Hey guys,

Would any of you be concerned about buying a 2002 C5 that, according to Carfax, had no title history in the United States until 05/04/2004.

The first record I have of this car indicates that it was shipped by a vehicle exporter to the United Kingdom in March 2003. A little over a year later, May 2004, the car came back through U.S. Customs into Charleston, SC.

To make things simple...here is the history:

03/01/2003 Vehicle Exporter
Vehicle exported from
Baltimore, MD
and imported to
United Kingdom


05/04/2004 US Customs
Vehicle exported from
United Kingdom
and imported to
Charleston, SC


05/21/2004 North Carolina
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Sanford, NC
Title #774228041424135
Registration issued or renewed


05/24/2004 16,428 North Carolina
Inspection Station
Fayetteville, NC
Emissions inspection performed


07/29/2004 18,613 North Carolina
Inspection Station
Fayetteville, NC
Emissions inspection performed


08/11/2004 North Carolina
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Sanford, NC
Title #771426042246135
Registration issued or renewed
New owner reported


12/07/2004 21,141 North Carolina
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Sanford, NC
Title #775127043429047
Title issued or updated
New owner reported

This is a gorgeous electron blue, both tops, very clean looking, 22K, $30,000.00, to be purchased from an independent dealer in NC. I like the dealer. He seems like a good guy.

Any thoughts on the history. I have concerns, but I am interested in hearing what you guys think. Thanks.

 

Welcome to the Forum!

Looks like there are too many unknowns about this car. Personally, I would keep on looking. Good luck finding the right new ride.

 

Go to your local Chevrolet dealer and bring the vin # of the Corvette with you. Go to service department and have them run the vin #. This Corvette might not be entitled to USA GM warranty. This might be a "gray market" vehicle. If it has no warranty in the USA you really better stay away from buying it. Good Luck. Let us know if warranty is any good. Really like to hear more about this export Corvette.>George

 

that or look into extended (aftermarket) warranty *hello warranty direct* ... also most likely this car saw the autobahn so

If it seems like everything is ok then go for it. If you get a bad feeling after mauling it for a few hours and having a mechanic maul it for a few hours then keep looking.

 

I'm not quite so skittish about this.

It was legally imported back into the US and registered and it passed US emission requirements. I don't see any reason to think there's something wrong with it.

I'd do a real quality check on the documentation and getting the VIN check at a dealer is a great idea, but if both of those check out, I'd go with it.

 

The car was built in the US and if its back here the warranty should be unaffected IMHO.

BTW it's a long drive from UK to the autobahns and the Channel Tunnel is in the way!!!

I wouldn't worry about it personally. My guess would be it was a military member who took it to UK when he was stationed over there.

My Camaro spent 3 years in UK and it's still in great shape. The only downside is that with narrower roads and driving on the left, I found that I tended to drive closer to the kerb. Some of the edges to the roads can be rough out in the country. Give those drivers side shock absorbers a good check

There's a good discussion forum in UK and most of the guys know many of the Corvettes in country. May be worth posting a thread and asking the question?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?f=100&h=0

 

The dealer said that it was still under warranty until May. Of course, I have not checked that out. I think it is odd that the car was not registered in the U.S. at any time before it was shipped to the U.K. If it was shipped in 03/03, where was it before that? There may be too many unanswered questions here.

With all of the nice C5's on the market, I can't see why I should buy this one. If it develops problems later, I will feel like I should have seen it coming. Nothing worse than acting against your own best judgment and then getting screwed...that's twice as bad. Damn...I need to keep looking. That was a beautiful car.

 

Friend of mine bought a BMW in UK and shipped it to Tx. ran it for a year to meet tax free customs regs and shipped it back to UK. Full euro spec but it spent the first year of its life in the US. That's pretty normal for military guys.

But looks like you answered your own question

 

I thought it might have belonged to a member of the military, because the car came back through Charleston, SC and was registered in Fayetteville, NC...home of Fort Bragg. Still, I wonder where the car was for the year or so before it went to UK. It matters little at this point. I have decided to move on to other options. Tomorrow I am going to check out a nice yellow 2002 with 25K miles....and a normal history. Thanks for the input everyone.