Thanks once again for the advice, it all good stuff to know and i'm getting a feel of the prices now for when I negotiate on them.

I dont think our tax goes that high here, i'll need to check, I know we are taxed on emissions for all cars which show an emission rating on the registration document, we dont have an annual MOT here either but when I bring the car back it will have to go for the equivilant of an MOT at the dept of transport HQ just once before I can re-register it here as a local vehicle.

What is the score on the roadster hoods? are they hard wearing? are they prone to leaks? i'm obviously going to be looking for snags, rips, mildew etc on any car that i'm buying but I saw one used road test report somewhere saying that a replacement hood would be into 4 figures which I assume would be the price of a genuine replacement whereas aftermarket hood kits are available for most cars.