Japanese imports - effect on insurance and price ?

property.advert

I've come across a couple of imported Nissan Muranos (sort of looking for this car for a while now) and having never had an import before, I wondered what the rough impact on insurance would be and the likely deviation in value from the normal UK supplied model (even if the same) ?

I can see an argument that higher insurance costs means lower prices and perhaps the fact that it is an import means a lower valuation as well but if so, where do we start in percentage terms ?

Hintza

Surely the important factor will be the availability of parts in the UK? So if parts need to be ordred from Japan then your insurance costs will be much higher and if the parts are the same as UK parts then their shouldn't really be any difference?

Having said all that I imagine they will up your insurance anyway ust because they can. Can you not run one of each through a price comparison site?

motorguy

property.advert wrote: »

I've come across a couple of imported Nissan Muranos (sort of looking for this car for a while now) and having never had an import before, I wondered what the rough impact on insurance would be and the likely deviation in value from the normal UK supplied model (even if the same) ?

I can see an argument that higher insurance costs means lower prices and perhaps the fact that it is an import means a lower valuation as well but if so, where do we start in percentage terms ?

Be aware that there may not be much of a price difference between a UK model and a jap import model - even though there should be.

Personally, i'd consider doing a search over the whole of the UK mainland via the likes of autotrader and travel to get a good UK car at a good price.

scheming_gypsy

A lot of imports are identical to the UK spec car, but insurers will often bang a premium on for it being an import as parts aren't readily available (apparently).

If you want to see the impact on insurance, just stick the details in confused.com as an import and then do it as a UK car and see what the difference is.

sofaspud1234

I have had 2 jap imports (MR2's) over the years it didn't push my insurance up. I paid around £234 fully comp, I do have max no claims though:D

scheming_gypsy

sofaspud1234 wrote: »

I have had 2 jap imports (MR2's) over the years it didn't push my insurance up. I paid around £234 fully comp, I do have max no claims though:D

Think it must be hit and miss. I pay £350 for my UK spec Rev 3 but one of my mates pays about £500 for his Rev 4 import. Both in our 30's with full NCD and both in the PR5 area.

Road_Hog

Hintza wrote: »

Surely the important factor will be the availability of parts in the UK? So if parts need to be ordred from Japan then your insurance costs will be much higher and if the parts are the same as UK parts then their shouldn't really be any difference?

Nope, not a problem. The OP is talking about buying a Jap spec car that is also sold in Britain. Parts will not be a problem, as they will be the same. Jap spec cars are often sold as the same in Britain (Jap cars are righthand drive) but considerably cheaper.


Ex-Honda employee of 20 years.

scheming_gypsy

Although some older imports have features that new ones don't, even though they'll probably just write it off anyway if they had to import the parts.

rodenal

It seems to vary wildly, I paid (from memory) £600 for my rev 3 na mr2 (uk) and £550 the next year for a rev 3 tubby import! - also looked at an imported gt4 and the insurance was in the region of about £20 per year more expensive but when I looked at mitsubishi FTO's not too long ago the insurance was absolutely phenomenal (i.e £1k when I could insure an e36 m3 for £700), though that may be as these are imports only.

scheming_gypsy

Yeah FTO's are a silly price as like you say, they're import only. But because they're import only and they stopped making them in 2000, it's highly unlikely the insurance would repair one due to costs... So the price hike is a bit of a con

Notmyrealname

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Yeah FTO's are a silly price as like you say, they're import only. But because they're import only and they stopped making them in 2000, it's highly unlikely the insurance would repair one due to costs... So the price hike is a bit of a con

You need to shop around. Wife has a FTO GR, pays £300 a year through Adrian Flux. The FTO Owners club is a valuable source of information, especially for cheap parts - https://www.ftooc.org