Bought A Car From Japan

[GD51LA]

i commited to buying a car from japan, the car arrived and its different than the original pictures he sent me. what would you do?

r33 s3 gtr

this is how the car was diffirent..

1..original picture had fog lights on the front bar...car arrived with no fog lights

2..original picture had a tape deck..car arrived with what appears to be an original nissan cd player

3..original picture had no bonnet lip..car arrives with bonnet lip

4..original car had aftermarket shifter..carr arrives with standard shifter

also on the car that aririved the front lights seem a little more yellow than the original, and the front spoiler has a scratch on the passenger side

long story short,

i commited to buying the car from a nissan dealer in japan, he made an offer to the dealer (in japan) so we got the car. a couple of days later he told me the car was sold to another customer that offered more money, so i told my guy try and get it back buy making a better offer which he did. he told me he got the car back. my guy is telling me that the changes on the car were a request from the the previos buyer? "the buyer we originally lost the deal too"

i didn't ask for the vin or anything because i trusted him, because he is well known. so i wont say his name. at the moment. i payed the whole amount for the car already

here are the pictures, the first 6 are the original car and the second set is the car that arrived..

can you spot anything i cant?

[Iron Chef]

Oh dear. I could understand if a whole heap of stuff had gone missing, then you could put it down to a dodgy dealer stripping stuff out of the car before it left. But when there's stuff added on to it (ie bonnet lip), it's a different car.

Bait advertising in Japan is rife - don't be surprised if the original car was already sold before you even decided to look at it, you sent your money over, they told you it was sold, then they went and found another similar car to replace it with, probably for less money.

Bear in mind that your buyer/agent/broker may have been just as much in the dark about this as you were....

[scotty014]

Oh dear. I could understand if a whole heap of stuff had gone missing, then you could put it down to a dodgy dealer stripping stuff out of the car before it left. But when there's stuff added on to it (ie bonnet lip), it's a different car.

Bait advertising in Japan is rife - don't be surprised if the original car was already sold before you even decided to look at it, you sent your money over, they told you it was sold, then they went and found another similar car to replace it with, probably for less money.

Bear in mind that your buyer/agent/broker may have been just as much in the dark about this as you were....

i think you wrote about this in an issue of performance imports.

[royb31]

Mmm hard to say. When i got my 34 gtr it was missing a few things like the boost controller, the titanium sheild for the pods,aftermarket boost guage that i spotted in the pics from japan but mine was the same car in the pics. I believe it is common for little bits and pieces to missing but as the last post said they usually don't add stuff. Hope it all works out still a nice ride all the same

[PM-R33]

Probably a silly question but what about the km's on the original car compared to the one that came? Same or different?

[GD51LA]

this is the first time i have mentioned it.

i think the car was sold after i paid the money. maybe he found a new with more margin, after all he sent me low res pictures... he flew to japan for a few weeks as soon as we made the transaction, so he could have pulled it off. he also promised me good pictures off the car when it was in japan. that didnt happen??

[royb31]

when i got mine i kept hassling for as many pics as i could and the importer kept coming thru (he is a good long time friend and been in the biz for a while) but i still had worries as you do when you hand over hard earned foldies and you can't see it yourself. but if your happy with the new car don't sweat to much still looks nice

[Mr Eps]

ah

this is easy

first few pics are the "fake" car yeah?

attachment #4

the interior

in the seat-back... where the head support is, there's the slot where your neck sits

inside that slot is a black stain

if that stain is still on your car that you have - there's your answer!

either way...

you're still happy with your existing GTR yeah??

i'll be honest with my thoughts here

while the story SOUNDS suspect... it's entriely possible in japan - dealers in japan will bend over backwards to "upsell" their customers, be it GPS systems, cd players, bonnet spoiler, shift knobs racing pedals.. whatever they can give them - they'll sell it to their customers

so as suss as the story sounds... it's entirely plausible in a strange way

i'm thinking the cars are the same based on the tiny tiny details

if your car has that stain - it's the same car...

another small detail.. the interior pic # 2... the leather handbrake boot... it creases like an S in the exact same spot in the final pic upload of car in australia

[gtr13]

the rear GTR badge looks to sit lower on the boot then it does on the second car

[Iron Chef]

the rear GTR badge looks to sit lower on the boot then it does on the second car

Nicely spotted!

To the OP, I guess if the car you've actually got is a decent one still, then no harm no foul, but it's not nice having it happen, for sure.

[iplen]

Are there holes from where the Fog lights were mounted, or any marks at all?

[La Bomba]

Are there holes from where the Fog lights were mounted, or any marks at all?

Maybe they've provided you with a car even better than the one in the pictures...but seeing as they seem like dishonest dealers and did the bait and switch tactic, i highly doubt it.

[GD51LA]

i have not seen the car in the flesh yet. i will see it on tuesday or wednesday.

im sure the car is clean, but my main concern is k's, a 100k can look like a 50k car but that doesent mean it will drive like one, i paid extra mone for less k's.

anyway, the importer has offered too give me all my money back if i dont like the car. which is very descent of him.

[Mr Eps]

jeepers man...

sounds like you've fallen on a bed of roses??

wait

...is that the right saying??

ok try again

sounds like you were taken to the top floor and thrown off a building THEN landed on a pile of pillows

to clarify - sounds like things COULD have been really bad but after all is said n done they're gonna be FINNNEEEE mate!!!

in other words it sounds like they (just kidding i know i made my point haha)

but yeah, as kristian said... if you're happy with the car and it's still decent then you can't really be too upset!!! car looks good to me!

regarding klm... you can always cross ref the VIN in J with shaken recordings... to see if they're genuine, but yeah - you seem like a kinda smart dude that knows that the number on an ODO is - just some numbers really... unless it's over 250K haha

but as for the "swapsies" theorum

to do that... would mean the dealer would need to source a car that is FOR SALE, negotiate, purchase

a series 3 r33 GTR, in silver, no bodykit, in great condition with stock wheels, everything the same as the "bait" car

i mean something common say a silver V35 - this would be easy to acheive... however, this means dealer has to attain a particular colour, of a rare series, of a rare build, of a rare condition (unmodified) with the original wheels...

and once the dealer has tracked down that car - that car needs to be for sale... or be from an owner willing to sell their car for a lowball dealer offer

i mean - obviously for your sake i hope the dirty HASN'T been done to you here...

but in the event that it HAS been done... then, man... honestly my hat goes off to the dealer... i mean wow, i couldn't even be mad at him... frankly i'd be impressed if he pulled that one off!!!

[xscape237]

It is clearly a different car. Check out the shaken stickers.

Having said that, the one you ended up with actually looks a bit cleaner!

In any case, for your own sanity, you should drill the guy until he tells you what happened... Maybe pass the vehicle details onto an importer, to see if they can do a search to see if something matching the description recently went through auction. It could be a case that he paid less for this car and kept the difference.

[MRSAMO]

Sorry mate, happened to me too with my first car through an importer, second car had no problems because I did it myself!

Something is suss there, hope you get it all cleared up!

[Beer Baron]

if he's offered you your money back I would take it.

It's possible that he has been scammed by the dealer but to keep insisting it's the same car is ridiculous.

can you please pm me with the details of this operator? thanks.

good luck with the hunt.

[JDM Obsession]

Definitely a different car, that is a nasty story man!

[SkyHi_33]

Heya mate, just thought id let you know... youre probably lucky that you didn't get the original car.

Those type of fog lights ive seen before on a 33 gtr. They are unmarked police cars.

Someone correct me if im wrong, but have seen listings for 2 others that have been ex cop cars in japan and both have had the quad foggies.

[SkyHi_33]

found you a pic of one, notice the antennae on the back window, 4 foggies and 2 extra lights on the grille.

Hey who knows, might be the same car! hahaha excapt this one has a bonnet lip as well...

Edited June 19, 2010 by SkyHi_33