ok guys heres a newly listed coupe for sale on ebay which i almost bought I left a depsoit with this guy and was going to return next day after he taxed it but when trying to insure it it didnt come up as a 20vt but a 20v na i did hpi on it & didnt show model on there either also the vin number wasnt recognised on the hpi either, but then i it all looked dodgy when trying to get ins quotes cos model was wrong on the reg i was putting in , i phone this guys selling it & told him something looked dodgy and he told me he was checking with fiat uk about chassis & vin to confirm it was what he claimed it was but didn't get back to me for 3 days so i phoned him to tell him i wasn't interested in car cos it rang too many alarm bells at which point he got arsey, now nearly a month down line its back for sale with a little dig at me on his listing which is a bit sad but funny lol.
anyway if anyone's thinking of buying this then make sure you check everything with a fine tooth comb before committing because i don't want any of you to get stung.
in his rant he said more fool me for not buying it when in actual fact i bought a Porto coupe from a fccuk member last month which is a minter with every service ,paperwork and bills so gut feelings happen for a reason i may be wrong but i walked away from this sale because of too many doubts about too many things and this guy should of got every bit of info before selling something he knew nothing about as it was me who brought to his attention the discretion's about the car and he didnt have a clue but was willing to sell on anyway. ok

mods if this is in wrong place then please would you put in right topic as i wasn't sure where to post. thanks.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUPERB1998-FIA...=item19e26c6442

It's a import first reg in Germany I had an impreza from Germany once that was down as a na. But once hpi check didn't show up as an impreza. Your better off goin to view again and ringing fiat with the vin number

I think it's a good car with nothing untoward and a pretty clued up owner. I think you have called it wrong.


The interior is a bit John Major, mind!

this guy didn't have a clue it was an import and he didn't even check the vin as for engine number he didn't even have one for it so i could check on my hpi, it was me who told him after checking because i tried about 4 insurance quotes and all came up as a na coop and not a turbo & even my own insurance when i tried to simply change car over said something was wrong because their system wouldnt insure me even though ive owned a coupe before & never had a problem with it & thats the reason i walked away from sale because too many things did not add up and all the info he says hes got now he didnt have when selling this car to me so hes not that clued up or he would of explained all that in his original sale post but because he uses trade plates he never noticed anything with car cos he never tried insuring it, my question to Gillan though is did your reg plate show your cars correct model when insuring because this one didnt

ALL LIGHTS OFF WHEN RUNNING NO WARNING LIGHTS, PERFECT RUNNING TEMP AND OIL PRESSURE

dont think oil pressure is perfect in any way shape or form for a coupe with 84k and has been looked after seems abit low.

seems in good condition lets see who buys it

dont get me wrong knight i drove it & it was a good runner , pulled fine, quiet engine, boosted well and stopped in a straight line but i also noted engine had been warmed up before i went up to look at it as id rather test a car from a cold start and see what happens with oil pressure and exhaust etc but as stated above i couldnt complete sale cos of too many doubts i had with car

the sills are painted, was this standard?

also, why the need for an engine rebuild? sounds like its had a bad life somewhere along the lines...

Can you buy and register a RHD car for use in Germany?

When I registered my Coupe in Australia I registered it as a "Fiat Coupe" just so there was never a problem like this.

I would of been off put aswell mate and walked away

Colour coded sills came in on 1999 build cars or they have been painted if I remember correctly (somebody will know more than me)

Yes its possible.

redjon I get the hang of your post even if your long long sentences get complicated to read.

I would be put off from doing business with anyone that went to such trouble to "diss" a prospective buyer that change their mind.

If anyone deserves a negative seller rating it should be this one for overstepping the line of etiquette.

Yes the oil pressure does look low.

Interesting that the "new engine" is showing only 1.5 bar oil pressure at hot idle - check the photos

Other than that, It looks to be straight and clean. My Sprinty was a BFPO car and I often had to explain this to insurers who couldn't trace the car on their records.

I've got an import car (from Holland) and always get a problem when using on line systems that require your number plate to find parts etc. The car has always been declared as an import on insurance with no increase in premiums and I've not had any other issues.

The older members of the forum will remember that the mid 90's to early 00's were full of companies doing personal imports, the Impreza was probably the most imported as they were a pain to source new in UK. The price difference was massive as well and cars came from everywhere across Europe. The Coupe was no different and you'd probably save 3-5K off Fiat list prices, there will be loads out there.

This car is undoubtedly an ex Germany based Pongo car which members of the Armed Forces could buy tax free, Roadking on here was one of them and will explain the whole tax free thing.

Personally I'd believe the owners explanation as it makes 100% sense to me.

The car does look nice - I hate adverts in Capitals though.

I once had an RHD UK plate Alfa 147 that was registered in Germany. I just had to tell the insurance the exact details of the car rather than the computer finding it. The service book was also all in German with the original 2 stamps being German too.

This didn't put me off at all though. The car had unusual/nice options not found in a UK spec and the mileage was below average. Similar to this Coupe.

I do see both sides of the argument here though. The seller possibly didn't explain this well enough initially, which may have put me off, especially with that dig in the advert? Is there any need?

As a buyer, when you're parting with that amount of cash, things should feel right, and add up 100%. If not, I can understand walking away - I cant help thinking how the seller could influence the outcome here though.

Did you get your deposit back?

Mine was first registered new in Germany with RHD, by someone stationed in British Army personnel, who saved on the VAT!

i gave him £100 cash deposit but after i told him i wasn't interested in the car & said i would collect the money back from him he said "im not in tonight" then said ill put it in paypal for you if u give me an email for it minus what his listing fee was so i ended up with £80 back, The thing i don't think people are getting here is this guy buys & sells cars from his home as a trader etc so he took it in a px deal off someone & never actually owned the car or knew anything about it and wanted a quick sell & all the info on his ebay advert in red now he didn't know when he tried to sell car to me and got awkward when i pulled out.

As mentioned earlier I was indeed a squaddie who bought a coupe tax free.

The scale of saving was immense, far more than just VAT. I bought a 98 20VT Sprinty with all the toys for £12500, book price in UK was about £25k. The cars were not registered in Germany as such, they were registered through the British Forces Germany (BFG) Licencing Office. Cars were issued with UK plates if RHD, German plates if LHD. On return to UK the car had to be registered at the local DVLO, at which time an age related plate would be issued.

We could have held a Coupe meet in just about any large garrison town. LE Barchettas were going for about £9k.

You should be happy, you got most of the deposit back, I sell cars and rarely, if at all return deposits, as they are that a deposit, to hold the car, and if you change your mind then the cash is lost.

On the other hand, I understand if it doesn't feel right, then walk away, but you did leave a deposit afterall, so you must have wanted it initially, you should carry out any checks beforehand to save any messing about, just my 2pence worth, as I'm in the trade and can see/feel both sides.

If you're after a car like the Coupe, I always reckon a private sale is the best way, as you will get a better ideal of how the car is/was, not just a polished up rough car from trade etc