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Sold a Grey import?!?



  Clio 182
Need some advice needed here chaps, over a year ago i was new to clios and bought my first 182! over the moon i was as you can imagine!
However i was almost gonna trade it in for a new ST today, they HPi checked it, and low and behold it is a Grey import!! i was not aware of this and was not told when i bought the car.
Does anyone know where i stand with the dealer?
 
  Add me 2 ur PS3 - Lylak
A lot of RS Clio's were imports, does yours have:
- etched windows?
- locking wheel nuts?
- alarm LED light next to the gearstick?

If not, it is an import and nothing to worry about to be honest.

If it does, then it's a UK car. They were all built to the same spec anyway!
 
  Octavia vRS tfsi
Did you ask? Obviously not.

Does it really matter if the car came with lock nuts and etched windows? No it doesn't.

Are the cars the same? Yes they are.

Should you forget about it? Yes you should.
 
  Clio 182
It is defiantly an import, i confirmed it with the original seller of the car, in Derby. It is not a problem to me, apart from the fact Ford dropped there trade in price by almost 1500quid! therefore resulting in me not getting their special finance deal! Gutted aint the word! i wondered why it didn't ave locking wheel nuts. hmmm
 
  Clio 182
Did you ask? Obviously not.

Does it really matter if the car came with lock nuts and etched windows? No it doesn't.

Are the cars the same? Yes they are.

Should you forget about it? Yes you should.

who asks if the car they are buying is an import? i still love the car, but trading it in becomes a massive problem, no need for the arsey advice, i just wanna know if the dealers are obliged to tell me thats all.
 
Theyre obliged to tell you if you ask, same as if its been written off.

If you dont ask, they dont have to tell you.

What did Ford offer you for it in a p/x?
 
  ST
And people say theres no difference...wouldn't touch an import European car, the value drops quicker than UK versions..
 
  Clio 182
Theyre obliged to tell you if you ask, same as if its been written off.

If you dont ask, they dont have to tell you.

What did Ford offer you for it in a p/x?

ford were gonna offer 5500 or there a bouts, when they discovered it was an import that figure dropped to 4000, quite a dramatic drop i am sure you will agree. i can see why that would bother them, the fact that when they send it to auction everybody who could bid on the car must be made aware it is an import, it apparently will make it go for much less than a UK car that has gone through the normal channels. Oh well.
 
  RB 182
Try a different Ford, they were just using it as an excuse to drop the price - they'll still ask the same when selling it on the forecourt and ill almost guarentee they wont tell the new owner
 

MRBILLYUK

ClioSport Club Member
  FF Jeden Osiem Dwa
And people say theres no difference...wouldn't touch an import European car, the value drops quicker than UK versions..

Not if you sell it private like i did with mine ;) Alot of Renault dealerships are clueless when it comes to there own cars so i would imagine a Ford dealership knows even less , and don't realise that they are exactly the same car produced in the same factory .

That said i also paid £1500 less from a non franchised Renault garage for my import 172 than the franchised dealeship wanted .

Imports ftw :quiet:
Try a different Ford, they were just using it as an excuse to drop the price - they'll still ask the same when selling it on the forecourt and ill almost guarentee they wont tell the new owner

Spot on that :)
 
  clio v6 mk2,
Need some advice needed here chaps, over a year ago i was new to clios and bought my first 182! over the moon i was as you can imagine!
However i was almost gonna trade it in for a new ST today, they HPi checked it, and low and behold it is a Grey import!! i was not aware of this and was not told when i bought the car.
Does anyone know where i stand with the dealer?

Well, fancy not H.P.I. a car how silly..:eek:
One born every min;)

Sorry, not worth as much as a UK car, just don't make the same mistake again, H.P.I. all cars your buying.:D
 

MRBILLYUK

ClioSport Club Member
  FF Jeden Osiem Dwa
Need some advice needed here chaps, over a year ago i was new to clios and bought my first 182! over the moon i was as you can imagine!
However i was almost gonna trade it in for a new ST today, they HPi checked it, and low and behold it is a Grey import!! i was not aware of this and was not told when i bought the car.
Does anyone know where i stand with the dealer?

Well, fancy not H.P.I. a car how silly..:eek:
One born every min;)

Sorry, not worth as much as a UK car, just don't make the same mistake again, H.P.I. all cars your buying.:D

It seems there are alot of people on here who know jack sh1t about imports . If people want to pay over the odds for the same car then that's their prerogative . :clown:

Does an H.P.I check actually tell you a cars an import ? And i mean a " Brand New Import " , not a second hand import . Correct me if i'm wrong but i didn't think it did ;) .
 
  clio v6 mk2,
Well, fancy not H.P.I. a car how silly..:eek:
One born every min;)

Sorry, not worth as much as a UK car, just don't make the same mistake again, H.P.I. all cars your buying.:D

It seems there are alot of people on here who know jack sh1t about imports . If people want to pay over the odds for the same car then that's their prerogative . :clown:

Does an H.P.I check actually tell you a cars an import ? And i mean a " Brand New Import " , not a second hand import . Correct me if i'm wrong but i didn't think it did ;) .

No. DVLA recently stopped putting "imported from abroad", so your V5 registration document won't say anything about the car being an import.

BUT THERE IS WAYS OF KNOWING:rasp: :rasp:
and i'm not a kid,my name not jack s**t,??:eek:
 
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MRBILLYUK

ClioSport Club Member
  FF Jeden Osiem Dwa
It seems there are alot of people on here who know jack sh1t about imports . If people want to pay over the odds for the same car then that's their prerogative . :clown:

Does an H.P.I check actually tell you a cars an import ? And i mean a " Brand New Import " , not a second hand import . Correct me if i'm wrong but i didn't think it did ;) .

No. DVLA recently stopped putting "imported from abroad", so your V5 registration document won't say anything about the car being an import.

BUT THERE IS WAYS OF KNOWING:rasp: :rasp:
and i'm not a kid,my name not jack s**t,??:eek:

Correct , there is an easy way of knowing . Ring Renault customer services . Give them the vin number and they will tell you, and it's all free ;) Kiddo :quiet:
 
Can I just correct your terminology please folks:

Grey Import: Is the import of a car to the UK that IS NOT normally available for sale in the UK. For example a Mazda Eunos (MX5) or Mitsubishi Pajero (Shogun). Often it is not just a name change either, the manufacturers specification can be quite different from the UK equivalent.

Parallel Import: Is the import of a car to the UK that IS available for sale in the UK. The specification is usually identically to that of a UK car. Normally the only differences are items that are added to the car at either the import centre or at the dealers, items like an alarm, window etching, locking wheel nuts.

I hope that has cleared that up!

So I suspect your car is not a grey import, but a parallel import. If the HPI certification does state 'grey import' i'd be very concerned!

Steve.
 
  clio v6 mk2,
Can I just correct your terminology please folks:

Grey Import: Is the import of a car to the UK that IS NOT normally available for sale in the UK. For example a Mazda Eunos (MX5) or Mitsubishi Pajero (Shogun). Often it is not just a name change either, the manufacturers specification can be quite different from the UK equivalent.

Parallel Import: Is the import of a car to the UK that IS available for sale in the UK. The specification is usually identically to that of a UK car. Normally the only differences are items that are added to the car at either the import centre or at the dealers, items like an alarm, window etching, locking wheel nuts.

I hope that has cleared that up!

So I suspect your car is not a grey import, but a parallel import. If the HPI certification does state 'grey import' i'd be very concerned!

Steve.


Read the first, POST;)
metallicabud
ClioSport Club Member



Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 47

Car: Clio 182
Location: Braintree


Sold a Grey import?!?

However i was almost gonna trade it in for a new ST today, they HPi checked it, and low and behold it is a Grey import!! i
;) ;) ;)
Ford were gonna offer 5500 or there a bouts, when they discovered it was an import that figure dropped to 4000, quite a dramatic drop
 
Last edited:
  Golf GT & A4 Avant
Are you talking about trading it in for the Focus or the Fiesta ST? I think I would prefer the Fiesta. I test drove the Focus and thought it was quite civilised and comfy, quite boring really. Yes it is rapid but not as involving or fun to drive as the clio is. but thats my opinion only of course, and I much prefer blatting down a bumpy windy B-road where the clio is maybe better suited?

I wouldn't recommend trading it in at dovorcourt, theyre very hard to get money out of. If your that set on swapping, advertise it for £500 more than you would have got trade in originally. probably not as much as you could advertise it for but people will see it as cheaper than al the others advertised and you'll get a few£££ more than from the dealers
 
  Audi TT
Motorpoint and the other car supermarkets imported tons of Renault Sports to the point that I'd bet that there's more imported straight from le France than were sold in the UK!

G
 

Christopher

ClioSport Club Member
  Z4M
Can I just correct your terminology please folks:

Grey Import: Is the import of a car to the UK that IS NOT normally available for sale in the UK. For example a Mazda Eunos (MX5) or Mitsubishi Pajero (Shogun). Often it is not just a name change either, the manufacturers specification can be quite different from the UK equivalent.

Parallel Import: Is the import of a car to the UK that IS available for sale in the UK. The specification is usually identically to that of a UK car. Normally the only differences are items that are added to the car at either the import centre or at the dealers, items like an alarm, window etching, locking wheel nuts.

I hope that has cleared that up!

So I suspect your car is not a grey import, but a parallel import. If the HPI certification does state 'grey import' i'd be very concerned!

Steve.

I was just going to post that up. Beaten to it
 
Can I just correct your terminology please folks:

Grey Import: Is the import of a car to the UK that IS NOT normally available for sale in the UK. For example a Mazda Eunos (MX5) or Mitsubishi Pajero (Shogun). Often it is not just a name change either, the manufacturers specification can be quite different from the UK equivalent.

Parallel Import: Is the import of a car to the UK that IS available for sale in the UK. The specification is usually identically to that of a UK car. Normally the only differences are items that are added to the car at either the import centre or at the dealers, items like an alarm, window etching, locking wheel nuts.

I hope that has cleared that up!

So I suspect your car is not a grey import, but a parallel import. If the HPI certification does state 'grey import' i'd be very concerned!

Steve.


Read the first, POST;)
metallicabud
ClioSport Club Member



Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 47

Car: Clio 182
Location: Braintree


Sold a Grey import?!?

However i was almost gonna trade it in for a new ST today, they HPi checked it, and low and behold it is a Grey import!! i
;) ;) ;)
Ford were gonna offer 5500 or there a bouts, when they discovered it was an import that figure dropped to 4000, quite a dramatic drop

Yes I have read your first post correctly - what are you trying to tell me???

The car is a grey import? I find this hard to believe - So where did the car come from originally, South Africa, Japan, Dubai?

I'm still guessing thats it is a Parallel import NOT a Grey import.

Regards, Steve.
 
  Family Bus
Someone once said mine was an import, as the VIN number is not displayed anywhere on the car other than under the drivers seat carpet, and something else about it not having a splitter as standard??

It does have a LED near the gear stick though, not sure what is meant by etched windows????
 
  clio v6 mk2,
Someone once said mine was an import, as the VIN number is not displayed anywhere on the car other than under the drivers seat carpet, and something else about it not having a splitter as standard??

It does have a LED near the gear stick though, not sure what is meant by etched windows????

So you DON'T have a VIN number also in the windscreen???
There should be three,......... One by the seat,(you say VIN number :approve: by the seat)......... One in the windscreen??
and ........One on the door pillar ..???(sticker)
 
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MRBILLYUK

ClioSport Club Member
  FF Jeden Osiem Dwa
Someone once said mine was an import, as the VIN number is not displayed anywhere on the car other than under the drivers seat carpet, and something else about it not having a splitter as standard??

It does have a LED near the gear stick though, not sure what is meant by etched windows????

Both my imports had the VIN number displayed on the dash , on the passenger side .

Etched windows is part of the security.

Thats probably the most obvious and easiest to check.

The later 182's didn't have etched windows , i'm not sure if the earlier ones had or not .
 

len_beach

ClioSport Club Member
  E92 M3,172 track car
Someone once said mine was an import, as the VIN number is not displayed anywhere on the car other than under the drivers seat carpet, and something else about it not having a splitter as standard??

It does have a LED near the gear stick though, not sure what is meant by etched windows????
A 172 would never have had a splitter.

And the L.E.D would indicate an alarm thrown in by a Monkey at the docks. That's normally what indicates a UK along with the etched windows.
 
  clio v6 mk2,
MRBILLYUK (quote)

Nothing wrong with imports .They are the same car produced in the same factory as the so called UK models , just cheaper , thats why i'm so defensive lol ;)[/quote]

No, as long you know:) cheaper to buy;) , cheaper to sale;)
 
  Clio 182
Lots of discussion here! well i have looked into it and i am sorry i said 'Grey import' without knowing about parallel imports. all the person said from where the car was originally from was that it was imported "no other information available" hmmmm. But, whatever it is it still means i will have trouble with part x ing the car. Not to worry i will sell it private.

And from previous posts, i did HPI check the car, as i have all my cars, with the AA HPI checker, however...........the check Dovercourt Ford done cost a little more than the one i paid £62, mine cost £40 i think, so it should still be very in depth, all the infomation that was on Fords was the engine number was unknown, nothing about where it is from or what channels it went through to get into the UK. The lack of an engine number is apparently a warning light, to the dealers credit he was right, thats why i chased the previous owner and MotorPoint in Derby to find out it was a Grey or parallel import. Turns out the original buyer was not aware it was an import either.
I will be more carful in the future, oh and dont buy a car from Darlintons or their used Renualt section S&A autos in Ware, i rang and asked them if they knew they sold me an import and they were total dicks about it, i would'nt mind so much but i was only asking if they knew! :nono:
 


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