Imported kei car resale

[StevenRugg]

Hi,

I'm having early thoughts of importing a Honda S660 (via Torque GT as their reputation seems solid). I want the experience of having had it for a while as I'm sure they're brilliant, but also massively impractical. So realistically I expect I'll only keep it two or three years before probably wanting to move it on.

So does anyone know anything about selling this kind of car? Do any dealers want to touch them? If private would I end up waiting six to nine months before I find any one else who actually wants it, etc? Should I expect to keep it more than three years?

And I guess sort of related is does anyone have any reliable idea on depreciation of modern kei cars once imported here?

Any help to convince me to buy it appreciated!

[Mezzanine]

You should definitely buy one.

Then I can buy it from you at a later date.

Hopefully that will be all the convincing you need

The are niche vehicles with a very niche market over here. You would only likely be able to sell back to a specialist dealer (like Torque GT) or like you say, have to wait a long time if selling privately.

The resale price, if you find someone who wants one, is likely to stay fairly close to what you pay from Torque GT (minus fees and taxes etc) as the supply in this country is low.

There is a member on here who has a S660 iirc

Or if you have Instagram follow s660.ukei (it’s the same person I think)

[samoht]

In terms of selling it, I'd have thought that with the power of the internet, you'd be able to find the one person in the UK who'd want to buy it. There seems to be a bit of a Kei scene https://en-gb.facebook.com/KeiKarsinthePark ?

Values however are very hard to predict. I'd tend to err on the side of not expecting them to be that good, in three years' time I expect they'll be plentiful on the used market in Japan and available to import rather more cheaply, and I have a feeling Kei cars depreciate more rapidly in general. But tough to predict, the Cappuccino was fairly popular here for quite a while. The pound:yen rate over the next few years can also affect the supply & value of further imports from Japan. Absolute best case scenario they become fashionable in the UK and you make a profit - a colleague of mine had a Figaro (not a kei but similarly quirky), ran it out of oil and sold it for more than she'd paid with a completely dead engine!

I think you'll be able to sell it, but I wouldn't count on getting more than c. 50% of your money back three years hence, being so niche it's very hard to predict.

[StevenRugg]

Mezzanine said:

You should definitely buy one.

Then I can buy it from you at a later date.

Hopefully that will be all the convincing you need

This is pretty much the advice I came for. Thanks! I'll be in touch in three years.

samoht said:

In terms of selling it, I'd have thought that with the power of the internet, you'd be able to find the one person in the UK who'd want to buy it.

I guess this is true, but was just having doubts. It'd be useful to hear of people who've bought and sold kei cars before without trouble, etc, for a confidence boost. I guess this could also be a question for Torque GT with their own and their customers' experiences.

Of course I wasn't expecting to make any kind of profit from it, and I know forum speculation about values is pointless and dull. However it's obviously a concern on a car that's objectively quite silly and impractical, but also not cheap enough for it to not matter at all.

As you mentioned also the currency rate and various other things (Brexit? Coronavirus part two?) could affect the values of everything over the next few years, so I suppose pencilling in a cautious 50% loss doesn't seem unreasonable, but one will always hope for less loss than that.

[Mezzanine]

StevenRugg said:

Mezzanine said:

You should definitely buy one.

Then I can buy it from you at a later date.

Hopefully that will be all the convincing you need

This is pretty much the advice I came for. Thanks! I'll be in touch in three years.

You are welcome! I look forward to your call.

As a warning, my opening offer might be 50% of whatever your purchase price was

I briefly looked into what it would take to own an S660 earlier in the year. There is a little glimpse of information here which quotes circa £20k as a realistic U.K. price (although that from 2018).

Torque GT seem to be recommended by a cross section of views from my research, they seem quite open to talk about the process even if you are not guaranteed to actually spend money with them.




(can you make sure you buy one in a dark blue colour please, with a higher spec...)

[Axeboy]

They will be 10 years old in 2 or 3 years so prices will drop at that point I think as they will become easier to import, and cheaper to buy, so I agree with samoht on that

I dont think there is a model report for the s660 listed yet by the DVLA, but whoever imported one before might be able to help with it

[StevenRugg]

Axeboy said:

They will be 10 years old in 2 or 3 years so prices will drop at that point I think as they will become easier to import, and cheaper to buy, so I agree with samoht on that

I've seen that you don't need the IVA test/inspection when they're ten years old, but is there anything else that makes them cheaper at that age (aside from general depreciation)?

From reading things and speaking to people I've seen a cost ballparked at £13k, £15k, and £20k. So it's hard to know what to expect…

[Axeboy]

I think Id just be a little more nervous as the IVA might throw up issues as few have made it through so far

It might be unfounded but I personally prefer the 10 year or older rule to avoid that risk

[StevenRugg]

Axeboy said:

I think Id just be a little more nervous as the IVA might throw up issues as few have made it through so far

It might be unfounded but I personally prefer the 10 year or older rule to avoid that risk

Is this a thing? I'd just presumed that there's not many in the country simply because that's the demand for them.

Do you have any evidence of IVA failures on these cars being a problem? And what happens if it does fail?

[Axeboy]

There have been cases of people having difficulty yes, not specifically S660's as there have been so few, but thats part of the issue. There have been a few people on this forum having difficulty but I dont know what the end outcome was.

It might not be an issue, but it "could" be

If you are getting a company to import it for you and register it for you, you'll maybe get them to take that risk for you anyway.

edit: Also, although ive imported loads over the years, all have been 10 years or older so I could just be worried about something that Ive not done

Edited by Axeboy on Tuesday 28th July 15:05

[pidsy]

Love kei cars. £2300 gets you the M&M Honda widebody kit: