GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk5 => Topic started by: ifti on 26 March 2009, 20:40
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How do you tell whether a MK5 GTI is a UK or Import car?? Is it just by the difference in warranty??
Also, is there any document that shows when the warranty ends?
Im going to see a car next week, which the seller says is a UK car and came with a 3 year warranty - just want to ensure thats the case!
Finally, I dont think the car has its ED30 plaque etc - if the seller does not have this, how do I go about getting one??
Thanks in advance, and sorry for all the questions I keep throwing at you guys!!
Hopefully I'll have my GTI soon and will shut up for a while!
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it should say on the log book if its an import , if it is you wont get a plaque they are for uk cars only , most imported ed 30 are grey by the way :wink:
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Where abouts on the log book should I be looking?
Most imports Ive come across are Silver TBH - but the one Im seeing next week is Grey!!!
Hope its a Uk as the seller says it is! Its an 08 plate, and he's told me its under warranty under August 2011.....
Will a HPI check tell me if its an import?
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This isn't foolproof but check the service book to see what dealer did the PDI. The book should be stamped with the dealer's mark for the PDI.
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there are a few things you can check most imports dont have english service book packs if any book pack at all also you can call up your local dealer before viewing the car and ask them to check the car they can tell you weather its an import the country in was imported from also warranty information if you want PM the car reg and i will do some digging for you to make sure its a good one.
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Sorry Im a bit of a noob when it comes to this - whats the PDI??
Also is there a warranty document that shows when the warranty actually ends? Or do I determine that when I see whether the car is an import or not?
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aPDI is a pre deivery inspection and every UK car has had one. There is no warranty information with the car the only place you will get that is from the dealer off there system. remember uk cars have 3 years warranty the first 2 years unlimited milage the 3rd year limited to 60k imports only have 2 years unlimited.
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Can I just walk into any VW dealership and ask them to check the reg though??
Will they do it?
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yer its in there interest if they help you out then you may go to them for your warranty work. like i said i can check this if you want PM me the reg and i will sort it by tommorow night and also maybe even get a hpi done if your lucky.
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That would be cool mate - just PM'd you the reg ;)
Much appreciated!
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Does it matter?......They all come off the same production line! Minor differences only....
What's the general consensus?
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Does it matter?......They all come off the same production line! Minor differences only....
What's the general consensus?
You get 1 years less warranty and the residuals are less even though it is the same car.
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When the pound was strong import every time.
I've imported (new):
BMW (from Germany)
Fiat motorhome (from Pisa)
Ford (Gib)
Yamaha (Japan)
Honda (Cyprus)
VW (Holland)
The V5 does not even show they are imports.
In every case the Euro spec standard equipment was over and above that of a UK car.
The only dealers that were sniffy about the car were the Honda ones.
VW Lindale on Wednesday cleaned and polished the GTI during it's first service to showroom condition. Good service.
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Im really after the warranty - the longer the warranty the better! ;)
Also, the dealer states its a UK car - if he's lied and its an import I wont be buying from him. Period.
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You would still be better off buying a parallel import and and extra year's warranty... either VW or third party
After three years why would there be any difference in value..? Even if there was it would be minimal, remember this is the same car, same production line, same spec... within the warranty period I can see why there would be a difference in value but outside of that...
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see your messages got the info for you mate.
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Cheers mate - spot on so far - just replied back to ya ;)
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Just a HUGE public thanks to 'Fatty B', who has HPI checked the car Im interested in for me ;)
Turns out it is a UK car, registered owner and spec are correct, no warranty work undertaken, etc - so all is well.
Just gotta make sure the seller clears the finance while I am there ;)
Thanks again Fatty B!
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You would still be better off buying a parallel import and and extra year's warranty... either VW or third party
After three years why would there be any difference in value..? Even if there was it would be minimal, remember this is the same car, same production line, same spec... within the warranty period I can see why there would be a difference in value but outside of that...
This is true, I was told by the stealer when I traded in my old mk4 gti (which was an import) that it didn't really matter past 3 if it had been registered with VW UK for recalls and had service history and the like. After 5 years it didn't matter a stuff.
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This old chestnut always crops up regardless of which marque you go for - the percieved value difference...
IMHO, even if it's been sat on the dock for 9 months (which let's face it, they ALL have), the dealer *should* get the car into a saleable state prior to even going on the forecourt.
I'd guess that there's a rate of attrition so those get sent offloaded as alternative scrap etc? Don't know to be honest.
FWIW, I had the same thing when I was looking at Subarus - at the time the official dealer network sent out scare stories about them, IM (the importers) actually told dealer service departments that they could lose the franchise if they worked or even sold parts to an import owner!!!! crazy.
The whole reason was that the official dealers were losing money hand over fist because of the imports. Rather than embrace this change and accommodate servicing etc (where good service could lead to future car sales etc) they shunned it.
Thankfully, these days, it's not got the stigma that it used to have. IN fact I would go as far to say that most of the car-buying public don't know or care where there car comes from as long as it's cheap, reliable etc.
As has been said - they've all been built to the same spec, and in some cases better spec! So what's the problem?
Dan :)
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i would nt touch an import ed30 solely because of the plaque , imo the ed 30 should not have been allow to be sold by sh!tty places like the one in derby :angry:
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I dont think the seller of this car Im looking at has got the plaque.
The car is 8 months old now - can I still ring VW when I have the car and get a new plaque?
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My car is a UK spec parallel import bought brand new 2 years ago saving me £4.5 k over a similarly specced UK car.. You can't tell at all it's an import, nothing on V5 and I have UK Service book with VW UK stamps. When I come to sell it in a years time ( ie the warranty thing doesn't come into it ) it's just another VW Golf GTI in Autotrader andI win again. Don't see what all the fuss is about personally.
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My car is a UK spec parallel import bought brand new 2 years ago saving me £4.5 k over a similarly specced UK car.. You can't tell at all it's an import, nothing on V5 and I have UK Service book with VW UK stamps. When I come to sell it in a years time ( ie the warranty thing doesn't come into it ) it's just another VW Golf GTI in Autotrader andI win again. Don't see what all the fuss is about personally.
You just can't tell any difference between a car from say, Holland and a car parallel imported in to the UK (you can with people like Motorpoint however).
Mine was fresh from Wolfsburg to a dealer in Holland and straight to Hull, still in it's wrappers. Cruise as standard too.
If you are bothered about the third years warranty you can just buy an extra year.
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My car is a UK spec parallel import bought brand new 2 years ago saving me £4.5 k over a similarly specced UK car.. You can't tell at all it's an import, nothing on V5 and I have UK Service book with VW UK stamps. When I come to sell it in a years time ( ie the warranty thing doesn't come into it ) it's just another VW Golf GTI in Autotrader andI win again. Don't see what all the fuss is about personally.
You just can't tell any difference between a car from say, Holland and a car parallel imported in to the UK (you can with people like Motorpoint however).
Mine was fresh from Wolfsburg to a dealer in Holland and straight to Hull, still in it's wrappers. Cruise as standard too.
If you are bothered about the third years warranty you can just buy an extra year.
Agreed, mine came from a dealer in Holland as well and is full UK spec ( spare space saver, alarm etc ) . At the time Motorpoint had some scabby cars destined for Dubai that had been sat in a compound in the desert for 18 months, engine bays covered in sand . A quick trip to a VW dealer with your chassis number will tell you when the car rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg. As long as it's a UK spec car there's nothing to worry about.
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The first 3 letters of the chassis number will tell you if its German built or not.
If its WVW, it was born at Wolfsburg.
Some imports you have to be careful of, some Cypriots come with 1 year warranty and all Maltese cars come with no warranty. I wouldn't mind buying an import if I knew the full spec and knew where it came from. If its a Motorpoint, I'd walk away. We had one of their Dubai import Clio 172s in when I worked at a Renault dealer, took us 3 weeks just to get the key coded!
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The first 3 letters of the chassis number will tell you if its German built or not.
If its WVW, it was born at Wolfsburg.
Some imports you have to be careful of, some Cypriots come with 1 year warranty and all Maltese cars come with no warranty. I wouldn't mind buying an import if I knew the full spec and knew where it came from. If its a Motorpoint, I'd walk away. We had one of their Dubai import Clio 172s in when I worked at a Renault dealer, took us 3 weeks just to get the key coded!
.........thanks for that mate. :wink:
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The first 3 letters of the chassis number will tell you if its German built or not.
If its WVW, it was born at Wolfsburg.
I thought that all Mk5 GTIs came from Wolfsburg...
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i would nt touch an import ed30 solely because of the plaque ,
You know the funny thing. As a mk1 GTI campaign owner as well as a mk5 GTI owner i have seen the import problem happen with the limited edition previous back in 1983 with person imports. Its a pain trying to work out if the campaign your looking at is a person import or a UK car nowadays.
You want to know a secret, the limited edition states meens nothing in the future if you have modded your car infact it makes it worth less, plaque or no plaque, original sales broucher, receit or not. If it ever comes colectable then the main question in the future will be how many unmodified ones are left.
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I've got an ed30 that is an import although I was very particular on where I imported it from and I think that's the key thing here!!
I do though think those that say wouldn't touch with a barge pole should look into the new regulation behind imports and you'll see just how close they actaully are to a dealer supplied car, bar the 3yrd year warranty!!
Plus the ed30's are all made on the same line and those that are due for uk import are made to the exact same spec, in fact I was able to get my car with full spec (and I mean everything) for nearly £3k less than the equivalent dealer model, ok so I may have to shed out £450 for a 3rd year warranty, but I'm still better off, and please don't mention RV's,................I was considering selling my car recently and phoned variously suppliers including the dealer network. I tried some and mentioned it was an import and others I didn't mention it, all came back with pretty much identical values!!
Does make me chuckle when people avoid imports :grin:
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hmmmm, I didnt realise all this, thanks for the info guys.
I just used to think imports are 'dirty', just because of the stuff I had heard about MotorPoint.
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My GTI is a parallel import from a Dutch dealer and full UK spec. It really annoys me when I hear people say that it will be worth a lot less than a UK purchased one when I come to trade it in. Why should a car that is made in the same factory, on the same production line, be worth less? Take off a few hundred quid for the lack of a 3rd year warranty but that's the only difference.
I guess some people think that all 'imports' are not full UK spec and made in different countries.
Some UK dealers try it on by saying it will be worth less but some are ok. Before my GTI I had a 2.0 TDI which was bought from a UK dealer. When I got the TDI I traded in my import Ford Puma (please don't laugh) and the dealer gave me a very good deal. He said that it didn't make a difference that it was an import as it was full UK spec.