Pro's and con's of a European Import?

[j300bru]

I am going to purchase a SLK my first MB, and have been tempted by some of the cost savings you can get by not going via the Main Dealer route. I know I would only get two years warrenty and not three but are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? I would want to have the car serviced at a Main Dealer, would there be any issue? Any member had good or bad experiences that would help me make up my mind?

 

[peterchurch]

I am going to purchase a SLK my first MB, and have been tempted by some of the cost savings you can get by not going via the Main Dealer route. I know I would only get two years warrenty and not three but are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? I would want to have the car serviced at a Main Dealer, would there be any issue? Any member had good or bad experiences that would help me make up my mind?

As I understand it MB are happy to service non UK cars... (at least Bath were when I was looking for my car and found a imported SL) As for imports I bought an MR2 off of motor point in derby and saved about 3K in 2002
It was serviced and had waranty work carried out all the way through the time I owned it no problem at all... I sold it at the same market price as a UK car...

The only thing that would worry me is that if the new SLKs build and parts quality has not been improved over the other MBs in the last few years you may very well need the waranty in the third year...
You could always buy the waranty though

 

[OlafMaxwell]

My advice is factor in the cost of a third year warranty. You will most likely need it. The other issue to check is whether you will get MobiloLife if you import. If not factor in good breakdown cover, you may need that too.

 

[jon_harley]

I am going to purchase a SLK my first MB, and have been tempted by some of the cost savings you can get by not going via the Main Dealer route. I know I would only get two years warrenty and not three but are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? I would want to have the car serviced at a Main Dealer, would there be any issue?

My car's a parallel import and my main dealer have been perfectly happy to service it and make a repair under the 2-year manufacturer warranty. I saved 12% off the UK list price so yes, I'm pretty happy!

AIUI, under European law manufacturers must supply the UK spec for the car if you request it, regardless of where in the EU you buy it, so there should be no problem with spec.