Importing "etiquette"

[JGTC]

Haha the faithful thread starter, thankyou! My manners, on a thread about etiquette haha, shameful, thank you mate, asking the right questions are actually just as important as the answers.

Cheers Simon!

[Beer Baron]

lol. please spell out "Homer, your mother loves you. Meet me at taco bell" with the first letter of each line. then I'll call it even!

anyway, more importantly what's happening with the car? I'm guessing you have a chef of iron on the case for you. so don't leave me hanging! what did your dude inspecting say? I see it's listed about lunch time. I'll expect full report by early arvo.

[Messiah]

lol i'll see what i can do about the homer line.... hope the editors dont munge the layout.

Ahh yes the car...

well i had to be a pain in the ass and let that one slip due to the full leather interior, i wasnt a fan and as it turned out neither was the mrs.

Before we said no we asked the mrs's brother if he like the idea of a cream leather interior.

He likes vl commies and said yes so we knew we made the right decision by saying no.

Yeah IC's looking after me and doing a great job so far, answering calls on weekends and holidays and sending me emails at 1am. I'm working on not being as frustrating as i was last week, although i have turned down 2 cars so far, the one you mentioned and a new one today due to higher than preferred km's. but i'm working on the principle you suggested of waiting for the one that really fits the bill and maybe paying a little extra for it if thats whats required.

i've also learnt to really figure out whats important in regards to specs, something that i didnt really understand before. Previously it was "its gotta have all this cool stuff in it... find it and i'll buy it". Now i've come to realise that really only a few things are critical, mod level (ie unmodified), specs, colour, transmission and km's/age. Anything else really is just gravey, and if i get bonus whizz bang features... cheering.

That said if i start being unreasonable i hope IC slaps me around some and makes me see sense, he is the expert after all.

So i think i've made my and IC's life a little easier by saying "just find me a nice black premium manual with low k's stock interior",

[Iron Chef]

I'm on the case - Simon doesn't like the full leather trim (either do I actually). As always with importing, patience is a virtue.

Edit: Sorry, Simon is here already posting above me haha. Mine is the abridged version

Edited April 23, 2009 by Iron Chef

[Beer Baron]

lol, I would cry if I was buying for you and found that nice black, manual, 04, stock, low kms, 4.5B, premium audio, full leather and you didn't like the interior!!

I will give you some advice. buying a used car from auction is not the same as buying a new car from a dealer. you cannot pick every option down to the type of gearknob it has. You can start with say 6 requirements, but in the end you need to be willing to settle for say 3 or 4 out of 6. otherwise you will miss a lot of really good cars and may never get the exact car you want and may end up bidding on poorer qual cars just because they meet all your options and you've been looking for months and getting frustrated. this goes even doubly when some of your requirements are rare (like in this case the colour and the manual trans). Now I'm not saying you did the wrong thing letting this one go as if you really hate the interior then there is no point buying a car you wont like. but the big benefit with importing cars bought at auction is the cost saving and variety. nothing else. some people do need to choose every aspect of their car. there is nothing wrong with that. but those people are not guys who can and should buy other peoples used cars from auction. only the first buyer gets to pick the specs. again, not saying you are one of those people. but it's something I've come up against a lot. sometimes people forget that they are buying someone elses dream car, and that is one of the reasons used cars are cheap.

now having said all that you are mad to let that one go! lol, i'm not a fan of really light colour leather in dark cars, but that cream is not that light, more tan really, and the full leather is nice, and adds resale for sure. providing it presented as it did on the sheet that would have been a kick ass 35.

[Beer Baron]

it sounds like you guys have it sussed. and messaih sounds like you have the idea. stick to the stuff that's important to you, but just be prepared to pay a little more for a car that meets most of your criteria if you have to. and kristian is right, patience is key too. it's a bit contradictory. on the one had you have to move fast as cars come and go like the wind. but at the same time you have to keep a clear set of rules in mind and not break them buying getting all hot over a particular car.

[Beer Baron]

and btw call me gay but this is what I'm hunting at the moment. It will be the new daily. EP3 2004 Type R Honda Civic! 6 speed manual and makes 160kw from it's NA 2 lire. has nice recaro seats etc and great handling. plus being small, light, 2 litre and non turbo it's quite good on fuel for just driving around. really looking forward to something different.

[Messiah]

heh i think i'm going to go grey by the end of this.

My primary problem with the cream leather is i've never seen it before, the closest i've seen was grey and i wasnt a fan. Its hard to make a educated call in this instance.

I've asked (well the mrs did) IC to get this one inspected, and if it looks good we may well bid on it. I'm now just more than a bit baffled as to if i should compromise and pursue this car or sit tight for a more to spec car to come through.

does anyone have a pic of a cream interior?

[Beer Baron]

well my advice is if the car looks good, have a bid, but bid say 200,000 less than you would be prepared to bid for your 'perfect' car. that way if you don't win it, no big deal. and if you do win it you've saved 200,000yen by going with an interior that wasn't your first choice. but if you really couldn't be happy with it then obviously don't bid.

[Messiah]

yeah looking in to this further the full leather interior really does change the look and feel of the whole car.

I'll wait for word from IC regarding this i think, if the condition of the car and the possible expected going price is good enough then i might go for it.

Seats are kinda like paint work to me, you cant really or cheaply change it if you dont like it later on down the road. Things like wheels, reverse cameras big brakes etc are all pretty easy to change AF, but like paint, if you cant change the interior all at once its not worth doing.

So yeah, i'm cooling on this one but as i've asked IC to send someone to have a look at it i'm going to give it proper consideration.

Also if i do pass on this car i might go quiet on this thread until after i've purchased a car, i figure its frustrating for IC having one of his clients fidget and chop change as people point out good and bad sides i hadnt throught of. I think i'm finally on a page that could be considered reasonable and if not then atleast open to reasonable negociation so if this car doesnt go through then i think i need to leave IC to do his job and stay consistent in my approach.

Cheers for all the info and expertise BB, as mentioned before you've shed alot of light on some things and told me to sit down and be quiet in ways that IC, as my broker, couldnt tell me himself.

Edited April 23, 2009 by Messiah

[Iron Chef]

Pics are on your email, Simon Figured you might check here before checking your phone haha.

Like I said in the email, I've had far worse than you mate - it's the ones who change their mind AFTER I've bought them a car that I get annoyed with!!

[Beer Baron]

d'oh I forgot to check. out of interest what did the black one go for Kristian? I didn't watch it.

[Iron Chef]

Still hasn't gone through yet - I haven't got the hurry up from the agent yet, so it must be still a while away. My guesstimate - 1.5-1.6 mil FOB.

[DrGT]

In the end Simon and I decided not to go for the cream interior. Turns out there was a stain on the driver's side leather, which seemed to suggest future trends. It's a shame, because the leather looked quite nice, but I can just imagine it driving me mad after getting drenched in the rain one day and having my jeans seep colour into the leather. Not to mention, Simon's a grub, so I'd be forever cleaning or vacuuming. The deciding fact was Simon's description of the gear boot as "baby poo brown".

[Messiah]

...I'd be forever cleaning or vacuuming....

Heh and whats wrong with that??

[Iron Chef]

Simon, better start making up the bed in the spare room hahaha

[xscape237]

Is it just me, or is the supply of good 6-speed CPV35s really drying up at auction lately?

[Iron Chef]

Yep Simon scared them all away lol

[xscape237]

Buggers.

Plenty of nice auto ones, you guys should go for those

(and leave the 6 speeds for me!)