ianl

I heard on the radio (BBC 5 live) that police in this country are about to start investigating a major car scam. Cars have been stolen by the thousand or possibly tens of thousand in Japan. They are passed thro' Dubai for new id, and then sold as Greys in UK.

Most commonly stolen cars are 4x4's and sports cars. If you are buying a grey s2k (or any other car for that matter) check its providence very carefully.


Ian

DMX

Kobe

This was my biggest concern when buying an S2K in Japan - that it would "ordered" by a UK customer and stolen. Apparently once an order for a car is made - the gangs drive about until they spot the car/colour they need and steal it - no matter what,. they will try many times. What worried me was that Honda does not even fit any security device at all to the car here - not even key code, and the insurance does not require it either - they are light years behind in car security since car crime is not generally a problem.

I think I saw already a post on this forum where somebody bought a car via Dubai - so probably already happened. The only advice I give is that if the car is less than 12 months old it will very probably be a stolen one as there are no S2K cars under 24 months available to buy second hand here - I tried all over Japan and could only find very early build models - People seem to keep them for about 2 years before selling for something else.

awinskill

Big thread over in the Subaru forum. Lots of STI owners now pooing their pants....

One of the reasons I've always bought from a main dealer. At least there's someone to sue!

I know of one dealer who had one of their demo's stolen. When it was recovered they sold it through an auction rather than risk their reputation!

On a slightly off topic note: When I bought my S2K my finance company were very strict on how monies were transferred to the dealer. Apparantly there's been quite a few dealers who have gone bust during the hand over period.... I'm sure the finance companies don't take the hit

AnDy_PaNdY

Personally,
I would rather that bit extra to a U.K. dealer to get a genuine U.K. car.
I am one of lifes worriers, so peace of mind is important to me.

Kobe

Don't trust any dealer...even main one. Just before getting my Alfa 156 from main dealer - I went to the garage to check on things, only to find the car sitting in the body shop have a wing re-sprayed after a technician had badly scratched it. You must not fall in love with the car before you have checked out everything - otherwise it clouds your judgement. I tried to buy a silver/red S2k 2nd hand - but the dealer would not let me drive above 4000 rpm and would not touch the price despite defects - so I walked away as I did not feel comfortable with it.

UK Paul

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AnDy_PaNdY
[B]Personally,