It's ashame you guys feel that way, Iv'e imported a few cars and so far have been very happy with the quality of the vehicles and obviously the price :)
I'll admit there is always a risk buying a car you have only seen pics of but if you have someone over there that you trust that can check those little things for ya then it's a good way to save $$ as well all know how much mark up the yards put on there cars ;)
For example me and a mate whom I work with get offered cars all the times....like this little beauty:
1999 Toyota Altezza Turbo
6 speed manual
67,000 kms
2 litre DOHC, air conditioning, power steering, 17Inc alloys, stereo, power windows, dual air bags, HKS adjustable suspension.
17" AVS MODEL 7
Trust Greddy exhaust
Zard fuel hoses
Gauges
Aftermarket ecu (Im unsure at this point exactly what but it is tuned already & Im guessing you would need to run the car on 98 ONLY)
Blitz ebc
Driver side recaros
Apex turbo timer
Greddy fmic
I HAD PICS HERE WHICH I CAN PUT UP IF ANYONE WANTS TO SEE :)
Now Im in the position to have the above here and on the road for about $25K NZ. Im SURE you'd be hard pressed to find anything like that availible here. At this point were not bringing it in as...well we just don't need it but if someone was intrested we could. More out of intrest than anything else I have asked him what BRAND of aftermarket ecu it's running.
So if you have someone you trust or someone there who can just double check the condition of the car etc It's a nice option. Some other examples, I just got in a 1996 Legnum ST-R with 81,000 kms...all the usual electrics etc lowered here and on the road for about $8000 nzd's, it was such a good deal my in-laws took it :) I got in a 1996 Glanza S in for my missus a year or two back with 69,000 km's for about $8000 nzd's...at the time the same thing if you could find one went for about $13,000.
Before the Glanza we brought a 1994 GT-Z Tureno freshly imported from an LMVD yard in Auckland.....within 2 weeks we were in a situation where the car had deeper underlying structual damage that was picked up during compliance but not repaired properly. Withen a month we asked for our money back but ended up having an un-usable car in our garage for around a year...$1500.00 in repair + investiagtion bills, plus all the uneccesary junk that goes in withen the court process. In the end we won and got our money back, and the certifier shut down but it was not a plesent experiance and a waste of time.
So there ya have it..... :)
Cheers
KiwiMR2
Just something to keep in mind :)