Grey Imports – Canadians aren’t the only ones who do it
I found this quite interesting. CADA would have you believe that Canada is the only place in the world that imports cars from Japan. They even have called them 'dumping ground for unsafe vehicles'. So here we go, people in Britain do it too. Makes sense, both drive on the left side of the road, so it works quite well.
This is an old top gear episode, and the host is quite conservative, and the people are buying cars in a way I wouldn't. The cars in question in this video are bought without concern by an importer, and sold in an auction in the Ireland. Personally, I'd only buy a car I could test drive, or directly from Japan through an experienced auction agent. I don't think I'd trust someone who brings in a number of cars just to sell them off.
I think it's interesting how Top Gear approaches this problem. Yes - there _can_ be issues with these cars, and yes - they can be expensive to fix. But it has to be a calculated risk. You can get a much nicer car for a much nicer price in Japan, but you need to make sure you know what you're buying... like they say in the video, talk to someone who knows what they're talking about first.
I want to say the video is well-balanced, but it's not. They're a little too negative though the video, with just a note of "but they're not all that bad" at the end. Take it for what it's worth, since it's still quite interesting to see other people have the same discussions we have.
Without further delay:
rob
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