I am new to the site and MX5s in general. I am looking to buy an MX5 MK1 as a fun toy, I wanted something small, top down, fun and easy to work on at home (I like tinkering). I almost purchased a 986 Boxster but that doesn’t really meet my easy to work on tick box.
Looks great, already has a few mods I would of done (kinda does take the fun away from doing it myself), owner seems like hes looked after it even if it has been given some spirited runs through Europe and presumably tracks. Is this a car from this forum?
I am currently not in the country (In Sydney) and wont be back until April next year so I cant go up to Glasgow to check it, buy it and drive it back. So I am thinking if I went ahead and bought it I could get it transported back to Manchester for when I return.
Has anyone transported a car in the UK, Glasgow to Manchester, who did you use? How much was it and was the process easy??
I found this site, www.driiveme.co.uk has anyone had experience with this? It seems crazy cheap for someone to drive your car to your doorstep!
Any advice on the car in question, and more importantly car transport would be great!
There are very many people with a two car transporter in a lot of cases one car on the back and one on a trailer that fight each other in a race to the bottom on prices. I never used them but super inexpensive. I got quotes to move a car from the Midlands to Aberdeenshire and some were less than £200 fully insured!!! In the end our local dealer reduced their price on the car up here and we bought local.
I would not buy a 25 year old car without seeing it. Nothing against the seller but unless you or someone who has the knowledge inspect it, preferably on a lift, wait till you are home, there are lots of nice cars not selling at the moment.
Given the reputation of rust on cars up north, as said, its a bit risky to buy a repaired car unseen. Ultimately, the risk is about £2000, the cost of reboing the sills, arches, if needed (repair looks good, but who knows until you see it.
My immediate reaction why not buy a nice rust free car in Australia and ship it back, but I see the prices there are nuts with entry price being AUD8000, albeit for a pretty nice car. You’ve missed out on 6 months ownership of an Oz MX5 to avoid paying vat and duty in the UK.
Plenty of car importers in Australia, from Japan. You could buy a car from them, from Japan, but have it shipped direct to the UK. Some risk there, as you are buying a car unseen, through a broker who won’t care because you will be long away from Australia. Or get a car through Autolinkuk in the UK; they will take care of you, including carrying out any prep work to get the car tip top in time of your return to the UK.
6 weeks to ship back, give then 2 weeks to attend to bits and bobs (usual new roof, attend to any paintwork, good service etc). So if you are back in Blighty by April, then getting a car purchased in Japan by end of Feb (which isn’t so far away) using a UK buyer who can be personally vouched for by many here (Andy Stott at Autolinkuk is a top man).
I wish they were $8k for a decent one, you would be lucky to an auto for that price. 10-15k, with 11-12k average for a decent manual. I have checked, I will shipping a container back around May so was going to stick one in there, but the prices are insane! Due to the country generally having good rust free cars I was considering shipping back an air cooled 911 to sell in the UK but again, prices are so much higher here than the UK for second hand cars. I sold my Supra MKIV TT because it would instantly be worth less in the UK.
I imported a MKIV supra (different one) years back and didnt have a good experience and cost more than a decent local one, so dont want to go back down that avenue.
Ive been looking for a while, I have a list of mods I will be doing to the car if it was stock. This one seems to have nearly all of them which is why its really caught my attention as its a lot less than buying a car and doing the mods myself.
I would look at someone like BordersMX5 to do a pre purchase inspection. I was just unsure about getting it down the Manchester to store at the in-laws until my return.
I will have to start sending a few emails to courier companies I guess, they dont seem to want to give out quotes without giving all your details of your first born haha.
Cheers,
Hope to see some of you on the road in the near future!