling prices in japan for yourself...look at the milage and grading... only the high milage cars with low grading ar cheap, the better ones aren’t so cheap because the locals want them and also all the agents who are bidding for the UK, NZ and Australian markets want them as well.... Use an agent and get value for your money. The agents target cars that are out of shaken (mot) and need a bit of work ie new tyres....these are the ones the locals aren’t so keen on and sometimes you can bag a bargain...but not always as there is competition for the best graded cars.

Thanks for sharing your experience and numbers. I am also planning to import thru an import agent in the year 2021. I have made the following below import excel sheet to estimate the OTR ( On the road price in UK) . This is just a hypothetical example but I am trying to understand the basic principles on import cost components and each cost component itself. Would appreciate if anyone can comment if I missed any major cost component or if the UK import factor of 1.6 (60%) is incorrect ( this is 30% VAT, 10% import duties and other miscellaneous fees to make the car road worthy in UK) or am I way off the mark. Note that: for a cars purchased at auction up to 1 Million Japanese Yen incur Japanese export fees of 120,000 Yen. Exc rate is assumed at 1 Yen = 0.0072 £. The export fee added to the auction car cost makes up the Free on Board (FOB Price). The FOB Price is the total cost loaded on to the ship as it sails from the Japanese port bound for the UK. My ball park guesstimate is that if the auction price in Japan is £2880 for example, then OTR price is at least 2 times or at most 3 times of the auction price depending on exc rate , agent fees, agent commission and taxes at the time. i.e. OTR is between £5770 or £8540 with an average OTR of £ 7200. Does this make sense? see the sheet below

	1 Yen	0.0072​	GBP
A hypothetical example		Yen	GBP
Auction price (Grade 4 B or higher)		400,000	2,880
Export fees ( local Japan taxes, documentation, transport) in Japan		120,000	864
roll on roll off shipping and marine insurance from Japan to UK- guesstimate			1000​
FOB price			4,744
Import factor (includes UK VAT , UK import duties, shipping etc)- guesstimate	1.6​		7,590.40
UK agent commission-guesstimate			750​
UK documentation and testing (DVLA, MOT etc)			200​
UK On The Road (OTR) price- guesstimate			8540.4​

 

[Jinch]

Thanks for sharing your experience and numbers. I am also planning to import thru an import agent in the year 2021. I have made the following below import excel sheet to estimate the OTR ( On the road price in UK) . This is just a hypothetical example but I am trying to understand the basic principles on import cost components and each cost component itself. Would appreciate if anyone can comment if I missed any major cost component or if the UK import factor of 1.6 (60%) is incorrect ( this is 30% VAT, 10% import duties and other miscellaneous fees to make the car road worthy in UK) or am I way off the mark. Note that: for a cars purchased at auction up to 1 Million Japanese Yen incur Japanese export fees of 120,000 Yen. Exc rate is assumed at 1 Yen = 0.0072 £. The export fee added to the auction car cost makes up the Free on Board (FOB Price). The FOB Price is the total cost loaded on to the ship as it sails from the Japanese port bound for the UK. My ball park guesstimate is that if the auction price in Japan is £2880 for example, then OTR price is at least 2 times or at most 3 times of the auction price depending on exc rate , agent fees, agent commission and taxes at the time. i.e. OTR is between £5770 or £8540 with an average OTR of £ 7200. Does this make sense? see the sheet below

	1 Yen	0.0072​	GBP
A hypothetical example		Yen	GBP
Auction price (Grade 4 B or higher)		400,000	2,880
Export fees ( local Japan taxes, documentation, transport) in Japan		120,000	864
roll on roll off shipping and marine insurance from Japan to UK- guesstimate			1000​
FOB price			4,744
Import factor (includes UK VAT , UK import duties, shipping etc)- guesstimate	1.6​		7,590.40
UK agent commission-guesstimate			750​
UK documentation and testing (DVLA, MOT etc)			200​
UK On The Road (OTR) price- guesstimate			8540.4​

Would the VAT not be 20%?

 

[bassett]

Would the VAT not be 20%?

yes, it is 20%. that was a typo in the text. but in the import factor of 1.6, I have put as 20% VAT, 10% EU duty and etcs. Thanks for correction

 

[Mtbrider]

So we saying 90% of dealers tart a naff grade 2 car up and sell for 10k otherwise it’s £12k+ for a grade 4? The main thing would be checking for prior crashes I think, you could import but these savings would soon be swallowed up with any issues or maintenance requirements.....I think it would just be better to wait and buy from another owner who’s already had the OTR hassle being the first owner, maybe some friendly traders could help also

 

[LeStempy]

I think more like 90% of dealers will be genuine and honest. It's the 10% of cowboys that you have to avoid, hence the need for research. You'll get an excellent deal from any of the dealers that frequent this forum.

 

[Safety Mick]

To be honest, many of the Elgrands are 15 to 20 yrs old, if they have suffered the odd bit of damage and once they get here the dealer has put it right then I don't see it as a big issue. I have looked at a couple of recent imports and noted some overspray on the inner wheel arch or springs but the car is otherwise presented very well. Just be careful that it's not ful of filler, got the orange peel effect or mismatched colour. Same inside, I have rejected due to dashboard marks but as I intended to change rear sears and reupholster front this has been taken into account. As with any pre owned motor, buyer beware

 

[Joshw]

Does the club happen to have a list of recommended persons/companies for importing?

 

[LeStempy]

Does the club happen to have a list of recommended persons/companies for importing?

Have a look in the trade section.

 

[Joshw]

Have a look in the trade section.

Silly question but where do I find the trade section