Chris

Personally, I wouldn't even bother with "normal" insurance companies and online quotes. Give specialists a ring like Lancaster, Adrian flux, carol Nash, sky etc. A Google will find plenty to try. They are very sympathetic to mods etc

Would be a real shame, he has always come across as a really nice guy on here and really helpful and active on the forum

Most insurers will mirror the no claims you have on another policy without actually using it. Every specialist insurer I've spoken to anyway!

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.

If I do end up keeping it, wouldn't be selling for many years!!

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?

£5.7k, 1995. TT lwb auto, 50k miles

Oh I meant with being open about the vin, not trying to hide it. There will be people out there that don't care so long as it's legit and the price is right. Just wondering what that price would be. But I suppose I am probably asking the wrong group of people here!

So here's a question I think is worth asking: Say this was mot'd, registered and up for sale (so you know it's all legit as the dvla check all that when it's registered). How much would it be worth? Yes some purists will be put off, but some people won't be. Really curious what you guys think as I don't really know

Oh sorry I thought I'd responded to that, yes thanks the description does match the car

Yes I have got that pack and I think I have a good idea of what is involved, though I haven't started doing it yet for obvious reasons. And yes I am grateful for your advice! I'm not so sure about them not letting me restore the vin. The dvla regularly issue vin numbers for cars that need them, and I have read stories from people that have requested the vin they want and so long as it's not in use they'll let you have it. Besides, what do you think would happen if a car was stolen and recovered here with a ground off vin? They let you restamp it. Or what if it's stamped on the floor (like some old Ford's I believe) and you replace the floor? You can get it stamped. From the anecdotes I have read they are not as strict as you might think, and their initial response to me asking was yea go ahead, though like I said I'm getting clarification on that as I'm not sure they fully grasped the situation. I'm not saying I will be successful in this, but it's worth a go! I seem to be writing essays all the time in this thread!

Good question. If I can put the original vin back on then I'd be perfectly happy with say a 50% refund. But failing that then I would seriously consider the refund. Will have to see

Well we'll have to see, I'm letting him finish what he wants to look into first then we'll talk about it

No it wasn't in response to you, or anyone in particular. I just don't think a lot of people have really grasped what's going on, are jumping to conclusions and coming up with unrealistic solutions. I know it just sounds like I'm being grumpy and moany but it's not exactly helping me to try and deal with this. Still all this worry about why it has been ground off rather than just why I wasn't told about it, which are very different. I've given the evidence many times now that it is perfectly legal. I got some info from the dvla yesterday that I can just put the old vin back on if I want. Getting clarification on that, not sure they fully understood the question but promising anyway and opens up some possibilities. A lot of people seem to think it is a simple matter to get my money back. As much as I think this is my importers fault, do you really think he will just roll over and pay up the full amount? No way in hell. He will argue that I didn't buy the car off him so he's not liable, he just facilitated me buying it. I suspect I would have to take him to court, which has plenty of associated costs with it and could drag on for ages. And in the mean time, I have no zed and no money to buy a new one. Hence I am looking at the options to see if I can come up with a compromise. I am not happy with it as it is, but I don't really think anyone has thought through what it would probably take to get a full refund. As for what he has said, at the moment he is trying to get some info about it's history together. I'm waiting for that, and a few other things, before I go any further. I know that all sounds very moany and I'm sorry about that and I am grateful for everyone's support and trying to offer advice

That being said, I am considering whether I should get some legal advice, but I don't really know who I should talk to...

Unfortunately I don't think it's as simple as all of you think it is. I'm still waiting for the history at the moment as well as some info from the dvla. I can't help but think people are being a bit over dramatic as well tbh. The fact the export certificate and all of the other paperwork clearly shows this new vin number removes all doubt as to it's legality. It's even had it's import duty and vat paid against this number, and is being put onto Nova with this vin. How could it possibly be argued now or in the future that it is illegal? I'm not worried about the insurance as I'll have agreed valuation anyway so there won't be any surprises. As for resale value, I'm not sure it's worth my effort to worry about something that may or may not happen in 10 years time. This amount of money over that length of time? I've got better things to do than worry about that I am going to see whether I can register it first, then think about my options as that's the crucial sticking point at the moment

Have done! Thanks

It has the gcz number written in another box, not the chassis number box. So yes I'm wondering whether that is enough for the dvla to let me use that number again

Yea I'm starting to think if I can get it registered then I'm not that fussed

It's on the auction sheet someone posted a few days ago, as jimmer noticed

It is! I don't doubt it's legality anymore, just whether it has been mis-sold (to me), future value implications and whether I can register it

Oh yea I've got the export certificate and invoices saying I've paid the vat etc

Apparently they're still processing it and the paperwork hasn't come through yet, though I have an invoice saying I've paid

There may still be some question as to whether the auction house has described it properly as from the translation I got they didn't say the old number had bend ground off. But not sure that's my problem anyway

Yes, as I said earlier it does have this number on it so I think it's been done legally. But I feel it's been mis-sold to me as it's value will be much lower and I'm not sure how I will register it