Grey import car insurance
Grey import car insurance
The grey or imported cars market has grown rapidly over the last few years with vehicles coming to the UK from all over the world. A used car that has been individually imported from Japan, USA or Europe without going through the established main dealer network and therefore not normally available in the UK is often referred to as grey import. By far the biggest import market is Japan with thousands of vehicles being imported from Japan every year. Insurers tend to classify imports into three categories, 4×4 imports such as Mitsubishi Pajero, Isuzu Big Horn, Toyota Surf and Toyota Prado. Grey MPV imports for example Toyota Estima/Lucida, Nissan Serena or Largo, Mitsubishi Delica and Toyota Hiace. Finally sports and performance import cars such as Mazda Eunos, Toyota Supra, Nissan Skyline, Toyota Celica and of course Subaru Impreza and Legacy vehicles.
Car insurance japanese imports
Nowadays there are many specialist car importers who make all necessary import arrangements, including liaising with the exporters in the car’s country of origin and who deal with the relevant VAT and import duty, plus import and DVLA paperwork. However most dont offer much help when it comes to arranging the insurance. It has become important for insurance companies to recognise the growing demand for insurance from drivers of imported cars. If you own an imported car you may have experienced difficulties obtaining an imported car insurance quote. Most insurers insist that you must have either category 1 or category 2 Thatcham security fitted to your vehicle or they will not insure at all!
Jap import car insurance
To try and keep the insurance costs down, go for a model that is available in the UK and is right hand drive(sometimes called a parallel import). At least insurers are aware of these vehicles and have information and statistics available. Avoid highly modified cars if possible - there are thousands of potential modifications and it is impossible for insurers to keep up with them all. Sometimes this will cause insurers to get suspicious or woried about the vehicle and either refuse to cover, or quote a ridiculous price to make you go away!
Car insurance japanese imports
It is without doubt still slightly harder to insure Jap grey imports than it is to insure a UK car supplied from a dealer network. However, many big insurance companies have added some import cars into their systems, as long as you dont go for a bizarre vehicle they have not heard off, most companies will insure imports. (for example getting quotes for a Scooby Impreza import no problem, but try and get one from an Isuzu Vehicross and you will have problems as mainstream insurance companies wont even know what that car is!). Luckily there are now a number of brokers specialising in the grey import markets so insurance is always possible, but not always cheap!