Hi All,

Had a nasty surprise last week. My vRS was in for some warranty work but got a call from the dealer to tell me that the car isn't covered by any warranty!

It was registered in July 07 so is still less than 3 years old, so surely it's still in warranty I said. Oh no, came the reply, it's an import.

After picking myself up off the floor my first call was to Skoda UK who confirmed that the car was originally destined for Malta, although on my V5 document it says Declared new at first registration.

I then thought that EU law meant that the car should have the same manufacturer’s warranty cover regardless of where in the EU it came from. Well, Skoda get round that by offering a 2 year manufacturer’s warranty, and then Skoda UK give UK cars the third year, hence my 2½ year old car being out of warranty.

Next call was to the dealer I bought the car from. I bought it in April 09 as an approved used Skoda, advertised as 1 owner from new. When I mentioned that the car was an import they were very surprised. The usual HPI checks hadn't shown this and as the car was less than 2 years old when I bought the car they hadn't bothered to give it the 12 months extended warranty approved used cars get as they assumed it was a UK car with more than 12 months warranty left.

On closer inspection of the V5 I discovered that the car had been first registered to a company called 'Simply Short term Ltd' in Nottingham for just 2 days, before ownership was transferred to the previous keeper. After Googling Simply Short Term Ltd I cannot find anything out about them, but I guess they are/or were a broker who import RHD cars and sell them on.

Fortunately, the dealer I bought the car from has given me a full Skoda UK 12 months warranty from now, so I'm chuffed as I've got 7 months extra warranty.

But, a warning for everyone, buying from a dealer does not guarantee a genuine UK car....!

Hi All,

Had a nasty surprise last week. My vRS was in for some warranty work but got a call from the dealer to tell me that the car isn't covered by any warranty!

It was registered in July 07 so is still less than 3 years old, so surely it's still in warranty I said. Oh no, came the reply, it's an import.

After picking myself up off the floor my first call was to Skoda UK who confirmed that the car was originally destined for Malta, although on my V5 document it says Declared new at first registration.

I then thought that EU law meant that the car should have the same manufacturer’s warranty cover regardless of where in the EU it came from. Well, Skoda get round that by offering a 2 year manufacturer’s warranty, and then Skoda UK give UK cars the third year, hence my 2½ year old car being out of warranty.

Next call was to the dealer I bought the car from. I bought it in April 09 as an approved used Skoda, advertised as 1 owner from new. When I mentioned that the car was an import they were very surprised. The usual HPI checks hadn't shown this and as the car was less than 2 years old when I bought the car they hadn't bothered to give it the 12 months extended warranty approved used cars get as they assumed it was a UK car with more than 12 months warranty left.

On closer inspection of the V5 I discovered that the car had been first registered to a company called 'Simply Short term Ltd' in Nottingham for just 2 days, before ownership was transferred to the previous keeper. After Googling Simply Short Term Ltd I cannot find anything out about them, but I guess they are/or were a broker who import RHD cars and sell them on.

Fortunately, the dealer I bought the car from has given me a full Skoda UK 12 months warranty from now, so I'm chuffed as I've got 7 months extra warranty.

But, a warning for everyone, buying from a dealer does not guarantee a genuine UK car....!

So they advertised it as "1 owner from new" ?

Then surely they mis-represented the goods !

I would be taking advice, as I fear your car may well be worth less (not worthless !) than it should be if you take it as advertised.

Or you could just count your blessings you got extra warranty.......

Hi All,

Had a nasty surprise last week. My vRS was in for some warranty work but got a call from the dealer to tell me that the car isn't covered by any warranty

A cautionary tale! you were fortunate in the end;)

A cautionary tale! you were fortunate in the end;)

Funny you should post this, I have had a real arguement with a local Volvo dealer recently. They were advertising an L&K estate on an 07 so I bobbed along for a look see, they where very helpful and gave me full run of the car. When I checked the service history the supplying dealer was stamped somewhere like Msdia (and when I checked at home it was a small fishing village in Malta) I enquired in the dealers as to the cars import status to be informed it was a UK car and the V5 said declared new at first reg. I explained that it may not have been reg't abroad but it was an import and not UK supplied, pointing them to the service stamp. They then suggested that the original owner was a squadie and had exported the car and re-imported it!!!!

The name of the first owner was also Simply short term, however the number plates showed the supplying dealer.............MOTORPOINT. The Volvo dealership basically asked me to leave if I wasn't going to buy the car, I said I was very interested but not for a UK price as spec and warranty would vary, they politel;y or not told me top **** off. :yikes: Having looked on their website the 07 L&K is now described as a GLXI but the price remains the same.

Edited 1 March, 201016 yr by postmanpat

I have a MK1 Octy VRS which is an import,coming form Motorpoint.Mine came it the country via Ireland to Motorpoint.I knew the history of mine as i purchased it form Work when it was 3 years old and i'm not planning on selling it.

I have a Motorpoint "Import" as well and don't see an issue. I allowed for the cost of an additional warranty "top-up" in the price and it was still miles cheaper than a SMD supplied vehicle.

Go into any deal with your eyes open and all should be OK. If you don't read small print then you're leaving yourself exposed. I think in this case the dealer misrepresented the car and you bought in good faith so its a different matter.

Motorpoint are well known for their ahem, "high level of customer service" >cough<

Edited 1 March, 201016 yr by wardth

I remember chatting with one of the local dealers around here and the guy said all late vRS's with manual aircon controls instead of electronic climate control must be imports, because no UK spec included "washing machine knobs" type of cc?

Edited 1 March, 201016 yr by v0n

I have a Motorpoint "Import" as well and don't see an issue. I allowed for the cost of an additional warranty "top-up" in the price and it was still miles cheaper than a SMD supplied vehicle.

Go into any deal with your eyes open and all should be OK. If you don't read small print then you're leaving yourself exposed. I think in this case the dealer misrepresented the car and you bought in good faith so its a different matter.

It is when the vehicles are coming on to the second hand market and been passed off as UK vehicles with price tags to match either intentionally or unintentionally when the problem arises, for instance when you insure the car you are asked is it uk supplied and registered. If the op as told his insurers yes to these two and writes his car off then the insurers will soon say, hang on this is an import! and worryingly because the V5 says declared new at first reg then most people won't know to look and see if it was indeed also UK supplied.

Edited 1 March, 201016 yr by postmanpat

The optional equipment code for the UK is on the sticker next to the spare and in the service book:

B09 = Type approval Great Britain and NorthernIreland

Does this guarantee a car isn't an import?

It is when the vehicles are coming on to the second hand market and been passed off as UK vehicles with price tags to match either intentionally or unintentionally when the problem arises, for instance when you insure the car you are asked is it uk supplied and registered. If the op as told his insurers yes to these two and writes his car off then the insurers will soon say, hang on this is an import! and worryingly because the V5 says declared new at first reg then most people won't know to look and see if it was indeed also UK supplied.

This is nonsense. I worked for many years in the motor trade and never heard of insurance being voided on an EU-sourced RHD car. Insurers basically want to know if the vehicle is to European RHD spec. "Import" to insurers usually means a non-EU sourced car, mainly grey imports from Japan where it can be difficult and expensive to source parts. All RHD Skodas sold in the EU use the same parts and are all type approved to the same EU specification as regards safety and emissions compliance as UK-supplied cars. There can be equipment differences, but in my experience these are usually quite minor.

There are numerous EU-sourced cars around, VW, MB, BMW, Volvo - you name it. Once they are more than about 3 years old the values tend to be the same as UK-supplied cars because pricing from that age on tends to follow condition rather than where the car was supplied from. The main difference is that EU-supplied cars generally (although not always) have a two year warranty whilst UK-supplied cars have the third year added via a warranty provided by the UK agents. Some manufacturers (e.g. Subaru) have a three year pan-european warranty on all cars sold in the EU.

The optional equipment code for the UK is on the sticker next to the spare and in the service book:

B09 = Type approval Great Britain and NorthernIreland

Does this guarantee a car isn't an import?

No. There is nothing to stop any EU dealer ordering a car to any other EU spec. That's enshrined in EU law. The bottom line is that so-called 'imports' are all made in the same line, in the same factory, by the same people as made 'UK' cars. Apart from possible minor trim differences (if any) and warranty differences the cars are actually the same. Naturally the UK agents are keen to hype-up the situation, but Skoda CZ are obviously happy to supply non-UK dealers with UK RHD spec cars because 'a sale is a sale' !

Motorpoint, don't get me started. Before the vRS I'd had a Saab 9-3 Aero that I'd bought from Motorpoint 2 months before, wouldn't touch them with a barge pole again.

Many reasons for getting shot of the Saab (Saab filed for bankruptcy the day after I collected it, crap handling, crap build quality, crap service from local Vauxhall dealer), but one was the very odd spec it had, which was down to it being an import. Hence buying the vRS from a Skoda dealer so I expected a 100% genuine UK car..... :S

Anyway, I agree that the car was misrepresented, however, I have now got an extra warranty which is worth a fair bit.

Postmanpat, interesting you mention the service book. When I went to collect the car, it had had a service but the dealer couldn't find the book. Honest mistake I thought and didn't think any more of it, I didn't want to spoil my new car day by getting wound up about it. A duplicate was made and delivered.

Now I'm thinking, did the dealer realise that it was an import when they went to stamp the book and conveniently 'lost' it..........

But, again, I do have an extra 7 months warranty and I'm otherwise VERY happy with the car so I'm happy enough. Just not a nice feeling to think I've been duped.

And another thing, adding to what Hauptmann says, when is a car an import anyway, especially when it comes to insurance. If the car is declared new at first reg on the V5, then surely it's a UK car, not imported. It's not like a 15 year old Toyota Supra pushed off a ship at Southampton with a square number plate rear bumper....!

And another thing, adding to what Hauptmann says, when is a car an import anyway, especially when it comes to insurance. If the car is declared new at first reg on the V5, then surely it's a UK car, not imported. It's not like a 15 year old Toyota Supra pushed off a ship at Southampton with a square number plate rear bumper....!

I worked with numerous insurance companies during my time in the trade and trust me, there was never a problem with an EU-supplied RHD car. There will be problems if the car is LHD or if it originates from outside the EU and is subject to SVA or ESVA when there can be all sorts of Type Approval issues. All RHD cars supplied through EU dealers will meet the same Type Approval regs as UK-supplied cars. The only thing I would say is to check the spec carefully because there can be minor equipment difference - e.g. no cruise control fitted, or a difference spec radio etc. although I think most of the big importers such as Motorpoint and MotorDepot were carefull to order cars that were close or identical to UK supplied models.

My VRS is registered as a 59 plate but is pre FL - confuses the hell out of the parts guys! Even funnier is watching other Briskodians approaching the vehicle from behind thinking its an FL with its FL badging then realising its a pre FL when they get to the front!

It came with Jumbo, cruise, auto lights & wipers, Maxidot - all good but....... the wheels were 17's and no alarm was fitted. You pays your money and takes your choice. I saved almost £5K on list.

After selling the 17's, it cost me £320 to fit 18's with decent Vreds and another £240 for a Clifford CANBUS alarm which is superior to the factory fit anyway!

Sure the warranty is shorter - you lose the third year "dealer" warranty but adding that isn't the end of the world either. It's first owner UK registered (despite what the pratt of a saleperson insisted would happen). I knew better so carried on with the deal.

As long as you take Motorpoint for what they are - a car supermarket - "thats the car, thats the spec and thats the price" then you're fine. If you want customer service go to a main dealer although if you spend a bit of time on these forums you'll soon realise that this is a lottery too!

A footnote - Skoda UK were very helpful when I did the research on the vehicle VIN prior to purchase and told me the vehicle was built for the Irish market but on the same assembly line as the UK market vehicles. Now I didn't for a minute think that there was a special line in operation making IRL spec cars but as a previous poster highlights, the vehicles are made on the same line and pretty much to the same spec as a UK model so as long as you are crystal clear on any spec differences that may or may not exisit, I really cannot see an issue and it would be nice if people got over the fact that some of us ended up with a better deal than they did

Nice outcome on the warranty by the way

Edited 2 March, 201016 yr by wardth

Hmm i've seen both sides of the insurance industry and the underwriters can be an utter pita in the event they feel they have been mislead even in good faith, while they can't cancel the liability in the event of a claim they can refuse to pay out for you while settling up with the third party. If they feel you've deliberately misrepresented the risk they can come after you for the cost of the claim and that's the kind of thing that you never want to happen.

The perfect example of each underwriter making it up as they go along is a re-import of a previously exported Range Rover from Japan. It had a UK spec and UK VIN and was a UK car that had been shipped to Japan then brought back over. Simple it's a UK car says the proposer and has the paperwork to prove it. Now try telling that to a certain underwriter, they were prepared to argue it wasn't UK spec and terminated the policy on it, everyone else we ran it by didn't see the issue but that's one of many examples of why you tell your insurance company everything and let them decide what's important. As to dealer supplied imports a local Pug dealership tried that without telling customers, they ended up taking the cars back in at full book price to avoid further action in the case I know of, either way you do still find people will want to pay less for an import.

Hmm i've seen both sides of the insurance industry and the underwriters can be an utter pita in the event they feel they have been mislead even in good faith, while they can't cancel the liability in the event of a claim they can refuse to pay out for you while settling up with the third party. If they feel you've deliberately misrepresented the risk they can come after you for the cost of the claim and that's the kind of thing that you never want to happen.

I used to run a garage with a bodyshop that was an approved repairer for 21 insurance companies. No insurance company can 'refuse to pay out' unless there has been a misrepresentation which would impact on the insured risk - they would have to provide evidence that the so-called 'import' was a greater risk than a UK supplied car and that they would not have insured that risk when the policyholder took the policy out. If any company DID try it on with an import then I would recommend the policyholder threaten them with a complaint to the insurance obbudsman, I would suspect they would soon pay out. We must have repaired numerous non-UK supplied EU-spec cars and there was never a single query. In fact most times they didn't even check VIN's or specs. The only time we ever had trouble was with Japanese grey-import cars where the spec and body/trim was very different from UK market cars.

In any event there is new legislation coming into force that will 'clean up' this whole area and shift the balance more in favour of the consumer, so insurance co's will find it much more difficult to wriggle out of legitimate claims.

Edited 2 March, 201016 yr by Hauptmann