bit bored of imports

[andewilson]

i know that folk will shoot me down on this one. but it is rather annoying to see how many (importers) there are kicking about. i dont want to sound bitter but the rest of us (british van owners) struggle with our mot failure 1970's welding issues. when there are so many vans rolling off the ferries on a daily basis that put ours to shame. i realise that there is money to be made but if you want a van go out and buy one. dont buy all the vans up then add two grand because you know how to import them, and then make a mint on us common folk

 

[Guest]

I dont think its the fault of importers. I mean, the prices are rising but its not really got to do with them. Its becoming harder to find a bargain because its the same guys that always come up with the mint vans and they add alot of money to it then sell them on to us. Thats life im afraid . We common folk are very lucky (winning the lottery, lucky) to find a mint van forsale, yet the same guys always seem to turn up un believeable vans for sale becasue they are in the 'know'. It cant be helped, but i dont think importers are to blame for the rising prices, in fact i think they are keeping the prices down.

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

i know that folk will shoot me down on this one. but it is rather annoying to see how many (importers) there are kicking about. i dont want to sound bitter but the rest of us (british van owners) struggle with our mot failure 1970's welding issues. when there are so many vans rolling off the ferries on a daily basis that put ours to shame. i realise that there is money to be made but if you want a van go out and buy one. dont buy all the vans up then add two grand because you know how to import them, and then make a mint on us common folk

Do you know how much shipping and import duties cost?
People abroad are now becoming aware of the price vans go for on the UK market and are pricing their vans accordingly.
Plus the fact the pound isn't that strong at the moment means your not getting as much for your money.

In our case, we're not out to make a quick buck. (I wish we were! I'm skint :lol: ) The boss has been lucky enough to turn his hobby, with a lot of hard work, into a business, and I've been lucky enough to use my hobby to gain full time employment.
We're not looking to rip people off because we would be destroying the hobby we love and the scene that goes with it.

And be honest, if you had a van that had original paint in the arches and never had needed any welding would you say its worth as much as a van thats been extensivly repaired over the years?

I really cannot see the point you are trying to make, just appears to be jealousy?

 

[carole]

mmmmmm, a minefield this one... :roll:

On the other side of the fence, I know one or two people who import vans regularly. They both feel that there are an awful lot of 'new' people out there importing vans, other than the regulars in the trade that have been doing it for some time.

Now, for the buyer, you could argue that that is a good thing as it increases the choice. However from the traders' point of view this makes the buying public much more piccy (and some would say more knowledgable) about what they want to buy, simply because of the huge choice now available through the internet. There are loads of people importing vans these days. They also feel that this has kept the prices down, as the buying public want a lot more van for a lot less cash. If they don't like what they see then they'll just go and buy it somewhere else.

And.....don't assume that just because a bus has been imported from the states that it is completely solid, there are some real horrors out there! However, whichever way you look at it, sooner or later the supply will start to dry up. Whether or not that will make prices go up even more, who can tell?

And I also believe that solid RHD buses will always keep their money... :wink: that has certainly happened on the splitscreen scene where RHD vans are very sought after.

 

[58herbie]

i know that folk will shoot me down on this one. but it is rather annoying to see how many (importers) there are kicking about. i dont want to sound bitter but the rest of us (british van owners) struggle with our mot failure 1970's welding issues. when there are so many vans rolling off the ferries on a daily basis that put ours to shame. i realise that there is money to be made but if you want a van go out and buy one. dont buy all the vans up then add two grand because you know how to import them, and then make a mint on us common folk

If you don't like the prices importers charge then i suggest you do something about it instead of ranting about it on here. We were on the look out for a nice decent Early Westie and everything that was around either private our trade sale here was just not right, and to expensive. Then we found one on The Samba. after many pictures, emails and phone calls, yes maybe a gamble some of you say buying on pictures but hey, you only live once. we bought our 1970 Westy, 3 owners from new. Arranged the shipping ourselves through Schumacher cargo as they gave a better quote than Kingstown (stateside) and our van was homewould bound.
shipping your own van is a very easy process if you are willing to do it!!!

 

[Justin & Muttley]

As far as I know VolksWagen didn't ever make buses in the UK - therefore all our vans are imports!

If the prices are rising then jump aboard before you get priced out of the market.
If you think importers are ripping people off then don't use them - plenty of people on here have imported their own vans from overseas, some of them on the basis of a couple of photo's on thesamba.com!

Importers take a bit of a gamble when import buses - they have to spend the cash first and wait for the return later on, also, many spend a great deal of time (and cash) visiting the States etc to source their buses - in short, they provide a 'finders service' and that's what you pay for - there's nothing to stop you doing the same... but do you really want to spend your hard-earned £££'s travelling around the USA following leads (and dead ends) with no guarantee of success?

 

[ianscooby]

we are probably guitly of adding to the supposed price raises as we are new to the scene (I wanted a harley), but after a 6 month searching and looking at loads of good (not) uk buses we paid for an import (thanks to FBI) which was the same price or cheaper than what some wanted for a potential nightmare bus.

We have also considered importing a bus as a day/surf bus and have noticed that the US market have lifted the prices considerably which all comes down to supply and demand.

 

[mcvw]

Not a lot to add, as what I'd wanted to say has already been said in previous replies.

You should also consider that the price of these imported vans can also go down too - especially if the seller wants it gone

 

[faux]

Things are always cheaper to start with if you do them yourself, but can end up being more expensive.

Importers are in business, they need to make money. In order to keep their reputations they will try to find good buses and try to keep the prices competitive.

There are a lot of options for people buying buses here in the UK, we should be happy that we can rely on importers bringing in parts etc to keep our buses alive.

I have bought privately and from importers (KK, FBI, Simon Hall), happy with both methods, just have to be a bit careful.

If anything it may eventually bring prices down in the UK.?????????

 

[super-craig]

should see the amount of stretched limos that come into the uk each week , but now they are being licenced by local councils for private hire and age restrictions put on them , it means they import new ones more and more , but what about the older ones eg over 5 year old that can no longer be licenced :shock: shipped to eastern europe or left to rot unless they run on restricted pcv (part time) via vosa

 

[Joval]

When I was looking for a bay on thesamba before Christmas I came across one westy tintop but turned it down at bets offer over $3500,
it's now listed in the UK with one of the longer established importers for a whopping £8,995.

What is that all about?

 

[super-craig]

prices do seem a bit steep when compared to usa prices , but you have to look at the extra costs involved on importing your own bus eg : VAT , import duty , ocean freight , road freight in usa if needed , uk dock handling , mot (repair work if needed) , uk lighting convertion (if needed) , registration fees , etc etc but it still doesnt equate to a $3500 (or £1767 @1.98 exchange rate) becoming £8995 , but then you also have to concider the cash they may have to pay for industrial premises , business rates , taxes , etc etc oh and how long they will have a vehicle in stock for , then equate how much they actually earn from this in terms of wages .

 

[Araon]

Plus they do take occassional hits on stock that just wont sell, stock that was bought unseen (even the pros get duped) they gotta recuperate their losses and when people are willing to pay them prices....

 

[BigG]

As the owner of a uk right hooker thats pretty much rot free ( unusual for a sunroof bus) I do sometimes get a bit put out at the attitude of some of the importers and owners of so called rust free dry state busses towards the weather battered home boys, though I should think there are few who wouldn't love to start a resto with a rot free shell. I must big up those who have carried out some amazing restos on this forum, ensuring the survival of their busses for many years to come and remember a Cali dry state bus stops being one when it arrives on our salty damp shores and becomes a uk bus :roll:
As far as importers go its certainly not an easy money thing as some of the above threads have pointed out and what the hell is wrong with a little enterprise.
It all adds up to more choice and more for us to chat about on this forum so right, left, import or domestic, just enjoy. :wink:

 

[super-craig]

i own a 68 left hooker from texas which i personally imported myself , it dont matter to me wether you own an import or a genuine uk right hand driver , because at the end of the day you are all early bay fans 8) and each and everyone has something to offer each other with knowledge etc big up respect to the early bay members 8) oh and any splitty fans or any vw fans for that matter 8)

 

[ant]

so right, left, import or domestic, just enjoy. :wink:

wise words :wink: :wink:

 

[baybus70]

I agree if, you don't like the price then don't buy.I sell very expensive specialised cars for the disabled for a living and ppl are constantly complaining that we're just making money out of them...Of course i am,i'm offering a service,we're earning a living but earning it mostly to pay for the premises, wages, fuel costs,more stock so i can keep going etc and yes, hopefully a good profit at the end. They have a choice of what to buy and where to get it, just like the vw fan. Since these bulk importers like fbi have come about the vw scene has been booming! Also, since prices have risen due to imports or whatever more people have brought new products onto the vw scene. Remember 15 or so years ago ,or before schofield etc when finding bits for restoring a bay or split was less than fun.Products were limited and consequently a lot of vans were unnecessarily botched.A bay was worth 2K mint so it wasn't worth importing one let alone spending £10K on a resto! Anyway, we're all in it coz we love vw's and some people are just fortunate enough to do it as they're job- if they were gonna make £20 out of importing one i don't think they'd bother! :lol:

 

[giraffeinbath]

Ours is a '68 UK right hooker and I have to be honest I do get a kick out of the fact that the steering wheel is on the right hand side, that said it's got rust in all he usual places so I can see why the import option is attractive as a potential rust free bus must be a joy.

At the end of the day you pays your money and takes your choice. Ultimately we think our bus is the best bus in the world because it's our bus and love it and if it was a left hand drive import we would still feel the same, with anything you may have in life often you learn to appreciate the virtues and forget the misgivings, if you always look at your glass half empty then you'll never be a happy chappy.

 

[super-craig]

vw buses are not just a vehicle :shock: they are a way of life 8) and you only have one life so live it with a vw bus 8)

 

[scott wilson]

don`t forget a reputable importer will be VAT registered. This means any vehicle they import will be sold inclusive of VAT. So if you pay £10k on that dream westy then £1750 goes to hmrc because technically these are new vehicles and that`s after paying VAT and duties on the actual import process. HMRC make a lot of cash out of our volkswagen addiction