Be Careful Skyline In W.a

[Flyying]

Just remembered this site after i recently bought another skyline, this time thankfully i have learnt the hard way and am much wiser to the car and what im looking at...

To start off whoever the owner is now, this is heads up for other buyers and owners not at you or the companies involved. I am sure the car would be fixed and sorted by now if not soon,but anyways...

The car was bought through an import company (1 guess as i said no names thus far) in japan by the owner before me. the story i got from him at time of sale was, " it has just had new turboes, service and all these extras, here are all the reciepts." looked over them, took it for a drive. checked the reciepts again everything added up, ran nice and was a good price (enough for something to go wrong and fix it).

When i got it home i then found the long story of the car. When imported it was purchased with full hks kit, including hks turboes, computer, tien suspension, exhaust, bee-r limiter and bov, and more.

once it arrived in australia all hks fittings where stripped, the car delivered and the owner left with having already bought a car without anything it was listed as having, a rough engine, thrashed gearbox and stock secondhand turboes.

It was then a big drama to recover the parts and money, so he took it to a "nameless" but recognised mechanic in perth (which i also trusted) who dodgied the car up so he could sell it. he also acquired dodgy reciepts (made himself in some instances) and compression,mechanic report (also his i feel).

i then realised omething not right after a weekend of driving. changed the turboes and looked at getting everything re-tested. it was then given another full check. this mechaic pointed out all the faults of the last mechanic and all overlooked parts of their report and another compression test.

all of the now purchased mods are of no use. i am now saving for a new engine just in case fearing the worst.

then not long afer the new turboes the engine goes. runs rough, heaps of smoke from exhaust, and no turbo pressure. again after just being told from this mechanic the engine is not the best i call them. tell them the symptoms and he tells me the engines gone, so i start looking. the mechanic comes and inspects the car and then tells me again, yep its gone needs new engine. call the trusted mechanic, agrees yep engines gone we can pull it apart for a quote.

not wanting the drama of this and looking at $10k to fix properly i sell it to the mechanic who told me the engine was gone. having to move back to other side of the country im forced to leave some of my personal effects with the mechanic.

at a later date i return to the mechanic to retrieve the personal belongings and ask about how the "project" is coming to the reply " oh we are selling it"...

me" oh really why is that"

they"we fixed it"

me"really that was a fast rebuild"

they "oh it didnt need a rebuild, just the turbo harnesses and pipes came off, and 2 plugs were fouled giving the impression of a shot piston"

me" oh so how much work was that to fix"

they "maybe 2 hours"

- so 2 hours at $150 and hour im thinking of getting it back off them.

me "so how much are you selling it for?"

they "$17,000, but you can bu it for $16,000 if you want it"

WTF, then this car was advertised as a nismo special by this mechanic.

So this huge rant is a huge heads up to people from perth who are dealing with these dodgy mechanics, they do not know shit and will rip you off. Be careful who you are dealing with and always get at as many opinions and inspections as you can until satisfied that you have an answer. I had good experiences with them until this effort. in teh end i spent $24k on the car sold it for $12.5k. this is a debt i am repaying now until 2012 so a mechanic could make a quick buck.

Be careful who you deal with, make sure you know everything about it LEGITIMATE history, and only ever deal with a trusted mechanic. never ever tell a mechanic your plans for the car, all they see are the $$ signs.

***EDITED***

Car: Grey 89 GTR number 320.

Thanks guys.

Edited July 21, 2006 by dan_the_man

[Hypn0tiK]

Sweet a flaming post! can I jump on the bandwagon?

I also had a problem with one particualar import company mentioned below...

At the time I was 17, and imported a black r33, what I thought at the time, and what was described in his email was a late 1994.

I was told was a early 1993 when it arrived at the compliance workshop.

Turns out, they promised me to fix the money loss issue between a 1993 and 1994 vehicle (at the time was about 3 grand ~ 4 years ago), by giving me a stereo and all sorts of shit which turned out to be the biggest load of bullshit.

Was so tempted to brick his house and his cars.. cheap dodgy importer..

[eMsta]

jeez man, i feel for ya - that sounded like such a nightmare! But thanks for the heads up - everyone needs to know about people like that (no matter what state they are in)

[private9]

Well, you guys have just saved me some heart ache! Was VERY seriously considering going through Prestige shortly - well that's now out! Thanks all!

[siddr20]

If thats the way they treat cars plus customers Freakin list the all the names of the shops n importers..

[Hypn0tiK]

Autoworx in wangara is pretty good, I got my 2nd car through them (was a personal import not from his website).

It was a grade 4 import meaning no damage or anything.

When it came ova there was some slight rust under the left rear tyre guard. I told him about this and he took the car for a week and got it removed and resprayed like new

Seems to me some importers have got a name to keep respected. Unlike others...

[Topaz]

Shit mate, they really had you screwed, thanks for the headsup.

[IMACUL8]

Sorry to hear about your dramas mate.

[Flyying]

I just got a pm from admin saying

"this is a warning for naming a company in a negative light."

can i ask what the point of the forum is. if this company is a sponsor then maybe the admins need to look at their sponsors more closely.

if this thread is deleted and modified and edited to filter out negativity how can fellow skyline owners know which companies are worthwhile.

for anyone wanting the names othe companies please pm me. if this is also deleted i have lost faith in this forum and will be reluctantly taking my views and donations elsewhere.

[AgentR31]

dont trust anyone in the import industy. trust me they are all dodgy and looking for a quick buck

[Revhead]

Flyying - unfortunately things like defamation lawsuits make it very risky for SAU to allow posts that cast a negative light on ANY company.

Yes it sucks, but unfortunately that's the way it is.

From SAU Guidelines (link at the top of every page):

# No slander to be made towards businesses or individuals. We understand that if you have had a bad experience with a business you want to warn other people of said experience, at the same time any information that could be classed as slander or is an attempt in anyway to deter business from any individual or business on this website is the responsibilty of the owner of the website and all legal liability falls on said owner. Informing people via PM's is tolerated as it is not a public message. With this said, feel free to post any information about a business or individual that you have had good dealings with.

[dan_the_man]

Flyying follow the rules and you wont have any issues.

[interkool]

being honust is too expensive these days.

[Big Rizza]

Someone should make a list of SAU trusted importers, SAU trusted mechanics etc. Steering someone away from bad service might result in a lawsuit, but steering people towards good service can't be doing any harm...

[dan_the_man]

every state has their club sponsors who are trusted companys to deal with.