Long wait is over!

 

 

Very pleased with it! Only odd thing is the chassis plate is missing....slightly concerning. Thought it looks like it's been gone for a while. I assume it had to go through various checks in Japan though so.....

 

Any thoughts?

 

If you can confirm the car is safe, straight, true and in generally excellent order and you are very, very confident that if you will keep it for many years then I see no problem. As long as you get many years of enjoyment out of it that's all that matters. It will probably always be worth less than a car that has got this issue, but keep it long enough and I dare say you'd still get your money back.

If keeping it I'd get the grinded area repaired and forget about it.

I'll be honest I didn't pay any attention to vin numbers or engine numbers on my last 2 Zeds, any potential future buyer might not either. And at the end of the day, if you successfully get UK registration and develop say 10 years of UK MOT, service history and get it top notch, a future buyer might not give a stuff. :)

Especially if you get the vin re stamped where it should be and get a new vin plate made. You can tell a future buyer about it, but it would look all the same imo. Of course it will affect the value but as said above, a legitimate UK registration and service history could sell the car for 90% of its worth with ease.

The original VIN is recorded in the export certificate

 

Really? How so? The car was sold at auction with no VIN on the vehicle. So where did the VIN on the export certificate come from?

I think I put up an export certificate earlier!

 

Where is your certificate & docs?

 

Have you got all this sorted? No photos of anything! Car? Docs?

Still waiting on the full history at the moment, but looks like it was changed back in 2003. Don't know why yet though. Hopefully the full history will confirm the mileage. The mileage seems believable anyway though considering how much better it runs than my other zed and the general condition of the interior etc.

 

I didn't think it was especially low when I won the auction. Garry had recently sold a few cars that I actually thought were in slightly better condition for 5 or 6k, there was a new silver import going for 6k that still hasn't sold for 5k. Think they had slightly higher mileage but not loads more as I remember. And looking at the selling prices of other auctions at the time my guess before the auction was pretty accurate. And Garry thought it would be in budget as well. Plus that doesn't include registration/mot that Garry's other cars did and he implied he would make less profit off of this one doing it this way. Seems to me that prices have risen a lot since then, can't judge it by today's standards.

 

I am looking for honest opinions! Still trying to decide how much I care about the vin IF the history is ok.

 

Got to consider what else I could get for the money. If the price I paid is considered low, is it still worth it? If I don't get as much in 5 or 10 years time, am I that bothered if I've had years of happy zedding in the mean time?

 

Is it low though?? I sold my 95 SWB Slicktop for 3800£...... Yours is a LWB auto.

 

Jap imports are expensive if you ask me. You cant be 100% sure of the mileage on any of these cars that come from a foreign country, regardless what paperwork they come up with.

You do pay a prememium for a direct import, but they are generally in better knick than cars that are over here. I take your point about your slickie but that was getting on for two years ago? And obviously the last car (99 or not) was an NA. If you had £3800 in your pocket right now, what could you get?

Really? How so? The car was sold at auction with no VIN on the vehicle. So where did the VIN on the export certificate come from?

 

Unlike the auction sheet, it's an official government document - I would imagine they would have a record of the original VIN considering they assigned a new one.

 

You cant be 100% sure of the mileage on any of these cars that come from a foreign country, regardless what paperwork they come up with.

 

That just isn't true. If you buy from a dealer in Japan or through an agent, of course there is a risk, but not if you personally select a car at auction or can at least source an auction sheet for it later.

The first car that I placed a bid on ended up being pulled from auction because the seller couldn't produce evidence that the mileage was genuine. It was entered again the following week with an asterisk next to the mileage, which is standard practice.

Blimey this proved popular :-P

 

Still some confusion about the vin though. Read carefully! No it was not sold without a vin. It was sold with a non-standard vin that is engraved in the car. All the documentation has this vin on it. Aside from the fact it's not a gcz number, it's all perfectly normal.

 

As jimmer pointed out a while ago, you can see the vin on the auction sheet, also posted a while ago. So it's not as if they were trying to hide it or anything, my importer just didn't notice! I didn't know the vin was SUPPOSED to be in that box so I didn't think of it.

 

The export certificate obviously has this vin on it. However it ALSO has the original vin on it in another section, don't know what the section is as it's in Japanese, kinda looks like a comments bit. So that's how we know the original vin. That's an official government document so I don't doubt it.

 

Yes I have all the documentation and yes it all checks out with this non-standard vin on it. Still waiting for the Nova details, but my importer said he's had to wait this long before so nothing unusual yet. I have an invoice for the duty and vat so hmrc are obviously happy with it.

 

Some extra info. Spoke to the DVLA yesterday, they said should be no problem registering it under this non-standard vin. Guy didn't bat an eyelid. However, he did say he thought it very unlikely I would be allowed to register it under the original vin. Not impossible and worth a try if I want, but he didn't think it would happen. Worth a go asking about it though as now I know.

 

My importer has since said he will deal with the registration if I want and if I'm not happy with it then he will buy the car back off me. Not 100% sure if that means the full amount but looks like he has come good which I'm pleased about and as many predicted.

My importer has since said he will deal with the registration if I want and if I'm not happy with it then he will buy the car back off me. Not 100% sure if that means the full amount but looks like he has come good which I'm pleased about and as many predicted.

 

That's a reasonable outcome then - I wouldn't hold anything against him.

Blimey this proved popular :-P

 

Still some confusion about the vin though. Read carefully! No it was not sold without a vin. It was sold with a non-standard vin that is engraved in the car. All the documentation has this vin on it. Aside from the fact it's not a gcz number, it's all perfectly normal.

 

As jimmer pointed out a while ago, you can see the vin on the auction sheet, also posted a while ago. So it's not as if they were trying to hide it or anything, my importer just didn't notice! I didn't know the vin was SUPPOSED to be in that box so I didn't think of it.

 

The export certificate obviously has this vin on it. However it ALSO has the original vin on it in another section, don't know what the section is as it's in Japanese, kinda looks like a comments bit. So that's how we know the original vin. That's an official government document so I don't doubt it.

 

Yes I have all the documentation and yes it all checks out with this non-standard vin on it. Still waiting for the Nova details, but my importer said he's had to wait this long before so nothing unusual yet. I have an invoice for the duty and vat so hmrc are obviously happy with it.

 

Some extra info. Spoke to the DVLA yesterday, they said should be no problem registering it under this non-standard vin. Guy didn't bat an eyelid. However, he did say he thought it very unlikely I would be allowed to register it under the original vin. Not impossible and worth a try if I want, but he didn't think it would happen. Worth a go asking about it though as now I know.

 

My importer has since said he will deal with the registration if I want and if I'm not happy with it then he will buy the car back off me. Not 100% sure if that means the full amount but looks like he has come good which I'm pleased about and as many predicted.

 

 

Drive it and enjoy it Chris it looks like a great Z and if you can see no major accident damage that has been fixed and the Z drives well then its a good one. As for the trader it looks like he has done all he can and is working with you so I am pleased that Garry is sorting it and remember its not easy buying cars that are on the other side of the world and you don't understand the language but his record here is very good and I would recommend him to anyone wanting to buy an import.

An update on this, went quiet whilst I figured out a few things.

 

Some of you will disagree of course, but despite the offer of a full refund, I've decided to keep it. We got the history and indeed it was back in 2003 the change happened so not a recent thing, and what with the fact the auction house never actually tried to hide it or anything, it's legality was proved. I really like it, it's exactly what I was looking for, and yes it might be worth a bit less in the future whenever I decide to sell it but I decided I don't care, life's too short to worry too much about it. Besides, it would cost me a fortune to get another one in this condition!

 

So yea I'm really pleased :thumbup1:

 

In a turn up for the books, the NOVA came through under the original GCZ number, wasn't expecting that! So I got a VIN plate made up with that on it, and I now have an MOT under that number as well. So now hopefully the DVLA will register it under that number as it matches all the rest of the documentation, will have to wait and see.

 

Would treat you to a picture of it looking all shiny, but it started raining today just as I'd finished washing it!

Your decision bud, gazwoz responded fairly in the end so as long as you're happy with it that's great :thumbup:

 

I'd definitely look into having a replica chassis plate installed and having the bulkhead repaired and restamped.

 

How is the car anyway? Have you been driving it?

An update on this, went quiet whilst I figured out a few things.

 

Some of you will disagree of course, but despite the offer of a full refund, I've decided to keep it. We got the history and indeed it was back in 2003 the change happened so not a recent thing, and what with the fact the auction house never actually tried to hide it or anything, it's legality was proved. I really like it, it's exactly what I was looking for, and yes it might be worth a bit less in the future whenever I decide to sell it but I decided I don't care, life's too short to worry too much about it. Besides, it would cost me a fortune to get another one in this condition!

 

So yea I'm really pleased :thumbup1:

 

In a turn up for the books, the NOVA came through under the original GCZ number, wasn't expecting that! So I got a VIN plate made up with that on it, and I now have an MOT under that number as well. So now hopefully the DVLA will register it under that number as it matches all the rest of the documentation, will have to wait and see.

 

Would treat you to a picture of it looking all shiny, but it started raining today just as I'd finished washing it!

 

Congrats on getting it sorted bud, it's all worked out perfectly, you got a great car for a great price and your vin numbers are restored to their original, great result:thumbup:

Your decision bud, gazwoz responded fairly in the end so as long as you're happy with it that's great :thumbup:

 

I'd definitely look into having a replica chassis plate installed and having the bulkhead repaired and restamped.

 

How is the car anyway? Have you been driving it?

 

Only driven it round the corner to the MOT place so far as it's not registered, but seemed really nice. Runs so much smoother than my other one, and the MOT guy was impressed, said it was very clean underneath.

 

And yea I've already got a replica plate made up and it's on the car, don't have a picture at the moment though. Did that before the MOT. Tried Nissan for a genuine one but the UK told me to speak to Japan and predictably Japan told me to talk to the UK so I gave up on that!

I really like it, it's exactly what I was looking for, and yes it might be worth a bit less in the future whenever I decide to sell it but I decided I don't care, life's too short to worry too much about it.

 

Nice one Chris Enjoy mate :-)

 

Long time coming but got there in the end! I'm a happy boy today :-)

Great news mate glad you got it sorted.