Guys, Is there anyone on here looking to import a car over from japan in the next month? I will be but my question is.....just 1 month ago it was 210 YEN to the UK pound, looking today its 173YEN to the UK pound, do i wait for a while and see what happens? Its lower now than when i mported my fd3 back in 2004 and that was at 185yen back then! I'm really stuck, i'm gagging for a new car, but dont want to pay 500-1000 more than what i could do if i waited.
I'd imagine the £ will lose against the Yen for some time as our interest rates get cut - can't see it gaining in the short term unless they go into recession.
Winter is coming, it's normal. Wait for for the summer and expect it to be the highest level you will get after that.
I haven't bought a car in over 4 months now, partly due to exchange rates and partly because there seems to be very little selling unless they are super cheap. Maybe not that relevant to you if you're planning on keeping the car. My last payment for import duty and VAT was nearly £230 more than I expected due to the relative weakness of the pound at that time. Why can't the ships dock at Belfast and save people in Northern Ireland 4% in VAT?!
Thanks guys for the input.....i'm stuck you see, i dont know whther to get something pretty cheap, or go balls out and get something mega. If i get something mega than i will keep, but the flipside is, i'm more money concious nowadays, so i want to know i could at least get my money back if it is something mega.
Lol, you'll never get your money back on a modified car. If you want to invest your money, stick it in a savings account, don't buy a modified car.
Good point. Investing your money in an Icelandic bank account would be the best idea. Or opening a Halifax savings account. Or having savings of over 30k in the UK. oh. wait....
On that point of icelandic banks.....i find it amazing the local councils that get given all their money to them from the government and us tax payers, do not actually spend that budget and infact invest some of it in dodgy banks! So when they complain they are not getting as much as last year, or our bills go up.....are we quite right to say "go F**k yourselfs, we aint paying anymore!", i'd love to see everyone in the UK refuse to pay an increased council tax bill, they would have to put everyone in prison!
Hows that work? Since i bought my car, the prices have gone up, so im up money? How do you think importers are making a good profit? VW Camper Vans? theres loads out there.
You see thats my other concern runway robot....i dont know if i can justify spending 6-7k on a mega spec 18 year old S Body, but then it would be an awesome machine to have......but in the back of my mind i'll keep thinking thats 6-7k on a crappy old nissan It seems 4k is about the min price over here for say a PS13 with subtle drift mods....and then you see adverts like the guy selling his green 1999!!! S14a in the for sale section for £2200!!! Have PS13's become the new AE86 in terrms of overpriced old slide cars? (im not knocking the cars at all, as i truley think both are mega).
Yes importing cars makes money. All the fan boys out there who don't want a UK spec (bloody right) must approach a company that will get them what they want. The reason it pays off is because in the current country say a LADA will cost 1000 russian rubles, but here it's 1000GBP which respectably is 300GBP in Russia. So over here you are overpaying x3 times which it pays off for them including the shipping. If you had a choice what would you pick, a standard Silvia S15 for 10k or a ready modified properly set S15 from Japan for 10k?
I hate these revived topics. Even I can't understand my logic sometimes xD I think my example was ok hehehe
^^^ these guys are fucking nuts though The only "budget" car is this(dead now), others are hardparking stuff style cars, probably except last Latvian car. To be honest I just don't know, they're still LADAs. It's not like Escort or something, it's still fucking 1980-ish 70hp "it will break if you touch it" LADA. They're cool because they're costs 5$ and rwd and kind of light, but that's about it. Sorry for offtopic, LADAs are real pain in my ass.