VW Golf R32 (MkV) – Entry 002

David Conway    Personal, VW Golf R32 (MkV)     official r32 entry, vw golf r32

As planned, last Saturday (25/08/07) I called the company and informed them that I wished to proceed with the order. Documentation arrived on Thursday and I’m delighted to say the contract’s now been signed, posted and my deposit paid!

• 3 Door
• 6 Speed Manual
• Deep Blue Pearl Paint
• Cruise Control
• RCD 500 – 6 CD Autochanger

Price: £22,995
Includes Number Plates (57), UK Registration and 12 months tax.

I can’t believe this is really happening! I managed to resist the temptation to add lots of extras for two reasons. Firstly, £23k is a lot of money for me and I can’t really afford any more. Secondly, although I love the idea of a 3.2 V6 in a Golf, I don’t want to pay £28k for it.

The manufacturer order has been placed and my car is due for build in week 41 with an estimated delivery date of Nov 5th 2007 (3 days before my birthday). I have 66 days until my dream becomes reality and the anticipation is killing me (in a good way). I look forward to the day when I can comment from an owner’s perspective rather than a Peugeot driver who does a lot of research!

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Here’s a bit of info extracted from my documentation that may prove useful for people deciding whether to buy an Import/Parallel or buy from a UK Main Dealer.

Firstly, we only supply UK specification cars from the EU, they are “parallel” not “grey” (which we guarantee in writing), a number of our competitors claim to be supplying UK specification cars but in actual fact they are not they are just similar. Cars with the same engine and badge on the back from places like Cyprus, Malta or Southern Ireland (commonly found being sold from car supermarkets) do not come with the same interior trim, the same alarm (which has implications with your insurance). These cars do not benefit from the same under-body protection nor do they come with the 1 year VW assistance (ours do).

Secondly, our prices quoted are fixed in £Sterling, completely ‘On the Road’ with 12 months Road Fund Licence, you as the first keeper and brought here by transporter and consequently only with delivery miles. No hidden extras.

Thirdly, UK dealership salespeople do their utmost to try and dissuade you from buying a car from the likes of us, insisting that the car will not be UK specification (they are from us), even resorting to untruths about the cars that we supply. We have heard through some of our customers that some salespeople claim the cars have different parts which are not straightforward to replace – this is rubbish, it is the same car off the same production line made with the same parts. They also say that you cannot get the car serviced by their service department or any warranty issues dealt with-again this is rubbish. The service department (the most profitable part of the dealership) want to see you (or at least your money!) for servicing and indeed warranty work where the manufacturer pays the bill. UK dealers try and scare you with lower resale values, this all depends on when you sell and who you sell to. We admit that if you buy the car from us and then 3 months later go to a UK main dealer to part exchange the car they will use the fact that it is an ‘import’ (but aren’t they all!) to offer you less for the car. Will they sell it for less? I do not think so. If you sell the car in 5 years time the original source of the car will not affect the resale value by a penny.

So what are the differences when you buy a car from us? Unlike a UK supplied car which does come with a 3 year warranty-made up of 2 years unlimited mileage warranty from the manufacturer (the same as our cars) and then supplemented in the 3rd year by a dealer network, insurance-based warranty that is no where near as comprehensive as the first 2 years and limited to 60,000 miles. This can be purchased and added on to a car supplied by ourselves at any time during the first 2 years of ownership the only requirement being that the car is serviced by VW in accordance with the servicing schedule, which is on the ‘LongLife’ service system (a computer tells you when a service is required but can be anything up to 2 years before the 1st service is required). UK supplied cars are NOT supplied with a 3 year manufacturer warranty.

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Below is a list of the key elements of my contract. It may prove useful for people looking at buying an Import vehicle. Kind of a “checklist” I.e. Does the price you’ve quoted me include this…

• Two Year’s Manufacturer’s Warranty commencing from the date of delivery
• English Number Plates
• First Registration Fee
• Pre Delivery Inspection – at the official authorised Dealership
• Pre Delivery Valeting – at the official authorised Dealership
• Secondary Valeting – Upon delivery.
• The cost of transporting the car from the foreign dealership to the foreign port, the ferry crossing, and the transportation of the vehicle to dealer premises.
• UK Certificate of Conformity
• Road Fund Licence – 12 Months
• Choice of DVLA Pre-allocated number plates
• UK Specification
• Management of all Documentation
• All documentation for the vehicle in English
• Guaranteed as first registered keeper on the V5 registration document
• Guaranteed to show no former keepers or any reference to the vehicle being an import
• Guaranteed fixed sterling price, with no ‘hidden’ additional ‘on the road’ costs.

Thanks for reading.