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I am looking at buying a used japanese imported vehicle, and I have been scouring trade me, and from what I've seen there are small and large importers, both with competitive prices, and I was wondering what the risks are form buying from importers (small and large) and what a registered dealer is, re MTA vs RMVT.

If you are a private purchaser, buying from a RMVT (Registered Motor Vehicle Trader) is preferable as you will be protected by the provisions of the CGA (Consumer Guarantees Act). Buying from a private seller offers you no protection - once you've handed over your money, you own the vehicle and any potential problems.
The CGA protects the purchaser for a reasonable timeframe - there is no set time, but depends on what is deemed reasonable, so any major defect that should occur within a few months would be covered.
The act does not cover you if you are a business user or if you are buying by auction, but covers a negotiated purchase price by a private buyer. The RMVT register is administered by the MTA.

Thanks,
Further to my query, I am planning on carrying out an AA inspection any vehicle i buy, but should i check the following when buying from an importer?

- finance owing,
- if the vehicle has been de registered,
- if the dealer is the registered owner,
- will a vehicle history check/report be valid?

and is there any further checks i should be doing when buying an import from an importer

Regards

I'm in the same boat myself. Considering its $130 to get a PP Inspection do you think its worthwhile doing this for a vehicle that I'm buying from a dealer as the price is higher and its reasonable to assume that because the purchase is covered by the CGA I will have some redress

pat.bateman raises a good point - you are protected by law to a greater degree when purchasing from a dealer. However, it's better to know about any potential fish hooks before you hand over your cash.
A case we recently dealt with involved a purchase of a vehicle which had been written off and re-registered, but the dealer failed to disclose this.
Upon discovering the fact, the buyer rejected the vehicle (requseting a full refund). This resulted in a long battle with the dealer, with the final outcome being that the dealer was ordered to provide a refund.
Had the purchaser spent the $20 or so on a Vehicle History Report, the alert would have been enough to put them off buying the car, and saved the stress of arguing with the dealer.
For that reason I believe it is money well spent.