Hi I'm Chris... Awaiting my first alphard being bright into the country and prepped for collection. I will be driving from Glasgow to South Wales to collect it. 2015 series 30 3.5 4wd.

Does anyone have any must do items ahead of collecting it?

You can pay for a CarVX report, it's not much money but there is a load of info that could be useful, particularly the recall history to check what works have been done.

You can also check mile(kilometer)age to make sure that matches - bear in mind that the importer could convert kilometers to miles.

Ask if an english-version manual comes with the car - if not then it may be worth getting hold of one. The one here https://www.autojapspares.co.uk/alphard-hybrid--petrol-2011-2015-owners-manualhandbook--free-service-booklet-37203-p.asp goes up to 2015 so you may need to make sure that it includes yours. Mine is a 2005 and they had a facelift then, so finding the month of manufacture may well come in handy for you.

Ask if the passenger foot-well flare has been removed - I don't know what the legal / insurance situation would be on carrying that around.

Oh - and check around for insurance as this can vary hugely.

When you pick it up it should have an MoT and one item to check is that the rear fog lights work - Mine had a dashboard switch and a cable running to the back but it was just coiled up in the boot lid, so look for the switch on the dash or, if done nicely, on the lighting control stalk - set it to On and the walk around the back to check. They should only come on with the headlights are on (my fog light switch looks to be live all the time the car is on :-( ).

That's all I can think of for now.

Edited Wednesday at 07:58 AM1 day by Gamith
added link to an english manual from autojapspares.

Hello Chris,

Welcome to the Forum.

Flares are illegal in the UK.

Take the flare to the Police or Coastguard, it it has one.