I would appreciate your knowledge on something please, if anyone can help. I found a new car which sells for 4-5k less than usual price. Went to test drive it, all good. Nothing to worry about. Now, when I asked to see user's manual/service book of the car, the seller told me he does not have any. He also mentioned there is no Garantieschein, which again is weird. The car brand in discussion has Pan-European garantie for all new cars sold. So, the car has only the registration paper and nothing else. I was suprised as any new car comes with a user's manual/service book. Apparently he is a dealer who bought it from another bigger dealer but due to COVID, business is not going well so he is selling.
The price is really good for that car. Should I be worried that user's manual/service book and Garantieschein are missing? The seller is a legit dealer, nothing shady there really. I checked the VIN number online too, all seems good.
You should be able to order a replacement user manual and service book from the parts department. As for the warranty certificate, perhaps try the customer care department of the brand and ask them to send you proof of warranty.
I wouldn't worry about it being a parallel import, it used to be something that could impact the resale value but now the big car supermarkets like AZW are pumping the country full of them.
It depends on the car but you can sometimes plug them into a mechanics computer/service device and download the service history, as long the previous garages entered or cleared the work done previously, this is a backwards way to check if the car has been correctly maintained.
Also look for the certificate of conformity / Konformitätsbescheinigung as you'll need this. You can get one from the manufacturer but for a price and hassle.
According to the OP its a new car, so it should be possible to replace all the missing docs to get it up to showroom standard. The certificate of conformity should be present if the dealer has the registration documents, that would have been necessary to register it in CH.
Regarding the warranty, does anyone know how to deal with a situation where, if something goes wrong with the car and I have to visit Toyota Switzerland, they do not honour my warranty? I have heard stories about Toyota CH saying if you bought it from X country, you should go to Toyota in that country if you want to use your warranty. Which I believe legally the cannot do it, but I wonder what happens in practice/reality.
It shouldn't be a problem given that the car is already registered here, however if you later try and sell it to someone outside Switzerland (e.g. France) they will need it to re-register the car there.
Fair enough, thought so. I can always order a new one from the manufacturer but good to know I do not really need it as long as I am not exporting it to another car.
Would you know how the warranty works due to the car being an imported one? Like could the official dealer in CH reject to honour my warranty? and how can someone deal with such a situation?
According to the Toyota Europe website the coverage includes Switzerland.
Whether you would have problems in practice is not something I could predict. It might be worth going into your local Toyota dealer and asking them whether they would do warranty repairs for an imported car under its pan-European warranty.
I have legal insurance (CHF 300ish a year with Generali - Fortuna) that is very useful for things like this i.e. writing stiff letters to retailers, companies etc.. reminding them of their legal obligations.
This Corolla on the AZW website is a direct import and it is being sold with the full manufacturer warranty. You could always call them as an interested buyer and ask whether in their experience you might have an issue?