How do I know if a car is an import from V5 details

shopndrop

I am thinking of changing my car and been to some dealers today but one of them said when he ran an HPI check on the car that it is showing as an import. I bought this car new from a main dealer, certainly not an import as far as I knew but the dealer this afternoon said it would show on the V5. Does anyone know if it will just say import or does it show as something else such as some sort of code?

harveybobbles

It could have come from Southern Ireland. Which would class it as an "import".

Lots of BMW's years ago were from, what was described as "Europe" - supplied from a dealer in Germany, rather than a UK one, but were built to full UK spec.


On your V5 it will says in the "Special Notes" section if it's an import or not.

A few years ago I had a car at wotk which said "Declared reg'd before 2000" yet it was a 2000 reg'd car. When I looked into it at the DVLA in Colrane, they said it was because it was "detected in use before the reg'd date"

Or you could have a thick dealer who thinks that because it says "Previously registered/used overseas" means it's an import, when it could just be a Northern Ireland car...

flutterbyuk25

If the vehicle had been registered in another country (i.e. had number plates etc) and then brought over to UK then it would state in Section 3 of the logbook (V5C) something along the lines of "vehicle first registered in UK on 31/12/06" or "vehicle previously registered elsewhere prior to UK".

However if it was a 'grey import' i.e. bought brand new never before registered from abroad and brought straight into UK and registered as new then it would not show on logbook at all.

If you bought vehicle brand new from dealer then 99% of time it would show in Section 3 "declared new at first registration". Also the date you acquired vehicle in Section 5 under your name and address would be the same as the date of first registration which you can find out by ringing DVLA on 0870 240 0010 (Mon-Fri 8am-8.30pm, Sat 8am-5.30pm) or check 24 hours a day on the DVLA vehcile enquiry service website found at www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk under "Vehicle Enquiry". You will need your logbook with you.

HPI/Experian etc do not get their information directly from DVLA so cannot always be trusted to be correct.

Hope this helps

flutterbyuk25

P.S as harveybobbles says cars from Northern Ireland (plus Isle of Man, Jersey,Guernsey) that are brought onto mainland are technically recorded as imports as they are outside of the UK registration system. The logbook does not state country of origin for imported vehicles

shopndrop

Thanks to above replies, nothing showing in special notes, so rang car manufacturer this morning. They confirmed that car is definitely not an import and they were happy to e mail me to confirm this, so at least a happy ending as far as I am concerned and the dealer is now prepared to offer me a bit more for my part ex.

harveybobbles

Hurrah!! YEY!! :j :j :j :j :j :j