Don't Overpay for your Delica

[William]

The one thing that I do love about this group is the maturity level around here compared to some other vehicle forums is that you are open to hear both sides of the story. Now in a defense of the " dealer " here...

My brother writes ads online and advertises the company on sites like this ad was taken from in order to get traffic to the website. Obviously this ad was one that should have been worded much differently and I am not impressed with the way it came off either. I will apologize to the Delica community here and have him correct it accordingly. I do believe the root of his post was meant to be:

We offer an alternative to buyers who don't want to pay the extra for the convenience of buying a vehicle already imported. There are a lot of do it yourselfers out there that don't mind getting their hands dirty to do a bit of compliance work / first maintenance work once the vehicle has arrived. When we broker a vehicle for a customer they are well aware of all of the costs involved before and after purchase and this is also in writing clearly on a few articles throughout the website.

We've been around longer than many in the industry and do date do have a excellent track record. I think anyone who has had dealing in the past will agree, including the original poster of this thread.

Now as Jesse mentioned we're open to discussion, here goes:

the "loaded" ones seem to have everything but leather??? (was that ever an option?); and they are only bringing in the "rare manuals", not the common ones, or the ones that were made in fewer numbers, but being "rare" they are probably the faster-than-automatic ones.

Leather was an option in different markets I do believe. Rare they are as I have seen 2 out of 10 at best are in manual transmission.
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I saw the clogged rad and the badly pitted brake rotors and a few other worn out bits and pieces that were switched out of mine when it first came from Japan... Maybe some people wouldn't think they needed changing, but I'm sure glad I spent the extra couple of G's on the refit... I wager the cost of a new deli I wouldn't still be driving a happy bus if I had run it as it was...

Like I said there are a lot of do it yourselfers who come to us and don't mind doing some of the work themselves. A few grand to one may only be $400.00 - $500.00 for a bargain hunter who finds good deals on parts and does all the labor himself. Not to say that there will be some exceptions to some that need more work of course, but I have seen some Delica's come out of Japan with fresh Shaken and need next to nothing once arrived and very little in the short term driving.
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[quote="tonydca" Look familiar? Nice that the guy did a cut-and-paste from the home page of the delica.ca website with no reference. ThankYa - ThankYaVerraMuch...[/quote]

This I do apologize for and am not sure why he would copy and past without permission from someone here ( assuming he did not get permission ? ) If he did not I will make sure 100% this will not happen again and the wording is taken down.
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[quote="BCDelicaWording is right: the ad catches you with $5500 AND right away quote the low price of $6000 to $7500 landed, and their inventory there's one for $10,800. Ding, ding, ding, the alarm bells should be going off! And it's a base model from different shores, but it does have one cool feature.

Our main business is not being an actual dealer but just an broker to line up sellers with buyers, where in fact the lower prices we advertise come from. The one Delica for $10,800.00 is being brought in for local sale, hence the higher price tag. That and I think one of the only few in Canada.

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Now I am open to all constructive criticism and welcome anymore feedback about this. I believe that a business is never going to do things 100% correct, but if are willing to learn from an error will grow to what potential customer would want over time.

[jessef]

I've dealt with William in the past and my dealings have always been good.

That's why I omitted the name because it didn't sound like William's writing.

[Spearo]

My reading of William's site in the past was interpreted the way I believe it was meant to- that a person with a garage and some know-how could save some $$ if they wanted. Comparing prices and all that is standard advertising as far as I can see. But maybe a rewrite would express things better.

I've had no dealings with him but I think his participation in the forums here speaks for itself. This is not K King after all.
Cheers all,
Erik.

[Green1]

I love how he advertises that he sells vehicles that are not legal for road use in Canada, while implying that you can drive away at the price quoted...

[William]

My reading of William's site in the past was interpreted the way I believe it was meant to- that a person with a garage and some know-how could save some $$ if they wanted. Comparing prices and all that is standard advertising as far as I can see. But maybe a rewrite would express things better.

I've had no dealings with him but I think his participation in the forums here speaks for itself. This is not K King after all.
Cheers all,
Erik.

Thank you Erik. advise taken and noted. This ad was pulled off this afternoon and I'm going to oversee any future ads to make sure nonsense like this does not happen again.

[William]

I've dealt with William in the past and my dealings have always been good.

That's why I omitted the name because it didn't sound like William's writing.

Thank you Jesse and it's been a mutual pleasure dealing with yourself as well.

[William]

I love how he advertises that he sells vehicles that are not legal for road use in Canada, while implying that you can drive away at the price quoted...

I always welcome constructive criticism Green1. In your comment, where would the website reference that or lead to any confusion ? If it does, I would like to know so I can make some changes.

[Green1]

Japanese vehicles do not come over needing thousands of dollars worth of work right away, don't be fooled by claims of this by these dealers!

L400's need over $1000 in headlights alone just to be legal for road use in Alberta or BC, L300s still require over $200 in headlights, both require side marker lights, daytime running lights, and side reflectors, most require new tires. All of this is just to make the vehicle legal for road use.

And that's assuming that the vehicle is in absolutely perfect condition otherwise. MOST vehicles will also require a new radiator, and timing belt if you don't want to risk catastrophic engine failure shortly after purchase. And you'd also be crazy not to change all other fluids, filters, and belts.

Now all that said, there is nothing wrong with an importer selling vehicles that have not had any of this work done, however they should be quite upfront about this. Claiming that these vehicles do not require any work after they come off the ship is misleading at best, and could quite likely be illegal as well. (Dealers have been shut down in the past for selling vehicles claiming that they were fully compliant when they weren't)

[William]

Japanese vehicles do not come over needing thousands of dollars worth of work right away, don't be fooled by claims of this by these dealers!

L400's need over $1000 in headlights alone just to be legal for road use in Alberta or BC, L300s still require over $200 in headlights, both require side marker lights, daytime running lights, and side reflectors, most require new tires. All of this is just to make the vehicle legal for road use.

And that's assuming that the vehicle is in absolutely perfect condition otherwise. MOST vehicles will also require a new radiator, and timing belt if you don't want to risk catastrophic engine failure shortly after purchase. And you'd also be crazy not to change all other fluids, filters, and belts.

Now all that said, there is nothing wrong with an importer selling vehicles that have not had any of this work done, however they should be quite upfront about this. Claiming that these vehicles do not require any work after they come off the ship is misleading at best, and could quite likely be illegal as well. (Dealers have been shut down in the past for selling vehicles claiming that they were fully compliant when they weren't)

Thanks for the clarification Green1. I make sure all customers are aware of what's involved before any financials are changed hands and even list on the website that they should call the local registries office to find out exactly what's required before they commit to importing. I have not nor would ever mislead anyone in that regard.

[William]

Japanese vehicles do not come over needing thousands of dollars worth of work right away, don't be fooled by claims of this by these dealers!

L400's need over $1000 in headlights alone just to be legal for road use in Alberta or BC, L300s still require over $200 in headlights, both require side marker lights, daytime running lights, and side reflectors, most require new tires. All of this is just to make the vehicle legal for road use.

And that's assuming that the vehicle is in absolutely perfect condition otherwise. MOST vehicles will also require a new radiator, and timing belt if you don't want to risk catastrophic engine failure shortly after purchase. And you'd also be crazy not to change all other fluids, filters, and belts.

Now all that said, there is nothing wrong with an importer selling vehicles that have not had any of this work done, however they should be quite upfront about this. Claiming that these vehicles do not require any work after they come off the ship is misleading at best, and could quite likely be illegal as well. (Dealers have been shut down in the past for selling vehicles claiming that they were fully compliant when they weren't)

Thanks for the clarification Green1. I make sure all customers are aware of what's involved before any financials are changed hands and even list on the website that they should call the local registries office to find out exactly what's required before they commit to importing. I have not nor would ever mislead anyone in that regard.

What you quoted in that ad was addressed already and corrected.

[konadog]

I'm not saying anything bad about anyone, nor pointing any fingers here. I'm just saying that my single owner L-300 was still under shaken when it arrived from Japan and as I pointed out above, it needed loads of work to bring it up to snuff. I have a friend who imported his own, nearly pristine (ZERO rust) L-300, and he did all the work himself, but he did all the same things... Driving one of these machines straight off the boat with no major refit is asking for disaster IMO.

[William]

[quote="konadog"]I'm not saying anything bad about anyone, nor pointing any fingers here.quote]

No worries, I'm sure everyone that posted was just doing so with good intentions.

[djelica]

Gotta laugh,

when I was looking for my L400 this past fall I came across this ad. I then referenced the notion (that "we" are paying to much for our delicas) as pretext to get a much better price on the one I bought. Maybe not the original intent of the ad but I cant' complain.

cheers, djelica

[Super Low]

Think most everybody would agree there are $5500 Delicas and there are $15000 Delicas, that seems a no brainer.

I'd pay $5500 for the one pictured; even if it needed 5K worth of gear to ensure it was reliable,

The one pictured is actually my van, it should be here in march.

[after oil]

Think most everybody would agree there are $5500 Delicas and there are $15000 Delicas, that seems a no brainer.

I'd pay $5500 for the one pictured; even if it needed 5K worth of gear to ensure it was reliable,

The one pictured is actually my van, it should be here in march.

that is rad! "super low" in red gold and green.. sorry for the thread hijack