Hello to you all

[raymond.harper]

Hello to everyone. Been in the club for a while but only just bought a FTO.I bought via a good agent in Japan. It is a yellow 1995 GPX one of only 500 produced. Paid 300000 yen for the car but will also have to pay about 700 US dollars in fees. The auction agent was able to translate all the auction data. just because the car has a good auction grade does not mean that the engine and gearbox are alright. Without guidance you could buy a load of rubbish

[Kace]

Welcome !
Are you in Ireland ? We have never seen a yellow one

[raymond.harper]

I am a Scot living in the South of England. The car that I am getting was one of 500 built to celebrate the FTO as car of the year in Japan. They were all painted yellow.It is strange how the Japanese have no interest in a car after it becomes more than ten years old. The agent I used spoke perfect english and was a pleasure to deal with. The car should arrive at christmas time if the boat does't sink !

[CJ]

Welcome Ray!

Are you in Ireland ? We have never seen a yellow one

I'm guessing from Rays email address that he's UK based, I think I saw a similarly titled post on the FTOOC forum recently, was that you Ray?
Whats the full cost when you get the car on the road out of interest?

CJ

[raymond.harper]

Yes that's probably me. Here is the email invoice

Before the auction started, we confirmed that the car has no abnormal engine or gearbox problems and that the car has not had a colour change (i.e., the color is original one). You won! You got the car for 298,000 yen.

Car price: $2,569 (=JPY298,000. $1=JPY116)
Tax (5%): $128
Inland delivery: $200
Freight: $900
Our fee: $500

TOTAL: $4,297 C&F Southampton.

Please remit $3,497 ($4,297 - $800) ASAP to our account. Congratulations!! Rating for this car (Rate-4, interior-B and exterior-4) shows that condition of this car is superb.

I had to submit a deposit of 800 US dollars before I could bid. I got the agent to check the details first as some cars can have engine and gearbox problems. I estimate the agent charged 828 US dollars in fees, tax and transportation to the docks. The 900 US dollars was freight charge to Southampton. To land the car in Sothampton would be a total of 2500 UK pounds. I will have to pay UK tax of £400 and then a charge of £38 for registation and any work necessary to pass an MOT. i am not sure how much tax you would pay in the Emerald Isle for tax etc. What you do get is a rust free Japanes car. I had alot of fun just looking at the cars available.
Here is another extract from the agent about a GTO

. Ray,

Thank you for asking us bid the car. The following is the inspector's report tells;

1) Tires are not normal tires but snow tires (for winter use).
2) Door mirror has scratches.
3) Exhaust muffler has been exchanged.
4) Engine sound is abnormal.

Because of the above points, there may be chance to get the car with lower price, but I guess you want to choose not to bid. Anyway, please advise.

Sincerely

This was a grade 4 car which i nearly placed a bid on. The agents website is http://www.kofu-no1.com/ if anyone is interested.I can forward the emails to anyone who is interested. Regards Ray

[CJ]

Sound like you did pretty well there Ray in terms of price, the Japanese company you dealt with are obviously reputable. Irish duty (10%), tax (21% of CIF + duty) and VRT (Vehicle Registration Tax ~30% of the value of the open market selling price) make imports a whole lot more expensive. VRT is considered an illegal tax by the EU but the govt make a an absolute huge profit from it so they're reticent to abondon VRT in the near future.

I notice on the site that its cheaper to ship to Ireland ($75 per m2) than the UK ($90 per m2), I would have expected the rates to be the same.

CJ