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Thinking of buying this Elgrand, PICTURES inside (check condition)

The dealer has been trading in imports for around 25 years. I have paid vx fir a translation, but not had it back yet.

Other elgrands on there site also have lots of photos and in the same sort of back groud
 
dognero said:
Mine were outside a house too.
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Up&Dn said:
I can't lay me hands on the pictures I got...but the background scenery is just the same...again about 50+ pictures
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Must be me as I bought mine direct from auction in Japan so have never really looked at UK dealer websites although I think that this might be a pretty recent thing in the last year or so .
Thinking about it it most likely makes a lot of sense to have them prepped in Japan and if any parts needed would most likely be easier to obtain and possibly cheaper. Also possibly cheaper on labour.
Would also make sense taking plenty of pictures in Japan as with the time it now takes for ships to get here dealers are far more likely to get deposits taken than if they only have the auction pictures that used to be common.
 
Hi. Mine was imported with a auction rating of 4 C B
Has 26,000 on the clock
Paid £15k and honestly it looks almost mint throughout. One side panel behing where the sliding doors is when open has signs of a re spray, other than that I literally cannot find a flaw. Hope that helps for perspective.
I got it fri. Japanese MPV in London, just north of Heathrow.
He was great, the EG was decatted, undersealed and had the fog lights and speedo facia done well.
(He also has a coulple of dozen brand new Vellfires in the yard so it’s a fun day out too, you can see first hand how well your old Elgrands stack up against the new £70,000 vans, in fact that’s what sealed the deal for me when I saw the amazing va,I’d of an old EG!)
 
kfgas said:
The map also shows only 1 a1 and 2 a2's which s also very strange for a grade 3.5.

Would expect a lot more than this for a 3.5 grade.

That amount would be low on a 4 grade or even a 4.5 grade.

It was auctioned as well by USS who are normally quite strict on grading

It does like pretty good in the pictures but that auction report grading of 3.5 does not stack up with the rest of the auction sheet especially given that it only has 29000 miles

Would really want to do a lot more checking if it was me as the amount you are paying is well over the odds for a grade 3.5 which typically sale for some where around the 2000 yen mark or less ( about £1000) at auction in Japan even with shipping of approx £3000 now, vat and import duty and other costs that is a lot of profit

You say that you are waiting on the car vx report but if I remember correctly I got mine straight away after purchase. There will be a copy of the auction sheet with this as well as pictures from the auction).

Its a pity that it came from USS as you can't check there sold prices like the other Jap auction sites.

Have you had the auction report translated as that may give you a clue.

You can get apps that do this now. Going to bed now but in the morning I will do it for you and post on here.
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USS are no longer strict on grading, a 4 at uss would be a 3.5 at bayauc or TAA etc, many people buy a 3 or 3.5 at the stricter auctions then send it to a USS and flip it as they grade it better.
 
ChrisWills said:
USS are no longer strict on grading, a 4 at uss would be a 3.5 at bayauc or TAA etc, many people buy a 3 or 3.5 at the stricter auctions then send it to a USS and flip it as they grade it better.
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Did not know that USS were now more lax on grading as when I bought mine over 5 years ago they seemed to be one of the stricter graders.
What you say about about flipping 3 or 3.5 grades from the tighter graders is something that I noticed when buying mine and you can soon get a feel for how different auction houses grade. I actually said this to the op in quite a long pm I had with him. I actually feel that 3.5 grades are the sweet spot and that is what I bought, it was a d interior but mainly because it was filthy inside and the driver and passenger seats were nearly black with ingrained dirt on the cream leather of my rider. There was a small rip in the drivers seat but no other damage. I have since changed the front and middle' seats and got rid of the rears as I have converted to a rear camper and all the rest of the interior cleaned up lovely with a bit of work.
 
Yeah 3.5 are generally very good, better than a 4 from USS, ive bought a few 3.5 and never had an issue, had an issue with a 4 from USS tho
 
ChrisWills said:
Yeah 3.5 are generally very good, better than a 4 from USS, ive bought a few 3.5 and never had an issue, had an issue with a 4 from USS tho
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Just need to learn how to read the auction reports and read between the lines and be a bit handy with doing stuff yourself
 
once you do it enough you can sort of pick up some bits and work out whats what.
 
so from the sounds of this one, it has had a boot replaced. I have had a chat with VX and this is what they came back with.

''Equipment: Power steering; Electrical; Airbag; Air conditioning.
Specification: Transmission: AT; Fuel: gasoline.
Inspector notes: soiled and scuffed interior; cover on the steering
wheel; studless tires; side mirrors scratches; rear body panel - repair
traces and deformation; front bumper - scratches; chips on the
windscreen; scratches on the windscreen; some exterior scratches and
dents; rear door replaced''

''No structural damage was found during the inspection, so they decided to grant the car a 3.5 grade''

''The auction grade looks adequate considering the description.
No additional pictures are available.
If doors or panels are replaced, it usually indicates that the car was in a collision, unless it is a high performance (racing) car which can be highly customized''
 
For me that the best part of owning an Elgrand is playing about with it and making it a bit different and I probably spend more time working on it or planning upgrades than what I do driving it but that a big part of the fun for me. :D
 
Studless tyres, would suggest its been used in one of the colder areas, hence the rust spots underneath, for me its not worth what they are asking by quite some way
 
ChrisWills said:
Studless tyres, would suggest its been used in one of the colder areas, hence the rust spots underneath, for me its not worth what they are asking by quite some way
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Agreed, have already discussed with the op in messages that as he feels that it ticks all the boxes for him that he would go to see it when it lands but that it is well over priced and he needs to get a substantial discount off the price to even consider it.

If it was me I would have walked away a long time ago as nothing stacks up on it. and now that you have told me about USS being more lax on there grading now that would convince me even more.

Just come to light that ''No structural damage was found during the inspection, so they decided to grant the car a 3.5 grade', assume this would be rather than an R but to had to have had the rear tailgate replaced means that it must have had a fair old bump in the back. Have also said in in pms that the windscreen being chipped and scratched would put me of even more and as the van is a NE51 it will have the cold weather pack with the heated windscreen elements and from odd bits i have read on her they are difficult to impossible to get in the UK and have to be sent from Japan.
All it needs is for one of the chips to crack open and the van could be off the road for a few weeks, why take the chance on it when there are lots of other vans about. Ok with a few more miles for the money but likely with a lot less mystery or issues surrounding them.

Also will away's be a 3.5 grade and could impact on its trade in value as if I was thinking of buying it after being in the UK for a couple of years and looked at that report I would be looking for a decent discount. All of which is is fine if you have bought it at the right price but not if you have paid over the odds
 
Ian Jones said:
so from the sounds of this one, it has had a boot replaced. I have had a chat with VX and this is what they came back with.

''Equipment: Power steering; Electrical; Airbag; Air conditioning.
Specification: Transmission: AT; Fuel: gasoline.
Inspector notes: soiled and scuffed interior; cover on the steering
wheel; studless tires; side mirrors scratches; rear body panel - repair
traces and deformation; front bumper - scratches; chips on the
windscreen; scratches on the windscreen; some exterior scratches and
dents; rear door replaced''

''No structural damage was found during the inspection, so they decided to grant the car a 3.5 grade''

''The auction grade looks adequate considering the description.
No additional pictures are available.
If doors or panels are replaced, it usually indicates that the car was in a collision, unless it is a high performance (racing) car which can be highly customized''
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Those inspector notes are hardly anything that you would not expect to see on a 3'5 grade and are certainly less than what i had on mine but with the low mileage and the fact that it seems that USS are now a lot more lax with there grading than they used to be I just can't get my head around the fact that they only grade it as a 3.when there is virtually nothing showing on the map of the exterior Copy of my map which would be normal for a 3.5 C grade exerior/ You can see the map marked with A1 A2 A3 A1 is small scratch and the higher the number the worsea and a few U1's small dent

st map of Elgrand.jpg



It really worries me mate that you are going to let your heart rule your head and end up making an expensive mistake when really you should be walking away and looking elsewhere. Maybe the van is a good un but I fear you will live to regret it.

Copy of my translation

Grade 3.5, first registered February 2004, interior D, exterior C, first time in auction, Rider model, four-wheel-drive, AT, AAC, colour number KH3, sunroof, power steering, power windows, airbag, passenger capacity not stated, seats have major grime, seats worn, interior grime, steering wheel worn, rear spoiler colour has faded, scratched and dented underneath at front, exterior paintwork has light line scratches, exterior paintwork faded, rust on suspension parts, dashboard has glue on it, rear power windows do not work, antenna needs replacing, snow tires, intelligent key, other marks as per map" Mine also had best part of 4 times the Mileage. None of this worried me as I knew I could sort it and I paid a lot less for my van than what you are thinking of paying.
 
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I see what you mean, on the map of the one I am looking at, apart from the XX on the tail gate, where it has been replaced, there isn't much on it at all
 
Like you say there's virtually nothing :)
Prior to buying mine I went to a couple of meets and talked to Elgrand owners and trolled through the forum and researched on the net

I knew there was nothing there that I could not fix. I also blow up all the auction photo's so that I could see any of the damage from the map so that I knew what I was buying

I thought that it was honest not perfect in any way and had most likely had a pretty hard life but it was covered in service stickers so I could see that mecaanly it had been well maintaintained and although it had a few bits that needed sorting were all fixable and I got it for the right money which meant that I could spend on it on upgrades although I have most likely got a bit carried away :D

I think that the one you are looking at is anything but honest. it just does not ring true. That amount of damage on the exteriour along with soiled and scuffed interiour just doesent seem right for a van with only 2600 miles on the clock.

Just a thought have all the recalls been as you can't get the done here now' You can check this on the car VX report.

Going a bed now, let me know about the recalls.
 
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