Import horror story

[nissaner]

Dont get me wrong I love the car but after what the import company and the shipping company have put me thru i just wanna give it bak.

It was meant to arrive here in september last year but it missed boat after boat and finally got here in march. Damn ***** never answer the fone or reply to emails and when I actually got thru to them it was the same thing, 'next month for sure'.

exactly how i was feeling 1year ago... although, i only read this thread today and only saw ***** as the broker in discussion, i think i have a pretty good idea who it is... how can someone be in customer service business in nature and not answer client's phone calls and not reply their emails ?? :warning: (just in case, some people might be thinking that i'm just being a keyboard warrior and haven't even complained to ***** in the first place, well, when all your emails are getting ignored and you can't reach them on the phone and you live in other states so can't physically visit them, what can you do but thinking that you are just having a bad luck... to say the least, i will NEVER use their service again (this will be easy, coz there aren't all that much of service in the first place anyway )

[DAN00H]

I might aswell share my import story, after having my GTR waiting on the dock for 1 year I was surprised that it wasn't as bad as I thought. even thought I had wait an extra 2 months for a ship and staff being on holiday and it had to be trucked down to sydney from brisbane.

The rocker cover gaskets needs to be replaced after sitting there for so long as understandable. but was not impressed with the importers and compliance guys for not mentioning.

ABS module had a leak

CV boot split and needs drive shaft reconditioned

driver fold-in mirror not working

Oil pressure guage playing up (I'm aware this is a common problem)

Missing Boot trim

Even though it is nothing major it would of been nice to know before getting the car. All the little things to add up.

Michael - be carful that the "playing up" of the oil pressure guage is actually the guage.... I few members have notied this and then it turns out to be a problem with the oil pump (thus causing terminal engine damage!!)

My never falters, shows the pressure when cold, then drops a bit once warm.....

[ylwgtr2]

I want to know who "*****" is :'(

Its not that hard to figure out with only 5 letters...i spose it could be LOSER....but both go hand in hand

[yaf28f]

Michael - be carful that the "playing up" of the oil pressure guage is actually the guage.... I few members have notied this and then it turns out to be a problem with the oil pump (thus causing terminal engine damage!!)

My never falters, shows the pressure when cold, then drops a bit once warm.....

Thanks for the advice DAN00H, I'm getting an aftermarket Gauage put in hopefully this weekend just to be certain it's just the Oil pressure Sender, I'm just driving around in the FTO until it's fixed anyway, better safe than sorry.

But the gauge starts off at around 2-3 and drops when I do any hardish corner to almost 0, but the light never comes on.

[SS8_Gohan]

Its not that hard to figure out with only 5 letters...i spose it could be LOSER....but both go hand in hand

hehehe, this the same ppl i got mine through Troy? you not think highly of them?

[noise]

LoL guys NO aussie import broker is reputable!!!! Because when something goes wrong they have no direct control over what’s happening. Their finger is not on the damn pulse of the situation.

You are wasting your time and money using them. I say this over and over.

You are going to get exactly the same service by directly purchasing your car from Japan and avoiding a Australian middle man. Sure something could go wrong but at least you have $1000 extra to fix it if it does.

the point is there is no greater risk of things going wrong if you buy direct from a jap exporter, in fact there is one less person trying to push a sale so you might even find less will go wrong.

it is an extremely easy process to buy direct.

Please give it a go next import

cheers

p.s we really need a sticky to outline the many better cheaper options not involving aussie brokers.

[ylwgtr2]

LoL guys NO aussie import broker is reputable!!!! Because when something goes wrong they have no direct control over what’s happening. Their finger is not on the damn pulse of the situation.

You are wasting your time and money using them. I say this over and over.

You are going to get exactly the same service by directly purchasing your car from Japan and avoiding a Australian middle man. Sure something could go wrong but at least you have $1000 extra to fix it if it does.

the point is there is no greater risk of things going wrong if you buy direct from a jap exporter, in fact there is one less person trying to push a sale so you might even find less will go wrong.

it is an extremely easy process to buy direct.

Please give it a go next import

cheers

p.s we really need a sticky to outline the many better cheaper options not involving aussie brokers.

here here

[Girigiri]

You must be kidding yourself if you think you have an 89 model GTR with 30,000 genuine kilometres on the clock  :bahaha:  :bahaha:

The interior of my 94 model is immaculate too .... with 160,000kms on the clock

I'm not a total idiot mate. It's got log books. And its not a gtr.

[PSIKO]

I'm not a total idiot mate. It's got log books. And its not a gtr.

_______________

On 1/1/94 I took car to Oshigarunyarguryokyo for oil change - 10,000km

On 1/1/98 I took car to Negataramadoowuphyhara for another oil change - 20,000km

On 1/1/02 I took car to Sukdinwhiteboi for another oil change - 30,000 km

_______________

Anyone can fake them and noone will know

Not sure if it explains the water corrosion but I doubt the extra couple of months would have made the difference

Sorry to hear you got screwed though dude ... I've had bad dealings with ***** as has Raasclat, but since they're a sponsor on SAU they can just walk over us Perthies and not suffer any consequences (I reported it to dAVE months and months ago when he was the trader mod ... never got a reply coz it's all money in the pocket I guess)

[Girigiri]

Just spoke to the ***** guy, name starts with C, dunno if I can say his name on the forum with all the rules and such =) Anyway he was very understanding and is going to chase up the cars original condition with the japanese supplier and the shipping company or whatever.... basically try to lay the blame somewhere. I really dont expect to get much but I am really pleased that C was understanding and helpful.

Bit of redemption in my eyes =) Cant wait to get my bloody car back though... anyone know where to get those mint LED rear lights for 32s?

[mini2]

I got a funny feeling your car was up for sale by one of ***** agent that is of Pakistani background (nothing wrong with that) and one of his A3 special. If it is, trust me, they will never own up to any problems arise and that's one of the things with importing - you copped all the risks and responsibility if anything pops up, such as your corroded head.

The best you can do is ask ***** to give you a discount or waive the agent fee next time when you wanted to import again.

[allblitz]

Can someone PM me and tell me who this ******* company is?

[allblitz]

On 1/1/94 I took car to Oshigarunyarguryokyo for oil change - 10,000km

On 1/1/98 I took car to Negataramadoowuphyhara for another oil change - 20,000km

On 1/1/02 I took car to Sukdinwhiteboi for another oil change - 30,000 km

Doesnt it seem odd that the car is only doing 2,500kms every year since coming out of factory?

[Girigiri]

Doesnt it seem odd that the car is only doing 2,500kms every year since coming out of factory?

Look I have no reason to doubt the company on its odo. the log books and service receipts are all in order and the interior of the car is immaculate. The engine (apart from the unfortunate head case) is very clean and ran perfectly smoothly, the gearbox feels smooth and silky as a new car. Theres no signs of any mods ever being on the car and every part was stock as a rock.

[mini2]

Doesn't that company offered an inspection by a mechanic over in Nippon at your cost?

[J_R32]

jsut a simple check is to look at your odo, is ALL number line up 100% then you can there is a high probabilty it is genuine kms. my skyline came here with 60000, and it aint straight, so you know someone fiddled with it!

well if your car realli did that little kms that would explain the head corrosion and radiator corrosion, water sitting in a radiator and engine that is not being driven much (30000 /15 years) is bound to do some damage, thru corrosion, from the radiator coolant losing its anti corrosion properties. (prob never got flushed in its entire life)

[pentae]

I thought someone buried this thread already?

A corroded exhaust and cooling system is hardly an 'import horror story' .. there are countless people on this forum who have had to pay 5-6 thousand for an engine rebuild within 2 weeks of the car arriving.. corroded pipes just happen to old cars. Same thing happened when I bought my 1990 australian delivered r31..

0MG P33PZ R31 I BOUGHT FROM DA COURIER MAIL - T3h HORRAH STORY! OMG TEH GOVERNMENT SHOULD STOP IT..

serious is a heart attack.

[writeoff]

I recently imported three cars from a prestigious australian company and had trouble with all three cars.

The main problem which (IMO) is definately the responsibility of the Co. involved was that NONE of the air conditioners were degassed. This resulted in the cars being held up by the Dept of Environment and Heritage. I was charge storage fees while they argued with my customs agent. One car racked up $1200 in storage fees alone. Then the cars had to be degassed and regassed with ozone friendly stuff. This cost $275 per car. Sure the Co. refunded the money I had paid at the time of purchase to have the cars degassed (it was on my invoice) but I am still thousands out of pocket.

Two of the cars had to straight to the crash shop with undercarriage damage and rust. Again I had to fork out thousands. Despite using their sites' cost calculator, when import tax was 15% and not 10%, each car went $6000 over budget. That's $18,000 all up and put me under a lot a financial stress!! I had allowed for some extra expenses - and there was several with each car, but not another $18,000.

The lack of communication from the Co. also frustrated me immensely. And their solution to the lack of degassing was to lie to the government! Nice. (I followed their sugggestion and it resulted in increased delays and further $)