Buying import VS. buying here????

[Guest PuReStyleS]

I am in search of an R33 at the moment (my poor toyota camry was written off, but thats another story) and was wondering what you all think is better to do:

go to a place like J-SPEC Imports an buy one imported? or buy one from someone here??

Im soooo keen on going to an auction because they go for VERY cheap, but it concerns me if they are that cheap maybe they are in need of repair! i also really dont want to buy a car which i then find out, (after it is bought) that it needs a few repairs done to it!

so what do you all think on the aucitons? are the cars reliable to buy there even if they say they are??

or should i just stick to finding a good private vendor

thank you!

cant wait for the right r33- when it comes along

[Guest Boxhead]

hey man, im in a very similar situation to you, last car is written off, lookin for a new one, and all i can say is. keep your options open, contact some importers, such as j-spec etc..

but keep an eye out on local market.. coz there can be the od bargin..

personally i suggest PRIMO, (phil cathcart) as he has been very helpful to me so far. and it looks highly likely i will be importing through him.

these are his details :::

Philip Cathcart

Direct Imported Auto Brokers

QLD, australia

email: [email protected]

[Silver-Arrowz]

Buying here costs more. Dealers put up their profit margins.

But you can test drive it and inspect it before you pay for it, by buying here.

Your choice, good luck dude.

[Guest Boxhead]

also.. i would like to add in that i consider buying from japan sorta a lucky draw. you might find in boot all this funky stuff, which dealers wont letyou have!!!

but importers will..

however it works both ways.. it could come back with no engine :S well ok maybe thats a bit extreme..

[Red Sky II]

Choice is yours and what you are comfortable with. I imported mine through Prestige Motorsport and they helped me during the whole process.

Whilst I ended up with a few goodies I didn't know about (quickshift, Blitz BOV, etc) I also got two deep scratches on the rear bumper and one on the front spoiler (due to shipping, etc). So you win some and lose some.

Worked out a lot cheaper than through a dealer that's for sure and I would have saved around $7,000 or so

Cheers

Al

[Tosh]

I was lucky enough to find my car here in Australia for a price that I was happy with so I bought it here

Importing it yourself from Japan is a good idea as it can save you thousands You just need to be very careful about who you go through to get it.

I cannot speak highly enough of Geoff Risbey and Prestige Motorsports. I have met his buyer @ the Kobe Auctions in Japan (David) and he is an excellent person to be working for you over there. His japanese business partners (who I had quite extensive chats to while over there) are also very professional and do have your best interests at heart Whilst inspecting a few cars over there with David while I was there I was very impressed with his keen attention to detail and his thoroughness. He was noticing all sorts of things wrong with cars that I didn't.

I'd use them if I was importing

[ex-static]

PuReStyleS,

I'll be selling my black r33 Gtst Spec 2 reasonably soon due to me going overseas, im in Melbourne if you want to come check it out.

drop me an email - [email protected]

[DREMEN]

I have recently purchased a r33 through geoff risbey from japan.

It arrived on monday and is going through customs right now.

I recommend importing, but you need to hurry because of the import scheme changes

[fatz]

33 in the trading post r rather cheap just check some of them out....not the dealer the private adds

pete

[akeenan]

33 in the trading post r rather cheap just check some of them out....not the dealer the private adds

i was going to suggest the same thing, if they are in good condition go fof the trading post

[Dragon18]

well well the big question importing here or getting it from japan =)

i asked that question too my self when i was looking at buying a car

it all comes down to the waiting game. are you a patient persion can you afford to wait for your car to come from japan into australia??

also do you have a car while you are waiting for your other car?

do you want mods or just a stock car.

i really dont trust any dealers around here becuase i know most of em buy shit or smashed cars fix em and sell em for double the price =)

so its up to you. i recconmend importing my self

i have actually just imported a car and paid for it. it should be on the boat on japan =-) good old 180sx I getting it through J-spec and he is the best. Very friendly and i know he allways gets the good shit hehe =)

so in the end if you can afford to wait i reconmend it.

also a lot of people are talking about the new law. THe new law wont allways be a problem depending what car you want to import. if you want a skyline and can get it for a similar price from there then go for it.

Also i have herd a lot of people importing nice stock cars from japan. But nearly all of them now sold their stock cars and just bought a nice car with some good mods from japan costing them cheaper then doing the mods =)

so theres a bit to think about

NOt sure if you understand all of it i ramble on =)

[BuzLightyear]

I bought my car from an importer, but I was lucky - I lobbed there looking for an R32, and he had bought one shortly before whilst shopping at an auction for a customer, such that it had arrived the day before I went to see him and I got to see it straight off the boat.

I think most of these guys have pretty good buyers by most accounts - after all, they buy so many vehicles that they don't want to get a reputation for buying junk. ALSO - MOST IMPORTANT - make sure they give you the Japanese documentation as this authenticates the car and probably helps at time for re-sale.

Anyway, I got my R32GTSt with full body kit, 80k, 3" pipe and K&N filter, really good looking super wide wheels, excellent strut brace and adjustable sports suspension. There were a few shipping grazes, but overall this will only take a few hundred to fix. The body is dead straight. My base price was 15K plus $600 for a three year warranty. The dealer fitted new discs, pads and front rubber.

[SS8_Gohan]

The new scheme is a killer to the cheaper imports. Like the R33's, Silvias, Soarers. The compliance costs is where it really hits home. It will cost a heap more to compliance a R33 once the new scheme comes in. The benefits that I've seen after doing 6 months of looking, and reading, and reading....oh and did i mention reading?? Are that, 1) Because of the sheer numbers of cars that ppl like Craig at J-Spec and Geoff at Prestige get to look at, you will always find exactly what you want. You can say i want this, this, this but not that. It might take a few months, but with approx 50,000 cars a week, you'll find it eventually.

For example, I want to get a Blue R34 GT-T next year, exact same colour as the R34 GTR Blue. But apart from 1 guy in NZ, I'm pretty sure that there isn't any blue GT-T's in Oz, well none from when i've looked around. But i know i'll be able to get one in Japan.

Cars at Japan auctions are graded unbiasedly (that a word??) Anything from grade 4 up, and ur buying a very tidy car. Even the grade 3.5 are usually pretty good. Plus, the auction place will grade the car, then Craig's ppl or Geoff's ppl will get the report on the car, and look at it themselves, so the car is being checked twice. So you are going to get an accurate report on the car. They'll even tell you when the k's on the speedo look wrong, and will tell you what they think the car should have done.

Generally speaking, cars in Japan are usually in better condition and have less k's on them for their age, compared to Oz cars, generally.

But as it's already been said, if you are prepared to wait for exactly what you want, and save yourself a few thousand, then import. But if you want something, say a bit easier to find. Like a black, or grey R33 then maybe have a look round here. But i was warned on the quality of trading post Skylines, and definitely not a dealer either.

Another option may be Red Ace Motors in Carnegie (akeenan is the man to ask about these guys) They work slightly differently to J-Spec and Prestige in that they import the car over in their name, so they own the car. So if anything happens in transit, or if the car has to sit on the docks at 50bucks a day in Japan, that's their costs, not urs.

But as a general verdict (even tho I haven't done either ) I'm going to go the import road, cos newer cars like GT-T's aren't affected by the new scheme as much.

Do the sums for compliancing a R33 under the new scheme to what's available here. But i think if you start looking around February, you'll be sweet to get it in under the old scheme.

[akeenan]

:hippy:

[SS8_Gohan]

Originally posted by akeenan

:hippy:

hahahahahah...

[33Spec2]

Yeah i also bought my car through Prestige Motorsport and it was a heap cheaper and geoff is really friendly and helpful he even got me more pics of the car coz i couldnt make up my mind!

only prob is u dont get 2 try b4 u buy:lol:

[BuzLightyear]

Yep, you're exactly right Gohan.

My car is a 92 model, and it's a 3.5 grade. It checks out pretty well

and looks like a good car.

Only one problem - had a slow gearbox leak and had to get some work done under warranty, but I was told no-one could have forseen that. However, everything else is good.

[Phil]

I'm in the middle of the import process through vspecv (Dean, www.upimports.com.au). My car arrived a couple of days ago in Melbourne.

As someone else mentioned, unless you're VERY patient, don't bother importing. If you want something very specific and are after an immaculate car, you can find it, but it could take a month or 3. Then you have to wait for shipping and compliance, which is another 1-2 months.

I hope it all works out OK though! So far it's been great, apart from the waiting