FTO AUSTRALIA

hey everyone.. im a newbie to this forum but im just callin on u all for your experience of gettin your fto.

ive found an fto im thinkin of buying, the guy is a dealer and he told me the car is just in from japan, just been complied and registered, its a 95 gpx, he sed its got 50k on it, first question is.. is this figure about right for a 95 model car? or is tehre a possibility its been wound back or something. And if it has been wound back how could i tell?

i also asked about the auction grade (lucky ive been researching!) and he told me it was a 4 and thats good right? i was told 3 or 3.5 means its been damaged and repaired. Its got no mods either so its a virgin for me to play with, haha.. but it has a jap stereo. I was told they dont work here, but does the whole thing not work or is it just the radio? i would have thought cd's would play in them still?

I know its long, but i dont wanna buy a shifty car! thanks for your help, later!

First of all, its almost impossible to tell if the mileage has been wounded back without service books except that looking at the general interior condition such as the seat, pedals and mats for wear and tear.
Secondly, Grade 4 is good but be sure to ask for the auction report if there is one.
Thirdly, the radio will partially work meaning that it would not go above 98FM but below that is fine unless you install a FM converter which is just about $20 and have it installed. Of course the CD would still work.
Whereabouts are you and how much is the car?
Good luck

if he bought it in from japan he will have the auction sheet or a copy of it ask for it and check the grade and the milage and the chasis number to make sure they match. if he hasnt got the auction sheet he is hidding something

also if it has a ? next to the milage means that the engineer thinks it has been changed

hey thanks for the your replies, he did say he had the auction sheet and it was a grade 4 so yeah. Richc2 im in sydney and the guy advertised it for 16900 which i reckon is an awesome deal, but ill try get it down a little more ofcourse! i was glad i had found it coz i wanted a black one and most for sale seem to be that silver/grey colour or red which im not a big fan of.

what are your fto's like?

IMO the dealer will always tell you whatever they can to make the sale, because most often if they cannot provide you with proof such as service log books etc, engineers auction reports etc then you have nothing but to rely on their word...

I had contemplated on buying from a dealer once (long time ago), but i've been to a number of dealers and upon personal inspection of the car, the condition does not align with what the salesperson had told me about the car (auction grade, prior history, mileage etc etc). worst case i been is that the dealer can't even tell the difference betweena MIVEC or non-Mivec! ...now, how can you trust someone who doesn't even know what they are selling??

So I took the risky route - buying directly from auctions privately through a broker. Works out cheaper, and i get all the engineers reports etc etc... Besides, you can buy warranty these days, so if anything goes wrong - you're covered anyway. Just be prepared to go through the paperwork, and if you need finance - forget it.

O2NV, how was your experience of importing an FTO through a broker? ie, roughly how long did you have to wait, what kind of $$deal did you get etc. And also may I ask which broker you dealt with (I dunno what the policy is on this forum on naming businesses so PM me if it's not allowed ).

I'm also considering of importing an FTO but I wanna make sure that I know 100% what I'm getting into.

Hey 13....

Black gpx manual 95 50000k's all stock???

IS the seller's name VLAD and does he live in Bondi... If that's him dude, be careful

sam wrote:O2NV, how was your experience of importing an FTO through a broker? ie, roughly how long did you have to wait, what kind of $$deal did you get etc. And also may I ask which broker you dealt with (I dunno what the policy is on this forum on naming businesses so PM me if it's not allowed ).

I'm also considering of importing an FTO but I wanna make sure that I know 100% what I'm getting into.

Importing the FTO myself was a piece of cake, well sorta... it ain't easy, but it's not really difficult either... Just have to be verrrry patient, and if paperwork does not faze you, then there are lots of benefits to be had.

it took about 2.5 - 3 months from the day the car was sold at the auction to be fully on the road, complianced and rego'd. Worst part is waiting for the car to be shipped over and complied ready for rego.

HOWEVER, it did have its ups and downs... some things can go missing, like gearknobs, seats, stereo, wheels, speakers, steering wheels etc during transit, and you really can't do anything about it. You may also be up for unexpected charges, like battery, seatbelts, tyres, fuel, etc etc - that's why i said i took the risky route.

but at the end of the day, i reckon saved about $6-7K all up (compared to dealer prices for a car of my spec/condition) so it kinda made it all worthwhile.

if you are in melb i can meet up with u someday to discuss the process in person and perhaps hook you up with some ppl in the industry (i don't quite trust PMs these days)

13 are u the guy that run up about my car ?? the blue fto ?

if you are in melb i can meet up with u someday to discuss the process in person and perhaps hook you up with some ppl in the industry (i don't quite trust PMs these days)

Yeah that would be great , please email me at:

sammytrs*nospam*@lycos.com

Just remove the *nospam* bit when u email.

whereabouts in melbourne are you at?

whereabouts in melbourne are you at?

I'm live in the eastern suburbs, go to melb uni so I'm available around the city pretty much everyday after 4ish.

How about yourself?

I see a red FTO parked outside the VicRoads car park almost every day . . . that wouldn't be you perchance?

Unfortunately not, I'm in the process of deciding to buy/import an FTO atm

The info on this site defines a grade 4 as.. Grade 4 - may need very minor repair or clean, the car im plannin on lookin at this weekend is a grade 4, could some of u maybe suggest some of the 'minor problems' i should be looking for especially? Id really appreciate it!

thanks

things to look out for grade 4 cars are usually pin dents, light sratches etc... they are kinda like buying a used 55000kms 2nd hand car at dealer yards, put it that way. if you decide to go with the auction router, you shouldget a comprehensive inspection report that listst thefaults according to the grading system...

what do u mean auction router? the car is already in australia at a dealer yard.

13 wrote:what do u mean auction router? the car is already in australia at a dealer yard.

oh sorry, i thought u meant at getting a grading 4 from the jap auctions... silly me!

if the dealer says it's a grade-4, assume the car is a grade-3 or below because if it's grade-4 you wouldn't be looking for signs of panel replacement etc... one way to tell if it's a grade-4 is straight panels and even panel gaps throughout... i have seen dealers claiming it's a grade-4, but the bumpers don't even line up properly, or the fender colors don't even match the rest of the bodywork... some even have 120,000kms and was running rough!

if it's from the dealer yard, ask them for the inspection report from the auctions and if they can't provide you with one - treat them with suspicion. if they cannot show you the auction report then they are full of sh*t (because they bought them from the auction anyway!). Afterall, it's your money so if they want your business they should at least have te courtesy of being upfront about the car that they sell...

so as you can imagine, i hate car yard dealers and since i'm paying so much money for a car - i have the right to be sceptic about them (i learn a lot from mistakes).

hey thanks, sucks that u went thru the mistakes to learn eh? luckily i started to try and learn about the fto as much as possible months ahead so i hope im alrite, um he did say he had the auction sheet and he did also say the car had no scratches, im guess he would mean it had no "major" scratches.. but yeah do u reckon the dealers could ever fake auction sheets or dont they do that? coz ive never seen on before so i wudnt be able to tell if it was a fake or not!

if anyone has heard about a bad dealer in roseberry sydney could u tell me, coz thats where he is, im not sure about the dealer name exactly, havent asked yet.

thanks for replyin 02NV..