A quick word on importing cars

[Damien]

I got mine through them and although the price was good there were a few problems but i put it down to them being a new business and needing more experience.

Initially communication was bad to the point i was going to ask for my deposit back (but i won my car that day so was committed) but from there it was pretty smooth. I think they just need to have a bit more of a mechanical mind, though last i heard was theyre trying to employ a mechanic full time.

I had a 4 hour drive home on essentially a disconnected intercooler (to call it a boost leak is an understatement). When i asked about it as the front bumper had been off for repairs (they did a great job here and cant fault them) he said "oh yeah, that was probably the cracked old hoses", if id just been told this when it was seen i would have paid for replacements or brought them and done it myself. Instead i had a 4 hour panicked drive that id bought a piece of shit that didnt work.

Of course their fall back is they cant test drive them. So this means you have essentially no guarantees when it comes to the mechanical condition of the car which to me seems very dangerous. I was also repeatedly told it was the cleanest car theyd seen and i arrive to fag burns in the centre console, scratches on the dash, marks on the sun visors etc, hardly clean.

I like the car and everything but it was 100% not in a salable condition when i collected it and under normal circumstances nobody would have bought it.

As a result, i wouldnt advise people for or against them but they need more experience.

This. Nail on the head.

Between a friend and myself we bought 6 cars over a 6 month period. All 6 were bought before a single one landed so a pretty big risk on our part.

Needless to say I won't ever put my faith in them again. Each had its own undisclosed issues which were quickly dismissed. The final one been handled particularly badly which resulted in us falling out.
Shame as I was always keen to drop the big coin on bringing over an nsx which they were well aware of.

In their defence the cars are competitively priced but that isn't an excuse for a weak business ethics.

Still better than sending money to doricar and receiving nothing

 

[Burch1988]

Hi I just want to clear a few things up on garage 34 behalf . Yes we were a new business starting up start of 2015 but had been personally landing cars for several
Apart from the knowledge with the cars itself alot goes down to what we can list and what we get told . Bearing in mind most of the cars that get listed have had a pre sale inspection where all faults had been listed prior to sell whether it would be auction or retail or trade . We have never dealt with auction cars and likely not to either due to a bad experience a few years back .
We work with our agent who is sort of freelance for us who I have had personal dealings with for nearly 9 years (previously parts ) we have successfully landed alot of cars with our aim to make everyone happy and yes it can be a hard task to follow especially if any damage happen ds while in transit. We have a series of photos taken before shipping and after for such accaisons and we would use our insurance to correct any damage so it doesn't fall on our customers.

I don't think it's right our name being brought into this forum for no wrong doing if in fact we had done something wrong then by all means .
We are a small company in a big pond with some of the top company's at our door we have taken many many hits against us just for being in the market /trade from other company's slating us for no reason but for personal gain . We don't rise to it in fact we even comment and even point people to other company's if we can't get them a better deal on a car or in fact find them the one they want .
We do in fact finally have a website up and running. But yes Facebook seems to be the easiest to get word about also it's free advertising .. everyone else is doing it so why can't we.
Thanks
Shaun
Garage 34 imports

 

[docwra]

But yes Facebook seems to be the easiest to get word about also it's free advertising .. everyone else is doing it so why can't we

Because a company that cant pay £150 for a basic website doesnt really inspire you to hand over £10K of your heard earned to them. See also trading from PO Boxes, mobile numbers and gmail/hotmail/yahoo addresses.

 

[rob192]

We do in fact finally have a website up and running.

You'd be better off without one, it's terrible.

 

[blue32]

Just used japaneseusedcars.
Car hasn't arrived yet but tony has been really helpful with lots of my stupid questions

 

[akinadan79]

Paying the deposit by credit card is a smart move and should be common practice when spending big $ in todays market of scamming fucks, if nothing else it gives that extra little bit of peace of mind should things go pear shaped

It also negates the need to chase bankrupt pie munchers 8 years later....

 

[Burch1988]

Because a company that cant pay £150 for a basic website doesnt really inspire you to hand over £10K of your heard earned to them. See also trading from PO Boxes, mobile numbers and gmail/hotmail/yahoo addresses.

How do you think bigger companies started ... just overnight with everything at there disposal .
All I'm saying is everyone has to start somewhere
I'm not here to argue or push blame to any company
Just the fact that even if we can't get a car for someone withing the budget or spec then we send them in the right direction . We have had plenty of very happy customers and for the growing speed were at I'm very happy . We have account with manual companies to gain cheaper parts wheels tyres exhaust fab and now paint side

And as for jabs about our website . It's still a website regardless it's. More than some backyard "inporters" were not the ones that are going to take the money and run

 

[Keirran]

Just used japaneseusedcars.
Car hasn't arrived yet but tony has been really helpful with lots of my stupid questions

i was thinking about going trough japaneseusedcars.com but I'm not sure yet , just wonderd if you could give me any feedback . has your car came

 

[blue32]

i was thinking about going trough japaneseusedcars.com but I'm not sure yet , just wonderd if you could give me any feedback . has your car came

Car isn't here yet. Not made it onto the boat yet as it was a holiday week in Japan last week. But cannot sing the praises of Tony enough. He has answered all my questions no matter how stupid they may of been very quickly. Most emails have had a reply within the hour.

 

[docwra]

How do you think bigger companies started ... just overnight with everything at there disposal .
All I'm saying is everyone has to start somewhere

With £150 website, a landline and an address? If thats too much to organise/pay for then as I say, I certainly wouldnt be comfortable sending you £000's ..........

And anyway, you say "start somewhere", does this mean you havent imported any cars yet? Coz if you have then youve made enough money to sort out your website, if it doesnt then thats a pretty big admittance.

 

[Burch1988]

update since last post .. yes still here. Yes things have changed and for the better in my opinion .
But sadly times have gone of the cheap cars I used to be able to land into the UK.

This being said we have successfully landed nearly 32 cars since 2015 . Not claiming to be the biggest nor do I plan to be the biggest .
I run it like I'd want to buy one for myself .started doing this because I went to a company and was mocked for only wanting to spend £6k,
so from there I contacted the guy I used to import parts from as I knew he exports to the UK and from there we both worked together .we don't buy from auctions only from car dealers where he can physically see the cars . Also price wise my fee is £200 regardless of cost of the car including all fees So the price you see anywhere listed by garage 34 imports is the price we pay plus our fee .
I have used the same agent in yokohama since 2009 , not saying every experience is perfect as with cars someone can go wrong . And done our best to resolve any issues . Garage 34 imports are here for the foreseeable and will continue to share some good cheap alternatives to the bigger companies with higher overheads .

I have noticed a big drop in the pop up importers that were around in 2016

 

[r3k1355]

Yea there were tons of dodgy importers on Facebook a while back, I think alot of people got burnt so word got out.

Do you guys have a website or social media account?

 

[874age]

I've had 3x unregistered imports now.

1st company no longer exists, so no worries there (Ghost Dancer! Though unlike most, I didn't get ripped off).

2nd was from Powervehicles, and was bang on.

3rd one was literally earlier this week from 874age in Ireland, who's just a normal lad, not trying to be a big business. And it's honestly the best condition car I've ever had, far better than expected, nobody believes me the car is 13 years old rather than pretty much brand new, and just pissed though an MOT no bother.

I went with the above guy as a bit of research shows he isn't full of shit and has brought good cars over. Honest person who knows what he's doing.

Do a bit of research, know realistically what to expect, and you should be ok.

But YES, I know 101% quite a few of the companies that make out they serious import businesses are actually random chancers bringing cars in no differently to how you could yourself, and skimming a bit of profit off the top. BUT they have the knowledge to do so, so it's not underhand, it just is what it is.
As long as you not muggy enough to believe they some fancy operation with Jap-based staff, you'll be ok.

I just came across this thread now.
Thanks for the kind words stav .

 

[dave325i]

To save starting a new thread, I've a car coming in from Japan that needs a bit of work done for I insure it. Is it possible to register the car without insuring it or taxing it? Like declaring it sorn at registration?

Can't seem to find anything on dvla website and cant ring them due to COVID.

 

[antz]

To save starting a new thread, I've a car coming in from Japan that needs a bit of work done for I insure it. Is it possible to register the car without insuring it or taxing it? Like declaring it sorn at registration?

Can't seem to find anything on dvla website and cant ring them due to COVID.

Don't think so. You have to MOT it and tax it to register it in my experience. Also most insurance places will only give you a temporary insurance certificate off the vin number so you can register it and they demand the reg number ASAP.

 

[Ashley Bryers]

Would someone familiar with the registration process be able to inbox me, got a few questions. car is due to arrive in a few weeks just want to make sure I've got everything in order!

 

[theholty]

To save starting a new thread, I've a car coming in from Japan that needs a bit of work done for I insure it. Is it possible to register the car without insuring it or taxing it? Like declaring it sorn at registration?

Can't seem to find anything on dvla website and cant ring them due to COVID.

Why would you need to register and tax it before you've done the work? I think you might have the idea that you have to register and road tax a car as soon as it comes off the boat, you don't. As long as the import taxes etc. are paid you can do what you want until its ready for the road.

My AE86 didn't get registered until about 4 months after it came in due to me getting it MOT worthy and doing a load of other stuff to it. Also you can insure and MOT off the chassis code if its unregistered so that wouldn't affect things either.

 

[theholty]

Also most insurance places will only give you a temporary insurance certificate off the vin number so you can register it and they demand the reg number ASAP.

Not really, my insurer just keeps giving me 30 day temp certificates until the registration comes back from the DVLA.

 

[MurderPony]

Thanks for sharing, this is very useful.