Terms and Conditions of the Import Scheme
1.) “We” (and related expressions like “us” and “ours”) refer to A1 Auto Imports. We are an Import / Supply Service and act as Agents Only. We are not a garage, we are acting upon the instructions of the customer. At no time do we become owners of your Vehicle and any purchase funds are held temporarily as trustee only.
2.) “You” (and related expressions like “your”) refers to you the customer who has approached us for the purposes of purchasing, assisting in the purchase, importation and / or UK registration of a motor vehicle using our Import services. We shall be employed by you as Agent Only for this purpose. The vehicles are purchased, imported or processed on your instruction & on your behalf by us and never becomes our property. This is regardless of the payment of funds to us for payment as trustee on your behalf, or any documentation in our name, there is never a transference of property ownership; the property always remains that of the customer. (A fiduciary Trustee Relationship).
The Services that we Offer:
3.) You are welcome to use our Agent Services, this generally falls into 3 categories:
- You have identified a vehicle in Japan (or other foreign location) not at auction. This vehicle may be contained within our website, sent on an email or sourced yourself. (proceed to para 4 ).
2 .You have purchased, or in the process of purchasing a vehicle that you have sourced yourself. (proceed to para 8 ).
3.You are a resident of a country outside of the UK and wish to import your vehicle to the UK. (proceed to para 9).
4.) The Agent fee is paid in advance of any instructions to proceed by the customer, it is fully refundable until the point of a successful vehicle instruction to purchase on your behalf. If no purchase is ever made due to the vehicle becoming unavailable, the Agent Fee is fully refundable with no Agent fee charge. Our Agent Fee of £420 is NOT included in the overall estimated OTR Price.
Details will include estimated UK OTR price including all taxes and duties, Mot / Iva preparation, mot and Iva test and UK Registration.
5.) The estimated final price stated on the estimated fees document will include calculated UK import duty, import VAT, and shipment of the vehicle to the UK mainland (Southampton port by default, Bristol or other pre agreed port), MOT, first registration fee, number plates, IVA test (If required). Any compliance work will also be estimated, please note however that we cannot be held responsible for variable costs incurred due to MOT failure or changes in legislation that would require further expense to legally register the vehicle.
6.) Payment for the car purchase price and freight to UK (CIF see note Footnote below) is due strictly within 2 days to our UK Bank Account – Unless otherwise agreed and notified. Failure to pay under these terms may result in cancellation Any fees incurred will be passed onto you the customer and will need to be paid in full within 10 days. Further, in all cases, title is not deemed to have passed to client until all payments due have been made in full.
7.) Contained within our website under the heading ‘Stock’ are 2x Headings with over 150,000 vehicles that Japan traders (3rd Party) are permitted to use our Import facilities supplying UK customers their vehicles. You may also receive emails from us advising of vehicles being offered via
these 3rd parties. We do not own these vehicles, but we can act as Agent Only on your behalf to try and ensure the condition and specification represents a true description. The greatest of care is taken in arranging the purchase and importation of those vehicles. We cannot be held responsible for any undisclosed faults, representation or cosmetic issues arising. We cannot be held responsible for any financial loss on exchange rates or bank charges, if, in the unlikely event, funds are received in Japan by the 3rd party and the requested vehicle has sold prior to the fund arrival & you request a refund of payment. We will only be responsible for the vehicle as specified by you in our email correspondence. Please ensure that the vehicle you are requesting and pricing details are correct, as they will form the basis of the transaction in which you will be entering. The Agent fee is £420 per vehicle payable to us in advance of any attempt to purchase or act on your behalf, upon receipt of the fee this is taken as confirmation of instruction and contract to purchase and act on your behalf. Our Agent Fee of £420 is NOT included in the overall estimated OTR Price.
8.) You have purchased or are in the process of purchasing a vehicle yourself. We can act as Agent Only on your behalf to try and ensure the condition and specification represents a true description. We cannot be held responsible for any undisclosed faults, representation or cosmetic issues arising. We will only be responsible for the vehicle as specified by you in our email correspondence. Please ensure that the vehicle you are requesting and pricing details are correct, as they will form the basis of the transaction in which you will be entering. To ensure full unhindered process we would need the cooperation of the seller and yourself to supply correct information and documentation. The Agent fee is £420 per vehicle payable to us in advance of any attempt to purchase or act on your behalf, upon receipt of the fee this is taken as confirmation of instruction and contract to purchase and act on your behalf and is non-refundable regardless of circumstances. We can arrange the payment of the vehicle and associated export and freight fees to the Japan seller for you. We accept no responsibility for incorrect financial details or fraudulent behaviour on their or a 3rd parties behalf. We cannot be held responsible for any financial loss on exchange rates or bank charges, if, in the unlikely event, funds are received in Japan by the 3rd party and the requested vehicle has sold prior to the fund arrival & you request a refund of payment. (Para 5 & 6 above also applies to this scheme).
9.) You are a resident of a country outside the UK and wish to import a vehicle lawfully owned by you to the UK. We will only be responsible for the vehicle as specified by you in our email correspondence. Please ensure that the vehicle details are accurate and correct. To ensure full unhindered process we would need your cooperation to supply correct information and documentation. The Agent fee is £420 per vehicle payable to us in advance of any attempt to process or act on your behalf, upon receipt of the fee this is taken as confirmation of instruction and contract to act on your behalf and is non-refundable regardless of circumstances. (Para #5 above also applies to this scheme).
Terms and Conditions applicable to ALL 3x Schemes:
10.) An Invoice issued by our clearing agents is payable as soon as the car has landed in UK. This invoice is payable in Sterling and covers the shipping agent charges for customs clearance and terminal handling, freight costs (unless freight has already been pre-paid (CIF) – see note Footnote below), import duty and VAT. The vehicle cannot be released from the port until this invoice is paid. Failure to pay may result in demurrage and administration charges from the port authority charged on a daily basis which are your liability should they result from your failure to pay the invoice. This payment is to be made to our UK Shipping Agents and NOT us. These details will be supplied in advance.
11.) An Invoice is payable in Sterling upon completion of all necessary compliance work, IVA testing, MOT testing and any work required to pass the MOT should a re-test be required at the UK Garage Agents that you instruct, they will contact you a copy invoice and send you all details for collection and payment of the vehicle. This payment is to be made to the UK Garage Agents and NOT us. You may if you wish to have the vehicle released to you at the UK port of arrival. for you to arrange follow-on process at your own designated garage location.
– Please advise us this in advance if applicable.
12.) The vehicle delivery involves shipping of the vehicle from Japan to the UK port using an experienced and reputable shipping company; we therefore cannot accept responsibility for late
deliveries, or any rental imposed by the UK Port or 3rd Party Authorities. We will not be liable for economic loss, including any loss of bargain and additional costs of purchasing an alternative car, nor for the cost of alternative transport that you may incur between the date of placing the order and the final delivery, even in cases where the delivery date has changed. Delays in delivery are no reason for cancellation or any refund of costs. UK Arrival ports are requested as per the customer’s request, freight lines however, reserve the right to ship as per their convenience or tranship as required. Although rare, if the vessel offloads at an alternative port we accept no responsibility for further land transportation charges.
13.) We will not be held in any way responsible for any damage / theft caused in transit from Purchase in Japan to Delivery to the UK, whether it be whilst at port, in transit, at any of the UK Garages we suggest or you nominate or to a third party. NO such claim for any damage / theft will be considered by us. Responsibility rests entirely with you to request further cover if required for complete peace of mind. Please contact us to arrange this cover with the shipping or Insurance company. Similarly, we cannot be held responsible for any cosmetic, mechanical or electrical vehicle defects whatsoever and act as Agents only for the purchase, importation and registration of your vehicle (if requested).
14.) Upon Port clearance your vehicle can be released to the garage that you instruct. We shall advise you some garages that we partner for many years, for you to consider for completing the full UK registration process of your vehicle. You are welcome to select one of these garages, instruct a different garage of your choice or have your vehicle released to you at UK port arrival. The garages that we outline are well versed in the entire procedure of UK conformity preparation and Vehicle Registration. They are independent to us. You are welcome to nominate a garage of your choice for this work or have the vehicle port released to any person that you request. We shall assist you as much as possible.
15.) The UK Garage Agents will arrange documentation to register the car in the name and address that you have supplied to them. If you require them to register on your behalf, then you agree to provide any documentation required by the UK Registration Authority (DVLA) at point of registration. All work requested at a UK garage is strictly an arrangement between you and the UK Garage, not us and paid directly to your choice of garage.
16.) We take every effort in ensuring that the information presented on the website, in our emails and any other communication is correct and accurate. However, we are dependent for this information on third parties and as such cannot assume responsibility for any errors and or omissions.
17) We will not be responsible for the legal consequences of you entering into contracts with third parties and we do not accept liability for any loss, damage or costs.
18.) We will not be liable for any changes in legislation (including but not limited to UK Import and Registration regulations, IVA changes).
19.) If any clause herein described is later deemed unenforceable, the contractual terms will apply as if the latter had been omitted.
20.) This contract is governed by UK law and is subject to the jurisdiction of the UK Courts
21.) We are by no means responsible for the conduct or service given by Japan, UK authorities or any third party.
22.) Any extra equipment such as, but not confined to, additional wheels, sound systems, tyres or roof racks that are with the vehicle in Japan when purchased are left and remain with the vehicle and sent to the Japan port for export to the UK with the vehicle. We will make every effort to supply any extras that are with the vehicle but they do NOT form part of the vehicle sale / purchase price. It is often the policy of some Freight lines and Japan Ports to remove additional ‘inner-cargo ’ items and no such claim for replacement or financial compensation will be considered by any party including us. Similarly, vehicles are often purchased with just 1x set of keys, many have duplicates but if a vehicle has only the 1x set or any are mislaid or are not presented to us upon purchase we are not responsible for supplying additional keys. We shall however arrange duplicates, where possible, at the customer’s request and expense. Any service history remains with the vehicle, we cannot be held responsible in the unlikely event of it missing.
Footnote: FOB is the term used to describe the purchase of the vehicle, export costs, taxes, delivery to port etc, CIF is FOB but also includes Freight to the UK. Sometimes it is necessary at the policy of the freight line that freight will be paid in advance of shipment. This can be freight line policy not ours. It also generally gets the vehicle shipped quicker and avoids any exchange rate fluctuation or increase in freight costs. The Freight lines in Japan are instructed as to the customer’s UK preferred port of choice. Although rare they do retain the right to send to an alternative UK port if there is a current expediential freight crisis, such as, but not limited to, time of war, vessel shortages, high freight demand. We cannot be held responsible for any additional UK inland or freight transportation costs incurred.
A1 Auto Imports
As Agents Only
Digitally signed today’s date as having read and understood
I understand it my responsibility to question or have explained to me any term or item contained within these terms and conditions.
Signature: Name in Full: Date
