Hi,

Just bought my 2004 Fabia vRS in silver last week from a private seller. My first Skoda and really pleased with it up to now, but i'm a little perplexed by something with it.

I didn't notice until after buying that Fabia vRS's come with electric mirrors - mine doesn't! Mine has standard manual mirrors. The car was originally supplied by Motorpoint Derby and in the Skoda service manual it has a stamp of a dealer in Malta. After googling and finding out that Motorpoint import cars from ROI, Malta and other RHD countries this looks like a classic Motorpoint car. Could it be that it had slightly different spec as it was a car supplied from Malta originally? Everything else is absolute standard vRS having checked through it all.

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers.

Umm.. rears are manual (I tell people that its to save weight as its a sports model ) but we both know its because its just Skoda.. The fronts are electric.

Don't knw much else besides from optional extras etc..

Umm.. rears are manual (I tell people that its to save weight as its a sports model ) but we both know its because its just Skoda.. The fronts are electric.

Don't knw much else besides from optional extras etc..

Front Windows are electric which is standard but my question is about the wing mirrors.

Cheers

Doh, you are right, I completely misread.. :| Need to go back to sleep..

Erm, a solution could be that you could retrofit them?

Doh, you are right, I completely misread.. :| Need to go back to sleep..

Erm, a solution could be that you could retrofit them?

No problem. I'm not too bothered with them to be honest as they are rarely adjusted (only have to adjust if the better half has driven it). More interested to find out if it's a spec missing on non UK vRS's or just that year (2004 54 plate)

Pretty sure in the UK they were standard spec from the original vRS's which were 53 plates i think.

They are electric / heated mirrors which might be why they didn't bother with them in a warm country as they wouldn't really need heated mirrors in Malta.

Cheers

Dave.

Edited 2 October, 201015 yr by WaveyDavey

Pretty sure in the UK they were standard spec from the original vRS's which were 53 plates i think.

They are electric / heated mirrors which might be why they didn't bother with them in a warm country as they wouldn't really need heated mirrors in Malta.

Cheers

Dave.

Good thinking there Dave. That seems like a pretty definitive answer. I assume heated mirrors and electric mirrors come in one pack so if they didn't need heated then they didn't need have the electric either.

Thanks

Yeah, that figures. Trying to remember if my mum's W-reg Classic had them - certainly my wife's 51-plate Comfort has.

This has the potential to push your car into 'grey import' territory, which will affect your insurance, so it might be worth seeing if there's an old brochure floating around the internet - try fabia-vrs.com?

yes its imported.... motorpoint do this, I would assume (as somone else said ) malta doesn't have electric heated mirrors,guess they wouldn't need them in Malta...

Someone I know bought a grande punto sporting deiesel, expecting it to be my model, and it had the 1.3 diesel engine in it!!! eeek! its only 75bhp (not 130!) and he was gutted, they didn't sell the 1.3 in the GPS in this country, seems the car came from Ireland... he complained that it was against trade descriptions ect, to sell it as a UK car when fiat didn't sell the car in that spec in the UK.... needless to say he got his money back, he had to threaten to take it further though, because at no point did motorpoint advise him the car was an import!

Hmmm imported? My first thoughts, God forbid, should some sort of bump occur that you need to claim on, would the insurance use this as a get out clause if it's not declared? :S

My question: Anyone know if the OPs' car is what is classed as a grey import?

Edited 2 October, 201015 yr by weezb

Welcome to this forum.

As others have said a standard UK-supplied vRS should have electric mirrors - my October 2004(54) car had them. I wonder what else is different? My car was from the extended facelift period having characteristics of both pre-facelift and post-facelift - does yours have the early rear lights for instance?.

What does it say on the V5C? Surely that should show if it's imported? It's that rather than the other documents you have which will determine the insurance situation.

Motorpoint

What does it say on the V5C? Surely that should show if it's imported? It's that rather than the other documents you have which will determine the insurance situation.

Could have been UK based but some clever driver got sandwiched, both doors needed replacing, garage figured the owner wouldn't notice the difference if they were not from a VRS.. Unlikely event but..... it could happen............. :clap:

........................I'll go back to sleep now.. :zzz:

For info - original price...

Thanks for the info guys.

Not had the V5 back yet as the DVLA are taking their time with it but I wil check it when I get it back. HPI check I had done was all clear and showed nothing on it apart from the previous owner putting a private plate on it and taking it back off again before selling it.

I'm already not liking the sound of this Motorpoint dealership though.....

As regard to the insurance I will have to see what is on the V5 and possibly speak to them. I assume all will be ok though as they have loads of info when you give them the number plate to insure it with...

its not ness too bad a thing, maybe dont worry too much that it has manual mirrors IF you saved thousands of pounds on the cost..... the car will still be fine....

The car itself should be fine, I think one way you could find out more is to write an email to skoda customer services quoting the chassis number, they then should be able to track down your car through the skoda factory computer system and definitively tell you when your car was built and the final destination country for it. I know when I took my Octavia into my local dealership for it's first service, the technician was able to look on his computer and tell me the day my car was built.

Ian

Could have been UK based but some clever driver got sandwiched, both doors needed replacing, garage figured the owner wouldn't notice the difference if they were not from a VRS.. Unlikely event but..... it could happen............. :clap:

........................I'll go back to sleep now.. :zzz:

The UK owner travelled a long way to get the car serviced in Malta then.

Cheers

Dave.

My previous car, Golf TDI was a grey import, just told the insurance co. and no problem. They were only interested if it was "E" stamped lights and had type approval for the UK, which it was.

Thank you all for all help with this. just dug out the service schedule and scrutinised it in detail.

PDI was done by Frank Borda Ltd in Malta. The first service was done by Horners Skoda in Manchester @ 4k miles. After Googling Frank Borda Ltd, the 5th or 6th result had the title "Frank Borda Ltd, import-export agents". This looks like classic Motorpoint dealings from what I've read. It looks like Motorpoint bought the vRS from this Maltese dealership just to get the stock and more likely to get it cheaper and make a better margin. It doesn't look at all like it was serviced in Malta, just PDI'ed there.

I also googled the Optional equipment codes in the book and it all looked fine but there was no mention of the Electric Mirrors, but there wasn't a code (B09) detailing it was for the UK market like is suggested in another thread: http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/154070-import-caution/

I think all in all, my vRS is an import courtesy of Motorpoint and i'm actually rather peeved that the private buyer I bought it from didn't highlight this to me. I will speak to the insurance today and let them know just so they won't be funny with me if anything ever happened.

One final question - does anyone know how this will affect my premium?

My MX5 Miata Japanese import was no costlier to insure as a British import, I assume that it was because all the parts and repair procedures are very near identical .

My MX5 Miata Japanese import was no costlier to insure as a British import, I assume that it was because all the parts and repair procedures are very near identical .

cheers gocro. I'll call them when they open and sort them out.

... i'm actually rather peeved that the private buyer I bought it from didn't highlight this to me.

You haven't said whether the seller was the first owner - but even if he was he might not have realised the origin of the car. After all you bought it without realising that fact either (and presumably without examining the service book in detail too) - remember it was only the absence of electric mirrors that highlighted the problem.

Edited 3 October, 201015 yr by DRJ

One final question - does anyone know how this will affect my premium?

My MX5 Miata Japanese import was no costlier to insure as a British import, I assume that it was because all the parts and repair procedures are very near identical .

I also have experience of MX-5s and though that might have been your experience that's not always the case. A number of insurers refuse to insure imported cars and certainly I've heard of people with Eunos Roadsters having to switch insurance companies as a consequence.

Also at the time even the MX-5 Owners Club's preferred insurer imposed different conditions on owners of imports (no courtesy car) so even if the price is the same the conditions may differ.

I think that that scenario is less likely with a Maltese Fabia compared to a Eunos Roadster because with the Roadster there is an extensive list of differences - albeit minor - which is not the case with the Fabia.

Edited 3 October, 201015 yr by DRJ

The other problem with imported cars is resale. When I traded in my Impreza Turbo, the Land Rover dealer advised he wouldn't have taken it had it been an import. Again this is less likely with a Motorpoint type import when new but something to consider.